when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

с

39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

b Matt. xxvii. 24. Luke xxiii.

4. ch. xix. 4, 6.

c Matt. xxvii.

15. Mark xv.

6. Luke xxiii. 17.

the Lord's answer, Chrysostom remarks: "For the present he applieth himself to what was pressing, for he knew that this question needed time, and desired to rescue the Lord from the violence of the Jews." The subsequent conduct of Pilate, however, is in no respect that of a man who was sincerely inquiring after truth.

"And when he had said this, he went out again. . . no fault at all." What the Lord had said respecting the nature of His kingdom had convinced Pilate that the Roman government had nothing to fear from such a King; and so he went forth to the Jews with the words: "I find in him no fault at all." Upon this there follows the accusations of "many things" in St. Matthew and St. Mark (Matt. xxvii. 12, 13; Mark xv. 3-8), and the "sending to Herod" of St. Luke.

The first part of the examination before Pilate is needful to explain the fact (related in Luke xxiii. 1-4) that, after the Lord had been accused of making Himself a King, and after Pilate had asked Him the truth of this, and had received the affirmative answer, “Thou sayest it," he at once turned to the chief priests and people, and said, "I find no fault in this man." Surely, as the governor of a people at once so excitable and so disaffected, he was bound to examine the nature of the pretension. The Synoptics give no such examination. This St. John supplies, and his account is thus a needful supplement to the Synoptical narrative.

66

39. But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you King of the Jews." Here is the first indication of the miserable weakness of Pilate. He found no fault in the Man, and yet he feared the chief priests and people, for he knew that they had ample grounds for accusing him before Cæsar for maladministration; and so he would not incur the odium of at once releasing, on his own responsibility, the Man Whom he had pronounced innocent. He endeavours to shift the burden of the Lord's release upon the people, just as he did that of His condemnation upon the chief priests.

d

40 Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

d Acts iii. 14.

e Luke xxiii.

19.

"The King of the Jews." It is to be remarked how Pilate, from first to last, persists in calling Jesus the "King of the Jews." It is as if, like Caiaphas, he "spake not of himself." When he spake in scorn and contempt he was directed by a higher Power to "prophecy" the truth.

40. "Then cried they all again; saying, Not this man," &c. The rejection of Jesus for a robber and murderer is, like all else in this terrible narrative, typical. It is in our power, after our way, to betray Him, to deny Him, to reject Him, even to crucify Him afresh. Putting aside altogether the Lord's Godhead, which, of course, they who rejected Him for Barabbas were unconscious of, they must have been aware that they were rejecting a teacher of righteousness, a healer of the sick, a restorer of sight, and some of them must have heard that He had even raised the dead, and this Man they rejected, clamorously rejected, for a robber and murderer. They knew not what they did, and yet we are sure that they never would have been permitted to do what they did unless each one of that profane and lawless multitude had long before, of set purpose, chosen evil rather than good. We cannot but suppose that each one of them must have been for years hardening himself, or he would never have been on that most sacred Passover morning one of a mob clamouring for blood. "There is, in everything, a better and worse, a good and an evil to us. If we choose good we choose God, Who alone is good, and is in all things good; if we choose evil we do, in fact, choose the evil one. There are degrees of choice as there were degrees and steps in the rejection of the Lord. Yet each led on to the next. Each hardens for the next. No one ever became at once wholly vile,' is even a heathen proverb. But there is no safety against making the very worst choice, except in the fixed, conscious purpose, in all things to make the best." (Dr. Pusey, from a sermon entitled "Barabbas or Jesus?")

CHAP. XIX.

THE

a

a Matt. xx. 19. & xxvii. 26.

HEN Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on Mark xv. 15. him a purple robe,

Luke xviii. 33.

1. "Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him." This scourging was so fearful a punishment that it could not have been inflicted on the Lord more than once, or, humanly speaking, He would have sunk under it. We are to understand then that this was the scourging usually inflicted on those who were about to be crucified, and it was inflicted now at this time by Pilate in the hope that this torture would have been sufficient to satisfy their cruelty. Pilate inferred this when he said, "I will, therefore, chastise him and release him" (Luke xxiii. 16). "Scourging, as practised among the Romans, was so cruel a punishment that the prisoner very often succumbed to it. The scourge was formed of switches, or thongs, armed at the extremity with pieces of bone, or lead. The prisoner received the strokes while fastened to a small post, so as to have his back bent, and the skin on the stretch. The back became quick flesh, and the blood spurted out with the first strokes." Thus "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed."

