Josh
Hey, everybody. Oh man, am I excited for this podcast? I, you know, sometimes there’s a topic that I want to talk about that is kind of burning in my bones, so to speak, just alive in me in a way and this one this week is I don’t even just, I’m just pumped about it. And I hope you I hope you will be too. I don’t know, sometimes I get a little nerdy with theology. Anyway, alright, so listen, if you listen to this podcast, most likely you are dealing with some type of sexual integrity issue, you’re striving for sexual integrity, or you love somebody who’s wrestling with those kinds of issues, or you just care about this topic. And so yes, I’m going to talk about theology, but I hope it really speaks to you where you are, it should speak to you or your So listen, and listen and listen. Alright, here’s the deal. There’s a moment in Jesus’s life, a moment in Jesus’s life. And if you, you’ve probably read it over and over again, and just kind of whizzed right through it zipped right through this this moment, I want us to slow down, I want us to just pause with this moment in this podcast. And it’s the moment where Jesus has been arrested. And he’s in the custody of Pilate, who is overseeing the region at the time, Roman, not friendly with us. And the crowds are outside, and the elders of the Jewish elders are outside of how Jesus arrested. And they want Jesus crucified. And Pilate, according to all the gospel writers is really convinced that Jesus is not guilty. And that he’s been handed over because of envy. Not real hip on the idea of, of crucifying Jesus, but it’s also, you know, he just doesn’t care that much. And there’s a moment where he brings Jesus out to the crowds he out. And depictions of this often shows pilot up on a kind of a balcony. And he brings us out in front of the crowds. And he says, Behold, the man, they hold them in. Most of us don’t speak that way, we don’t usually use the word behold. So I’ve always kind of like zipped through this, this passage, kind of assuming that what what pilot is doing is one of two things. First of all, he’s basically saying like, here’s the guy, here’s the guy, this is the guy that that we’re talking about. And I’ve always assumed the reason that he did this was was for one of two reasons. One was he’s kind of mocking Jesus. And so Jesus has been arrested. He’s been betrayed by his friends, abandoned by his friends. He’s been beaten at this point, by the elders, the Jewish elders, he’s also been beaten by the the soldiers. He’s not in good shape. I’m not sure if at this point, he’s the head of the crown of thorns placed on his head or purple robe, ever. He’s been flogged. But in any any case, he’s already been beat up enough. He’s been spat upon, we know that he’s not in good shape. And Pilate brings them out and says, here’s the guy, so maybe he’s doing it to mock Jesus, maybe he’s doing it to say basically, like, you know, look at this idiot. Or the other reason he might be doing that is basically excuse me to say to the, all the all the people who are, you know, shouting for his crucifixion and saying, he’s guilty, you know, he, he claims to be God, he claims to be God’s son, he claims to be a king of the Jews. And he’s saying, really this guy, this is the guy. I mean, look at him, he’s kind of pathetic, like, you know, we already beat him up and spit on him. And he’s not he’s not a threat. One of those two things, or maybe it’s both, maybe he’s saying, here’s the guy. He’s no big deal. And pilots mocking him and pilots also mocking the crowd by saying, Why are you so freaked out about this guy? Here’s the guy. That’s kind of how I read it before. And that actually fits with kind of pilots. Mo I mean, we see later on that he has inscribed on the plaque that goes over Jesus head when He’s crucified the words you know, Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, and the the Jewish elders are like, Whoa, don’t do that. He’s not the king of the Jews. Like just say he that’s what he claimed to be in palace, like I wrote it, leave it. And I think Pilate was mocking Jesus and mocking the Jews. By putting them over his head. He’s like, you know, we’ve got the Emperor, you’ve got this king, you know, Lottie dA. So I think there is something on kind of what pilot is doing here. And it’s a humiliating moment for Jesus. And I want to hone in on this moment. There’s so much we could say about the fact that Jesus relates with us when we are mocked. Jesus relates with us, when we are mistreated when people view us as less than when we are exposed and ridiculed. It’s a painful, awful moment. But there’s something else deeper going on in this moment as well. Some Think profound for us. And it matters in our journey towards sexual integrity. And some theologians and preachers have talked about this over the years. This is not a thought original to me, I actually first heard this from Christopher West and a talk he gave, I don’t know, 15 years ago. And in essence, those words, Behold, the man also have a deeper meaning in that pilot did not even realize what he was saying. And this happens different times throughout Scripture, where somebody’s saying something about Jesus or about the situation, and it ends up that what they’re saying is prophetic. They don’t realize it, again, like the words of Jesus had when He’s crucified, Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, it was true. Pilate didn’t think it was true. He didn’t care. He was mocking, but it is, it was nonetheless true. Or when when Pilate doesn’t want to crucify Jesus and the people, the crowd, say to him, the pilot says, Look, I don’t believe he’s guilty. And the crowd says, crucify me anyway, Let his blood be