The First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death

We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.

Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face.  Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!”  So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.”  The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

 Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.  So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”  As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.  Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

Behold the Man.

Behold Man.

Behold Mankind.

Behold the source of Man’s life.

Behold the Lover of Mankind, in flesh, walking among us, bearing our shame.

John the Forerunner was a prophet. When he saw Jesus, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

Pontias Pilate is no prophet. Pilate sees Jesus, and says “Behold the Man.”

John the Forerunner knew himself to be unworthy to undo Jesus’s sandal strap. “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”

Pilate does not see himself as unworthy. Pilate sees no need for baptism; if it were offered, he would refuse. He does not question why the Lord has come to him. He has the Lord scourged. Whatever anyone does to the least among us, they do to Christ. So this is surely not the first time Pilate has beheld Christ and had Him scourged. It may be the thousandth time, for all we know.

Christ went down into the Jordan to be baptized, and all the waters of the world were purified for baptism. Everyone who comes to the water receives healing and forgiveness of sin. But that was years ago, and there is no water flowing now. The waters have turned to blood. Blood is pouring from Christ’s wounds; blood smears everyone who touches Him, rendering them unclean before the Old Law. Blood runs over the floor of the Praetorium. Blood stains the judgement seat. Blood soaks into the purple robe, rendering it useless as a garment; blood flows over the the crown. Every symbol of kingship and judgement has been eternally stained.

Jesus could have given up the Ghost then, and no one would have been surprised. Plenty of scourging victims died. It happened all the time. But He chooses to stay alive. He is determined to be one with His beloved– with me, with you, with all of us, even with Pilate and the angry crowd who cried for His execution. All of us will someday stand before Christ the Judge. Now, Jesus stays alive, so that He may be judged by His beloved, and have all things in common with us.

John the Forerunner asked Jesus, “Are You the One who is to come? Or shall we look for another?”

John the Forerunner received an answer. “The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

Pilate doesn’t want to talk about prophecy. Pilate doesn’t want to know what is to come; he asks about the past. “Where are you from?”

And Pilate receives no answer. The Kingdom of Heaven is not of this world. Christ’s own people sold and abandoned Him. As long as He walks on this earth, He is from nowhere. There is nothing to say.

Pilate asks the people, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The people betray Christ one more time. “We have no King but Caesar.”

Blasphemy. The chosen people of God see God, clothed in purple and wearing a crown, and reject Him, preferring Caesar. Caesar despises them and Christ loves them. Caesar enslaves them and Christ promises to set them free. Caesar will destroy their temple within their lifetime; Christ is the God they have cried to on the temple mount for a thousand years. Before Abraham came to be, He Is. But the descendants of Abraham choose Caesar. And so do we. We all have. We’ve all committed this blasphemy before. Every sin is a choice for Caesar, rather than for Christ.

Jesus submits Himself to His beloved.

His beloved is you.

Let us go out to the cross with Him.

Let us go to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

Behold, the Lamb of God.

Behold, your lover.

Behold, the Man.

(Image: an icon of Christ before Pilate, via Wikimedia Commons.) 

Steel Magnificat will be meditating on the Way of the Cross on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout Lent. All Stations are linked in this post.