John 19:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

O friends, in His final hour comfort Him in this heart’s affliction. Comfort Him with pious sympathy, sighing, tears, humble beating of the breast, tender inward compassion, sincere contrition for sins, and such persuasion toward holy repentance as you can offer.

Pilate shows Him to the people, tortured, drained of Blood, wounded to the very bones with deep wounds. From inhuman torment He has “no form or comeliness” (Is 53:2). Pilate shows Him as some strange, unheard-of wonder, saying: “Behold the Man!”

Among the Romans there was a feast at which they displayed portraits of their ancestors. Bringing their children to them, they would point and say: this is your ancestor, still remembered among men as glorious for his virtues. This is your great-grandfather, wise and prudent in speech, noble in deeds. This is your friend, worthy of memory and praise from his disciples.

The Roman Pilate does the same in Jerusalem. From a high place he shows the people, as it were, a portrait painted in blood: Christ the Savior, covered with wounds. He says: “Behold the Man!”

Here is your King. Do not envy Him His kingdom. Instead of royal chambers, a tomb is prepared for Him. Instead of royal distinctions, He receives the marks of burial.

Here is your Ancestor, O listener, so renowned. Emulate Him and follow His good works. “He left us an example, that we should follow in His steps” (1 Pet 2:21).

When the garment of the Roman Caesar Gallius, bloodstained and pierced by swords, was shown in the Roman forum, there was great weeping, cries, and lamentation throughout Rome. Here is a Man whose Body is like a net riddled with wounds and swimming in Blood. Why then has your heart turned to stone, O man? Why do you not grieve and weep, looking upon so pitiful a sight?

“Behold the Man!” Here He is, the joy of the Angels, the wonder of the Cherubim, the dread vision of the Seraphim, made an instrument of terrible disgrace.

“Behold the Man!” O God the Father, “with rebukes for iniquity Thou hast chastened man, and hast crushed His soul like a spider’s web” (Ps 38:12).

“Behold the Man!” “How long will you fall upon a man? All of you are killing Him, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence” (Ps 61:4).

“Behold the Man! A man was born in Him, and the Most High Himself established Him” (Ps 86:5).

“Behold the Man,” who, restoring the human image, has lost His own.

“Behold the Man!” You prayed, O man: “I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred” (Jn 5:7). Now you have God and Man, healing us in the laver of His Blood.

“Behold the Man! Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).

“Behold the Man,” and a good Man, as it is said to the apostle: “He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38).

He Himself proclaimed: “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see” (Lk 10:23). Abraham would have rejoiced to see My day (Jn 8:56). But the accursed assembly cries: We cannot bear to see Him. Take Him away, take Him away, crucify Him (Jn 19:15).

“Behold the Man!” “A worm, and no man; a reproach of men and despised by the people” (Ps 21:7). He pleads with Job: “Have pity on Me, have pity on Me, O friends!”

By these two words much was said: “Look at this Man, tormented to gratify you. Look at this Righteous One, guilty of nothing. How He suffers, and how meekly He looks upon you, who thirst for His death! Is even this not enough for you? Will only His death satisfy your hatred of Him? Do you really think He is capable of stirring up the people and proclaiming Himself King of the Jews? Think what kind of King He is. But do not forget that He too is a Man. If there is even a drop of humanity in you, then you must pity Him, and not seek His death.”

This Man had been abandoned by all, so tormented, mocked, and not even defending Himself against the accusations brought against Him. At the sight of Him they could at least now have become convinced that, if they had feared destruction from the Romans because of Him, that fear was vain (cf. Jn 11:48).

But, as is clear from what follows, neither this clearly expressed judgment of Pilate the judge, nor his appeal for compassion toward the accused, had any success.

“Behold,” he was saying, “a man so torn for your sake. Look, He is a man, and He has been so tormented. He is a man. Is there no compassion in men for a man? Look: is there anything in Him except the most astonishing meekness? Is there anything in Him that exposes Him as a restless and rebellious man, as you cry out?”

The Jews should then have remembered more than Pilate wished or was able to say to them. They should have remembered that this was He who healed their sick, raised the dead, miraculously fed the hungry, blessed children, and comforted widows.

He is the great Prophet whom Moses awaited. He is now torn, tormented, and covered with wounds. Yet was it not His condition that the Prophet described? Isaiah said: “Despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with suffering. As one from whom men hide their face, we despised Him and esteemed Him as nothing. He has borne our diseases and taken up our wounds. Yet we thought Him stricken, wounded, and punished from above. He suffered for our sins and was tormented for our iniquities. They torment this Sufferer, but He opens not His mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opens not His mouth” (Isa 53:1, 3-5, 8).

How could they fail to recognize, in this prophetic image, the Sufferer whom Pilate was now showing? Yet not only did the Jews fail to recognize the Sufferer. With literal exactness they fulfilled upon themselves everything Isaiah said about those who looked upon the suffering Servant of Jehovah.

Not in vain did the Prophet say: “Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The Jews did not understand what they saw with their own eyes, nor what they themselves were doing. O sorrowful blindness!

Meanwhile, amid the Savior’s very abasement, He constantly preserves the character of His imperishable royal dignity. Its symbols and signs appear torn around Him, seemingly only so that amid dishonor He might receive again the glory which man, to his misfortune, lost through pride: “It is good for me that Thou hast humbled me” (Ps 118:71).

Thus the first virtue which the disciple of Jesus Christ must imitate, as he gazes upon his divine Teacher, is humility. It must be deeply rooted in the heart, and from there spread its beneficial influence upon all the powers of soul and body.

A humble heart is horrified by sin and patiently endures everything, if only it may avoid sin or efface it. A humble heart denies itself. It fears praise more than contempt, and in all circumstances thinks only of rendering glory to God.