"Ecce Homo!" --Behold the Man!

Early the next morning Jesus was led to Pilate and charged with Treason against the Emperor in asserting Himself a King. His accusers were the foremost Jews. Pilate realized the malice of the charge, to secure the death of an inoffensive person. Learning that Jesus was from Galilee, he sought to rid himself of the responsibility by sending Him to King Herod. But Herod would have nothing to do with Jesus. He had heard of His miracles, and feared. After Herod's soldiers had mocked Jesus, He was returned to Pilate. His accusers insisted that if Pilate should let Him go, that would prove disloyalty to the Roman Emperor.

Pilate sought to release Jesus, and to satisfy the clamor, ordered Him to be scourged. But this did not satisfy the mob, which cried, "Crucify Him!" Finally, Pilate, placing Jesus prominently, exclaimed, "Ecce Homo!"--Behold the Man! You have no other Jew His equal! Would you crucify Him? The mob cried the more persistently, "Crucify Him!" Nothing is more heart-hardening than religious errors.

Jesus was not the mob's ideal of a king. Had He been coarse, vulgar, a boaster, He would have been more nearly their ideal of a person likely to lift their nation from under the Roman yoke, and to become conqueror, like Alexander the Great. The world looks with a measure of reverence upon Jesus, but still He is far from the human ideal. Neither are the footstep followers of Jesus the world's ideals. They with Jesus are counted peculiar. As St. John wrote, "As He is, so are we, in this world"--despised as respects human ideals.

Humanity fails to realize that God's purpose in Christ and His followers has been to prepare them by meekness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering and love for the glorious work of Messiah's Kingdom, to bless all mankind. Present experiences are necessary, the Bible declares, that this Royal Priesthood may be, later on, a sympathetic Priesthood in respect to mankind.--Hebrews 2:10;3:1;5:8-10;12:11.