Pilate’s feelings of awe and amazement were now intensified, and his determination to release his Prisoner increased. But the chief priests and the Sanhedrists had improved their opportunity while he was listening to his wife’s message, and when he composed himself afresh to receive their decision, he saw that malice and bitter, determined hatred had done their work. Persuaded by their teachers, the multitude cried out, Not this Man, but Barabbas. In vain the procurator tried to stem the torrent, in vain he expostulated (Mk. xv. 9), in vain he re-asserted his conviction of the innocence of the Accused. Loud clamour, and furious faces, and uplifted hands, told him that the feelings of the throng were excited beyond such efforts. Equally powerless was a solemn and significant action, by which he strove to represent in the most striking manner possible, how strongly he was convinced of the perfect innocence of the Holy One. Calling for water, he washed his hands publickly (Mtt. xxvii. 24) before the whole multitude, saying, I am guiltless of the blood of this Just Person: see ye to it. His blood be upon us and upon our children, was the frantic reply, and Pilate saw that further opposition would only increase the tumult (Mtt. xxvii. 25).
One hope, however, he still seems to have retained[552]. Perhaps that tossing clamorous throng would be satisfied with the infliction of a punishment only less terrible than death. Perhaps the inhuman scourge of the Roman soldiers would be enough[553], without the penalty of crucifixion, for which so many were already clamorous. He gave the order, therefore, that He should be scourged, and appears to have again sat down on the judgment-seat while the command was carried into effect.
The soldiers executed his orders with their wonted severity, and then flung around the bleeding body of the Divine Sufferer a purple[554] robe (Mtt. xxvii. 28; Jn. xix. 2), and placing a reed in His right hand (Mtt. xxvii. 29), and a crown of thorns[555] upon His head, bowed the knee before Him, and in cruel mockery saluted Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews (Mtt. xxvii. 29; Mk. xv. 18). Not satisfied with this outrage, they took the reed and struck Him with it on the head, and spat in His face (Mtt. xxvii. 30; Mk. xv. 19), and heaped upon Him every kind of indignity.
The scourging appears to have been inflicted within the prætorium (Mtt. xxvii. 27), and when it had been carried out, Pilate himself went and led forth the Sufferer wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe (Jn. xix. 4, 5), and presented Him to the people, saying, Behold the Man[556]. Would not this spectacle of terrible suffering suffice? Could cruelty demand yet more? Crucify Him was the cry of the chief priests and their attendants (Jn. xix. 6). The sight of so much suffering so meekly borne drew forth no pity, and no relenting. Take ye Him, and crucify Him, replied the procurator; for I find no fault in Him. We have a law, rejoined the Jews, and by our law[557] He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.
These last words roused afresh all Pilate’s fears (Jn. xix. 8). Taking his bleeding, lacerated Prisoner once more within the prætorium he enquired anxiously, Whence art Thou[558]? But the Holy One made him no reply. Startled by this continued silence the procurator asked whether He did not know that he had power to release Him, and power to crucify Him. Thou couldest have had no power at all against Me, was the mysterious reply, unless it had been given thee from above; therefore he[559] that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin (Jn. xix. 11). This answer, so calm, so gentle, so full of mystery, made a deep impression on Pilate, already awed by the message of his wife, and still more by the infinite patience of the accused, and he resolved to make one last effort to release Him (Jn. xix. 12). But it was too late. A cry, far more formidable to himself than any he had yet heard, struck upon his ears: If thou let this Man go, cried the Jews, thou art not Cæsar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar (Jn. xix. 12). It was a crafty, well-chosen cry. Pilate knew that the Jews already had matter for accusation against him[560], and could well divine the consequences, if they accused him before the gloomy suspicious Tiberius of sparing a prisoner who had been accused of treason[561]. Loss of place, degradation, banishment, perhaps a death by torture, stared him in the face. His fears for his own personal safety turned the scale. He must save himself[562], even though he sacrificed One whom he had confessed to be innocent. Once more, therefore, he took his seat upon the tribunal (Jn. xix. 13), but even now he could not resist the impulse to bid the Jews bethink themselves before it was too late. Behold your King, said he. His words were the signal for uproarious cries of Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him! Shall I crucify your King? asked the procurator. We have no king but Cæsar, replied the chief priests (Jn. xix. 15), thus renouncing altogether the hope of the Messiah in order to satisfy their thirst for the Redeemer’s blood, and Pilate seeing it was useless to prolong the controversy, pronounced the word, the irrevocable word, Let Him be crucified (Joh. xix. 16).
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CRUCIFIXION.
A.D. 30.
THUS the Holy One was formally delivered into the hands of the soldiers[563], who instantly made their preparations for His crucifixion. The place of execution was a spot of slightly rising ground without the gates of the city, called, probably from the shape of its rounded summit[564], Golgotha[565], the place of a skull (Mtt. xxvii. 33; Jn. xix. 17). Thither, therefore, after stripping Him of the purple robe, and putting on Him His own garments (Mtt. xxvii. 31; Mk. xv. 20), the soldiers led Him forth bearing[566], as was customary, the Cross on which He was to suffer (Jn. xix. 17), attended by a centurion[567], and two malefactors who were to be crucified with Him[568] (Lk. xxiii. 32).
As they proceeded from the city, the Redeemer, exhausted by the grievous sufferings He had already undergone, sank under the heavy weight of the Cross, and the soldiers meeting one Simon[569] of Cyrene in Northern Africa, coming from the country[570], laid hold upon him, and compelled[571] him to assist in bearing it (Mtt. xxvii. 32; Mk. xv. 21; Lk. xxiii. 26). And so the mournful procession was resumed, followed by a great multitude, amongst which many women began to utter loud laments at the sad spectacle. Turning to these daughters of Jerusalem the exalted Sufferer with superhuman composure bade them weep not for Him, but for themselves; for nameless sorrows awaited them, days when they would bless the wombs which had never borne, and the paps that had never given suck, when they would cry to the mountains to fall upon them, and to the hills to cover them[572] (Lk. xxiii. 28–31).
On reaching the appointed place, the hole for the Cross was dug in the ground, and the customary stupefying potion[573] of wine mingled with myrrh was offered to the Holy One. He touched it with his lips (Mtt. xxvii. 34), but would not drink it, being resolved to preserve His senses clear, and to endure all the coming agony in the full possession of His consciousness. Then the soldiers stripped Him of His garments, nailed His hands and feet to the Cross[574], placed over His head the title[575] which Pilate had written in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin,