The scourging left its mark on the body of Christ. His back and the front of His body leave no doubt that the man had suffered a severe beating. But what about His Face? what about His head? there too the signs of abuse and torture are visible. There is blood flowing from the top of the head onto the face of the man. There are drops of blood all over the back of His head.

Jesus had been released into the hands of the soldiers in the middle of the morning. Pilate wanted to "punish" Him in such a way that His enemies would be moved to compassion and agree with the Procurator to let Him go free. As the soldiers had finished the cruel scourging and were waiting for the Procurator to send for Jesus to be presented to the people, the soldiers were left with some free time during which they had to find a way to amuse themselves. Why not use the prisoner and be entertained by Him.

The soldiers had heard that He was accused of saying that He was a King. So they began to think of making fun of Him and treat Him "as a king." Soon they found a piece of scarlet cloth that could be the royal mantle; for a scepter a reed was there and so it was placed in His hand. But now He needs a crown. The ingenuity of some of the soldiers came to their aid. There were some thorny bushes just outside the door, why not cut a few strands and make a crown out of them. So in a short time a crown had been placed on the head of the prisoner. The crown was not just a circle of thorns around the head, but a kind of cap covering the whole head. To make sure that it would not fall down they pressed it and tied it on His head. Jesus now stood in front of the cohort of soldiers. They had found "the king of the Jews."

In the Gospel of St. Matthew we read: "The Governor's soldiers took Jesus with them into the Praetorium and collected the whole cohort round him. Then they stripped him and made him wear a scarlet cloak, and having twisted some thorns into a crown they put it on his head and placed a reed in his right hand. To make fun of him they knelt to him saying, 'Hail, king of the Jews!' And they spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head with it. And when they had finished making fun of him, they took off the cloak and dressed him in his own clothes and led him away to crucify him. " (Matthew 27:27-31) The Evangelists St. Mark and St. John describe the scene with practically the same words. (Mark: 15:16-20; John: 19:1-3).

We can just visualize these soldiers filled with hatred and revenge, how they must have vented on Jesus all their resentment against the people's hatred for the Romans. The Gospels are very clear, and the Shroud leaves no doubt about the game that the soldiers played with this man. Hail, king of the Jews. They took the reed out of his hand and pounded on the crown so that the thorns would go deeper and deeper into the skull of Christ; and they succeeded quite well.

Crown of thorns covering the
head of Jesus (Msgr. Ricci)
The Shroud shows the signs of this pounding on the head. The medical doctors who have examined the Shroud say that the open punctures made by the thorns are visible on the Shroud. So is very visible the blood that squirted from those punctures. The hair is soaked with blood- The blood flows from the top of the head onto the Face. His forehead has trickles of blood which show that the crown of thorns had not been removed from the head of Christ after the soldiers finished their game, but Jesus wore that crown to the end. He died with his "royal" crown.

The soldiers kept striking Jesus with the reed and punching His face. The Shroud reveals all these particulars. From the blood coming down from the head to the swelling of the Face of Jesus. The upper right cheek along with the bridge of the nose show the signs that Jesus may have been hit with the reed across His face. One of the eyes, the left one, is almost closed because of the swelling. But with all these signs of mistreatment and humiliation the Face of Jesus on the Shroud remains perhaps the most beautiful and most revealing part of the cloth.

Jesus, we could say, never lost His composure. He always remained in complete control of the situation. As He stood in front of Pilate, He remained the commanding figure, frustrating the Procurator who finally screamed: "don't you know that I have the power to free you or to condemn you?" Even at that outburst of "superiority" Jesus calmly replies: "you would have no power over me, if it had not been given to you from above" (John: 19: 11). Pilate has exhausted all his patience with the prisoner. He is just another Jew, another religious fanatic, so let the crowd pronounce the sentence of innocent or guilty. Jesus is brought out to the people. From the balcony Pilate shows Jesus to the people.