John 19:5

Joh_19:5

Pilate saith unto them, Behold the Man

Ecce Homo

Behold the Man

I.

FROM PILATES STANDPOINT.

1. He was a Roman, and apart from the interests of the empire, cared little for the creed or worship of the Hebrews. It was no part of his duty to interfere with the religion of the people he was ruling. Provided it did not lead to sedition he was content to let it contemptuously alone. What is truth? he asks, What is it worth? What has it done? Is it worth any ones while risking anything for it? It is power, and not truth we need. Let us have something practical, tangible, and not vain and idle discussions about abstract questions.

2. Pilate is a type of a vast multitude. Like the compilers of an encyclopaedia, they cannot avoid becoming acquainted with the titles of religious subjects, parties, men. Yet if pressed would deliver themselves very much after Pilates fashion. To offer Christ to men of this character is to cast pearls before swine. What is the truth in Christ to them? He may be chief among ten thousand, and able to give pardon, and righteousness, and grace, and glory. But He is not money, business. He cannot give social rank, political success; and so they spurn the offer. This man is a sample of Satans workmanship--the devils masterpiece. But what shall it profit a man, &c.

II. FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE JEWS.

1. The guilt of Pilate was great, but it is not for a moment to be compared with that of the high priest. He that delivereth Me unto thee hath the greater sin. They saw the light and hated it. They knew the truth and rejected it. They could not resist the evidence that Jesus was the Christ; but He was a Christ so different from Him whom they desired that they cried, Crucify Him!

2. Here is another and far more perilous standpoint: to look upon Christ and His religion as something to be hated and banished. Let me speak faithfully of the danger of this class. The sin that will banish the perpetrators from the presence of the Lord at His coming is not the sin of Adam. That has been atoned for by the second Adam. It will not be the sin of ignorance. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. It will not be any word or deed too heinous to be forgiven; for there is no exception to the gracious offer: If we confess our sins, &c. But it will be that of rejecting--calmly, wilfully, and persistently--the greatest offer which God has made to us: His Son as our personal Saviour. He that believeth not, &c.

III. FROM BELIEVERS STANDPOINT. During the Reign of Terror an old French gentleman walked up to the gate of the prison in hope of getting a brief interview with his son, then lying under sentence of death. His name was Loiserolles. As he stood there, the dreaded cart arrived at the prison door. Loiserolles was one of the names shouted; and Here I am, Loiserolles! was answered suddenly from the crowd. The voice was not that of the young prisoner--asleep at that moment in his cell--it was older, feebler, and a trifle more eager than a prisoners might be supposed to be. But there was no time or care to make investigation. The father was taken for the son, bound, hurried off, and executed. He died for his boy who was asleep. Not till long afterwards did the younger Loiserolles know at what a sacrifice his life had been purchased. And if we may be allowed to compare small things with great, I would say that the day of our trial and judgment was passed; the morning of our execution had arrived. We, as prisoners of sin, were summoned to receive the death penalty; the sons of men were called. But I am the Son of Man was the answer given to the challenge. If, therefore, ye seek Me, let these go their way. The central truth of our Christianity is the Saviour that died for us and rose again. Can you look upon Jesus in this light? Do you see Him to be your Substitute, Intercessor, Prince, and Saviour? Then you have beheld the Man. (R. Balgarnie D. D.)

Ecce Homo

See

I. HIS HUMANITY attested. His flesh was lacerated, His body bruised.

II. HIS INNOCENCE confirmed. Scourging had elicited no secret crime.

III. HIS MAJESTY revealed. He endured without complaint.

IV. HIS LOVE proclaimed. He suffered stripes that sinners might be healed.

V. HIS DIVINITY suggested. Only a Son of God could have borne Himself so. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

Eece Homo, or perfect humanity

When you point to any object or event you never know what the witness really sees. Hold a picture before a score of people, and they all see and value it differently. In a wild district I saw a rude stone wall. To the simple builder and passers by it was just so many stones held together by mortar. But an instructed eye saw in succession blocks of quartz, trap, schist, sandstone, conglomerate, and other suggestive monuments of the worlds history. Point out the stars to a multitude. All see the same objects, and yet not the same.

I. WHAT THE ACTORS IN THAT TRAGEDY BEHELD. All the world was in that crowd.

1. Pilate; or what worldliness beheld. A mysterious man--no ordinary criminal. Superstition is never far from worldliness. There was fear in the mind of Pilate at something supernatural at the back of demeanour so strange, placid, and holy.

