Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I am your narrator, Patti Brunner. This series contains excerpts directly taken from the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich reported in “The Lowly Life and Bitter Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother, Volume IV”[i]. This episode is the Trial of Jesus Part 4 Ecce Homo. Venerable Anne Catherine saw the graphic violence done to our Lord. We have chosen to omit most of the explicit descriptions, but remember that even his mother could not physically identify him after the inhumane treatment he received as he bore the sinful violence of the world for our sakes. The following is from her, from Anne Catherine’s visions of Pilate’s famous words, “Behold the Man!” after returning to Pilate after Herod’s trial.
Jesus was led again through the street before Pilate’s house and up the steps to the elevated platform. The executioners dragged Him in the most brutal manner, the long garment tripped Him, and He fell so often on the white marble steps that they were stained with blood from His sacred head.
Pilate was reclining on a chair something like a small couch, a little table by his side. Stepping out upon the terrace from which he was accustomed to address the multitude, he spoke to Jesus’ accusers: “You have presented unto me this Man as one that perverts the people, and behold I, having examined Him before you, find no cause in Him in those things wherein you accuse Him. No, nor Herod neither. For I sent you to him and behold, nothing worthy of death is brought against Him. I will chastise Him therefore and let Him go.” At these words, loud murmurs and shouts arose among the Pharisees, who began still more energetically to stir up the people and distribute money among them.
Pilate treated them with the utmost contempt. Among other cutting remarks, he let fall the following sarcastic words: “You will not see enough innocent blood flow at the slaughtering today without this Man’s!” It was customary for the people to go to Pilate just before the Pasch and, according to an ancient custom, demand the release of some one prisoner. It was now time for this. The Pharisees, while at Herod’s palace, had dispatched emissaries to Acre-a section of the city west of the Temple – to bribe the assembled multitude to demand, not Jesus’ liberation, but His crucifixion. Pilate was hoping that the people would ask that Jesus should be released, and he thought by proposing along with Him a miserable miscreant, who had already been condemned to death; he was leaving to them no choice. That notorious malefactor was called Barabbas, and was hated by the whole nation. He had in an insurrection committed murder; and besides that, I saw all kinds of horrible things connected with him. He was given to sorcery.
A crowd pressed forward, their speaker at their head. Raising their voice so as to be heard on Pilate’s terrace, they cried out: “Pilate, grant us what is customary on this feast!” For this demand Pilate had been waiting, so he at once addressed them. “It is your custom that I should deliver to you one prisoner on your festival day. Who will you that I release to you, Barabbas or Jesus, the King of the Jews Jesus, the Anointed of the Lord?”
Pilate was quite perplexed concerning Jesus. He called Him the “King of Jews,” partly in character of an arrogant Roman who despised the Jews for having so miserable a king, between whom and a murderer the choice rested; and partly from a kind of conviction that He might really be that wonderful King promised to the Jews, the Anointed of the Lord, the Messiah. His presentiment of the truth was also half-feigned. He mentioned these titles of the Lord because he felt that envy was the principal motive that excited the High Priests against Jesus, whom he himself esteemed innocent.
A moment of hesitation and deliberation on the part of the populace followed upon Pilate’s question, and then only a few voices shouted loudly: “Barabbas!” At that instant, Pilate was called for by one of his wife’s servants, who showed him the pledge he had given her that morning, and said: “Claudia Procla bids thee remember thy promise.”
The Pharisees and High Priests were greatly excited. They ran among the crowd, threatening and commanding. They had, however, no great trouble in making the mob carry out their wishes.
Mary, Magdalen, John, and the holy women, trembling and weeping, were standing in a corner of the hall. Although the Mother of Jesus knew that there was no help for mankind excepting by His death, yet she was, as the Mother of the most holy Son, full of anxiety, full of longing for the preservation of His life.
