The Third Sorrowful Mystery

The Mocking of Jesus

I must reflect on the culmination of this event.  Call it a Spanish affectation but I find this moment to be one of the greatest in the whole of Scripture.  This is what Scripture and Art call the Ecce Homo.  Behold the Man!  Jesus has been shackled and beat since the night before - Behold Him!  He has been scourged ruthlessly at the command of Pilot - Behold Him!  He has been beaten and ridiculed by soldiers - Behold Him!  His sacred head has been pierced with numerous thorns, tearing and rending His flesh - Behold Him!  Chained, beaten, bloody, torn, pierced, mocked, starved, imprisoned, naked, hated, scorned, defiled, shorn of His dignity, made a spectacle for the crowd, Behold our God!  Don't turn away your eyes.  It is at this moment when he is a mirror of you.  Here, as He stands for judgment in such a retched condition He most perfectly resembles our humanity.  What torments will He not endure to win your love?  And yet they look upon Him without love, without care, without any touch of humanity.  They look at Him as jackals upon a carcass.  Do not look away.  Gaze intently upon the eyes of your savior, for it is there, behind the blood and the gore marring His Blessed face, where you will see the tender love of your God.  Never look away!