Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Pierre VanPaasen once had an interview with Marshal Lyauty, but the former procounsul of the French Republic in Morocco.

VanPassen asked him what he would have done had he been in Pilate's place.

Lyauty, after describing what a trouble maker Jesus had been, endorsed Pilate's action.

"You mean your excellency is of the opinion that Pilate was justified in putting Jesus to death?" he asked.

"Positively," was his reply.

In fact, he said he would not have waited until Jesus had infected the crowds in the capital, but would have had him put before a firing squad in his home province up North in Galilee.

This may sound like a cruel attitude, and it is, but it would have been far less cruel than what Jesus actually did have to endure.

Marshal Lyauty's plan would have been swift and merciful, but the way Pilate bungled things Jesus had to go through intense torture that was totally unnecessary.

A close look at what Jesus went through is so horrible, revolting, and pathetic, that many feel that this aspect of the cross should be skipped over.

After all, if we are opposed to violence on TV, why promote it from the pulpit?

Nothing could be more violent than the scenes of Christ's suffering.

The cruelty of what He endured if shown in its stark reality would horrify people, and give them nightmares.

People are not interested in being disturbed, and so the cruelty of the cross is played down.

People want things more pleasant when they come to worship.

The beauty of the cross is fine, but the cruelty of the cross is taboo.

It forces people to face up to the undesirable fact of their own sin and depravity.

It gets rather distasteful for the sophisticated person when he confronted by the truth that it was his sin that helped produce the cruelty of the cross.

Every person is partly responsible for the cruelest crime that ever took place on this planet.

We are all accomplices.

People like to cover up the pit of their evil nature and be entertained with trivial pleasantries, and not be made to look at the awful cost God had to pay to save them.

There is truth in this little limerick:

There was a clergyman out in Dumont

Who kept tropical fish in his font.

Although it surprises

The babes he baptizes,

It seems to be just what they want.

If we get just what we want, we will certainly not be looking at the cruelty of the cross.

If we get what we want, we will take all the benefits of Calvary, and leave the burdens to Christ.

C. T. Studd put this attitude in poetry.

Mine be the pomp and glory

And Thine be Calvary!

Give me the ease of living-

The scourge, the thorns for Thee!

Ah, how we prate of threading

The path the Master trod-

Laurel and gold our portion;

Thorns were the crown of God!

Mine the respectful gester;

Thine be the bloody thong!

Mine be the titled leisure-

And Thine the jeering throng!

Here, and we call Him "Master"!

Our hands are pale and fine,

Too good for blood and wounding-

His blood ran down like wine!

Mine be the chant and candle;

Thine be the pain and loss;

I am too good for trial!-

Thine, judgment and a cross!

Subconsciously all of feel this way to some degree.

We hate to face up to the fact that our sin is partly responsible for what Jesus endured.

We hate to look at the price we made Him pay.

We feel guilty because we not only have not resisted unto blood, but we have hardly entered the battle at all.

We enjoy being at ease in Zion, and this may be disturbed if we look too closely at the suffering Jesus endured.

Taking up the cross and following Him will no longer be an invitation to a pleasant afternoon hike in the beauties of God's creation.

It will be a command to face the fury of the forces of hell, and if need be, die for righteousness.

It is easy to understand why people get squeamish when you approach the horrors of Christ's sufferings, but God certainly expected us to face this scene squarely.

The Gospels devote more space to the suffering and crucifixion of Christ than to any other event of His life.

The picture is gruesome, and the language is brutal, but there is no way to be faithful to the Scripture and bypass the cruelty of the cross.

When we say the cross we are including all that Jesus went through in his trial that led to the cross.

Jesus was half dead before he ever reached Calvary.

In Luke 23:27-28 we read that he was followed by women who wailed and lamented.

Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children."

He went on to tell of the judgment that would fall on the Jews because of their rejection of him.

It is of interest to note that nowhere in the Gospels is a women ever an enemy of Christ.

Nowhere does a woman ever add to the cruelty Jesus suffered.

Women are always in a positive relation to Jesus.

Even Pilate's wife warned him about condemning Jesus.

Masculine brutality is responsible for the suffering of Jesus, while the feminine heart is always sympathetic to him.

Nevertheless, Jesus was not pleased or helped by their tears, and he told them so.

He told them to direct their tears to their own judgment, and not his.

We need to keep this in mind lest as we examine the cruelty of the cross we think we are accomplishing anything if we become emotional and shed tears over the suffering of Christ.

Studdart Kennedy said in his own stinging way, "The last thing in the world that Christ was or wanted to be was pathetic.

The last thing He wanted to do was set souls sailing on a sea of tears to no where in particular.

Emotions are like shadows passing over corn fields; they come and go, and come again, and leave no trace behind.

Christ wants more than our tears.

He wants our very selves, and the very fibre of our beings yielded up to Him."

If we feel anything as we look at the cruelty of the cross it ought to be the feeling of repentance for our sin, and a feeling that we are unworthy servants unfit to untie His shoelace let alone be a joint-heir with Him of the unsearchable riches of God.

We cannot look at every detail of the sufferings of Christ, but we want to look at some major causes of His pain under two categories.

We want to look first at-

I. THE CRUELTY OF HIS PRIVATE TORTURE.

In verse 1 Pilate had Jesus scourged in private.

This was a whipping with what the Romans called the "horrible flagellum," or the horrible whip.

It was made of long leather thongs studded with pellets of lead and sharp pieces of bone.

It literally tore a man's back to strips.

Roman law prescribed no maximum number of strokes as Jewish law did, and the result was that many died from this torture alone.

Josephus tells of how he had some of his opponents scourged until their insides was visible.

How bad Jesus looked we do not know for sure, but we know it was no mere matter of red welts.

Pilate's motive for having Jesus whipped was to appeal to the pity of the crowd.

He brought Jesus out and said, "Behold the man."

He was saying that they should behold this poor bleeding, bruised, and wretched man.

"Can you look at such a pathetic sight and still persist in demanding His crucifixion?"

If Jesus had not been severely beaten, this appeal would have no weight.

Luke 23:16, 22 clearly reveal Pilate's plan.

He said, twice with determination, "I will chastise Him and let Him go."

But the Jewish leaders, like blood thirsty hyenas ruined his plan, and refused to moved by pity.

They cried out, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"

This meant that the beating of Jesus was for nothing.

His back was torn to shreds as a part of Pilate's plot to outwit the Jews, and it failed.