Jesus had become man voluntarily to undergo crucifixion; still, when led to death, though innocent, He suffered all the pangs and torments of His frightful ill-treatment just as any human being would have suffered. And in the same way did Mary suffer all the affliction and anguish of an ordinary mother whose most innocent child should have to endure such things from the thankless multitude. She trembled, she shuddered with fear, and still she hoped. John went frequently to a little distance in the hope of being able to bring back some good news. Mary prayed that so great a crime might not be perpetrated. She prayed like Jesus on Mount Olivet: “If it be possible, let this chalice pass!” And thus the loving Mother continued to hope, for while the words and efforts of the Pharisees to stir up the people ran from mouth to mouth, the rumor also reached her that Pilate was trying to release Jesus. Not far from her stood a group of people from Capharnaum, and among them many whom Jesus had healed and taught. They feigned not to recognize John and the veiled women standing so sorrowfully apart, and cast toward them furtive glances. Mary, like all the rest, thought they would surely not choose Barabbas in preference to their Benefactor and Saviour, but in this she was disappointed.
Pilate had returned to his wife, as a sign that his promise still held good, the pledge he had given her early that morning. He again went out on the terrace and seated himself on the chair by the little table. The High Priests also were seated. Pilate called out again: “Which of the two shall I release unto you?” Thereupon arose from the whole forum and from all sides one unanimous shout: “Away with this Man! Give us Barabbas!” Pilate again cried: “But what shall I do with Jesus, the Christ, the King of the Jews?” With tumultuous violence, all yelled: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate asked for the third time: “Why, what evil hath He done? I find not the least cause of death in Him. I will scourge Him and then let Him go.” But the shout: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” burst from the crowd like a roar from Hell, while the High Priests and Pharisees, frantic with rage, were vociferating violently. Then poor, irresolute Pilate freed the wretch Barabbas and condemned Jesus to be scourged!
Pilate, the base, pusillanimous judge, had several times repeated the cowardly words: “I find no guilt in Him, therefore will I chastise Him and let Him go!” To which the Jews shouted no other response than, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” But Pilate, still hoping to carry out his first resolve not to condemn Jesus to death, commanded Him to be scourged after the manner of the Romans.
(After the horrific scourging of Jesus) they again led Jesus, the crown of thorns upon His head, the mock scepter in His fettered hands, the purple mantle thrown around Him, into Pilate’s palace. He was unrecognizable on account of the blood that filled His eyes and ran down into His mouth and beard. His body, covered with swollen welts and wounds, resembled a cloth dipped in blood, and His gait was bowed down and tottering. The mantle was so short that He had to stoop in order to cover Himself with it, for at the crowning they had again torn off all His clothing. When He reached the lowest step of the flight that led up to Pilate, even that hard-hearted being was seized with a shudder of compassion and disgust. Jesus was wearily dragged up the steps, and while He stood a little back, Pilate stepped to the front of the balcony.
The trumpet sounded to command attention, for Pilate was going to speak. Addressing the High Priests and the people, he said: “Behold! I bring Him forth to you, that you may know that I find no cause in Him!” Then Jesus was led forward by the executioners to the front of the balcony where Pilate was standing, so that He could be seen by all the people in the forum. Oh, what a terrible, heart-rending spectacle! Silence, awful and gloomy, fell upon the multitude as the inhumanly treated Jesus, the sacred, martyrized figure of the Son of God, covered with blood and wounds, wearing the frightful crown of thorns, appeared and, from His eyes swimming in blood, cast a glance upon the surging crowd! Nearby stood Pilate, pointing to Him with his finger and crying to the Jews: “Ecce Homo!” “Behold the Man!”
While Jesus, the scarlet cloak of derision thrown around His lacerated body, His pierced head sinking under the weight of the thorny crown, His fettered hands holding the mock scepter, was standing thus before Pilate’s palace, in infinite sadness and benignity, pain and love, like a bloody phantom, exposed to the raging cries of both priests and people, a band of strangers, men and women, their garments girded, crossed the forum and went down to the sheep pool. They were going to help in the washing of the Paschal lambs, whose gentle bleating was still mingling with the sanguinary shouts of the multitude, as if wishing to bear witness to the Silent Truth. Now it was that the true Paschal Lamb of God, the revealed though unrecognized Mystery of this holy day, fulfilled the Prophecies and stretched Himself in silence on the slaughtering bench. The High Priests and judges were perfectly infuriated at the sight of Jesus, the dread Mirror of their own conscience, and they vociferated: “Away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate called out: “Are you not yet satisfied? He has been handled so roughly that He will never more want to be a king.” But they and all the people, as if beside themselves with fury, cried out violently: “Away with Him! To the Cross with Him!”