2. The priests; or what bigotry beheld. Jesus has not respected their traditions and echoed their dogmas; therefore, He is an imposter and blasphemer. There is no hate like priestly hate. Bigotry in the midst of revealed religion is farther from God than heathen worldliness. There was some lingering susceptibility in the breast of Pilate; in the Hebrew priest, none. Pilate saw something which excited both awe and pity. The priests nothing but the hideous creation of their own malignant passions.

3. The mass; or what ignorant resentment beheld. The Christ of their desire was only a more vulgar rendering of the political Messiah of the infuriated priests. Scarcely a week ago, they greeted Him as their King. But there is Jesus, weak, bound, silent, and trampled upon. They saw one who raised their expectations to the highest, and disappointed them. A mob is never so savage as when it conceives itself to be imposed upon by one whom it has made its idol. They therefore join ix the cry, Crucify Him!

4. The soldiers; or what heathen brutality beheld. A hardened Roman in the ranks could feel nothing but contempt for a Jewish criminal. Such men could admire and adore a Caesar who could lead them through fields of slaughter to the fame of a Roman victory. They understood that He was a sham king from a district in fanatical and turbulent Galilee.

5. Nicodemus; or what unavowed discipleship beheld. Lack of courage and decision brought no consolation in this dread hour. Little has he risked to avert this tragedy, and he is beginning to feel it.

6. The centurion; or what heathen piety beheld. The Son of God.

7. Peter; or what the unfaithful apostle beheld. Jesus cast one look on him, but the apostle could encounter that eye no more.

8. Judas; or what the traitor and apostate beheld. From that eye, so downcast, he has often seen look forth the love of God. The memory of that sight is fire unquenchable, the writhing of the worm that never dies.

9. John; or what the disciple whom Jesus loved beheld. He could not look for his tears; but yet he saw what few eyes there witnessed, but what we need to see to-day--our Incarnate and Redeeming God.

10. Mary; or what the mother and the believing woman beheld. How her motherly love and her religious reverence are wounded by the suffering and shame heaped on her Son and Saviour! There are other holy women here. Shame on the men among His followers! Where are they?

II. WHAT WE BEHOLD IN THE MAN OF SORROWS.

1. A man.

(1) He was born of a woman. He passed through the life of a little child.

(2) In the home of Joseph, at Nazareth, there were many boys and girls. It was no unimportant contribution to the development of our Saviours wide and sympathetic manhood, that brothers and sisters were the companions of His first years. The temptation in the wilderness was not our Saviours first nor last trial. His young life had its tests.

(3) Our Lord, too, was born in circumstances favourable to the culture of a true manhood. Among the humble poor, and inured to a lowly calling. Men who begin their career at the summit of society do not uncommonly acquire much real fellow-feeling with classes which lie farther down. Men from the ranks, who have lived through the grades in their ascent, develop human sympathies deeper and broader. Every great worker for God and humanity has to be brought by some means or other into personal contact with the multitude. Galilee was a more important school than the halls of the Rabbis at Jerusalem.

(4) Jesus had His personal friendships. He is beneath a man or above him, who is without human friendship.

2. A tempted man (Heb_4:15). One with the form and the faculties of a man, is yet not a man if without temptation.

3. A suffering man. That pain is allotted to sinful creatures is not surprising. But here is one who never transgressed a precept. He suffered with the race and for the race which He came to save. But the ministry of suffering must come to every man. We bring into the world only raw materials. The discipline of life must weave the precious fabric. The suffering Jesus garnered in His sinless humanity the precious fruits of trial and sorrow (Heb_2:10). When your soul is bowed down, to which friend would you go in your sorrow? You could not repair to inexperienced amiability and to goodness unruffled by trial. A bosom so smooth has not treasured the balm of fellow-feeling for which the smitten heart aches to its very core.

4. THE MAN. Jesus is the only one who can be so styled. He is the perfection of humanity. Human beings at the best are a mixture of good and evil. Jesus Christ was separate from sinners. He belonged to a totally different classification. He has more than every mans excellence, and exhibits no mans defect. Qualities seemingly opposite and irreconcilable were habitually blended in Him. The extreme of ease and dignity, loftiness and condescension, gentleness and severity, manly firmness and womanly sympathy, &c.

