The most attentive observers have sometimes noticed differences in the ways of representing the moment of the Lord’s sentence during Holy Week. For many, he had to wear a crown of thorns, but the Lord of Judgment Cordoba still has no injuries. What is happening?
To begin with, the Gospels have different ways of telling it. Towards the version of Saint Matthew the whole Sentence would respond, the first to be formed.
The accounts of St. Matthew and St. John explain that Pilate did not know whether to condemn Jesus to death, because he found no fault in him. To do this, he appealed to the custom of releasing a prisoner for the Passover, and gave the Jews the opportunity to choose between Jesus and Barabbas.
The invocation of the head of the Cistercian is eloquent: Our Father Jesus of the Blood in the Contempt for the peoplewho prefers the one who according to the scriptures was a bandit. And if he shows the bloody forehead, it is not yet because of wounds, but because of the bloody sweat of the Garden of Olives. Saint John and Saint Matthew agree on this point: the election between Barabbas and the Lord took place before the scourging and the coronation.
Shortly after, says St. Matthew, was the Sentence as such, and this shows the brotherhood of St. Nicholas. The image of Cerrillo was designed for a mystery called Jesus before Pilatethat is, before the time of condemnation, but the account of the first Gospel nevertheless says that the scourging and the crowning with thorns took place later.
‘Ecce homo’
In the official race of the Holy Week of Cordoba 2025, a new mystery will be seen, and it is that of the Presentation to the people. The Lord of the Afflicted shows the wounds of the whip and the crown of thornsThe change comes from the fact that the Gospel of St. John, read during Good Friday services throughout the Church, clearly states that this punishment was inflicted before the judgment.
The prosecutor wanted to teach a lesson to move the crowd and spare his life. That is why he showed it like this, currently called ‘Ecce Homo‘, by the phrase of the Vulgate.
This is not enough: the people, who had already preferred Barabbas, insist on his death. The Gospels are full of different stories of the Passion, but they all end with death to redeem sins and with the Resurrection to give meaning to Christian life.
