Behold the Man!
The Greatest Injustice
Jesus is the most rejected man in human history. In every age, from the day of his birth until now, Jesus has been rejected by the majority. In fact, it’s been stated that the greatest injustice ever perpetrated is recorded in John 1:11, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” Personally, I stand with this statement, but more importantly, by His grace, I stand with the rejected man.
Why?
Plainly put, Jesus is rejected because of blindness. He is not received, because he is unrecognized. His true identity is unknown. To see him, in the truest sense, is to know him; and know him, in the truest sense, is to receive him. But there’s a problem, and it’s called blindness.
The problem is not a natural one, it’s spiritual. This is why the Apostle Paul says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (1). In other words, Satan has blinded myriads upon myriads to the beauty, to the goodness, to the truth of Jesus—who is the person & picture of God.
The Mystery
So how does God solve the problem of spiritual blindness?
Here’s a key: the solution to a spiritual problem is always spiritual. But here’s the mystery: the cure is in the Man. Jesus said of himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (2). Spiritual blindness stems from sin and from Satan. Spiritual sight comes from the Savior, the Word who became flesh.
The Mission
Jesus launched the first phase of his global mission with a 5-fold purpose statement, unrolled from the scroll of Isaiah, written 700 years before he was born. At the center of this mission statement is the phrase: “recovering of sight to the blind” (3). Certainly, this had a natural dimension to it, but Jesus didn’t just mean physical healing. In the fullest sense of his promise, Jesus came to restore spiritual vision. Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind.
So again, how does God solve the problem of spiritual blindness?
The Cost
Jesus’s public ministry came at a very high personal cost: it began and ended with acts of violence against him. On day one, an attempt is made at his life. He’s driven from his hometown to the edge of a cliff, to be thrown down. This first attempt is unsuccessful, but the final one is fully executed. Three years later, he is driven from the capital city of Jerusalem to a place called The Skull, and there he is crucified with criminals. He had been well received by many, but ultimately, he was unrecognized. Blindness put the Son of Man to death; yet paradoxically, death proved key to the Son of God’s unveiling. The cure was in the cross. Bare with me…
A Story
Three days after Jesus’s death, a few women who had followed Jesus come running back from his tomb declaring to all the other followers that they had seen angels and that Jesus had risen from the dead! Luke tells us, “but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (4). That is, the women testified, and the men rejected their words.
Concealed
Two of these guys, that same day, leave the capital city of Jerusalem, and head down to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles away. Luke tells us, “While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (5). In other words, Jesus came to them concealed. These two had been with Jesus for close to three years, yet he comes up alongside them as a stranger. They do not recognize him. This is highly intentional.
What Things?
The first thing Jesus gets out of these guys is the news. They are shocked by his lack of knowledge: “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there these days?” (6) Jesus responds, “What things?” So these two guys unload on him their version of the national news.
O Foolish Ones
On finishing their tale, Jesus immediately rebukes them: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (7) His rebuke is powerful, but their eyes are not opened.
Did Not Our Hearts Burn?
Then Jesus gives them a bible lesson. Imagine—a bible lesson from the one who wrote the book—The Word Himself. Jesus takes them front to back through the entire scripture. In Luke’s words, “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (8). Later on, in retrospect, these two guys say to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (9) His bible lesson was powerful—he opened the book—but their eyes were not opened.
The Timing
Finally, Jesus sits down to eat with them. Luke writes, “When he was at the table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight” (10). The timing here is incredibly significant. The moment itself is a statement.
Known in the Breaking
The last time Jesus had broken bread, he had said to his closest followers, “This is my body, which is given for you” (11). Then between this first breaking and the second breaking came the actual breaking—the very substance of His breaking—Jesus’s death on the cross (12).
The point is this: Revelation has a price tag! The Cost of Revelation is the Cross. It’s in the breaking that we behold.
That night, without delay, these two guys run all the way back to Jerusalem, and tell all the others, “what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread” (13).
