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All through Jesus’ ministry on Earth, he informed individuals he was the Son of God. He demonstrated it together with his phrases and his actions. He forgave sins and healed illness. He taught with authority and drove out demons. And but, many didn’t consider.
Sarcastically, one of the crucial profound declarations of who Jesus was didn’t come from Jesus. It came from Pontius Pilate – the Roman governor of Judea who would preside over Jesus’ trial and hand him over to be crucified.
The second is available in John 19:5 when Pilate presents Jesus to the raging crowd with the phrases, “Behold the man.”
The crucifixion story confronts us with the humanity of Christ – his vulnerability, his anguish, his willingness to endure struggling for the sake of affection. (Kevin Ferris/Fox Information)
This assertion could appear insignificant, but it surely displays a paradox on the coronary heart of Christianity – a paradox that’s each deeply human and divinely transcendent.
With these words, Pilate unwittingly points to the essence of Christ’s mission and the central mystery of the Christian faith. For in Jesus we behold not just a man, but the incarnate Son of God, who willingly embraced suffering and death for the redemption of humanity.
For centuries, this moment has captured the imaginations of artists all over the world, resulting in thousands of works that give us unique insight into the suffering of Jesus during his trial and crucifixion. Each is a testament to the enduring power of art to capture the profound truths of the Gospel narrative, challenging us to engage the heart together with the mind.
This is the inspiration behind the Museum of the Bible’s exhibit “Ecce Homo: Behold the Man.” The exhibit’s 21 items – together with a chunk by Salvador Dalí – provide a unique artist’s interpretation of the idea of struggling.
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Some elegant and exquisite, others surreal and haunting, every portray causes us to think about the deeper religious realities behind what Christ went by on Good Friday. Or, within the phrases of hymn author Stuart Townsend, to “Behold the man upon the cross, my sin upon his shoulders.”
The crucifixion story confronts us with the humanity of Christ – his vulnerability, his anguish, his willingness to endure struggling for the sake of affection. These are profoundly human experiences and feelings, issues all of us are aware of. That’s why Isaiah prophesied that Jesus could be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
Good Friday, nevertheless, isn’t solely about Jesus. We’ve an element to play.
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Isaiah goes on to say why Jesus suffered: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”
Like our exhibit’s 21 artists who paint to discover a reflection of ourselves in Jesus, Isaiah leads us to see ourselves within the story. He’s reminding us that Christ didn’t go to the cross for himself – he went for us.
That’s Paul’s message to believers within the ebook of Romans when he writes, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus knew we couldn’t come to him, so within the incarnation, he got here right down to us regardless that he knew it might price him his life.
On Good Friday, we behold the person – we relate to Jesus’ humanness.
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But when that was the entire story, we’d haven’t any cause to name Good Friday good. If Jesus was solely human, we’d haven’t any trigger to hope as a result of he would simply be one other of dying’s victims. But it surely isn’t the entire story. Three days later, Christ did one thing else for us: He rose from the grave.
On Easter, we behold the risen man – we stand in awe of Christ’s divinity.
Christ’s divine nature achieved that which human nature by itself can’t; it defied dying. That’s why Easter is the day of triumph.
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The resurrection demonstrated past any doubt that Jesus was who he stated he was: the Son of God. But it surely did one thing else as properly. It fulfilled God’s promise of redemption.
It’s the distinction between Good Friday and Easter Sunday that helps us grasp the burden and wonder of Christ’s passion. We’ll really perceive the triumph and glory of the resurrection when we’ve got additionally walked with Christ by the depths of His struggling, solely once we “behold the man.”
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