Condemnation of Jesus
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robber chief, whose every feature proclaimed him to be a debased and
hardened desperado.
Pilate was filled with sympathy and amazement as he beheld the
uncomplaining patience of Jesus. Gentleness and resignation were
expressed in every feature; there was no cowardly weakness in his
manner, but the strength and dignity of long-suffering. Pilate did not
doubt that the sight of this man, who had borne insult and abuse in
such a manner, when contrasted with the repulsive criminal by his side,
would move the people to sympathy, and they would decide that Jesus
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had already suffered enough. But he did not understand the fanatical
hatred of the priests for Christ, who, as the Light of the world, had
made apparent their darkness and error.
Pilate, pointing to the Saviour, in a voice of solemn entreaty said to
priests, rulers, and people, “Behold the man.” “I bring him forth to you
that ye may know that I find no fault in him.” But the priests had moved
the mob to mad fury; and, instead of pitying Jesus in his suffering and
forbearance, they cried, “Crucify him, crucify him!” and their hoarse
voices were like the roaring of wild beasts. Pilate, losing all patience
with their unreasoning cruelty, cried out despairingly, “Take ye him,
and crucify him; for I find no fault in him.”
The Roman governor, familiarized with cruel scenes, educated
amid the din of battle, was moved with sympathy for the suffering
prisoner, who, contemned and scourged, with bleeding brow and lac-
erated back, still had more the bearing of a king upon his throne than
that of a condemned criminal. But the hearts of his own people were
hardened against him. The priests declared, “We have a law, and by
our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
Pilate was startled by these words; he had no correct idea of Christ
and his mission; but he had an indistinct faith in God and in beings
superior to humanity. The thought that had once before passed through
his mind now took more definite shape, and he questioned if it might
not be a divine personage who stood before him, clad in the purple robe
of mockery, and crowned with thorns, yet with such a noble bearing
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that the stanch Roman trembled with awe as he gazed upon him.
“When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
and went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence
art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.” Jesus had already told Pilate
that he was the Messiah, that his kingdom was not of this world; and