5. Is He man only? Nay, verily. Standing alone as a creature, no one can be complete as a man. One only perfect Man has been in our world, and He was the Incarnation of God. (H. Batchelor.)

Behold the Man

I. THE FALSE AND IMPIOUS ASSUMPTIONS RESPECTING THE LORD, WHICH THE JEWS, IN CONNECTION WITH HIS EXHIBITION TO THEM, INDULGED. They regarded Him

1. As mean, when He was eminently dignified.

2. As guilty, when He was absolutely innocent and holy.

3. As being hostile to their interests, when He was infinitely kind and benevolent.

II. THE RIGHTFUL TRIBUTE WHICH THE EXHIBITION OF HIM IN HIS TRUE CHARACTER MUST ALWAYS SECURE. Behold the Man! and there ought to be

1. Homage.

2. Penitence.

3. Trust.

4. Love. (J. Parsons.)

Behold the Man

I. WHOM THE WORLD DESIRED. This is He of whom the prophet spake--the desire of all nations shall come. At the Fall, preparations were begun for the advent of the Deliverer, and continued without intermission.

1. We all know in general what forms these preparations assumed: how the early promise of Eden was brightened and enlarged; how sacrifice was instituted at the very gates of Paradise; how a great system of type and shadow succeeded pointing to Him; how the law became a schoolmaster leading unto Him; how prophets foretold His sufferings and glory.

2. While thus instructing them so carefully in spiritual things, He was also conducting them providentially, and was making the lessons of their outward life--the mercies and the judgments, the wars and the captivities, the declensions and revivals of their national history--to co-operate with the things more expressly gracious, in preparing a way for the Messenger of the covenant, and in preparing the mind and heart of the Church, to give Him a loving and loyal welcome. Accordingly, we see a grand procession of joyful worshippers at the opening of the New Testament history--angels, shepherds. Simeon and Anna, and the wise men.

3. In the outer world, also, God was working by Him providence and Spirit to prepare the nations for the coming of His Son. We behold a succession of rising and falling monarchies, of dreadful battles, the building and the burning of cities, the terrors of superstition, constant strange movement, but never to any dawning of the day, and man, as man, felt more deeply as time rolled on the moral hopelessness of his condition without celestial help. There was thus a yearning for deliverance, a longing in the hearts of men for relief, and liberty, and higher life--for recovery of long-lost fellowships, and for returning presence of God. Then, in the fulness of time, He comes to answer the worlds questionings, to relieve its sorrows, to meet its deepest wants, Behold the Man whom all other men in their best moments were yearning for and inly pining to see! How strange then that we have to say

II. WHOM THE WORLD CRUCIFIED.

1. If ever there was an act in which this whole world was united, the crucifixion of the Son of God was that act. It was the fair outcome and expression of its moral dispositions, and its spiritual state before God. It was not without a struggle that it was done; there were many relentings and misgivings, just as there are now to men when they sin. In following the steps of His pilgrimage and ministry, we sometimes think that the world is going to open its heart and receive Him at once. But how fallacious such appearances! The world, thus put on its solemn trial, failed to prove itself truer and brought out before other worlds the most conclusive proof of its depravity and guilt. The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. One who did no sin, who missed no opportunity of doing good and glorifying God--was not suffered to live. There was much to attract in His life and character, but, as the event proved, there was more to repel; and humanity, which had fallen before in the first Adam, fell again just before it rose in the second. Christ was the desire of all nations before He came, and that proved that man had not fallen into an irretrievable degradation--that seeds and elements of good were working in him still, and that the great Father was not forgetful of His prodigal children. Christ was the rejected of all nations when He came, and this proved that our fall was not a temporary and a trifling circumstance, but that it had rent the most sacred bonds, and filled human nature with guilt and sin.

2. But oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! The world crucified His Son, and He made that very crucifixion the means of the worlds life. The same event which proved the sinfulness of our nature as nothing had ever proved it before, turned full upon the world in sudden revelation the love and mercy of God; and what to our natural judgment would have seemed the most impregnable of barriers in the way of our return to God, was made the means of our repentance, and the gate of everlasting life. He vindicated Divine righteousness while proclaiming Divine mercy; He honoured the law by making the gospel.

