Jesus leaves the Praetorium (Notes)

Saint John - Chapter 19

Jesus leaves the Praetorium. J-J Tissot

[13] Pilatus autem cum audisset hos sermones, adduxit foras Jesum : et sedit pro tribunali, in loco qui dicitur Lithostrotos, hebraice autem Gabbatha.
Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat, in the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

The trial of Jesus is at last completed; His fate is decided, there is nothing no less to do but to pronounce the sentence from the Gabbatha.  This was a formality required by the Roman law; sentence of death was always proclaimed in broad daylight, sub die, and from some lofty spot, ex superiori loco.  Pilate was very sure to omit non of the requisite formalities, so fearful was he of compromising himself with the superior authority from whom he held his own office.  This dread of the Roman Governor is well illustrated by the words of the Jews: "If thou let this man go on, thou art not Caesar's friend."

If Pilate is ready to abandon an innocent man for political reasons, still more cause is there for him to observe in the most minute particulars all the petty rules of Roman legal procedure.  The Victim comes forth from the Judgment Hall with wounds still bleeding, the blue weals left by the scourging are still visible, His knees and elbows are grazed through many a fall, and his wrists, tightly bound with ropes and chains, are black and swollen with congested blood.  Jesus is still wearing the scarlet robe which had been put upon him in a mockery, and the woollen stuff sticks to the wounds on His shoulders, which are all torn and bleeding from the terrible scourging to which He has been subjected.  Presently, when His own garments are returned to the divine Victim, the tearing off of this "scarlet robe" will open all the wounds afresh and His blood will flow copiously yet again.  It is now 11.30, or, according to Jewish time, to quote the words of Saint John, "near the sixth hour", and the agony of the Saviour was not yet nearly over, indeed, it was now to become more terrible for every moment.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam