Behold Jesus
John 19:1-16
Harry Ironside, who pastored the famous Moody church in Chicago from 1929 to 1948, was at a pastor’s meeting in the Free Church of Scotland. Ironside told about two sermons preached on one Sunday at the meeting. The first was given one Sunday morning. The preacher spoke on the beauty of virtue. And people raved about this sermon. People walked out of the sermon saying, wasn’t that an amazing message?
One of the things this preacher said on that Sunday morning was: “Oh my dear friends, if virtue incarnate could only appear on earth, men would be so ravished with her beauty that they would fall down and worship her.”
On the evening of the same Lord’s Day another preacher stood in that pulpit and he preached on Jesus Christ and Him crucified. As he concluded the message, he said, “My friends, virtue incarnate has appeared on earth, and men, instead of being ravished with His beauty and falling down and worshiping Him, cried out, away with Him! Crucify Him! We will not have this man to rule over us.”
He was exactly right. That’s what happened two thousand years ago when the holy Son of God who displayed the love, mercy, holiness and justice of God came to earth. His own people rejected Him and cried out for Him to be crucified. This is what the world does with the perfect, sinless Son of God. What will you do with Jesus Christ?
Today in John 19:1-16 we will look at the final phase of the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate. In the first part of this trial in John 18:28-40 we saw that Jesus is the righteous King, the heavenly King, and the self-sacrificing King. Now in John 19 we behold King Jesus scourged and mocked, questioned and feared, and finally rejected and sentenced to death.
One of the key words in this section is the word, “behold”; it means “look, see and know.” John wants us to behold Jesus, the man who is the sinless Son of God, the King who is rejected and killed. Look for those themes as I read our text, John 19:1-16,
1 So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. 3 Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands. 4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”
5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” 6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” 8 Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, 9 and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
12 From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.” 13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” 16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.
I just want to walk you through this text this morning as we behold Jesus. First we see,
1. Jesus scourged and mocked (John 19:1-4)
The governor, Pontius Pilate, has already declared Jesus to be innocent. He ruled in John 18:38, “I find no fault in Him at all.” The problem is that the chief priests and Jewish leaders are demanding that Jesus be crucified. Pilate has attempted to set Jesus free once by giving the Jews the choice between releasing Jesus, or the notorious robber, murderer and insurrectionist, Barabbas. When they demand he release Barabbas, not Jesus, Pilate then decides to have Jesus flogged even though He has committed no crime, then he plans to release Him (Luke 23:22). John 19:1 records, “So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.” Perhaps Pilate thought that this punishment would satisfy the Jews.
There were three levels of Roman scourging: a less severe whipping for lesser crimes; a more brutal flogging reserved for more serious criminals; and a horrific, sometimes fatal beating that preceded execution. The Roman soldiers who carry out this penalty do it in the most sadistic manner. They not only perform the terrible physical punishment of scourging, but then they cruelly mock and abuse their prisoner.
John writes (John 19:2-3), “2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. 3 Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands.”
When we think about who Jesus is, and picture Him enduring such torture and scorn from sinful men such as these, it’s difficult to comprehend. Do you see the irony, though? Do you see how, though these men meant only to mock Jesus, they unwittingly speak the truth. They do in fact present Jesus to us as the King of the Jews!
Pilate does the same thing. In John 19:4 we read, “Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”
He brought Jesus before the Jews after having him scourged and mocked in order to show, “look how pitiful this man is!” Pilate was implying, “is this the man you are so concerned about?” Beaten and bruised; battered and bleeding; here stands Jesus. Again, Pilate affirms his innocence, “I find no fault in Him.” Behold the innocent!
So we have Jesus, scourged and mocked and presented as faultless. Next we see,
2. Jesus questioned and feared (John 19:5-11)
John 19:5 says, “Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!””
Unwittingly again, Pilate has said more than he knows. Pilate may have meant no more than something like ‘Here is the accused!’ But ironically, he was indeed presenting the Jews with the man in fulfillment of scripture. “Behold the man!” is a direct quote from Zechariah 6:12. In that Old Testament passage the Lord instructs the prophet Zechariah to symbolically crown Joshua, the son of the high priest, and to prophesy (Zech. 6:12-13),
“Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH!
From His place He shall branch out,
And He shall build the temple of the LORD;
Yes, He shall build the temple of the LORD.
He shall bear the glory,
And shall sit and rule on His throne;
So He shall be a priest on His throne,
And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”
Who is “the man” of Zechariah 6? It is Christ Jesus our Lord! Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy. He is the Man who is the Branch, the one who will build the temple of the Lord, who will bear the glory, who will sit and rule as a priest on His throne. Pilate intended only pity and mockery when he introduced Jesus as “the man.” Unknowiingly and ironically, Pilate presented Jesus to the nation under a messianic title! “Behold the man”
The Jewish authorities did not see it that way. “Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’” (John 19:6a). For the third time Pilate affirms Jesus’ innocence; this time totally frustrated at the demands of the chief priests (John 19:6b, “Pilate said to them, ‘You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.’”
It is at this point that they reveal to Pilate their real trouble with Jesus. “The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.’” (John 19:7). Now, the real reason for the animosity of the Jews toward Jesus is out in the open. Jesus is not merely claiming to be the “King of the Jews,” He is claiming to be the Son of God.
Pilate was uneasy before, but John 19:8 says, “Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid.” Now he is truly terrified. It was one thing for him to condemn an innocent man. It was even worse to condemn the Jewish Messiah. But to crucify the Son of God—that was an entirely different matter. I don’t think that Pilate believed these claims were true; it was just that he was not completely certain that they were false.
