LOVE AND DEATH.
Jesus had been meeting and conquering evil all His life, and in the
last hour of it the last enemy was overcome. There were no children at
the cross when Jesus laid down His life for us all, and we will not
lead you there to point out all the means used by evil men to increase
the suffering of our Lord. It was greatest within the great Heart of
Love which broke for the sins of the world, and when you have learned
the nature of Spirit you will be able to understand that Jesus chose to
pass through an earthly life of poverty and temptation, and die a
painful and shameful death, that He might be the Brother of the poor,
the tempted, the suffering and the dying. "He was taken from prison
and from judgment:" "He poured out His soul unto death, and was
numbered with the transgressors;" "He bore the sins of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors." So Isaiah wrote of the coming
Messiah seven hundred years before. But so blind were the Jews that
they could not see that the Redeemer had come to Zion, "He came unto
His own and His own received Him not."
Bearing His cross He went forth meekly to death, and when He fell
beneath the heavy cross, the Roman soldiers forced a passing stranger
to carry it. All along the street women wept for pity as He passed,
and there was sorrow in many hearts for the Man whom they had believed
in as the One who was to deliver their nation.
[Illustration: Jesus bearing the Cross]
But the eleven disciples--where were they? In deep grief somewhere;
but only one--John the Beloved--followed his Master down to death.
With the suffering mother of Jesus and the faithful women disciples he
kept near his Lord. They saw the rough soldiers as they took the
Lord's garments and divided them among themselves, and when they put
His body upon the cross they heard Him pray,
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!"
Two robbers were crucified with Jesus, upon His right hand and on His
left. One begged Him to save him, and reviled Him because He did not;
but the other said, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy
Kingdom." And Jesus said, "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou
be with me in Paradise."
His dying eyes also beheld His mother standing by the cross with the
beloved John and the faithful women who had been His friends. The hour
had come spoken of by Simeon in the Temple when he said, "Yea a sword
shall pierce through thy own soul also." Jesus, looking at His mother
supported by John said,
"Woman, behold thy son!" And to the disciple He said, "Son, behold thy
mother!" And from that hour John took her to his own home to love and
care for her through the rest of her life.
We will not look at the darkness that rolled over the sky, shutting out
the light of the sun, or the sights and sounds of that day on Calvary.
Jesus, thinking of the redemption He had wrought out for us, bowed His
head and said,
"It is finished! Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Then
the great veil before the Holy Place in the Temple was torn in two from
the top to the bottom, as a sign that the Lord Jesus by His death had
opened the way for us into life eternal.