III. WHOM THE WORLD WILL CROWN. Heaven has crowned Him already.

1. But earth must crown Him too. And she will. He must be honoured in the very scene of His humiliation. He must gather joys where He sowed tears and sufferings. He must claim a kingdom where He shed His blood. And not a murmur of dissent will be heard from shore to shore as proclamation is made through every land that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.

2. We neither know exactly how nor when this great result is to be brought about; the times and the seasons are reserved in the Fathers power. But what of that? If I cannot tell the length of the prophetic days, am I to hope or labour any the less earnestly for that blessed day of millenial peace and joy which, when they have elapsed, will come? It I cannot interpret aright the sound of one angels trumpet, am I not to speed another angel who flies in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

Behold the Man!

I. WHOM? The Man--perfect humanity.

1. Physically, Christ was perfect

(1) In form. It is not without significance that He is the principal figure in art, and that the worlds great painters have depicted Him as the altogether lovely. We have no portrait of Him extant, but it is difficult to believe that the genius of eighteen centuries has nothing corresponding to its ideal.

(2) In health. He bare our sicknesses, but was never ill Himself. No disease could prey upon a sinless body. What vigorous health must Jesus have had to have maintained such unruffled calmness and nerve, through these protracted proceedings, after the agony of Gethsemane; and then after such sufferings to have survived to die on the Cross.

2. Intellectually.

(1) He was without doubt. He had perfect intuitions of God and Divine things. Hence the perfect confidence with which He moved towards each of the phases of His great career.

(2) He was without error. He had perfect knowledge of all things that pertained to His mission. Hence He never made a mistake, or failed to deliver a necessary truth.

(3) He was the Truth personally. Compare Him with others.

3. Morally.

(1) He was without sin, as confessed by Himself, Pilate, Judas. Peter tells us He did no sin. John, that He had no sin.

(2) He was entirely holy. Not only was there no law broken by Him: He fulfilled all righteousness.

(3) He was utterly self-abnegating and benificent. He went about doing good. Greater love hath no man than this, &c.

II. IN WHAT CHARACTER.

1. As a Saviour. Had He not been a man He could not have qualified Himself for this office by death. Had He not been the Man, the Man appointed, perfect, Divine, His death had been of no avail. But being without blemish, He was the accepted Lamb of God that taketh away, &c.

2. As an example. Students require the best models in art, music, literature. Perfect imitation may be beyond reach; but the study of imperfect models infallibly ensures imperfection. So with man. But there is only one perfect Model--Him who left us an example that we should follow His steps.

3. As a Friend. Who possesses such qualifications for friendship as Christ?

4. As Lord.

III. WHERE.

1. Under conviction of sin--To whom shall we go?

2. In trouble.

3. In difficulty.

4. In the hour of death.

5. In the day of judgment. (J. W. Burn.)

The mind directed to Christ

The hour of the Saviours sufferings was come--Judas had betrayed Him--His disciples forsaken Him--His enemies apprehended Him--but Pilate seeks to release Him; hence the scene before us. Let us inquire

I. WHAT WE SHALL BEHOLD IN THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.

1. The perfection of purity, meekness, and benevolence.

2. An amazing work for the redemption of mankind.

3. The boundlessness of the Fathers grace.

II. THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE ARE TO BEHOLD THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.

1. That our hearts may be melted into contrition.

2. That wavering faith may be established.

3. That Christian principle may conquer carnal policy.

4. That love may be cherished towards all His followers.

5. That believers may be comforted in suffering and in death.

(Congregational Pulpit.)

The appeal of Pilate

Weakness is sometimes not much better than wickedness. It places a man at the disposal of other weaknesses--Ahab, Pilate. We have here

I. AN APPEAL FOR PITY FOR CHRIST. It was this; not a mocking. Pilate was anxious to get Christ off. It was not to aggravate Christs misery, but to excite the compassion of His foes. Pity

1. For a prisoner.

2. For a prisoner unjustly accused.

3. For a prisoner whose sufferings and shame men enhanced by cruel mocking. Dressed up as a king. And yet He was one. Men can only caricature the reality of Christ and Christianity.

II. AN APPEAL FROM PILATE TO THE JEWS.

1. From Pilate.

(1) An old soldier.

(2) A heathen.

(3) One who despaired of truth.

2. To the Jews

(1) To whom He came.

(2) Who had opportunity to test His claims.

(3) Who were convinced of them, but rejected Him, because He was not the rebel they wanted.

