After Pilate sentences Jesus to death, he has Jesus scourged at the pillar, which was a customary torture leading up to crucifixion. We know from archeological evidence and from written accounts what this form of punishment was like. Using a variety of weapons and instruments, Roman scourgers would brutalize their victims.
Hans Urs von Balthasar writes that even those passive aspects of Jesus’ Passion in which he allows himself to be used—including the scourging at the pillar—are expressions of “𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇-𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓,” 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅’𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆.
Presenting the scourged Jesus to the crowds, Pilate says, “Behold the man.” In the delicious irony of John’s Gospel, Pilate is unwittingly drawing attention to the fact that Jesus, completely acquiescent to the will of his Father, even to the point of accepting torture and death, is in fact “the man,” humanity at its fullest and most free.
Let us contemplate the brutality endured by Christ during his scourging and see his loving acceptance of suffering as the means through which he conquers sin and redeems humanity.
-𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑟, Bishop Robert Barron
