Here Is The Man
HERE IS THE MAN
JOHN 19:1-7
We can only wonder that Jesus loved us enough to suffer all this!
Having failed to get rid of the responsibility for dealing with Jesus by means of an amnesty, Pilate now has him flogged. This may be an attempt to get Jesus to give evidence (cf. Acts 22:24), or an attempt to placate the Jews so that they would not go on asking for the death penalty (Luke 23:16,22). The soldiers then do their utmost to humiliate this so-called king by mockery. They dress him up in royal robes and proceed to call him “King of the Jews” and to strike him.
Pilate goes out again in the name of truth on the level at which he understands it, and tells the Jews that he finds no case against Jesus (cf. 18:38). Jesus then follows, a pitiful sight in his mock array, and Pilate offers him to their view telling them to look at the man. Here is this poor fellow, your deluded and rejected Messianic claimant, is what he means. But here is “the Man,” the Son of Man, the Second Adam, offering his perfect obedience for the life of the world (Romans 5:15,19; Philippians 2:6-8).
The religious leaders see him and howl for his crucifixion. Pilate is still concerned enough for the truth not to be willing to order the crucifixion. He has, however, given in sufficiently to the pressure of the Jews to offer them the opportunity of performing it. But they continue to call out for Pilate to act. The true charge now comes out. It is a charge of blasphemy, which under Jewish law carried the death penalty (Leviticus 24:16). The “man” has made himself Son of God (cf. 10:33).
Notes 19:2: the crown was probably not so much an instrument of torture as a symbol of mockery. It was probably a “radiate crown” which was sometimes used as a sign of divinity. 19:3: see NEB—“Then time after time they came up to him.” 19:4: the Jews themselves had been unable to prove any moral charges against him (8:46). 19:6: the Jews could not crucify him, so this may have been a taunt by Pilate. He is anxious to make them responsible for the execution. But this is a “buck” which no man can pass.