Thou hast known My reproach, and My shame, and My dishonor. Psalm 69:19 KJV

You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor. Psalm 69:19 NASB

The Gospel accounts take us from one scene of His shame to another. Matthew seems to stress the shame He endured amongst the leaders of the nation and Sanhedrin (Matt 26:59-67). False witnesses rose up against Him. The very existence of lying in the presence of the Savior must have been a tremendous grief to Him Who hates the lying tongue (Pro 6:16).

Then the accusation of blasphemy was leveled against the Son of God. What a reproach to bear! When the charge of guilt is placed against Him and the death penalty issued, the shameful treatment of the Lord of Glory began.

We read that they spit in His face – the greatest possible indignity one human being can perpetrate against another; but this was against the Son of God. They buffeted Him and smote Him with rods. Not content with the physical abuse, they heaped scorn upon Him by treating Him as a play-thing and baiting Him to prophesy and tell who it was that had just smitten Him.

Luke, while not omitting the shameful treatment of the Sanhedrin and leaders, adds to the account by telling us of the shame endured at the hands of Herod and His men of war (Luke 23:8-12). Pilate, seeking to rid himself of a sensitive political issue, sent the Lord Jesus to Herod, hoping he would make the judgment and bear the responsibility. Herod, hoping his morbid curiosity would be satisfied by the miracle-working Jesus of Whom he had heard, finds the only response to his queries to be that of a majestic silence.

In response, we read that Herod with his men of war set Him “at naught,” or literally treated Him as “nothing.” He became the object of sport for a brief time in Herod’s palace. Men of war, not known for sensitivity and refinement, and accustomed to every foul and blasphemous word, to every form of ridicule and torture, had Him as their object of entertainment.  In their midst, with silent grace and meekness, stood the Son of God, enduring the shame.

It is left to John to give us further details on the shame endured at the hands of Pilate. There was the scourging with its physical pain; then there was the presentation to the crowd on those two occasions. He brought the Lord Jesus forth crowned with thorns and wearing a purple robe of mockery. Unwritten but understood, were the signs of the bruising and beatings received at the hands of men in the high priest’s palace and at the hands of the Roman soldiers.

With dignity surpassing anything which marked men, the Lord Jesus came forth to the malicious gaze and hatred of the crowd. They beheld “the Man” and saw no beauty in Him at all. He is brought forth again at the “level place,” Gabbatha, and once again He is rejected by the crowd. He is esteemed of so little worth that the hated Roman emperor is preferred to Him.

He bears His cross to Golgotha and there His shame is complete: suspended upon a cross, the nation, Herod, Pilate, and the world join their voices to condemn Him as unworthy of life and unfit for earth. His shame has moved from private scenes to public and open mockery. The One whom eternity alone can contain, is cast out of His own creation. The last glimpse men receive of Him is hanging in shame on a cross. What a contrast with the next sight the world will have of Him!

Consider:

We have traced only His shame in these accounts. Think of the reproach and then of the dishonor done to Him.

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