It was time for yet another conference behind closed doors, back in Pilate’s residence. Pilate asked Jesus (John 19:9), “Where are You from?” Jesus had given the answer to that question over and over again throughout the Book of John. Jesus came down from the Father in heaven (John 3:13, 31; 6:38, 41-42, 50-51, 58). In John 8:23 Jesus told the Jews, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.” He was sent by God the Father. Jesus had already told Pilate (John 18:36), “My kingdom is not of this world.” So He now keeps silent.
Pilate is amazed, and baffled. He resorted to the only thing that seemed to work for him—his authority. John 19:10 records, “Then Pilate said to Him, ‘Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?’” Pilate let Jesus know that His life was in his hands. He had the power to release Jesus, or to crucify Him. Pilate must have thought this would strike terror into His heart. But it didn’t. The reason it didn’t is because Pilate’s authority was limited and delegated. It was Jesus who was “Lord” here, as elsewhere. Pilate may have been a powerful man, but he was not sovereign. So Jesus replies (John 19:11), “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” Pilate issued a threat, and Jesus’ response informed Pilate that his threat is an empty one. Pilate cannot do anything to Jesus that he wants; he can only do to Jesus what God wants. Pilate is not free to harm our Lord unless this is God’s will, which it is.
Although it is God’s plan and His will that Jesus be crucified, that does not remove the responsibility and guilt from those who carried it out. Jesus told Pilate (John 19:11b), “Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” Pilate is guilty. But Caiaphas and the Jewish authorities are more guilty. They knew the truth of who Jesus was and what the things He had done—and they knowingly rejected Him.
So we have seen Jesus scourged and mocked; we have seen Him questioned and feared; now we see,
3. Jesus rejected and sentenced (John 19:12-16)
Pilate must now go back out to the hostile Jewish mob, which is demanding the release of Barabbas and the death of Jesus. Pilate earlier was convinced that Jesus must have done something terribly wrong to provoke the wrath of these Jews. Then he realized that Jesus was innocent. Now, he is aware that Jesus could be far more than an innocent man; He may be the Son of God. And so he goes out to face the crowd, intent on convincing them that Jesus must be released. John 19:12 says, “From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, ‘If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.’”
The crowd insists on having their way. The Jewish leaders finally play their trump card: If Pilate releases Jesus, he proves that he is no friend of Caesar. The inference is that they will see to it that Caesar hears about this. Jesus has claimed to be a king; let Caesar hear about Pilate turning such a fellow loose in Jerusalem.
Pilate was already on thin ice with Caesar. Pilate made some serious blunders early in his rule over Judea that weakened his leadership. First, he had sent soldiers into the temple area with shields bearing images of Caesar. The Jews saw this as blasphemy and staged a major protest. Pilate threatened to slaughter them, but they didn’t back down. Politically, he couldn’t murder that many Jews so early in his term as governor, so he had to back down.
Then, he built an aqueduct to bring water into Jerusalem, which was good. But he forcefully took temple funds to pay for the project. The Jews rioted and this time, Pilate did kill some of them. (Jesus may be referring to this incident in Luke 13:1-2.) The Jews complained to Caesar, who gave a scathing rebuke to Pilate. So by the time the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate for judgment, they held the advantage. If they sent another bad report to Caesar, Pilate’s career as governor and perhaps his life would be over.
Pilate has been out-maneuvered, and he knows it. So John 19:13 tells us, “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.” Pilate sets up court, takes his place as the judge. Before Pilate gives the sentence John reminds us again of the significance of the day (John 19:14a), “Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour.” It’s Friday, the day of preparation for the Passover Sabbath. As Galilean Jews, Jesus and His disciples had eaten the Passover the night before. The Judean Jews will eat it Friday night. The Passover lambs would be slain this day, as would Jesus, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29).
Before Pilate declares his verdict, he mockingly says to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” First he said, “Behold…I find no fault in Him!” then, “Behold, the Man!” Now he says, “Behold, your King!” It is the Jews who render the verdict as they cried out (John 19:15), “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate now full of scorn, sarcasm, said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” And the chief priests answered with a shocking statement, “We have no king but Caesar!”
What amazing blasphemy that is. God was supposed to be their king. But they have rejected God by rejecting His Son, Jesus the Christ. This blasphemous statement is matched by the equally chilling words recorded in Matthew 27:25: “His blood be on us and on our children.” In one final act of rebellion against God, the Jewish religious leaders have renounced all Messianic hope, all allegiance to God, placing their trust in Caesar, rather than in Jesus, the Christ.
So John 19:16 records, “Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.” You might say, “Well, that’s a horrible thing that Pilate did. It’s appalling what the chief priests did.” It is, of course. But do you understand that the Bible says that those who reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (Heb. 6:6), “crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” You either acknowledge Him as Lord or you scream with the mob, “Crucify Him, crucify Him! We have no king but – ” fill in the blank “ – but it’s not Him.”
Pilate asked the question in Matthew 27:22, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” That’s the question every person must answer. You can’t escape the question. If you confess Jesus as Lord you will be saved from your sin, from death and judgment and hell forever, and ushered into the glories of God’s heaven. If you do not confess Jesus as Lord, you may be like the indifferent people, or the mocking soldiers, or the pragmatic and fearful Pilate, or the crowd who shouted, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
It doesn’t matter which category of unbelief you fall into. You cannot shed your responsibility to answer the question, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” Your eternal destiny will be determined by how you answer that question.
How should you respond to a message like this? Maybe with the ancient words of Bernard of Clairvaux,
O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, Thine only crown;
How pale Thou art with anguish,
With sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish
Which once was bright as morn!
What Thou, my Lord hast suffered
Was all for sinners’ gain:
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain;
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
‘Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this, Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever,
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love to Thee.
