Chapter 37: How the Lord Jesus was set at nought by Herod

I BLESS You, and give thanks to You, O Lord Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom of the Father; You Who are Truth itself, and the Infinite Power of God; for the foul insolence and bitter mockery, with which You were mocked and derided by Herod and his soldiers. For indeed Herod had himself of a long time been desirous to see You; and, moved by curiosity, was hoping to see some sign wrought by You. But when, to his questioning in many words, You answered nothing, and did work no sign — the time not being fit for so doing, because it was Your hour for suffering, not for working miracles — soon, being moved to anger, he ceased to pay You respect, and treating You as a madman, insolently set You at nought; and having mocked You, by clothing You in a white garment, sent You back to Pilate.

I praise and magnify You, my glorious Jesus, for the fatigues You did endure in being hurried about, as they led You, with shouts of derision, backwards and forwards, from place to place, through the streets and lanes of Jerusalem, from Judge to Judge; before each of whom they defamed and grievously maligned You; and of whom at length, after You had been long time examined and questioned, they demanded Your punishment by crucifixion.

O how brightly shone forth in You at this time the patience, which was unmoved when goaded by mockings such as Yours. Surely the thought of Your open setting at nought cannot but touch deeply the hardest heart; cannot but assuage the wrath of the angriest; cannot but bring tears to the eyes of those who love You! You, the most High God, are brought as low as the lowest of mankind; You, the Almighty One, are rejected as one of no account; You, the All-Wise, are derided as a fool; You, the All-Holy, are adjudged to be the wickedest of men!

Woe to me, a miserable sinner, lying under a heavy burden of sin; for so far as my own merits are concerned I have deserved endless torments; and I must have passed to them, had not You, my loving, holy, and just God, vouchsafed to be mocked and despised, in order to save me, wretch as I am, from the mockings of the devil and his angels, and from everlasting death.

I beseech You, therefore. All-powerful Jesus, Whom no malignant, no contemptuous words could provoke, that You would root out from me all vanity and daintiness, and that You would give me grace to be content with poor clothing; for it is a shameful thing that one, who is but dust and ashes, should wish to be clothed in handsome or soft garments, when You, the King of Heaven, were content to be set at nought in a white garment. Keep ever before my eyes the shame and the derision which You had to endure; teach me to follow You in willingness to be set at naught, and to be glad to be despised; teach me not to put my trust in the sons of men, nor in the princes of this world, nor in what friends can do for me; teach me to despise all earthly good, and those who run after it; to follow, with a steadfastness from which nothing can turn me. You, O Lord Jesus, the Author of my salvation; and ever to keep in remembrance the reproach which You did endure for my sake, who am unworthy of the least of all Your mercies.