Behold The Man
by Bro. Craig Amenell
09/24/2023
John 19:5 - “Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!”
I will never forget the time that I met Stan Lee. My wife was pregnant with our second child, Olivia, and it was the day of her baby shower. Much to her dissatisfaction she was not able to go with me to ComicCon as she had in years past because of the shower. More specifically she was disappointed that she was not going to get to meet the father of Marvel Comics, as I had already scheduled and paid for a photo op with him.
As the time of the day came for people to get in line to meet Stan Lee, tensions grew and anticipation ran wild. I patiently waited in line for my turn. As I got closer to the front of the line I could see people getting their photo with him behind a curtain. Every one of them stood there in silent amazement as the photo was taken. When it was finally my turn I walked up to him and he stayed motionless in a picture-perfect pose as if he were a wax figure from Ripleys Believe It Or Not.
The photo was taken and when my time was up I felt like I had to say something. I then blurted out, “Stan you’re the man.” To which he turned to look at me and said, “You're right. I am the man. Hahahahaha.” How ridiculous I thought I must have seemed, after all, he was known as Stan “The Man” Lee. I then proceeded to another line to get the printout of my photo. Immediately people started asking me, did he talk to you? To which I said, yes. Then in one accord they all said, I wish I would have said something to him.
That day, more specifically that moment, shares both a memory of excitement and regret. I believe I have already described the excitement but have not touched on the regret.
At that time in my Christian walk I had allowed myself to share the gospel less and less to the point where personal evangelism was not a present part of my life. I have since regained a passion for others' eternal souls and now every time I look at that picture I think of the amazing opportunity that I missed out on.
I told Stan that he was the man but I failed to tell him about Jesus. The saddest part is that in the moment it didn’t even occur to me to try and share the Gospel with him. That is the result of a Christian not daily spending time beholding the Lord Jesus.
Stan has since died and by his own public profession was agnostic. If he died by what he lived by, he will have to stand in a line that no one will be excited to be in. It will finally be his turn and he will have to kneel before The Man, The King, the God of all creation, Christ Jesus. It will be a meeting that ends in terror.
On the day of Christ's crucifixion, Pilate ignorantly told the Jews to “Behold the Man!” He did not realize how profound of a statement he made that day. He also placed the superscription on His Cross “King of the Jews”, which He was, but He is also King of the Gentiles too.
If you are saved you know Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Because of this truth, we should daily spend time beholding Him and try to urgently convince others to behold Him and accept who He truly is.
09/24/2023
John 19:5 - “Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!”
I will never forget the time that I met Stan Lee. My wife was pregnant with our second child, Olivia, and it was the day of her baby shower. Much to her dissatisfaction she was not able to go with me to ComicCon as she had in years past because of the shower. More specifically she was disappointed that she was not going to get to meet the father of Marvel Comics, as I had already scheduled and paid for a photo op with him.
As the time of the day came for people to get in line to meet Stan Lee, tensions grew and anticipation ran wild. I patiently waited in line for my turn. As I got closer to the front of the line I could see people getting their photo with him behind a curtain. Every one of them stood there in silent amazement as the photo was taken. When it was finally my turn I walked up to him and he stayed motionless in a picture-perfect pose as if he were a wax figure from Ripleys Believe It Or Not.
The photo was taken and when my time was up I felt like I had to say something. I then blurted out, “Stan you’re the man.” To which he turned to look at me and said, “You're right. I am the man. Hahahahaha.” How ridiculous I thought I must have seemed, after all, he was known as Stan “The Man” Lee. I then proceeded to another line to get the printout of my photo. Immediately people started asking me, did he talk to you? To which I said, yes. Then in one accord they all said, I wish I would have said something to him.
That day, more specifically that moment, shares both a memory of excitement and regret. I believe I have already described the excitement but have not touched on the regret.
At that time in my Christian walk I had allowed myself to share the gospel less and less to the point where personal evangelism was not a present part of my life. I have since regained a passion for others' eternal souls and now every time I look at that picture I think of the amazing opportunity that I missed out on.
I told Stan that he was the man but I failed to tell him about Jesus. The saddest part is that in the moment it didn’t even occur to me to try and share the Gospel with him. That is the result of a Christian not daily spending time beholding the Lord Jesus.
Stan has since died and by his own public profession was agnostic. If he died by what he lived by, he will have to stand in a line that no one will be excited to be in. It will finally be his turn and he will have to kneel before The Man, The King, the God of all creation, Christ Jesus. It will be a meeting that ends in terror.
On the day of Christ's crucifixion, Pilate ignorantly told the Jews to “Behold the Man!” He did not realize how profound of a statement he made that day. He also placed the superscription on His Cross “King of the Jews”, which He was, but He is also King of the Gentiles too.
If you are saved you know Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Because of this truth, we should daily spend time beholding Him and try to urgently convince others to behold Him and accept who He truly is.
Posted in Living for God, The Great Commission
Posted in John 19, amazement, crucifixion, King, Man, Christ, Jesus, Cross
Posted in John 19, amazement, crucifixion, King, Man, Christ, Jesus, Cross
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