"Granny's Chapters" Part 15

It was the custom of the Jews and Romans never to put condemned persons to death within the city walls. Golgotha was a hill outside the city, set apart for executions, and was, of course, an unclean and polluted place. It is thought that the name Golgotha was given to this hill because, in shape, it resembled a head or skull; and that for the same reason, the Romans called it Calvary: the Latin word so translated, meaning the same as the Hebrew word Golgotha.

The Romans compelled those who were to undergo the terrible death by crucifixion, to carry their own cross to the appointed place. Thus we find Jesus "bearing his cross": but when we remember how our blessed Lord had pa.s.sed the whole night, we shall not be surprised that He had no strength to carry a heavy cross of wood up a hill. Most likely He fell under the load; and those who led Him out saw, that faint and weary as He was, it was impossible for this part of His sentence to be carried out, and therefore, "they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, who pa.s.sed by, coming out of the country: him they compelled to bear his cross. And on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus."

"And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him."

Many of these, doubtless, had benefited by His miracles of healing, either in themselves or in their children; and all were grieved to see such cruelty practised upon One, who had ever gone amongst them doing good.

Jesus, always mindful of others, and foreseeing the dreadful sufferings that would come upon the city in consequence of His death, "turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren" (that is, the women who have no children to suffer). "Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"

This is figurative language, meaning that the calamities about to fall on Jerusalem would be so dreadful, that the Jewish women, who considered it a great misfortune to have no children, would then be thankful, and considered blessed because they had none: and that, in the impossibility of escaping from their miseries, all people would be glad if the mountains could fall and crush them.

Then Jesus reminded them, that if a green tree is quickly burnt up, a dry and withered one will be burnt much more quickly. In the Scriptures, good men are often compared to green and flourishing trees; and bad men to dry and barren ones. The meaning of our Lord was therefore, If G.o.d in His wisdom sees fit to let Me, who am holy and righteous in His sight, suffer such things as ye have seen; what think ye will He do to the wicked and unrighteous?

Jesus was not crucified alone: it seems that at this time there were two criminals sentenced to a similar death. "And there were two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death." In reading these words, we must be very careful to pause at the comma after other, because the meaning is, "and there were two other (persons, who were) malefactors, led with him," &c.

Malefactors mean persons that have done evil. St. Matthew tells us that these men were thieves: probably some of those robbers who troubled Judaea at that time, carrying off cattle and whatever they could lay their hands upon, and often killing those who tried to defend their property. These men were justly condemned to death in punishment of their sins, and they were now led out to be crucified with the innocent and holy Jesus. The prophet Isaiah, speaking seven hundred years before of the Messiah, had said, "He was numbered with the transgressors"; "and he made his grave with the wicked." He was, indeed, "numbered," or considered to be one of the transgressors, fit only to share the fate of such. Literally was Isaiah's prophecy fulfilled, when Jesus was led out with two malefactors to die with them.

"And when they were come to the place, which is called Golgotha, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not." St. Matthew mentions the vinegar and gall; St. Mark, the wine and myrrh. Some people have thought that both mean the same thing; but it is most probable that two separate mixtures were offered to Christ at this time.

The Jews always gave wine, with myrrh in it, to the criminal about to be executed, to stupefy him, and make him less able to feel pain. The first draught of vinegar and gall was probably offered to Jesus in mockery. Any one expecting the usual stupefying draught, would be disappointed at getting another instead. Jesus submitted for our sakes to every suffering and insult inflicted by His persecutors, therefore He tasted the mixture; but when the stupefying draught was offered, "he received it not"; for He would do nothing to lessen His appointed sufferings, nor to render Him less able to pray to G.o.d.

"And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left, and Jesus in the midst." "And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, And He was numbered with the transgressors."

Crucifixion was not only a most painful death, but it was also looked upon as a very shameful one; only to be awarded to the vilest criminals, in order to show contempt and hatred. Sometimes the criminal was merely bound to the cross with ropes, and there left to die of hunger and exposure. But our Saviour was actually nailed to the cross, according to the words spoken by King David, one thousand years before, "they pierced my hands and my feet."