2. "And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, . . . Hail, King of the Jews." See notes on St. Matthew's Gospel. In all probability the mocking of our Lord by these Roman soldiers, which seems to have been voluntary on their part and not directed by Pilate, though connived at, and afterwards, as we shall see, made use of by him, was more directed against the Jews than against our Lord, of Whom they knew nothing. They took up Pilate's words that He was, 66 the king of the Jews," and acted on them as they would have done against any other of the hated race who might have been given up to their brutality.

3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.

4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them,

3. N, B., L., some later Uncials, a few Cursives, most Old Latin, Vulg., and many versions read, " And they came to him and said " (Alford, "They kept coming to him"); A., D. (a later hand), some later Uncials, most Cursives, and Syriac as in Received Text. 4. "Pilate therefore." N, with some Cursives, Old Latin, Vulg. (Cod. Amiat.), and some versions read without any copula; E., G., H., M., and most Cursives read as in Authorized, "Pilate therefore;" A., B., K., L., and Syriac read, "And Pilate went forth."

"And they smote him with their hands." St. Matthew and St. Mark recount other indignities-they put a reed in His right hand, they spit upon Him, and took the reed and smote Him on the head (Matt. xxvii. 27, 30), and bowing their knees worshipped Him (Mark xv. 19).

...

What shall we say to all this which the Lord endured? Let us hear what an eloquent saint said: "But do thou, O man, when thou hearest these things, and seest thy Lord bound and led about, deem present things to be nought. For how can it be otherwise than strange, if Christ bore such things for thy sake, and thou often canst not endure even words? He is spit upon, and dost thou deck thyself with garments and rings, and if thou gain not good report from all, think life unbearable? He is insulted, beareth mockings, and scornful blows upon the cheek; and dost thou wish everywhere to be honoured, and bearest thou not the reproachings of Christ? When, therefore, anyone makes a jest of thee, remember thy Lord, that in mockery they bowed the knee before Him, and worried Him, both by words and deeds, and treated Him with much irony. But He not only did not defend Himself, but even repaid them with the contraries-with mildness and gentleness." Does anyone think that the saint here is unreal, or exaggerated, or bids sinful men imitate what is impossible to be followed? Hear an Apostle who goes much further, when he says that we are actually called to follow the Lord in this very matter. "Even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps... Who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not." (1 Pet. ii.)

4. "Pilate therefore came forth again... I find no fault in him." Let it be noticed how frequently Pilate reiterates this. Surely he

b

Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.

b ch. xviii. 38. ver. 6.

5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!

с

6 When the chief priests therefore and officers • Acts iii. 13. saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

speaks not of himself when he thus repeatedly pronounces Jesus to

be the Just One!

5. “Then came Jesus forth... Behold the man!" These words seem, on Pilate's part, to have been an appeal to their pity. They seem to say, "What hatred or envy can ye bear against so meek and gentle a sufferer?" "If upon the king ye look with an evil eye, now spare because ye see Him cast down. He is scourged, crowned with thorns, clad with a garment of mockery, scoffed at with bitter taunts, smitten with the palms of men's hands, His disgrace overflows, let your hate subside." (Augustine.)

But surely these are not the words of man. Out of himself, Pilate spake not thus. For this is God's great, God's saving command, with the eye of faith to behold Jesus. See how God in His Word calls upon us to behold Him: "Behold, and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow." "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." "Behold the man whose name is the branch." "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." It is impossible to regard such words said of the world's Redeemer on the very day of Redemption, by the judge who condemned Him to the redeeming Death, as if they began and ended in themselves. For He was the Man compared with Whom there seems to be no other. He was the one Man Who could gather unto Himself, and be surety, and sponsor, and make atonement for, and mediate on behalf of, all His brethren. The words have an universal, an eternal significance.

...

6. "When the chief priests therefore and officers . . . Crucify him, crucify him." These chief priests must have been some of the heads of the courses, holding such a place in the Temple, and per