150. Monday after Fourth Sunday in Lent.
Lord, Lord, wake us, and show us thy crown of thorns. Amen.
John 19, 4-7. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
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“Behold the man!” Thus speaks Pilate, and presents the Son of God as the most wretched, abject, and miserable of men, in order that they may be compelled either to despise him or to take compassion on him.
And he himself, the Holy One whom I worship, whose feet I would embrace and kiss at this moment; I, a miserable sinner, worthy of being accursed; — he stands before us covered with blood, with tear-stained face, weighed down by ignominy, a mockery to all men, a spectacle before which the angels hide their face, a king more abased than would seem possible; and yet there is none to have compassion on him.
— Wilhelm Loehe
“Behold the man!” Look at him, all who bear the shape of man; and see what man is become. This is the condition to which Adam and his children have come down. They were to have had dominion over the world, and to have enjoyed every blessing; but they have placed the accursed thorns about their own head. They were created unto glory; but they have lost their honor before God, and have been swallowed up in disgrace. They should have been kindly affectioned to one another, and should have been the express image of love; but what their hearts now are you may see in the crown of prickly thorns, and the condition of their souls you may see in the face on which they spat, and in the bloody body which they had scourged. Fallen man is, therefore, the slave of Satan; and unless he has been born again he must be cast into everlasting fire. Then all devils shall mock him, saying: Behold man, who was created in the image of God to be the king of creation and the judge of every spirit! What is become of his heavenly crown? Then man shall feel the curse of God as thorns in all his members, and be covered with unending shame.
All this misery, however, Jesus has taken upon himself, that we may be saved from it by faith in him. Behold the man, as he receives the deserved punishment in full and with no abatement; with not a drop of sympathy to sweeten the bitterness of the cup. Behold it, heaven and earth and hell, and say whether or not man has atoned, in perfect willingness and in perfect and uncomplaining patience, for the crime of attempting to grasp the kingly crown of God himself. And look at him, ye timid sinners, when you are in terror by reason of the persistent stubbornness of your hearts; look to him, and man yourselves to meet your accuser without fear; behold him, and receive grace to be humble of your innermost heart!
Give us to this end thy Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus; and reign over us from thy throne of glory. Here is my sinful, needy, wicked heart; take it, and reign in it, and exercise dominion over all that I am and all that I have. O, that I might be obedient to thee, and that I might rejoice in walking the way of suffering after thee! Dear Lord Jesus, grant me this grace, I pray thee with all my heart. Amen.
I will leave my Jesus never!
On the cross for me he died;
Love shall draw me to him ever,
At his feet I will abide.
Of my life the light forever,
I will leave my Jesus never!
In his name I stand acquitted
While upon the earth I stay:
What I have to him committed
He will keep until that day.
Be his service my endeavor;
I will leave my Jesus never.
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