Then They Spat on His Face
Pastor Tan Thai · Apr 19, 2019
This Good Friday sermon meditates on the act of spitting on Jesus — the most degrading insult a person can inflict — as the clearest symbol of human sin. Though mocked and humiliated, Christ did not retaliate or threaten, but prayed for the forgiveness of those who harmed Him. The love and forgiveness of Christ become the model for every believer's daily life.
This Good Friday sermon, delivered on Thursday, April 18, 2019, reviews the final hours of Jesus' earthly life. The pastor leads the congregation through the Last Supper in the upper room, where Jesus washed His disciples' feet even knowing that Judas would betray Him, Peter would deny Him, and the remaining ten would flee. Afterward, Jesus went with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He prayed in such agony that His sweat fell like drops of blood, asking the Father to take away the bitter cup — a cup filled with humanity's sin and the wrath of God.
The sermon's central focus is the act of spitting on Jesus recorded in Matthew 26:67-68 and Mark 14:65, and again in Mark 15:17-20 when Roman soldiers spat on Him after crowning Him with thorns and dressing Him in a scarlet robe. The pastor explains that in Old Testament culture, spitting on someone's face was the most severe form of public humiliation, drawing on Numbers 12:14-15 (the case of Miriam) and Deuteronomy 25:8-9. What makes this especially striking is that those who spat were full of sin, while the One who was spat upon was completely innocent.
The pastor raises a profound theological question: if evil is typically understood through acts like murder, adultery, or theft, is not the act of spitting on the face of God — the One who holds the universe in His hands — the clearest expression of humanity's rejection of God? In the name of progress, science, or human sovereignty over nature, people continue to spit on God's face in various ways.
Yet Jesus' response was the complete opposite of what one might expect. He did not retaliate, threaten, or curse those who spat on Him. Peter testifies in 1 Peter 2:22-23 that He entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly. On the cross, He prayed: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Paul describes this love in Ephesians 3:14-19 as having width, length, height, and depth beyond all knowledge, and in Romans 8:38-39 as something from which nothing can separate us.
The sermon closes with a practical call: if Christ left behind an example of love, patience, and forgiveness through what He endured on His final night, then a disciple cannot claim to follow Christ while being unable to let go of conflicts or forgive others. The sermon points to Colossians 3:12-14 as the call to live according to the example of Christ.