Ecce Homo
30 Days in John - day 24
Few phrases in Scripture have echoed through history like Pilate’s words in John 19:5: “Behold the Man.” In Latin, they are known as Ecce Homo—words that have stirred poets, painters, and preachers for centuries.
Pilate is even named in the Apostle’s Creed: Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” The gospel is not myth or moral theory. It is rooted in real history, under a real Roman governor, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In some ways Pilate is almost a sympathetic figure. He shows flashes of concern. He senses there is something more about Jesus than meets the eye. That awareness unsettles him.
He tried everything he could think of to release Jesus. Here he attempts to use the humiliation of Jesus as a way to evoke some sympathy from the crowd. A crown of thorns was twisted onto His head. A purple robe was thrown over His torn shoulders. His back was already ripped open from the scourging. Then Pilate brought Him out before the crowd and said, “Behold the Man.”
It is as if Pilate is saying, “Look at Him. Surely this is enough.”
While Pilate’s instinct and sense of what was just told him to release Jesus, political instincts forced him to do otherwise.
As so often happened in the gospel accounts of Jesus life, people said things and did things that from their perspective had one meaning, but in God’s purposes they carried another. That is the case here. Pilate did not say, “Look at this man.” He said, “Behold the Man.” John records it carefully. However little Pilate understood, the title stands.
Christians have seen in this a deeper meaning than Pilate intended. Jesus is the true Man. The Second Adam. The Son of God. The One upon whom we look by faith and live. The King of kings.
Once again in John’s Gospel, human decisions and divine purpose meet. Pilate speaks in political calculation. God speaks through him in redemptive truth.
Today, we hear those words differently: “Behold the Man.” Look at Him. See who He truly is. And in seeing Him, find life.
