Ecce homo are Latin words used by Pontius Pilate?in the vulgate?translation of the Gospel of John, when he presents a scourged Jesus Christ?bound and crown with throne, to a hostile crowd shortly before his crucifixion.?
He intended the public to bring justice to Jesus as if they had not known him. "look at this man!" he said. But what he was implying was "looking at the man as the way he is." But little did he know that the public was so blind that they were unable to?see?clearly. When he said "behold the man." the man was not simply pointing to Jesus, but the struggle that Jesus was bearing. There was no denial of Jesus's struggle, but the exclamation ‘behold the man’ proffered an in-depth interpretation that the struggle is shared by every earthly being in the world. Even Pontius Pilate was struggling with his own life as he did with the crucifixion of Jesus. When he faced the riot that might break out, he said reluctantly: “I am not responsible for the death of this man! This is your doing!”?
Ecce homo is, therefore, not just for drawing attention from the public, but as mourning for the struggle that resembles a curse befalling every human being. Since this request for?seeing?is in vain at any rate. And despair is the situation, with which humans are doomed to wrestle.
However, what comes to be the most desperate is being unaware of the despair. As the public yelling blindly for Jesus’s crucifixion, they did not realize that they had also bartered away their souls to the sin. Consequently, endangered was the spirit that was blindfolded from human sight.?
Therefore, Ecco home is the yearning for the retrieval of our sight, for being able to see the truth of life. This is how modern pictures are trying to emphasize----everyone should come to the spirit. However, this emphasis is clouded in the mists of struggles. Pictures portrayed the suffering Jesus with an expression reflecting this struggling situation. So much so, we see in Salvador Dali's painting, the enthusiastic color thrust upon the canvas, conveying the desperation at length.
