“Ecce Homo” (Latin for “Behold the Man”)**, a painting by 19th-century Italian artist Antonio Ciseri, is a dramatic depiction of Pontius Pilate presenting the scourged Jesus on a balcony, overlooking an angry crowd calling for the swift execution of the man from Galilee.

Many painters have attempted to portray the verse from John 19:5, including Titian, Corregio, Tintoretto, Mantegna, Hieronymus Bosch and Schongauer. Ciseri’s depiction captures the high drama of the moment: Jesus, stripped, beaten and bearing the crown of thorns, stands in silence before the great crowd as Pilate gestures to the crowd, “Behold the man!” (John 19:5).

Although these words come from the lips of Pilate, it is John himself, the author of the Gospel, who challenges all of us to “Behold this man!” Perhaps we are so accustomed to this passage that we do not stop to think of the incongruity between how we see Jesus and how his enemies saw him.

For example, all four gospels tell us that Jesus was captured in a garden by “a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees” (Jn. 18:3). Jesus was apparently accompanied by no more than 11 of his disciples.

But the word translated as “a band” in English is, in Greek, “speira,” a term meaning between 200-1,000 men. William Barclay remarks: “… what an expedition to send out against an unarmed Galilean carpenter!”

Jesus, a threat?

Although we may not see Jesus as a threat to the religious and secular authorities of Jerusalem, his enemies, by sending such a sizable force to arrest him, paid an unintended compliment to the perceived power of this man. Their fear of what this man could and might do demonstrates they did not regard him as a harmless preacher or prophet.

And they were right to do so. For, in clearing the Temple of those who were commercializing it, Jesus had mounted a sweeping attack on the vested interests of the Jerusalem power structure. It was not for the sake of a few irate temple merchants that Jesus was tried before Annas, the one-time high priest whose four sons and his son-in-law, Caiaphas, followed in his footsteps.

It is said the Jews of Jesus’ day hated the house of Annas. In the Talmud we read: “Woe to the house of Annas! Woe to their serpents’ hiss! They are high priests; their sons are keepers of the treasury, their sons-in-law are guardians of the Temple; and their servants beat the people with staves.”

Jesus, the single, solitary man from Galilee, was seen by the power structure as a threat to their privileged position. Although you and I might find it hard to imagine, they were right.

Who is it in our world today most threatened by Jesus? The people of unwarranted power. The people who use their power to subvert and afflict their fellow citizens. The people who cheat, lie, deceive, manipulate and destroy. The people who hate and subvert the rights of others.

All of these need to respond to Pilate’s admonition: “Behold the man!”

We also need to see the man forsaken by those on whom he depended: “Behold the man,” the Master whom Judas sold for 13 pieces of silver, the Christ whom Peter denied three times, the band of 12 that, despite their earlier assurances,  melted away and went into hiding while Jesus faced the Jewish hierarchy and Roman rulers alone.

But it is not enough to point to them with recrimination. No – instead, we must hear Pilate say to us: “Behold the man!” and know that we, too forsake the one to whom we have sworn allegiance. Our focus must be not so much on how or why the disciples forsook him, but rather how we forsake him in our own time.

There is also the crowd, the multitudes demonstrating in the courtyard. They needed to “Behold the man!” who was innocent of their bloodlust. Ciseri’s depiction marks a vivid contrast between Jesus and the mob. There is a wildness and fury in their faces. Pilate is attempting to reason with them, but wild emotion, not reason is in control.

How did they get that way? As in every wild mob there are those who play upon the fears and prejudices and, forsaking all reason and good will, the crowd lets itself be fanned into a conflagration of hate and irrationality – a familiar phenomenon in our own world, where irrational and hateful discourse rule the political  scene.

What bothers me so greatly and deeply is the faces in the political crowds could very well be our faces of our own times. We must realize that, for the most part, whether you are GOP, Democrat or Libertarian, too many of  our political values are almost guaranteed to be in conflict with the teachings of Jesus. I believe there is no political system – left, center or right – built upon or reflecting the teachings of the Man from Nazareth.

I am appalled at the depraved level upon which our politics today are practiced. Whether we are liberal, conservative or somewhere in-between, as disciples of Jesus Christ all of us must hold our political parties responsible for the level to which American citizens, many of them identifying themselves as “Christian,” have descended.

“Christians“ slinging mud at other “Christians” need to “Behold the man!”

**(If your church or local library has a copy of Christ and The Fine Arts by Cynthia Pearl Maus, there is a reproduction of the Ciseri painting on p. 358; Harper & Bros. 1938.)

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.