Above : Anonymous Portuguese painting dating back from 1550 AD.
Ecce Homo are the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate when he presents a scourged Jesus Christ, bound and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his Crucifixion.
The phrase in English is Behold the Man, or the Latin term homo may be better translated as ‘person’ rather than the gendered ‘man’. What did Pilate mean ?
Ecce homo, words that implied human but meant God, divinity in human shape-
or did he mean this ludicrous figure of an exhausted man who could not possibly be a Messiah ?
Was the cry "Ecce homo" accompanied by a contemptuous sneer that reflected Rome's attitude towards physical weakness?
His prisoner might claim to be the King of an invisible kingdom, but with his thorny crown and tattered bloodied mantle what a dismal picture he painted!
Besides, where were his armies? If they existed, Jesus had told him they were not even prepared to go to war on his behalf.
Besides, where were his armies? If they existed, Jesus had told him they were not even prepared to go to war on his behalf.
It was all in sharp contrast to the might of Rome, with Caesar king of all he surveyed and his conquering armies encamped throughout his extensive domains.
Aniello Scotto : Ecce Homo
Aniello Scotto : Ecce Homo
The scene is widely depicted in Christian art; the image of Jesus in cloak and crown of thorns standing or half standing , unwashed and bloody, piteous and unbearable to look at.
Was Pilate desperately appealing to the mercy of the mob by presenting just a wretched figure of a man in the hope that they would take pity on Jesus and he Pilate could assuage his nagging uncertainties and let him go ?
The tragic Pilate brought to the edge of truth by the Son of God himself, finally rejected it. Caesar's pomp and temporal power, proved more tangible for him than any unseen eternal kingdom that Jesus might know.
Was Pilate desperately appealing to the mercy of the mob by presenting just a wretched figure of a man in the hope that they would take pity on Jesus and he Pilate could assuage his nagging uncertainties and let him go ?
The tragic Pilate brought to the edge of truth by the Son of God himself, finally rejected it. Caesar's pomp and temporal power, proved more tangible for him than any unseen eternal kingdom that Jesus might know.
Ecce Homo Titian
The Fourth Plinth was an empty plinth in Trafalgar Square London which was transformed into a public art project in 2010.
Mark Wallinger's sanitised sculpture Ecce Homo : described by some as the testing of a religious icon in a secular time represents Jesus situated not in the middle of the pedestal but on the edge, as if He is watching over the crowd.
His hands are tied behind His back, although not visible .
Painter Antonio Ciseri
Southwell Cathedral sculpture
The poem below by Andrew Hudgins reminds us here that there is a Pilate, a crowd of tormenters, and a Jesus within us all.
Ecce Homo
Christ bends, protects his groin. Thorns gouge
his forehead, and his legs
are stippled with dried blood. The part of us
that’s Pilate says, Behold the man.
We glare at that bound, lashed,
and bloody part of us that’s Christ. We laugh, we howl,
we shout. Give us Barabbas,
not knowing who Barabbas is, not caring.
A thief? We’ll take him anyway. A drunk?
A murderer? Who cares? It’s better him
Than this pale ravaged thing, this god. Bosch[1] knows.
His humans waver, laugh, then change to demons
as if they’re seized by epilepsy. It spreads
from eye to eye, from laugh to laugh until,
incited by the ease of going mad,
they go. How easy evil is! Dark voices sing,
You can be evil or you can be good,
but good is dull, my darling, good is dull.
And we’re convinced: How lovely evil is!
How lovely hell must be! Give us Barabbas!
Lord Pilate clears his throat and tries again:
I find no fault in this just man.
It’s more than we can bear. In gothic script
our answer floats above our upturned eyes.
O crucify, we sing. O crucify him! 1991
[1] “Bosch” – 15th- and 16th-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, whose paintings include the 1490 work Ecce Homo, in which Jesus is jeered at by the crowd whose faces depict the emotions described by Hudgins in the poem above.
Ecce Homo captures the mystery of the Christian doctrine of the incarnation, which says that God, in the person of Jesus , became a human being, fully and completely, for us and for our salvation, without in any way ceasing to be God.
Behind the images Jesus is saying whatsoever you do to the least of these you do also to me ...
Ecce homo: behold the human being, with tear-stained, starving, tormented faces, the crucified peoples who must be taken down from the cross. This solidarity is not limited to human beings. Nature, too, suffers: “the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now.”
Son of Man, Behold the Man, Son of God, I AM !
Click here for an interesting interpretation of the meaning and significance of the phrase Ecce Homo...
Video depicting Christ's passion through art : Ecce Homo
- The Enduring Power of an Icon (nytimes.com)
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