III. AN APPEAL FROM ONE WHO NEVERTHELESS PUT CHRIST TO DEATH. Pilate did his utmost to save Jesus, with one exception, his own interest. He tried by expression of his own conviction, by delay, by solemn acts, by appeal to justice and to pity. He would not endanger self. So now men may feel for Christ--do much for Him--reprove others, and yet stop short at sacrifice

1. Of worldly interests.

2. Of sinful lusts. (A. J. Morris.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 19:5. Φορῶν, wearing) Pilate did not check the wanton insolence of the soldiers. There was here a rare mixture of jestings and of serious acts.—λέγει, saith) viz. Pilate. For it is to Pilate that they answer in the sixth verse.—ἴδε ὁ ἄνθρωπος, Behold the man) So in Joh 19:14, Behold your King: A gradation, or ascending climax. A similar nominative (exclamatory) occurs in Joh 19:26-27, “Woman, behold thy son (ὁ υἱός σου)—Behold thy mother” (ἡ μήτηρ σου).

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 19:5 . Still wearing ( φορῶν ) the mocking symbols of royalty, an object of derision and pity, Jesus is led out, and the judge pointing to Him says, Ἴδε ὁ ἄνθρωπος , Ecce Homo, “Lo! the man,” as if inviting inspection of the pitiable figure, and convincing them how ridiculous it was to try to fix a charge of treason on so contemptible a person. ὁ ἄνθρωπος is used contemptuously, as in Plutarch, Them. , xvi. 2, “the fellow,” “the creature”. Other instances in Holden’s note in Plut., Them . The result is unexpected.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then Jesus came forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!--There is no reason to think that contempt dictated this speech. There was clearly a struggle in the breast of this wretched man. Not only was he reluctant to surrender to mere clamor an innocent man, but a feeling of anxiety about His mysterious claims, as is plain from what follows, was beginning to rack his breast, and the object of his exclamation seems to have been to move their pity. But, be his meaning what it may, those three words have been eagerly appropriated by all Christendom, and enshrined for ever in its heart as a sublime expression of its calm, rapt admiration of its suffering Lord.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. And Pilate saith] The word Pilate, which we supply in our version, is added by one MS., the later Syriac, later Arabic, and the Coptic.

Behold the man!] The man who, according to you, affects the government, and threatens to take away the empire from the Romans. Behold the man whom ye have brought unto me as an enemy to Caesar, and as a sower of the seeds of sedition in the land! In him I find no guilt; and from him ye have no occasion to fear any evil.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(5) Then came Jesus forth.—The verse describes the scene as the writer remembers it. The figure of the Lord whom he had himself followed and loved, and of whom he thinks as ascended to the throne of the King of kings, led in the cruel mockery of royal garments, was one which left its mark for ever in his mind.

Behold the man!—Pilate’s “Ecce homo!” is an appeal to the multitude. That picture of suffering—is it not enough? Will none in that throng lift up a cry for mercy, and save Him from the death for which the Sanhedrin are calling?

(5) That St. John’s narrative is that of an eyewitness, relating what he himself saw and remembered. (Comp. Chronological Harmony of the Gospels, p. 35)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Then came Jesus] Better, Jesus therefore came. The Evangelist repeats the details of Joh_19:2; they are details of a picture deeply imprinted on his memory. Whether or no he went into the Praetorium, he no doubt witnessed the Ecce Homo.

wearing] Not simply ‘having’ or ‘bearing’ (phorôn not pherôn). The crown and robe are now His permanent dress.

Behold the man!] In pity rather than contempt. Pilate appeals to their humanity: surely the most bitter among them will now be satisfied, or at least the more compassionate will control the rest. No one can think that this Man is dangerous, or needs further punishment. When this appeal fails, Pilate’s pity turns to bitterness (Joh_19:14).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then came Jesus forth,.... Out of the judgment hall, or place where he had been scourged, as soon as Pilate had said these words:

wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe; with his temples scratched and torn with the thorny crown, and the blood running down from thence, and his face and eyes swollen with the blows he had received from their closed fists, and all besmeared with his own blood, and the soldiers' spittle; his body appearing to be almost of the same colour with the purple or scarlet robe, through the stripes and lashes he had received, when that was thrown back.