The manner of crucifixion was as follows: the cross of wood being laid upon the ground, the poor victim was laid upon it; and his arms being stretched out along the cross bar, a great nail was driven through the hollow of each hand into the wood: the feet were then crossed over each other upon the perpendicular part of the cross, and then a very long nail was forced through both into the wood beyond. There appears to have been under the feet a small ledge of wood, just to support them. The poor victim being thus made fast to the wood, the cross was raised up, and placed upright in a hole already prepared to receive it. The torture felt by the unhappy sufferer was most intense: the ledge beneath the feet did not prevent the weight of the body hanging from the hands, nailed to the upper part of the cross. The agony of such a position was beyond all that we can conceive; and this agony often lasted many hours, before death put an end to suffering.

Such was the death Christ endured for us. Surely no one can think of all Jesus suffered at this time, without feeling the deepest grief, and shrinking with horror from the idea that we could have joined His enemies. And yet the Word of G.o.d tells us that, if we persist in sin, we "crucify the Son of G.o.d afresh, and put him to an open shame."

We can all understand, that if we have taken a great deal of trouble, and put ourselves to inconvenience and even to pain, in order to do good to some person, it would be very grievous to see that person not a bit better or happier than he would have been, had we _not troubled_ ourselves about him. Then let us remember that Jesus Christ suffered and died that we might be taken into heaven. But we cannot go into heaven, unless we forsake our sins and try to obey G.o.d: if, therefore, we will not take the trouble to resist the Devil, all that Jesus has done and suffered will be of no use to us. Let us take care that He has not suffered in vain: let us pray for faith; that true and lively faith which will constrain us to repent, and love, and obey.

Now let us turn our thoughts again to Jesus hanging on His cross, between those upon which the two thieves were fastened.

It was the custom of the Romans, to cause a list of the crimes for which a malefactor was condemned, to be carried before him, or fastened to the instrument of his punishment. This was called his "accusation."

In compliance with this custom, "Pilate wrote a t.i.tle, and set up over his head his accusation written, and put it on the cross. And the writing was in letters of Greek, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS; and in Latin, THE KING OF THE JEWS; and in Hebrew, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. This t.i.tle then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin"; so that all strangers who did not understand Hebrew might also read this "accusation."

Chapter XLII.--CHRIST ON THE CROSS.

The Chief Priests were by no means satisfied with the superscription written by Pilate, for they persisted in believing that Jesus had no _right_ to be called King or Messiah. "Then said the Chief Priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, the King of the Jews; but that he said, I am king of the Jews": an alteration which would have made it appear that He had been justly punished by the Romans, for claiming a power to which no one had any right in the Roman provinces.

"Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written." This was a common mode of expression, meaning that a thing was done, and could not be undone. Probably Pilate wrote this t.i.tle on purpose, knowing that the Jews would not like it; for he was displeased with them for forcing him, as it were, to do what he felt to be wrong: at any rate, in this t.i.tle he declared a blessed truth: even that the King of the Jews, the long-expected Messiah, the Son of G.o.d, was actually hanging on the cross, atoning for the guilt of man, and purchasing our pardon by the sacrifice of Himself. Let us remember this with such thankfulness and grat.i.tude, as will lead us to love, so as to obey.

Whilst Jesus was hanging in agony upon the cross, He prayed for those who had so cruelly persecuted Him. He had often taught the lesson of loving our enemies, and doing them good whenever we have the opportunity; and now He set us a most wonderful example of that love which we are to show to them. "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do": well might He say of those who had delivered Him to be crucified, "they know not what they do." Little did they indeed consider the sin they were committing; still less did they know what blessings their sin would bring upon all mankind. But their ignorance was in a great degree wilful, and wilful ignorance must always be a great sin: they had, therefore, much need that Christ should pray for them, as now He did.

By law, the executioners had a right to the clothes of their victim; and accordingly we read, "Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout." "They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it whose it shall be. And they parted his raiment and cast lots, that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did:" according as David had spoken in the 22nd Psalm.

Thus having finished the work of crucifixion, the soldiers, "sitting down" at the foot of the cross, "watched him there. And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of G.o.d." Had Jesus, indeed, been the worst of criminals, mocking or deriding Him thus, whilst He hung in agony upon the cross, would have been a most cowardly and brutal act: but these insults were borne patiently by One, who with a word could have silenced these mocking tongues, and have confounded all, by coming down from the cross, and leaving man's redemption for ever unfinished. Blessed be G.o.d, that no taunts or mockings could so move Him, Who suffered all for our sakes.

