Caput LIX. De injuriis Christo apud principem sacerdotum et apud Pilatum illatis.
Washing His Face with Tears
The reader is urged to follow Christ to the high priest's court, weep over his spat-upon face, and plead for the same merciful look that brought Peter to bitter tears after his denial.
Follow him instead, all the way to the court of the high priest, and wash his most beautiful face — the one they splatter with spit — with your tears. Look with what merciful eyes, how effectively, he looked back at Peter when he denied him for the third time — how Peter turned and, coming back to himself, wept bitterly.✦1 Would that your gentle eye might look upon me, good Jesus — I who denied you so many times at the voice of a brazen servant girl, by the worst deeds and desires of my flesh.✦2
Silent Before the Governor
Handed over to Pilate at dawn, Christ stands accused yet silent like the suffering servant, presenting himself before the governor with bowed head and calm readiness for insults.
But now, as morning breaks, he is handed over to Pilate.✦ There he is accused and stays silent, because he is led like a sheep to slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer, so he did not open his mouth (Isa.✦✦ 53:7; Acts 8:32). See, notice how he stands before the governor — head bowed, eyes downcast, expression calm, speaking rarely, ready for insults, prepared as well for blows.✦
Behold the Man
The recluse cannot bear to watch Christ's scourging, thorns, and purple cloak as Pilate presents him, marveling that under such outrages he does not rage as any ordinary man would.
I know you can't bear it any longer — you can't look on with your own eyes as his sweet back is worn down by the lashes, his face struck with slaps, that revered head crowned with thorns, the hand that holds heaven and earth dishonored with a reed. Look — he is led out, scourged, crowned with thorns and dressed in a purple cloak. And Pilate says, "Behold, the man" (John✦ 19:5): truly he is a man — who would doubt it?✦ The marks of the rods are proof — the bruises from the wounds, the filth of spit. Now at last I know, Satan, that he is a man.3 "Truly he is a man," you say. But why is it that under so many outrages he doesn't grow angry as a man would, isn't shaken as a man would be, doesn't rage against his torturers as a man would?
Truly More Than a Man
Christ's superhuman patience proves he is more than a man, yet only the one who endures the judgments of the wicked truly knows him, while the God who judges will be fully known.
So he is more than a man. But who truly knows him? The man who endures the judgments of the wicked is certainly known, but the God who renders judgment will be known.
Read the original Latin
Sequere potius eum usque ad atrium principis sacerdotum, et speciosissimam ejus faciem, quam illi sputis illinunt, tu lacrymis lava. Intuere quam piis oculis, quam misericorditer, quam efficaciter tertio negantem respexit Petrum, quando ille conversus et in se reversus flevit amare. Utinam, bone Jesu, tuus me dulcis respiciat oculus, qui te toties ad vocem ancillae procacis, carnis meae pessimis operibus affectibusque negavi. Sed jam mane facto traditur Pilato. Ibi accusatur, et tacet: quoniam tanquam ovis ad occisionem ducitur, et sicut agnus coram tondente se, sic non aperuit os suum (Isai. LIII, 7; Act. VIII, 32). Vide, attende quomodo stat ante praesidem, inclinato capite, demissis oculis, vultu placido, sermone raro, paratus ad opprobria, promptus etiam ad verbera.
Scio, non potes ulterius sustinere, nec dulcissimum dorsum ejus flagellis atteri, nec faciem alapis caedi, nec venerandum illud caput spinis coronari, nec dexteram, quae coelum et terram continet, arundine dehonestari, tuis oculis aspicere poteris. Ecce educitur flagellatus, portans spineam coronam, et purpureum vestimentum. Et dicit Pilatus, Ecce homo (Joan. XIX, 5): vere homo est, quis dubitet? Testes sunt plagae virgarum, livor ulcerum, foeditas sputorum. Jam nunc cognosco, Zabule, quia est homo. Vere homo est, inquis. Sed quid est, quod in tot injuriis non irascitur ut homo, non movetur ut homo, non suis tortoribus indignatur ut homo?
Ergo plus est quam homo. Sed quis cognoscit illum? Cognoscitur certe homo impiorum judicia sustinens: sed cognoscetur Deus judicium faciens.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.22.61-Luke.22.62 — And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had told him, 'Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.' Luke.22.62 — And he went out and wept bitterly.
- ↩Luke.22.56-Luke.22.60 — But a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light of the fire, looked intently at him and said, "This man also was with him." Luke.22.57 — But he denied it, saying, "I do not know him, woman." Luke.22.58 — After a little while, another person, seeing him, said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." Luke.22.59 — And after about an hour had passed, another man began insisting, saying, 'Truly this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean too.' Luke.22.60 — But Peter said, 'Man, I do not know what you are saying.' And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
- ↩Matt.27.2;Mark.15.1;Luke.23.1;John.18.28-John.18.30 — And having bound him, they led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor. Mark.15.1 — Very early in the morning, the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes — the whole council — held a consultation. After binding Jesus, they led him away and handed him over to Pilate. Luke.23.1 — Then the whole assembly rose and brought him before Pilate. John.18.28 — Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was early morning, and they themselves did not enter the Praetorium, so that they would not be defiled but might eat the Passover. John.18.29 — So Pilate went out to them and said, "What charge do you bring against this man?" John.18.30 — They answered and said to him, "If this man were not doing evil, we would not have handed him over to you."
- ↩Isa.53.7 — He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to slaughter, and like a sheep silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth.
- ↩Acts.8.32 — The passage of Scripture he was reading was this: "Like a sheep led to slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
- ↩Matt.27.11-Matt.27.14;Mark.15.2-Mark.15.5;Luke.23.6-Luke.23.11;John.18.33-John.18.38 — Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned him, saying, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said to him, "You say so." Matt.27.12 — And when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Matt.27.13 — Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many things they are testifying against you?" Matt.27.14 — And he did not answer him, not even a word, so that the governor marveled greatly. Mark.15.2 — And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You say so." Mark.15.3 — And the chief priests accused him of many things. Mark.15.4 — And Pilate again asked him, "Do you not answer? See how many charges they bring against you." Mark.15.5 — But Jesus no longer answered anything, so that Pilate was amazed. Luke.23.6 — But when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. Luke.23.7 — And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who himself was in Jerusalem at that time. Luke.23.8 — Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. Luke.23.9 — He questioned him at considerable length, but he answered him nothing. Luke.23.10 — And the chief priests and the scribes stood by, accusing him vehemently. Luke.23.11 — And Herod, together with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him, putting a gorgeous robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. John.18.33 — So Pilate went back into the governor's headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" John.18.34 — Jesus answered, 'Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?' John.18.35 — Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?" John.18.36 — Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from there." John.18.37 — Pilate therefore said to him, 'So you are a king, then?' Jesus answered, 'You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.' John.18.38 — Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?' And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, 'I find no basis for a charge against him.'
- ↩John.19.5 — So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, "Behold, the man."
- ↩John.19.5 — So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, "Behold, the man."
Notes
- 1 ↩efficaciter rendered 'effectively' — the word carries the sense of a look that both accomplishes something and overflows with mercy; it could also mean 'mercifully' in parallel with misericorditer, but the tricolon quam...quam...quam suggests distinct qualities.
- 2 ↩oculus tuus rendered 'your gentle eye' (dulcis modifying oculus) — the phrase conveys both tenderness and the plea for a look of favor; 'gentle' captures the affective register without archaism.
- 3 ↩The address to "Zabule" (Satan) is spoken by Christ or in Christ's voice to the devil, acknowledging his human nature under suffering. The speaker's identity is contextually determined by the surrounding chapter.
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