And Pilate saith unto them, behold the man; not their king, that would have provoked them; though he did say so afterwards, when he found he could not prevail upon them to agree to his release; but the man, to move their compassion; signifying, that he was a man as they were, and that they ought to use him as such, and treat him with humanity and pity; and that he was a poor despicable man, as the condition he was in showed; and that it was a weak thing in them to fear anything with respect to any change of, or influence in, civil government from one that made such a figure; and therefore should be satisfied with what had been done to him, and dismiss him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!

Ver. 5. Pilate saith, Behold the man] q.d. If ye be men, take pity upon a man so miserably misused; and if ye be good men, let him go who is innocent. But these monsters, like those beasts at Ephesus, had put off manhood; and for good men among them, it fared with Pilate, pleading for Christ, as it did with him at Nola in the story, who when he was commanded by the Roman censor to go and call the good men of the city to appear before him, went to the churchyards, and there called at the graves of the dead, "O ye good men of Nola, come away, for the Roman censor calls for your appearance," for he knew not where to call for a good man alive.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Behold the man! - It is probable that Pilate pointed to the Saviour, and his object evidently was to move them to compassion, and to convince them, by a sight of the Saviour himself, that he was innocent. Hence, he brought him forth with the crown of thorns, and the purple robe, and with the marks of scourging. Amid all this Jesus was meek, patient, and calm, giving evident proofs of innocence. The conduct of Pilate was as if he had said, “See! The man whom you accuse is arrayed in a gorgeous robe, as if a king. He has been scourged and mocked. All this he has borne with patience. Look! How calm and peaceful! Behold his countenance! How mild! His body scourged, his head pierced with thorns! Yet in all this he is meek and patient. This is the man that you accuse; and he is now brought forth, that you may see that he is not guilty.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He therefore, after Jesus had been scourged, and dressed up in this mock dress, brings him out again to the people to move their pity.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Behold the man—Ecce Homo! This solemn presentation of Jesus before the world, preceding his final delivery to death, has produced the most solemn impression upon the minds of the Church of all Christian ages. The pencils of the great masters of Christian art have selected it as a choice subject. Pre-eminently he stands forth the Man, the representative of the race, the memento of our sin, the exhibition of our misery.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jesus then came forth, at Pilate"s order, into some prominent position, wearing (forew , not ferw), as a regular costume, the thorny crown, and the purple robe, and he (Pilate, from his judgment-seat) saith to them, as this hateful and tragic melodrama was being enacted, Behold the Man! ECCE HOMO! This was, doubtless, said to mitigate or allay their ferocity. "Let his simple humanity plead with you! After this surely you can desire no more." "The Man," rather than "the King." As Caiaphas did not know the enormous significance of his own dictum, (Joh_11:50) so Pilate, from his purely secular position, did not appreciate the world-wide meaning of his own words. He did not know that he had at his side the Man of men, the perfect veritable Man, the unattainable Ideal of all humanity realized. He did not anticipate that that crown of thorns, that robe of simulated royalty, that sign of bloody agony, and these insults borne with sublime patience and ineffable love, were even then lifting Jesus to the throne of eternal memory and universal dominion; nor how his own words would be enshrined in art, and continue to the end of time a crystallization of the deepest emotion of the Church of God. The hymn of Gerhard expresses in thrilling tones the universal and perpetual feeling of all Christians"O Haupt veil Blur und Wunden Voll schwerz und yeller Hohn! O Haupt zum Sport gebunden Mit ether Dornerkon!

But the appeal to humanity was vain, and Pilate"s momentary sentiment failed of its end. Not a voice in his favor broke the silence; but

"Ecce Homo!

Observe the spirit in which Pilate uttered these words. We discern in them pity for Jesus, whose character was innocent, whose position was sad and grievous, whose attitude was one of calm and patient endurance. Contempt mingled with pity contempt for a fanatic who deemed himself possessor of the truth, and for a prisoner who held himself to be a King. In the governor"s mind was perplexity as to how he should deal with the accused, in whom he felt was something mysterious and unaccountable. Towards the Jews Pilate felt a sentiment of disgust, for he read their motives and despised their malice, even though he knew not how, without danger to himself, to protect his prisoner from his foes. Observe, too, the spirit in which the Jewish rulers and multitude heard these words. They were untouched by the pathos of his position and demeanor, by the Divine dignity of his character, by the appeal of Pilate to their compassion, by any concern for themselves and their posterity as to the consequences of their injustice and malevolence. The same Jesus who was exhibited by Pilate to the people of Jerusalem is set before us who hear his gospel, and these words which the Roman governor employed before the Praetorium are addressed to all to whom the Word is preached: "Behold the Man!

