“Live From Jerusalem: The Humiliations”
Philippians 2:8

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Lent Service V—March 17, 2021

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

During our Lent services this year, we are looking at the events of Holy Week under the theme, “Live from Jerusalem.”  This evening we consider with “The Humiliations” of our Lord.  Our text is from the second chapter of Philippians.  St. Paul says of Jesus, “He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death—even death on a cross!”

In the hours before his death, our Lord Jesus Christ was humiliated in so many shameful ways.  At the house of the high priest: “They spit in his face and struck him with their fists.  They blindfolded him and slapped him and said, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ.  Who hit you?’  And the guards took him and beat him.”

At the palace of Herod: “Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him.  Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.”

At the palace of Pontius Pilate: “Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.  They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ they said.  They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.”

In the Roman world, the most extreme humiliation conceivable was crucifixion, death on a cross.  It was so great a humiliation, such a dishonorable way to die, that a citizen of the Roman Empire could not be executed in this manner.

Think of what a humiliation it was:  This form of execution was reserved for the lowest scum, the worst criminals.  For six hours, from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon, Jesus hung exposed on a cross, totally naked, between two criminals.  And even while he was enduring that degrading torment he was mocked and insulted: “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!’  In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders sneered at him.  ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.  He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him.’  One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!’”

St. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians, “We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”  Neither the Jews nor the Gentiles could accept that the Messiah, the Son of God, would allow himself to be crucified, because crucifixion was the worst humiliation imaginable.  The Jews were expecting the Messiah to be a mighty warrior.  The pagan gods of Greek and Roman mythology would never endure such shameful treatment.  The very idea of a humiliated Messiah, a crucified Son of God was considered absolute foolishness.

This hatred and scorn for the crucified, humiliated Christ is seen in a bit of graffiti found in an ancient army barracks at Rome.  It seems one of the soldiers, named Alexamenos, was a Christian.  The graffiti shows this soldier kneeling before a cross.  On the cross hangs a naked man with a donkey’s head.  The sarcastic inscription says, “Alexamenos worships his god.”

“Save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”  Jesus could have saved himself; Jesus could have spared himself all these humiliations.  As he said in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Do you not know that I can call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

Jesus knew in advance exactly what would happen to him, the humiliations he would endure.  He told his disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.  He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him.”

So why did Jesus allow it to happen?  Why did he submit to these shameful humiliations?  He was suffering the disgrace, the contempt, the shame that you deserve because of your sins.  Jesus willingly endured all his humiliations for one reason: To earn the salvation of your soul. 

Humble yourself before the Lord.  Confess to him your sins, your guilt.  Because of his humiliation, because of his death on the cross, your sins are all forgiven, your guilt is all canceled.

Find forgiveness, life, and salvation in the humiliations of our Lord:  blindfolded, slapped, beaten, ridiculed, mocked, sarcastically hailed as the King of the Jews, sneered at, insulted, exposed naked on a cross.  For, all of it he endured for you.

“He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death—even death on a cross!”  He humbled Himself—for you.