Spurgeon: April AM
* 04/14/AM
"All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip,
they shake the head."
--Psalm 22:7
Mockery was a great ingredient in our Lord's woe. Judas
mocked Him in the garden; the chief priests and scribes laughed
Him to scorn; Herod set Him at nought; the servants and the
soldiers jeered at Him, and brutally insulted Him; Pilate and
his guards ridiculed His royalty; and on the tree all sorts of
horrid jests and hideous taunts were hurled at Him. Ridicule is
always hard to bear, but when we are in intense pain it is so
heartless, so cruel, that it cuts us to the quick. Imagine the
Saviour crucified, racked with anguish far beyond all mortal
guess, and then picture that motley multitude, all wagging their
heads or thrusting out the lip in bitterest contempt of one poor
suffering victim! Surely there must have been something more in
the crucified One than they could see, or else such a great and
mingled crowd would not unanimously have honoured Him with such
contempt. Was it not evil confessing, in the very moment of its
greatest apparent triumph, that after all it could do no more
than mock at that victorious goodness which was then reigning on
the cross? O Jesus, "despised and rejected of men," how couldst
Thou die for men who treated Thee so ill? Herein is love
amazing, love divine, yea, love beyond degree. We, too, have
despised Thee in the days of our unregeneracy, and even since
our new birth we have set the world on high in our hearts, and
yet Thou bleedest to heal our wounds, and diest to give us life.
O that we could set Thee on a glorious high throne in all men's
hearts! We would ring out Thy praises over land and sea till men
should as universally adore as once they did unanimously reject.
Thy creatures wrong Thee, O Thou sovereign Good!
Thou art not loved, because not understood : This grieves me most, that vain pursuits beguile
Ungrateful men, regardless of Thy smile.