We cannot wonder, that following the example of the Jewish priests and rulers, the heathen "soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar," or a light wine drunk by the common people, "and saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself. And they that pa.s.sed by reviled him, and railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross. If thou be the Son of G.o.d, come down from the cross. Likewise also the Chief Priests mocking him, with the Scribes and elders, said among themselves, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in G.o.d; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of G.o.d. Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."

Would they have believed, if Jesus had indeed come down from the cross? No; their hearts were hardened in wilful unbelief, and their words were empty mockery. One great truth, however, the Chief Priests unknowingly proclaimed, when in mockery they cried out, "he saved others, himself he cannot save": truly the choice lay between the two; Jesus could not save Himself and us. For our salvation an atonement must be made: the only effectual atonement was the death of Jesus, He might have saved Himself from this, and left us to perish. Blessed be G.o.d for the love, that endured to the end, and thus saved us.

We are told, that even "they that were crucified with him, reviled him"; joining in the abuse now heaped upon him; but without provoking one word of reproof or complaint. No doubt the behaviour of our Lord at this time must have gained the admiration of many, and convinced them that He who now hung upon the cross was no mere man. The Lord certainly saw fit to touch the heart of one of those who were crucified with him, for while "one of the malefactors which were hanged," continued to rail "on him, saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us," the other, answering, rebuked him, "saying, Dost not thou fear G.o.d, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? and we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss." Here was true repentance; an acknowledgment of the justice of the punishment inflicted, coupled with a declaration of the innocence of Him, whom the dying thief now believed to be indeed the Son of G.o.d, the promised Messiah. In Christ's agony and humiliation, the penitent malefactor looked to Him as the King of the Jews, the Saviour of mankind; and in the strength of his new-born faith, "he said unto Jesus, Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom": he felt the true nature of Christ's kingdom: and Jesus, who knows the hearts of all "said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." What blessed words for the poor penitent thief to hear! May each one of us, when we are dying, have the comfort of believing, This day shall I be in the kingdom of the Lord: but unless our actions during life have shown that we do belong to His kingdom on earth, we cannot feel this comfort.

"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." Mary's sorrow at witnessing the suffering of her Son, must indeed have been, as if a sword had pierced through her own soul, as Simeon had foretold, when three and thirty years before she had carried the Holy Babe into the temple, to do for Him according to the law. Mary, the wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus, was the mother of James called the Less, to distinguish him from James the brother of John, the son of Zebedee. The Apostles had, as we have seen, fled away; but John, who had followed Jesus to the High Priest's palace, now stood with the women beside the cross.

Even in the midst of all His agony, Jesus could think of others: He felt for the misery and desolation of His mother, and was anxious to provide for her future comfort; thus He set a double example, showing children that they should never cease to love and honour their parents; and teaching us all, never to let our own troubles or sorrows, whatever they may be, make us unmindful of the sufferings of others.

"When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to his disciple, Behold thy mother!" By these words, He bade His mother look for comfort to His beloved disciple; bidding him treat her for the future as if she were his own mother. Faithfully was this last commandment obeyed, "And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

Jesus had now been hanging on the cross for three hours, suffering the extreme of bodily agony; but the worst was not yet over. It was the sixth hour, or twelve o'clock,--mid-day, as we call it,--when an event took place, which must have greatly alarmed all men. Without any apparent cause, "the sun was darkened"; "when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour." During these three hours of darkness, we have reason to believe that Jesus was allowed to feel the full weight of G.o.d's wrath against sin. All the misery deserved by sinful man was in some wonderful and mysterious way laid upon Him, so that in some incomprehensible manner, He, holy as He was, tasted the bitterness of that death from which by His agonies He delivered man. What His sufferings really were, we know not. G.o.d grant we never may! But for the time He felt as if His Father had cast Him off for ever. What a dreadful thing must sin be, since it could not be forgiven without such terrible agony, as for three hours was endured in silence by our blessed Lord; and at length wrung from Him that heart-rending cry, "My G.o.d, my G.o.d, why hast thou forsaken me?" Let us, for whose redemption He thus felt the wrath of G.o.d, watch and pray, that His sufferings may not have been in vain for any one of us.

Chapter XLIII.--JESUS DIES.

Three hours of agony beyond what we can imagine pa.s.sed slowly away; and then, "at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My G.o.d, my G.o.d, why hast thou forsaken me?"--the very words which stand, at the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, wherein David foretells many things that would happen at this time. "Some of them that stood by," not understanding Hebrew, "when they heard the words spoken by Jesus, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished," and that His release was at hand, "that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and straightway one" of the by-standers, more humane than the others, "ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it on a reed," with which he raised it high enough "to put it to his mouth, and (so) gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down."

