IN HOSEA’S PROPHECIES (II, 4) it reads, how from sheer pity you take off the yoke that is on the jaws of an animal,—the Mediator given you of God, evil, rough human hands smote three times on the face.
First a sort of police-agent of the Sanhedrin did this, when Jesus dared to appeal to what for three years He had spoken publicly and done in the sight of all (John 18:22).
Afterward the Sanhedrin itself laid violent hands upon Jesus’ holy face, after His confession under oath that He truly was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. For this was considered blasphemy! And then they arose from their seats of justice, and as though possessed of wrath, they spit Jesus in the face, and with fists smote Him first upon the breast, and then upon His face, crying out: “Prophecy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?” (Matt. 26:68)
And the third time Jesus was struck upon the face in the yard of the Roman courthouse. Thither the Roman soldiers had taken Jesus after His scourging, in a cowardly and contemptible manner, unworthy the imperial uniform, to mock Him with their sneers and taunts, saying unto Him: “Hail, thou imaginary King of the Jews!” and … meanwhile they smote Him on the mouth (John 19: 3, Dutch version).
When you consider, that this was done three times, not for the sake of form, but from malicious intent, you can imagine how bruised Jesus’ face must have been, when on the way to Golgotha, bearing His Cross, He evoked such pity from the women who walked along, that they could not hold back their tears.
Of the physical pain, which this brutal treatment inflicted upon Jesus, we make no mention. He who has ever been struck in the face, knows how sensitive the facial nerves are, and how intensely the pain increases with new blows, as the blood quickly makes the veins of the face to swell. But yet the keen physical pain occasioned by a blow in the face is not the bitterest.
When suddenly a difficult matter comes to us, which altogether upsets us and touches our inmost self, we are apt to exclaim: “It seemed as though I was struck in the face.” And what these words express, is by no means first the pain, but much more the disgrace to our sense of honor as a human being and as man.
Your body also demands that it shall be respected, but above all else you claim the right, that your face shall be left alone, because in your face your soul expresses itself. More than any other part or member of your body, your face is the bearer of your personal honor.
He who strikes you in the face, gives you not merely pain, but profanes you and insults you.
And when they smote Jesus on the face, they wilfully and purposely insulted His honor as a Man.
And in this smiting of Jesus on the face there was yet more.
One of the evangelists, i. e. Mark (14:65), adds, that after they had outraged the holy face of Jesus with their poisonous saliva, they first threw a cloth or bag over the noble head, so that He could not see what went on around Him, and that then they beat the covered head with fists, exclaiming: “Prophecy, who is he that smote thee?”
Thus it was the fist-beat of the hand, which here defied the power of the word.
Messiah was to be the highest prophet. Jesus had confessed Himself to be the Messiah. Well, then, He should also exhibit His Messianic art, and, with a cloth thrown across the face, without sight, be able to tell the name of him who smote Him.
Hence brute violence, in the service of scornful mockery, directly profaning not only His honor as man and human worth, but also assaulting Him in the fact that He was the Anointed, the Messiah of God.
Thus the hand of him who smote here stands over against the mouth of Him Who was smitten.
Twofold power is here in combat.
The power of the word with the power of violence.
Might is right, declares the ignoble spirit of the world; right must be might, is sounded in heavenly language from above.
This, and no other, is the antithesis between the realm of the mighty ones on earth, and the Kingdom of Heaven which the Messiah came to establish! and, therefore, this world-power fights with the sword, with military force, with police, and where it is still unordered, with fist-force and with a smiting on the jaw. And against that violence, against that despotic sway of brute force, which renders our human life more akin to wild animals than to heaven, Jesus now appears with no hosts save those of God’s angels, and with no sword save the sword of the word.
Would you have an exhibition of Jesus’ power?
Then listen to His word. He spoke as One having authority.
When you ask for a symbol of world-power, you are shown the whetted sword and the clenched fist; but when you ask for a symbol of the power of Messiah, it is not the fist that clenches itself, but the mouth, which makes heavenly strength to go forth.
