Required reading
The Works (Vol 4) of John Newton (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Sermon XVIII (Voluntary suffering).
My summary
This week Newton preaches on 'I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.' (Isa 50:6)
Newton observes from these words that the humiliation of the Messiah was:
(i) voluntary (to display the glory of God and bring salvation to sinners);
(ii) extreme (shown by the spitting, beating and scourging).
What grabbed me
I appreciated Newton's comments on the fact that Christ was spat on: 'They began to 'spit upon him' in the high priest's hall. The Roman soldiers, likewise, ' did spit upon him,' when they had contemptuously arrayed him in a scarlet robe, and bowed the knee before him, in mockery of his title of King. Great as an insult of this kind would be deemed amongst us, it was considered as still greater, according to the customs prevalent in the eastern countries. There, to spit, even in the presence of a person, though it were only upon the ground, conveyed the idea of disdain and abhorrence. But the lowest of the people spit 'in the face' of the Son of God. No comparison can fully illustrate this indignity. There is some proportion between the greatest earthly monarch, and the most abject slave. They did not spit upon Alexander, or Caesar, but upon the Lord of glory.'
It is simply unfathomable that human beings should spit on the Son of God. But that is what they did.
Next week's reading
Read Sermon XIX (Messiah suffering and wounded for us).
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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