The common drink of the Roman soldiers was "posea," a poor kind of wine, often called vinegar, but not like what we mean by vinegar. This "posea" was now offered to Jesus. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished." All was now accomplished; every prediction uttered by the Prophets concerning the Messiah, had been fulfilled; the Redemption of man was completed. Let the cost of that Redemption make us give ourselves to our Redeemer, to be His faithful followers and servants.

"Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost,"--he yielded up his life, according to his own words, "I lay down my life for the sheep. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself." The sacrifice was voluntary, otherwise it could have availed us nothing. Jesus died: His spirit departed from the body; and His last words prove that the mysterious suffering had pa.s.sed away, that He again felt the comfort of His Father's love, and that He was no longer forsaken.

The Almighty G.o.d now again bore testimony to the Divine nature of Him who had just yielded up his human life: heaven and earth alike testified that this was indeed the Son of G.o.d. During the time of His deepest agony, "the sun was darkened"; now that He had given up the ghost, "the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened. And behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain, in the midst, from the top to the bottom."

The veil which divided the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, was a thick curtain, something like a worked carpet. The tearing of this down the middle was a very significant action, showing that the death of Jesus had done away with all the ceremonial observances established by the Law of Moses. A new Covenant, the Covenant of Grace, was now to replace the old Covenant of Works.

The Holy of Holies was looked upon by the Jews as a type of heaven; and only the High Priest was allowed to enter into it. Christ died to open the way into heaven to all mankind, whether Jews or Gentiles; thus the veil was rent, to show that through the mediation of Jesus, all might have access to G.o.d the Father.

"Now when the centurion which stood over against him, watching Jesus, and they that were with him, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, and that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of G.o.d."

The Roman centurion had witnessed many executions, and the wonderful events attendant upon this one had convinced him of the truth of all that Jesus had said; "and he glorified G.o.d, saying, Certainly, this was a righteous man." The very people, who had been persuaded by the Priests to ask for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus, now shared the feelings of the centurion; for we read that "all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their b.r.e.a.s.t.s," in token of remorse and grief, "and returned."

"And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee," "among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome" "the mother of Zebedee's children,"

"and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem," "stood afar off, beholding these things."

The ninth hour, after which our Saviour breathed His last, answers to our 3 o'clock P.M., and a new day, according to the Jewish mode of reckoning, would begin at 6 o'clock P.M. As Jesus was crucified on Friday morning, the day now about to begin, was the Sabbath; and being the Sabbath in the Pa.s.sover week, it was a particularly solemn, or "high day," to be observed with special reverence. On the morrow after that Sabbath, the Jewish people, according to the ordinances of the Mosaical Law, were accustomed to a.s.semble in the temple, bringing with them, as a thank-offering to the Lord, a sheaf of corn, the "first fruits" of the harvest, which began at this season of the year. At the same time, particular sacrifices were to be offered, all in thanksgiving to Him who giveth us the fruits of the earth in due season.

Crucifixion, as we have said, was often a lingering death: and sometimes, to hasten the end, the legs of the poor wretches hanging upon the cross were broken. The beginning of the Pa.s.sover Sabbath was now fast approaching: it was not lawful, according to the Jewish Law, for any criminal who had been hanged, to be left hanging all night; that is, beyond the close of the day of their execution. The bodies of criminals who had been executed, were usually buried without any form or ceremonies; but sometimes, at the earnest entreaty of the family, they were allowed to take the body, and bury it with funeral honours.

The Jewish priests and rulers were very particular in observing all outward rites and ceremonies, even when they had just been guilty of a fearful sin; and "therefore, because it was the preparation," the time for preparing for the coming Sabbath, "that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day (for that sabbath day was an high day)" the Jews "besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water": this water, proved that the heart had been actually pierced, so that none could doubt that Jesus was really and truly dead. It was very necessary that the fact of His death should be clearly established, so that men might afterwards have no doubt as to His "Resurrection from the dead."

Amongst those who saw the water and blood flowing from the wound made by the spear, was the beloved disciple, St. John; for in his Gospel, he tells us, "And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe." In this treatment of the body of Jesus by the Roman soldiers, two prophecies concerning our Saviour, the true Paschal Lamb, were fulfilled. "For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken," and "They shall look on him whom they pierced."