John 19:5 - Exposition

Jesus then came forth , at Pilate's order, into some prominent position, wearing ( φορέω , not φέρω ), 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 ( John 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—