He’s Intentional
Jesus Christ could easily have revealed himself to these guys at any moment along the way, as he had already done so both for the women, and for Peter. But for these two, Jesus chose intentionally to wait until the breaking of the bread. His reason? Jesus had decided to communicate something to & through these two, that he had not yet communicated to the others. He was saying, as it were, “It cost me guys! It cost the cross! It cost my life, my brothers, to open your eyes. It cost me incredibly to reveal myself to you. But it was worth it, because I love you.” Jesus wanted us to know that the revelation of himself came at an exceeding price. It cost the Son of God his blood to open the eyes of the blind.
This is Why
This is why, before he died, Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me” (14).
This is why, before he died, Jesus said, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand” (15).
This is why, when he died, at the very moment that Jesus gave up his spirit, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (16). Hundreds of years earlier, the prophet Isaiah had prayed, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—” (17). Sometimes we ask for things without realizing what they will cost. The Greek word for revelation means to unveil, to uncover, to lay open, to make bare, to make known. “The curtain between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place was an elaborately woven fabric of 72 twisted plaits of 24 threads each. It was 60 feet high and 30 feet wide” (18) It was also perhaps a hand’s breadth in thickness. “No one was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place behind the curtain except the high priest, and he only once a year, on the Day of Atonement.” (19) When that temple veil to the Holy of Holies—the place symbolizing the realm of God and the throne room of heaven—when that veil was torn supernaturally from top to bottom, a Divine shout went out over all the earth: “The price has been paid! The price has been paid! The price has been paid in the broken body & blood of my Son!” The broken body & blood of Jesus was the revelation of the Father’s heart, and the revelation of the Father’s realm. Death is what it cost God to open the heavens. Death is what it cost God to reveal His Son.
Just Before Death
At Jesus’s private hearing, “Pilate said to them ‘Behold the Man!’ [And] when the chief priests and offices saw him, they cried out, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ ” (20) This demand was not made because of what Jesus had done. This demand was made because of who Jesus claimed to be: “We have a law,” they said, “and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God” (21).
At that moment, I wonder if the thought crossed Jesus’s mind—words he had spoken at least once before—“Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (22).
These leaders of the nation, blind to who he was, condemned him to death, not understanding, not realizing, that his crucifixion would prove to be the key to a mass beholding of the Man, the global unveiling of Jesus to the world, and the opening of eyes without number! (23)
His sacrifice is what initiated his unveiling. God’s solution to the global pandemic of spiritual blindness is the broken body of Jesus, and the blood.
The cure is in the cross.
The cure is in the cross.
This is one reason Isaiah wrote, “By his stripes we are healed” (24).
Thank You!
Jesus Christ, without your cross, I would never have seen the Light! Without your cross, I would never have known Your Love! Without your cross, I would never have recognized you for who you are. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You Jesus, Son of God, for breaking the bread of your body, for spilling the wine of your blood! There is no greater love. There is No Greater Love! (25)
Rip the Veil!
Father God, may the Lamb of God—in my own city & in my own day—receive the reward of his suffering:
Jesus, rip the veil over West Long Beach!
Jesus, rip the veil over North Long Beach!
Jesus, rip the veil over South Long Beach!
Jesus, rip the veil over East Long Beach!
Jesus, rip the veil over this city!
Jesus, rip the veil over the world!
Jesus, in the words of another, “Release a mass beholding of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” (26)
Amen.
2 Corinthians 4:4
John 8:12
Luke 4:18
Luke 24:11
Luke 24:15-16
Luke 24:18
Luke 24:25
Luke 24:27
Luke 24:32
Luke 24:30-31
Luke 22:19
Luke 23:26-49.
Luke 24:35
John 8:28
John 13:7
Matthew 27:51
Isaiah 64:1
ESV Study Bible, Footnote for Matthew 27:51
Ibid.
John 19:5-6, this prophetic nuance in Pilate’s words first came to my attention through Lou Engle’s digital communion service, April 9, 2020. Lou also shared very similarly on the revelation released “in the breaking.” His sharing influenced the writing of this piece.
John 19:7, this point was first pointed out to me years ago by my friend Tammy Dao-Bui
Matthew 13:13
I’m taking the language of “mass beholding of the man” & “global unveiling” from Lou Engle, digital communion service, April 9, 2020.
Isaiah 53:5
Oh the Cross by Upperroom, song lyrics
Lou Engle, on The Great Coming Communion Revival, digital communion service, April 9, 2020.