on our heads and the heads of our descendants. They didn’t realize what they’re saying. They were basically saying, like, we’ll take the blame. But in truth, this was God’s intent, that this is the blood of the land would be sprinkled upon the guiltiest of people, and they would be cleansed. And likewise, there’s this moment when when, when Pilate says this, Behold the man, he is saying something and not realizing the deeper implications of what he’s saying. There’s a sovereign movement here. So what’s this deeper meaning? Well, it’s this God had to design for human beings, a heart for what he was making when He made man and woman in His image. And his heart for man and woman was bestowed upon Adam and Eve in the beginning. They were designed to be a reflection, an image of the invisible God. And that image of God being a self giving, self donating, loving God, who rules over his creation in a loving way. And their male and female complement complementary physical design was meant to be an image of that, as they lovingly give themselves one to the other, not using each other, not lusting after each other, but giving lovingly Adam giving his body for His Bride, His Bride returning and saying, my body is open to you. This is the beautiful image that that God had designed meaning but as we know, Adam and Eve did not bear that image. Well, they rebelled. They turned on God and worship the creation, rather than the Creator. And every single person following did likewise, God gave them chance after chance after chance, and they continued to drop the Balta fail to fail to fail at a Neve did. All the patriarchs did, the people of Israel did, on and on through the through the centuries, until God sends His his very Son, the word of God made flesh incarnate. He is, as Paul writes, he is the the last Adam, the first Adam fell, Jesus is the last Adam so when Pilate holds or parades Jesus out for the people to see. And he’s been beaten, betrayed, abandoned, spit upon, mocked by humanity, and nonetheless, he does not rebel, he does not, you know, say, Forget you, God, I’m not gonna go through this. I’m not going to trust you. He remains faithful to God. And He doesn’t say, Forget you people, I’m going to fight back. He gives himself lovingly, even remaining silent before their accusations in love for them. And pilot holds out his finger and says, Behold, the man. In essence, what pilot is is saying without realizing he’s saying it is he’s saying, This is what a man is. This was God’s designed for what it means to be a human. This. You haven’t seen it yet. Adam and Eve didn’t show you. None of the patriarchs showed you, Israel didn’t show you none of the prophets could show you 100 accurately. But this is it. This is the exact representation of the invisible God, Behold, the man. This is the prototype. This is who God had in mind. As Athanasius put it, this is the image of God absolute. If you want to know what God is like this, Behold, the man. Now why does that matter for you and me, as we’re seeking to walk and grow in sexual integrity? Well, a couple things, one, in all the ways that we have failed in every single way we have failed. Jesus has been successful, he has been victorious. And so our faith is not in ourselves. It is in him. It’s in his perfection, not our own. Have you failed to live out? sexual integrity perfectly? Yeah, me too.

Josh
We’re not excused by that. But we don’t believe ourselves. We don’t believe in ourselves for that very reason. But we do believe in Him. He is the chaste one, he is the pure one. He is the one who is loved where all we did was last. He is the one who gave Himself as the perfect self giving gift. That’s God designed man to do. Its God God designed humans to do. He did it where we didn’t. So we believe in Him, not in ourselves. That’s thing number one. But thing number two, and equally as important is he is showing us not just an exception to the rule. He is an exception to the rule, but not just the exception to the rule. He is also the image that we are made in. When When Pilate speaks those words. as God intended beholding the man, we are meant to look at Jesus, we are meant to gaze at Jesus. And both see the exception, who exceeds us who is far above us. And also we are to catch a vision and glimpse of we are made to be like him. So where you falter, guess what? Gaze upon Jesus and see the one who’s fulfilled. All the law has done everything you couldn’t do. His righteousness is imputed to you. And also behold Him because as you gaze upon him, you become more like Him. To borrow the old phrase, it’s often repeated, you become like that which you worship. And so gaze upon this, Behold the man, what are you supposed to be like? Behold, the man. How are you supposed to be? How are you supposed to love? Behold, the man. How far does love Go? Behold, the man. This is not just a pie in the sky idea. This is God’s promise for you. How do you know what’s God’s promise for you? Because Christ cainy entered into your humanity, that you might be raised up into his divinity, not because doesn’t mean you become a god, small g. But it doesn’t mean become to borrow the old old way of talking you become demonised. His divine nature is is breathed into us that you can be who you are designed to be Behold the man. Okay. And this, my brothers, my sisters, well, why is all this come to you? Because God loves you. God loves you. And what’s the evidence? Behold, the man. Jesus help us behold you. And both believe that all that you’ve been all that you are, is attributed to us by faith. And Lord, help us also to believe that you go before us to show us what a human is supposed to be like. We bless you and praise you