In reading the account of our blessed Lord's condemnation, it may seem
strange to us that Pilate was ready to receive Him so early as five
o'clock in the morning; though we can understand the Priests and the
Sanhedrim sitting up all night, to accomplish their wicked purpose.
But we must remember, that the Jews were at all times ready to make
disturbances; and that as very great multitudes came into Jerusalem
for the Passover, those who were in authority were obliged to be very
watchful, so as to check the first symptoms of a riot: and no doubt
they were doubly watchful now, remembering that when Jesus rode into
the city, a few days before, all the people accompanied Him, shouting,
and declaring Him to be that King, the promised Messiah. "And they
took Jesus, and led him away. And after that they had mocked him, they
took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led
him out to crucify him. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a
place called the place of a skull, which is called, in the Hebrew,
Golgotha."
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 passed 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 passed 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 God 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 God.
"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 God tells us that, if we persist in sin,
we "crucify the Son of God 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 God: 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 title, 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 title 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."