Again did Pilate order the trumpet to be sounded, and again did he cry out: “Take Him you and crucify Him, for I find no cause in Him!” To this the High Priests shouted: “We have a law, and according to it He must die, for He has made Himself the Son of God!” The words, however, “He has made Himself the Son of God,” renewed Pilate’s anxiety, aroused, again his superstitious fears. He caused Jesus therefore to be brought before him into the judgment hall, where he spoke to Him alone. He began by asking: “Whence art Thou?” But Jesus gave him no answer. “Do You not answer me?” said Pilate. “Know You not that I have power to crucify You and power to release You?” “You should not have any power,” answered Jesus, “unless it was given you from above; therefore, he that has delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
Just at this moment, Claudia Procla, Pilate’s wife, anxious at seeing his irresolution, sent again to him, directing the messenger to show him once more the pledge he had given her of his promise. But he returned a vague, superstitious reply in which he appealed to his gods. Undecided and perplexed as before, Pilate again went forth and addressed the people, telling them that he could find no guilt in Jesus. They meanwhile had been stirred up by the report spread by the High Priests and Pharisees, namely that “Jesus’ followers had bribed Pilate’s wife; that if Jesus were set free, He would unite with the Romans and then they would all be put to death.” This so roused the multitude that they clamored more vehemently than ever for His death. Pilate, desirous of obtaining in some way an answer to his questions, went back again to Jesus in the judgment hall. When alone with Him, he glanced at Him almost in fear, and thought in a confused sort of a way: “What if this Man should indeed be a god!” And then with an oath he at once began adjuring Jesus to say whether He was a god and not a human being, whether He was that king promised to the Jews. How far did His Kingdom extend? To what rank did His divinity belong? Pilate ended by declaring, that if Jesus would answer his questions, he would set Him free. What Jesus said to Pilate in answer, I can repeat, only in substance, not in words. The Lord spoke words of terrible import. He gave Pilate to understand what kind of a king He was, over what kind of a kingdom He reigned, and what was the truth, for He told him the truth. He laid before him the abominable state of his own conscience, foretold the fate in store for him – exile in misery and a horrible end. He told him, moreover, that He would one day come to pass sentence upon him in just judgment.
Frightened and vexed at Jesus words, Pilate again went out upon the balcony and proclaimed his intention of freeing Jesus. Then arose the cry: “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend, for whosoever makes himself a king, speaks against Caesar!” Others shouted: “We will denounce you to Caesar as a disturber of our feast. Make up your mind at once, for under pain of punishment we must be in the Temple by ten tonight.” And the cry: “To the cross with Him! Away with Him!” resounded furiously on all sides, even from the flat roofs of the houses near the forum, upon which some of the mob had clambered.
Pilate now saw that he could do nothing with the raging multitude. There was something truly frightful in the confusion and uproar. The whole mass of people collected before the palace was in such a state of rage and excitement that a violent insurrection was to be feared. Then Pilate called for water. The servant that brought it poured it from a vase over his hands before the people, while Pilate called down from the balcony: “I am innocent of the blood of this just Man! Look you to it!” Then went up from the assembled multitude, among whom were people from all parts of Palestine, the horrible, the unanimous cry: “His blood be upon us and upon our children!”
Today at the Passover, when they are killing the Paschal lamb, they know not that at the same time they are killing the real Lamb.
Truth of the Spirit will complete this series with The Trial of Jesus Part 5: The Sentencing of Death. We invite you to subscribe with notification so you don’t miss the next episode. The transcript of this episode “Ecce Homo!” is available at PatriarchMinistries.com/314. Come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more. Amen.
[i] VISIONS OF VENERABLE ANNE CATHERINE (jesus-passion.com)
“The Lowly Life and Bitter Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother, Volume IV”. FROM THE VISIONS OF BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH AS RECORDED IN THE JOURNAL OF CLEMENT BRENTANO AND EDITED BY VERY REV. C.E.SCHMÖGER, C.SS.R. 1914
Life_of_Our_Lord_Jesus_Christ_Vol_IV.pdf (jesus-passion.com)