I WHOM DO WE BEHOLD?

1. The Man whom God sent into this world his Representative and Herald, his Anointed One, his only Son.

2. The Man whom, as a matter of history, the Jews, in their infatuation, rejected.

3. The Man whom his own disciples forsook in the hour of his distress.

4. The Man whom the Romans, unconscious instruments of a Divine purpose, crucified and slew.

5. The Man who was destined, as events have shown, to rule and bless the world where he met with a treatment so undeserved. Reading the Gospels as ordinary narratives, gazing upon the figure of the Nazarene as a great figure in human history, we see thus much. But as Christians we are not satisfied to behold him thus. We see in him what the lessons of inspiration and of experience have taught us to see, and what we wish the world to see for its own enlightenment and salvation.

II WHAT Do WE BEHOLD IN HIM? The Man: more than meets the eye, the ear, far more than Pilate understood by the words he used. We behold:

1. The faultless Man. He alone of all who have appeared on earth claims sinlessness, and is admitted to have been without a stain.]n his character he fulfilled the law of holiness.

2. The benevolent, self-sacrificing Man. Not only was he without sin; in him was exemplified every active, self-denying virtue. He lived and died for others for the race whose nature he assumed.

3. The Man, the Mediator, bringing about reconciliation between heaven and earth, introducing the Divine grace and the Divine life into human hearts.

4. Thus the ideal Man, and the Head and Founder of the new humanity. Wonderful is the correspondence between Christ and man as he first proceeded from the plastic hand of the Eternal, between Christ and man as he shall be presented at the last before the Author of his being and his salvation.

III How SHOULD WE BEHOLD HIM?

1. With sincere interest and concern. Well may the world be asked concerning Christ," Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?" etc.

2. With admiration and reverence. The hero-worshipper has often been disappointed in the object of his adoration, in whom he has discovered unsuspected flaws. But the longer we gaze at Jesus, the brighter grows his glory, the more harmonious his perfections.

3. With gratitude and love. To behold him is to remember what he has done, what he has suffered for us, is to cherish towards him those feelings to which in the same measure no other has a claim.

4. With faith and trust, dispositions of the soul which find in him their supreme Object.

5. With consecration and obedience. He who finds it hard to serve God is bidden to behold his Savior as he stood crowned with thorns before his murderers: there is no such rebuke to selfishness and willfulness, no such motive to devotion and serf-denial.

6. With the hope of beholding him more nearly and for ever, not in lowliness and shame, but in beauty transcendent, in glory eternal. T.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Ver. 5. "Ecce Homo!

I PILATE"S MEANING. He meant that a very little thing frightened the priests and elders and their sympathizers. He invited them to look at Jesus, with the. thorny crown encircling his brows, and the purple robe doubtless some tattered and outworn piece of costume thrown over his shoulders. Surely if Jesus were indeed a King, if his royalty was in power as well as in word, all this mockery would have brought the reality out.

II THE ACTUAL RESULT OF THIS TREATMENT. Pilate meant that Jesus should appear utterly contemptible. Little did be dream how in course of time a vast multitude of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues, would respond to this summons, and count Jesus King all the more, just because of the crown of thorns and the purple robe. It was Pilate, not Jesus, who was to become ultimately contemptible. The very Jews themselves could not look on things with Pilate"s eyes, and Pilate even could not keep straight on in the tone of scorn and contempt. A few verses later we read of him being afraid. And we, as we leek back on this scene, with all its manifestation of beautiful character, may almost feel as if we owed Pilate"s memory a debt of gratitude. The soldiers did something which no disciple of Jesus would wish to have been done; but, being done, every disciple of Jesus is glad for what it showed. The work of coronation, if looked at in the proper light, was a most real one.

