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The Cross He Bore - The Butt of Mockery
- 04/05/09
- 8
A week from today we will be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. Today, those of us who are reading through The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy are focusing on the mockery he first endured on his way to the cross. The text is from Matthew 26:67,68: “They spit in his face, and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?’.
I will share just a brief quote from this chapter:
*****
How terrible was that mockery of Christ by the Sanhedrin! How godless! Had Christ not been thrust outside the sphere of the law, such contempt and unbridled abuse would have been impossible. If his judges had been sincere in their assessment of the prisoner, and in the verdict they reached, and if they had feared God, they would have delivered the accused to Satan that he might learn not to blaspheme (1 Tim. 1:20). That would have been a lawful and loving act, but the Sanhedrin had no regard for either justice or love. Lawlessness and hatred are boon companions. And so the Saviour was treated as an arch-liar, a worm to be trampled under foot, someone to be put for ever without the domain of law. For the one who had God’s law in his heart and who delighted to do God’s will, to be thus ejected from the sphere of justice meant intense suffering of spirit, for him an agony that far surpassed the pain inflicted by physical abuse. And so those prophetic words were fulfilled: “I am a worm, and am not a man” (Psalm 22:6). “He was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).
So suffered our divine Substitute. Worse was to come. As sinners we earned the punishment of hell—and there, too, God’s law was established—but the Lord Jesus took our place willingly and lovingly and endured the mockery and defiance that Satan would have hurled at us in hell. “With his stripes we are healed.”
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (8)
It does me good to remember Christ the Suffering Servant this time of year. I tend to think of him as victor (which he is), and forget the price of that victory.Amen, come Lord Jesus.
I like that Leahy points out that Christ was not a passive victim, but was actively loving us and doing the will of the Father when he took the abuse that he did. It’s hard to imagine such love; we are blessed indeed.
“As that suffering, humiliated figure stood there, his tormentors despised him in their hearts. They thought that he was utterly helpless in their hands. How wrong they were! Christ was never in retreat, never merely passive.”
“At this moment he was actively and voluntarily exposing himself to the fury of his enemies (Isaiah 50:6). This was costly obedience on the Savior’s part as he deliberately gave his back to those who struck him, enduring patiently and meekly this gratuitous torture.”
“intense suffering of spirit”
No man ever knew a pin prick of suffereing compared to the spiritual agony Christ went through.
A friend, who is not a Christian said to me after we watched “ThePassion of the Christ”: “Other men have suffered physical torture and death as Jesus did.”I said, “Surely, however no man will ever come close to His spiritual suffering.” I believe it was a sobering thought for him.
The Cross is what must be the Christian’s most awesome thought and truth. Jesus’ death is what He Himself told us to remember, as we take the bread and wine in the sacrament.
Thanks for all the good posts of our Lord and Savior’s death. Sounds perculiar to say the death of Christ is what I boast in more than all other things. And of course He is a risen Lord and Savior, but it’s His death that we see His greatest glory to His Father and love for us. What love is this?!
“love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Tim, I am grateful for your recommendation of reading The Cross He Bore. My celebration of Easter will never be the same. This book has awakened many emotions within me and has caused me to meditate on all that Christ has done for me. As Edward Donnelly said in the forward, sometimes you just have to stop and worship.
These passages stood out to me today.
“William Smyington rightly affirms, ‘In every case He suffered for us, never for Himself’; and he adds, ‘Not one throb of pain did He feel, not one pang of sorrow did He experience, not one sigh of anguish did He heave, not one tear of grief did He shed for Himself. If not one of His sufferings was personal, it follows that they were all substitutionary . . .’”
“O my soul, what a sight is this! As with tear-dimmed eyes we look on this terrible scene - do we? - we behold with wordless wonder the matchless love and infinite condescension of the one who came to seek and to save the lost.”
That scripture in Matthew reminds of the difference between Jesus’ holiness and my sinfulness. All the power of the godhead and he did nothing. My imagined temptation would be, while blindfolded to have the one who struck him drop dead, responding to the question “Who struck you?” say “That one.”
His love stayed his hand, His love stilled his words and his love held him on the cross.
‘If his judges had been sincere in their assessment of the prisoner, and in the verdict they reached, and if they had feared God, they would have delivered the accused to Satan that he might learn not to blaspheme (1 Tim. 1:20).’
Hmmm, I did not realise that ‘delivering the accused to Satan’ would have been the prescribed method. I see that crucifixion was nowhere outlined in the Law as the prescribed method of administering justice to the blasphemer, but rather stoning was to be that method (Lev 24:16). But, interesting, then, that Paul’s words in 1 Tim 1:20 were following in the footsteps of Judaic practice.
Thanks for your finding me on twitter and for your posts here. Some song lyrics that speak of the profundity of the cross of Christ, which touch me, for a number of reasons, and which you may also benefit from….
Forever I’ll proclaim the crossWhere Christ retrieved what once was lost.To sin and death I was a slave,Till He redeemed me from the grave.The Lord laid my iniquitiesOn Him to bring me life and peace.His blood was shed to set me free;He purchased me,And paid the price at Calvary.
I cannot help but humbled beTo see His righteous majesty,In humility depart His throneTo claim a cross I should have owned.The King of all eternityWas pierced and hung upon a tree,And the curse that held Him there my sin,I cannot bear.I cast my burden all on Him.
His mercy like a crimson tideCame flowing from His pierced side,To cleanse me from my every sin,Who selfishly abandoned Him.I surely have no place for pride,Like Peter, I could Him deny,And in my hands I hold the nails,Yet mercy sure,Yet mercy sure,Yet mercy sure,Still bids me come within the veil.
Oh, glory be to Jesus ChristWho gave Himself to bring me life.No longer dead He is alive;Ascended Christ is glorified.In heaven shall I behold the scarsOn hands that orchestrate the stars,And I will humbly bow the kneeBefore His throne,And worship Him eternally.
(c) 2006 Honeycomb Music Publishing Ltd
I love the 3rd verse, where, straight after “And in my hands I hold the nails”… the line “Yet mercy sure….” is repeated speaking of our utter guilt with His willingness, in grace and mercy, to deal with our sin and guilt completely, enabling us to enter into His presence.
You can hear the song at www.myspace.com/mattgilesmelodies
God bless you at Easter, and always.
Frankly, I am unable to write as I consider my Savior’s beating, at the hands of evil, on this day.
Obediently, my Christ bears my shame.
Who can comprehend that?