THE TWENTY-SECOND CHAPTER.

Jesus is led to Herod.

After that Pilate had heard all the false and unjust accusations of the Jews, and had seen that they could show no cause of death in, Jesus, and when he had heard at the same time that Jesus was a Galilean, he sent Him to Herod, who then was ruler over Galilee. This was the fourth procession of Jesus, which He underwent in His Passion with sorrow unutterable. Oh! how those wicked men laboured, and what trouble they took, before they could deliver Jesus to death. For it could not be, that in that most pure gold, proved so, many times in the fire of affliction, they could find even one stain 173of any impurity whatsoever, even the slightest. Oh! with what ignominy and cruelty they led along the Lord of Majesty, to Whom is due all honour and glory, through the city in the sight of all, for the city was full of people. Hence; doubtless, men ran together in crowds in their eagerness to see Christ, and so the Lord of Majesty was made a spectacle to God and men. Some mocked at Him, and inflicted on Him grievous hurt, and sorely troubled Him. Others ran after Him, heaping shame and reproach upon Him. Oh! how they hurried along with our sweet Jesus, dragging Him from one judge to another. Oh! how sick and sore were all His limbs from weariness, and all that manifold affliction and cross, which He had undergone during that long night! How worn and hurt were His feet from the stones of the public places, as they hurried on with immoderate speed, and our Lord walked bare-foot?

Learn, then, O my soul, from thy Bridegroom, to deny thyself, and to subject thyself first of all to God, and in the next place to those who are set over thee, as standing in the place of God, and also, to all men whatsoever, out of love, that after the example of thy Bridegroom, thou mayest look on thyself as the least and the vilest of all, and mayest rejoice to be the hand-maid of the servants of Christ. 174For if thou wishest to be a pleasing bride unto Him, and to follow Him faithfully, then must thou strip thyself wholly of thine own will and choice, even as if thou hadst never known what it was to have any will of thine own. And thou must suffer thyself to be led from one to the other, far and near, to the highest and the lowest, within and without, and thou must be ever cheerfully obedient, and subject, however troublesome and hard, however painful and contrary it may be to thine own feeling, or judgment, or sensuality; even as Christ cheerfully gave Himself up to all those cruel torments, which were beyond measure painful to His tender complexion, and gladly suffered Himself to be dragged from judge to judge, from punishment to punishment, and underwent divers crosses and afflictions, one after the other. Nor did He ever draw up His face in wrinkles, or disdainful look, nor open His mouth to any complaint or murmuring. Our tender Lord regarded not the shame, or the crosses, or the wrongs which He suffered, but He was humbly obedient to His Father even unto death, and patiently submitted Himself to all the sorrows, and pains, and torments, which they inflicted on Him.

Thus, then, did those savage men lead Him to Herod. Now Herod, since he was a man full of curiosity, and puffed up,175and had heard much about Christ’s miracles, for a long time had been desirous to see Him. But not a word of answer could he obtain from Christ. For as he desired to see some miracle only out of vain curiosity, he was clearly unworthy to receive even a word or a sign from the Eternal Truth. Here then, again, those crafty and blood-thirsty Jews, like mad dogs, barked out their charges against Christ, and their condemnation of Him, and bringing false witnesses against Him, in order, by their loud discordant cries, to urge Herod on to judge and condemn the Christ. Yet, in the midst of all this, that gentle Lamb was humbly silent, and waited in patience for the chalice which His Father had prepared for Him.

Herod, then, when he saw that Jesus gave no sign nor answer, was troubled, and set Him at nought, and mocked Him with all his men of war, whereby our Lord Jesus suffered great shame and reproach. Of a truth, in all places, and at the hands of all, He suffereth persecution, contempt, and wrong. There is no man to relieve Him, or to show Him any kindness, or to compassionate Him in His affliction, or to speak to Him even one word of comfort. Young and old, little and great, servants and their lords, all rose up against Him; all with one accord vomited out upon Him their poisonous malice and falsehoods. 176All greedily thirsted for His death, and burned to shed His innocent Blood; for without pain and disgust they could not look upon Him. Thus was Christ our Lord clearly made the reproach of the world, and the outcast of the people. For Herod not only cast Him away from him with indignation, and shamefully treated Him, but he even clad Him in a white garment, as if He had been a fool, so as by this means to provoke the whole crowd at the same moment to mock Christ. And with such ignominy and confusion he sent Him back to Pilate. This is the fifth procession of our Saviour which He undertook during His Passion for our sins.

Here every man may think with himself, how full of misery was this procession of Christ, in which, after He had been thus shamefully mocked at, and set at nought by Herod, those vile servants and murderers in their turn mocked Him and ill-used Him with great contempt, some smiting Him, others trampling on Him with their feet; some dragging Him by His garments, while not a few behind His back vomited upon Him curses and shameful words. Nor need we speak of those other numberless reproaches, wrongs, and insults, by which those impure men were carried away against Him, of which no express mention is made in Holy Writ, nor have we any certain testimony. Yet 177because they were the sons of the devil, they treated Christ with all the malice which they could think of at the suggestion of their father.

Behold then, O my soul! with bitter grief thy Bridegroom, the Joy of heaven, the wisdom of the Father, the King of glory, thus shamefully brought down to confusion, and set at nought, so that He is now no longer a man, but an abject worm. Not only is He sentenced to death as a guilty malefactor, but even, like some poor idiot, is mocked at in His fool’s garment. Oh! who hath such a heart of steel, as not to be softened at this? Be ashamed, ye proud men, who with heads lifted up on high, march on in your pride. Blush for shame, O ye who are wise in your own eyes, forgetting that you are only dung and ashes, and vessels of earthenware full of all uncleanness. Behold! the Lord of lords, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is mocked at as a fool; and ye yourselves, more senseless than the brute beasts, which praise their Creator according to their capacity and condition, and which observe moderation in eating and drinking, desire to be thought wise, and circumspect, and holy by men. Blush for shame; I say, O ye puffed up and proud sinners, who before God and all His saints are full of rottenness, who are wholly bent upon 178adorning your sack of dung and nest of worms with precious things, while the Lord of Majesty for your sake is set at nought, clad in a white and shameful garment, like a fool, and while He who is the loftiness of heaven vouchsafeth to be humbled.

And you, O ye wretched and puffed up sinners, to whom is due nought but eternal damnation, are lifted up and swollen with pride! Long ago the angels fell through pride, and were cast out of heaven, yet ye trust to be able to obtain heaven by pride. Our first parents fell into great wretchedness and misery through pride, and, driven out of paradise, were for five thousand years exiles from heaven, and prisoners in hell; yet we, notwithstanding, avoid not this accursed pest, this deadly and most hateful sin! Even this rotten body of ours, conceived of unclean seed, which one day will be cast out to be devoured by worms, we know not how too curiously to adorn, and to nourish with delicate and soft food, and to treat with every comfort and convenience. But our far nobler souls, in which God hath set up His dwelling-place, and which, born of God, and created to the image of the Most Holy Trinity, will again be brought into the presence of the Divine Majesty, we suffer to perish for hunger and want.

Let us, I pray, take example from our 179most loving Saviour, and let us walk in His footsteps in all lowliness, poverty, resignation, and patience; since He in His greatest need had no convenience, but hung all naked on the cross, with all His limbs so stretched and nailed thereto, that He could not even move a single limb, nor rest His head; and in His thirst He had gall and vinegar to drink, and in such great poverty gave up the ghost. If then He did all this for our sins, let us also, I pray, do somewhat for our iniquities.