III WE MUST BEHOLD, NOT JESUS ONLY, BUT THE MEN WHO TREATED HIM SO. The men into whose hands Jesus was delivered up were to have their own way without let or hindrance. Men had full opportunity to show how bad they could be. Pilate points to Jesus and says, "Behold the Man!" God points to Pilate and the priests, and says, "Behold mankind!" These men were not specially bad specimens of humanity, but just average expressions of the spirit of the world. But in the very contrast between Jesus and his tormentors there is hope and joy. For if the tormentors are of the same flesh and blood as we are, so also is Jesus. Jesus, the thorn-crowned, always gentle, always harmless, always beneficent, always far above everything that is selfish and resentful, is of our race. We should never look at any of the degrading specimens of humanity without looking also at Jesus. For then we keep the just mean between saying too much and too little. We shall both remember how much better Jesus is than the best, and how patient and pitiful he is with the worst.

IV WE MUST BEHOLD THE MAN IN ALL HIS MANIFESTATIONS. On the cross. After his resurrection. To Paul on his way to Damascus. To John in Patmos. In glory, as in humiliation, the man is still evident. With whatever brightness the Divinity may shine, it cannot conceal the humanity. Here is the man we ought to be; here is the man we shall be. There can be no true knowledge of human nature without the knowledge of Jesus; and the more we know of him, the more shall we know of ourselves. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. φορῶν. Not φέρων; wearing, not merely ‘bearing.’ The crown and the robe are now His permanent dress. The Evangelist repeats the details (Joh 19:2) as of a picture deeply imprinted in his memory: whether or no he entered the Praetorium, he no doubt witnessed the Ecce Homo.

ἰδοὺ ὁ ἄνθρωπος. In pity rather than contempt. Pilate appeals to their humanity: surely the most bitter among them will now be satisfied, or at least the more compassionate will control the rest. No one can think that this Man is dangerous, or needs further punishment. When this appeal fails, Pilate’s pity turns to bitterness (Joh 19:14).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Jesus was brought out, no doubt weak and faint after the scourging, still wearing the mocking insignia of royalty. These He probably continued to wear until He was brought out for the last time for formal sentence (v. 15; cf. Mat 27:31).

φορῶν. This is the regular word for “wearing” clothes; cf. Mat 11:8, Jas 2:3.

καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς (sc. Pilate) Ἰδοὺ ὁ ἄνθρωπος. For ἰδού (אBL), the rec. has Jn.’s favourite ἴδε (cf. vv. 4, 14). In this verse B omits ὁ before Ἰησοῦς (see on 1:29), and also before ἄνθρωπος (cf. Zec 6:12 ἰδοὺ ἀνήρ, referring to “the Man whose name is the Branch,” the future Builder of the Temple). For Ἰησοῦς N has Πειλᾶτος by mistake.

Ἰδοὺ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, Ecce homo! This, on Pilate’s lips, meant, “See the poor fellow!” ὁ ἄνθρωπος, expressing pity. This is a classical use (cf. Dem. de falsa leg. 402, § 198, and Meid. 543, § 91); see also Mat 26:74. Pilate thought to move the priests to compassion by exhibiting Jesus to them, who had been scourged by his orders, and whom the soldiers had treated as an object of mockery and rude jesting.

Jn. may mean to represent Pilate, like Caiaphas (11:51), as an unconscious prophet, his words, “Behold the Man!” pointing to the Ideal Man of all succeeding Christian generations. Abbott (Diat. 1960c) recalls some passages from Epictetus, in which ὁ ἄνθρωπος is thus used of the ideal of humanity. But such an interpretation of Pilate’s famous words is probably a Christian afterthought.

The whole clause λέγει … ἄνθρωπος is omitted in the O.L. texts a e ff2 r, and also by the Coptic Q, an interesting combination.

5. Διψῶ (Joh 19:28). This was spoken near the end. Although the actual word διψῶ is recorded only by Jn., yet the incident of the Lord’s thirst being assuaged is given in Mar 15:36 (Mat 27:48). “I thirst” would naturally have been said in a low voice, so that it could be heard only by those near the Cross.

That Jn. should have specially recorded this word is in keeping with the emphasis laid, throughout the Fourth Gospel, on the humanity of Jesus. As He asked the Samaritan woman for water when He was thirsty (4:7), so now. Jn. is anxious to expel Docetic doctrine (1Jn 4:2), and both here and at 19:34 he brings out recollections of the Beloved Disciple which forbid any theory of Christ’s Person that does not recognise His manhood. Jesus was thirsty at the Cross.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Came Jesus forth. From the Praetorium.

Wearing [φορων] . Not ferwn, bearing, but the frequentative form of that verb, denoting an habitual or continuous bearing; hence, wearing, as though it were His natural dress.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.