And when in the court room of the Sanhedrin, the priests of Jehovah smite Jesus with fists upon the blind-folded face, and defiantly exclaim: “Now prophecy, thou man of the word, imagined prophet of the Most High, prophecy, and say, who it is that smote thee,” it is the ruffian hand of the power that on earth is called great, which aims in Jesus’ face at the power, which is too strong for it, the power of the divinely animated word.
The mouth of Jesus had all those years been an offense to the high priests; those lips from which flowed the word of peace, had been a stone of offence to the men of the Sanhedrin.
Again and again they had wanted to arrest, stone and kill Him, but when it came to the point, their evil courage failed them; for when at such times Jesus stood in the midst of the multitudes, and spake so effectively, His face shone with a heavenly brightness, and something spake from His eye as never has spoken from human eye, and from His lips flowed a speech, which cut the conscience, which caused the finest strings of the human heart to vibrate, and turned all the people away from them. And when these same Pharisees in argument dared to take it up with the word against Jesus’ word, they every time suffered defeat. To oppose Jesus, to contradict Him face to face, they were not able. That irresistible face of Jesus, and the word that came from His mouth, was too much for them.
But their hands were equal to the task! If once with these they might take up matters against Jesus, the outcome would be different.
That with their rough hands they might once belabor that offending countenance, that defiant mouth to their heart’s content!
And now, the opportunity was offered them in the Sanhedrin.
There Jesus stood defenceless.
The multitudes were not present. They now had Him all to themselves. No better chance ever, to pour out their bottled wrath on Jesus.
And yet, as though even now they could not bear nor resist the overwhelming impression of His face, they snatch a cloth from the table and throw it over His head.
And now, that the face is covered, now that that face can no longer speak to them, now that that face no longer troubles them, now they dare, and now they strike it to their heart’s content.
So they smote Jesus on the face.
FROM the face the soul speaks; in the word the spirit goes out; shines out that which makes man Man; what is observable of our higher origin; and what exalts us as of God’s generation, above the order of the animal world.
The animal can not speak, and therefore in his order there is no other right than the right of the strongest. The sparrow-hawk that claws the dove and lacerates it; the pole-cat that springs upon the neck of the hare and sucks its blood; the tiger that casts the hart and kills it.
The world of animals knows no other order. Its power is in claw and maw and beak.
But over man God the Lord appointed an higher order.
A dominion not of physical violence, but of spiritual superiority, believing in His holy ordinances.
The less the hand takes part, and the more the eye bears rule and the word carries dominion, the higher the life, in home, in society, in state.
Hence the conflict between the realm of the world and the Kingdom of God in the end must focus itself on this one point: the violence of the hand, or the power of the spirit.
Peter did not understand this, when he struck with the sword, and thereby grieved Jesus so deeply. This is what Jesus said to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world, otherwise my servants would have fought for me” (John 18:36).
But upon violence the Sanhedrin risked it, and Pilate risked it well.
Jesus’ face they were not able to withstand, against His word they availed nothing, against His spirit they stood helpless, but they bound Him with cords, they beat Him with scourges, they laid their hands upon Him, they spat upon Him, they tormented Him, and finally they nailed Him to the tree.
Such was their power, in this lay their strength.
And it is this combat between the violence of the hand and the spiritual power of the eye, of the face and of the word, which concentrated itself most bitterly and sharply in that dark hour, when Jesus stood defenceless in the midst of excited and embittered priests, and they made His face invisible, and smote Him with their fists.
So there lies in this particular part of Jesus’ suffering a whole world of thoughts.
Your Jesus the lovely name for all that seeks dominion of right over might, of spirit over flesh, of eye and word over resistance of fist and brawn.
And therefore, the less you lean upon might, and the more you trust in the power of the spirit, the more you are like Jesus.
And also, where for the Lord’s sake you suffer wrong at the hand of superior powers, and can not protest otherwise than with the word, there Jesus is the comforter of your soul, Who bore this selfsame suffering to the utmost degree, and Who one day shall turn it into glory.