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THE INDIGNITIES OFFERED TO CHRIST IN THE PALACE OF THE HIGH PRIEST
THE sufferings of our blessed Lord were not confined to the garden or the cross; but were continued through all the intervening period without intermission. Those which he experienced immediately after his condemnation by the Sanhedrim, may be considered in a twofold view;
I. As inflicted on him—
We cannot read the account given us by the different Evangelists, without being filled with utter astonishment at,
1. The impiety of his persecutors—
[In every civilized state condemned criminals are held as objects of compassion: when once the law is put in force against them, they are treated at least with outward decorum and respect; and every one would wish rather to alleviate, than to aggravate, their sorrows. But in the servants of the high-priest, if not in some of the Council also, we behold the most savage barbarity, and the most wanton cruelty. To spit in the face of a person was the greatest indignity that could be offered him: and to pluck off his beard by force, must needs be attended with excruciating pain, Yet in this way, together with blows, did they insult and torment the victim of their malice.
To this cruelty they added the most horrid blasphemy. Our Lord was known to have professed himself the Christ; and to have shewn himself “a Prophet, mighty in words and deeds.” But they made the very offices which he sustained for our salvation a subject of profane derision: they blindfolded him, and then smote him with canes, and with the palms of their hands, saying unto him, “Prophesy unto us, thou Christ; Who is he that smote thee?” They had accused him of blasphemy: but another evangelist justly retorts the charge; and says, in reference to their present conduct, “Many other things blasphemously spake they against him.”
Who would have conceived that human nature should be capable of such atrocities?]
2. The meekness and gentleness of Christ—
[We are told in the foregoing verses, that “Jesus held his peace” amidst all the accusations of his enemies. The same conduct he observed under the aggravated trials that he now endured. Not an angry or vindictive word escaped his lips. How justly might he have vindicated his Divine character, by striking dead upon the spot the persons who so wantonly abused him! He might at least have dwelt more largely on the hint which he had suggested, when adjured by the high-priest to declare his real character [Note: ver. 64.]; and might have told them how he would resent and punish their impieties when they should stand before his tribunal. It might indeed be supposed that he uttered many things which are not recorded in this brief history; but, whatever he might say or do on other occasions, we are sure that, during the whole scene of his last sufferings, “when he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.”]
But these indignities are to be considered in another view, namely,
II. As bearing testimony to him—
The general agreement between our Lord’s character and the prophecies concerning him, is a convincing evidence of his Messiahship—
[The circumstances which were foretold respecting him were so numerous, so minute, so improbable, and so contradictory, (if we may so speak,) that no one could have ventured to predict such things respecting an impostor; nor could they have been fulfilled in him by chance. None but God, who ordereth all things according to the counsel of his own will, could have foreseen them, or have secured their accomplishment: and therefore the things, so foreseen, and so accomplished, infallibly testify, that the person in whom they were accomplished was indeed the Christ — — —]
In these sufferings more especially we see a confirmation of all his pretensions and professions—
[His trials, and his behaviour under them, were both subjects of prophecy. Let Micah tell us how the Messiah was to be treated: “They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek [Note: Mic_5:1.].” Let Isaiah describe his conduct under that and various other indignities: “He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; he hid not his face from shame and spitting [Note: Isa_50:6. See also our Lord’s own prophecy, Luk_18:32.].” With these lights let me go and search for the Messiah. Where shall I find him? I go into the high-priest’s palace: I descend into the hall among the servants; there I see the indignities offered to the despised Nazarene: I behold him smitten on the face with sticks, as well as with the palms of their hands [Note: Beza justly translates ἐ ñ ʼ ñ ʼ Ü ð é ó á í bacillis ceciderunt. And this marks the accomplishment of Micah’s prophecy.]: I see the inhuman wretches spitting in his face; whilst he endures all his sufferings with invincible patience. There, therefore, I recognize the Messiah, the Saviour of the world; and falling down before him, I exclaim with Thomas, “My Lord, and my God!”]
In this history we behold, as in a glass,
1. How Christ is yet treated by an ungodly world—
[It is not any longer in the power of any to offer him the same personal insults that are recorded in the text: but as they who live in sin are said to “crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame,” so may they with equal justice be said to “spit in his face and buffet him:” and, while they imagine that he neither regards nor notices their impieties, they do in fact repeat the blasphemies of those who smote him, and say, “Prophesy unto us, thou Christ; Who is he that smote thee?” Let then the indignation which we feel against that blasphemous and inhuman rabble, be turned against ourselves: for, as often as we have violated his laws, and encouraged ourselves with hopes of impunity in sin, we have renewed the transactions of that awful day: and we have even more need to humble ourselves than they, inasmuch as we have professed to acknowledge him as our Saviour, whereas they really thought him an impostor, who deserved all that they inflicted on him.]
2. How his disciples must expect to be treated—
[“The servant must not expect to be above his Lord: if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, much more will they those of his household.” Indeed, as in the case before us, the very name by which God himself has designated them is used against them in a way of profane derision, and made a term of the most malignant reproach. We appeal to all, whether the children of God are not continually called in Scripture “the elect:” yet is there not in the whole language one single term that is so offensive to the world at large, or that is used with more bitter sarcasm than this. Yes; this is regarded precisely as the terms “Christ and Prophet” were by those persecutors of our Lord: and the same idea of presumption and hypocrisy is now attached to those who claim the former title, as was annexed to the pretensions of our blessed Lord to the office and character of the Messiah. But as then the contempt poured on Jesus confirmed that very truth which it was designed to invalidate, so the reproach cast on God’s elect at this day, is an evidence in their favour: our Lord himself declared, that “it should turn unto us for a testimony [Note: Luk_21:12-13.].” Let us not then think it strange if we are called to endure fiery trials; but let us expect to be conformed to our blessed Saviour as well in sufferings as in glory.]
3. How we are to conduct ourselves under such treatment—
[We should “arm ourselves with the same mind” that was in Christ Jesus. We should “possess our souls in patience,” and “let patience have its perfect work.” “Being reviled, we should bless; being defamed, we should entreat; being persecuted, we should suffer it.” We should not either in word or deed avenge ourselves, but “give our cheek to the smiters” like him [Note: Lam_3:30.], and commit ourselves to him who judgeth righteously; who will in due time “recompense tribulation to them who trouble us, and to us who are troubled, rest.”]