_THE CRUCIFIXION._
A.D. 30.
THUS the Holy One was formally delivered into the hands of the
soldiers[563], who instantly made their preparations for His
crucifixion. The place of execution was a spot of slightly rising
ground without the gates of the city, called, probably from the shape
of its rounded summit[564], Golgotha[565], _the place of a skull_ (Mtt.
xxvii. 33; Jn. xix. 17). Thither, therefore, after stripping Him of
the purple robe, and putting on Him His own garments (Mtt. xxvii. 31;
Mk. xv. 20), the soldiers led Him forth bearing[566], as was customary,
the Cross on which He was to suffer (Jn. xix. 17), attended by a
centurion[567], and two malefactors who were to be crucified with
Him[568] (Lk. xxiii. 32).
As they proceeded from the city, the Redeemer, exhausted by the
grievous sufferings He had already undergone, sank under the heavy
weight of the Cross, and the soldiers meeting one Simon[569] of Cyrene
in Northern Africa, coming from the country[570], laid hold upon him,
and compelled[571] him to assist in bearing it (Mtt. xxvii. 32; Mk.
xv. 21; Lk. xxiii. 26). And so the mournful procession was resumed,
followed by a great multitude, amongst which many women began to utter
loud laments at the sad spectacle. Turning to these _daughters of
Jerusalem_ the exalted Sufferer with superhuman composure bade them
_weep not for Him, but for themselves_; for nameless sorrows awaited
them, days when they would _bless the wombs which had never borne_,
and _the paps that had never given suck_, when they would _cry to the
mountains to fall upon them, and to the hills to cover them_[572] (Lk.
xxiii. 28–31).
On reaching the appointed place, the hole for the Cross was dug in the
ground, and the customary stupefying potion[573] of wine mingled with
myrrh was offered to the Holy One. He touched it with his lips (Mtt.
xxvii. 34), but would not drink it, being resolved to preserve His
senses clear, and to endure all the coming agony in the full possession
of His consciousness. Then the soldiers stripped Him of His garments,
nailed His hands and feet to the Cross[574], placed over His head the
title[575] which Pilate had written in three languages, Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin,
_This is Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews_,
and between the two malefactors, one on His right hand and the other on
His left (Isai. liii. 12), the Redeemer hung suspended between heaven
and earth, breathing forth even under the hands of His murderers words
of infinite love, _Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do_ (Lk. xxiii. 34).
It was now about the _third hour_[576] (Mk. xv. 25), and the quaternion
or party of four soldiers[577] (Jn. xix. 23), with their centurion
(Mtt. xxvii. 54), whose special duty it was to see that the bodies
of those who suffered by crucifixion were not taken away, sat down
and watched (Mtt. xxvii. 36). According to custom, the clothes of
the Redeemer had become their perquisite. Of the outer garment they
made four parts, probably loosening the seams[578]. But the inner
garment[579] _was without seam, woven from the top throughout_ (Jn.
xix. 23). That they might not rend this garment, therefore, they drew
lots for it whose it should be, and thus unconsciously fulfilled the
words of the Psalmist, _They parted My raiment among them; and for My
vesture they did cast lots_ (Ps. xxii. 18; Jn. xix. 24).
While, however, the soldiers were thus employed, and the high-priests
were busy wrangling with Pilate respecting the title he had placed upon
the Cross, a few faithful ones had ventured to draw near the suffering
Redeemer. Near His Cross stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary
the wife of Clopas[580], and Mary Magdalene (Jn. xix. 25), and with
them the Apostle John. Looking upon His mother, and seeing standing
by her the disciple whom He loved, He said to her, _Woman, behold thy
son_, and to the disciple, _Behold thy mother, and from that hour_ the
Apostle _took her to his own home_[581] (Jn. xix. 27).
But soon others than these faithful ones drew near. The passers-by
began to vent their mockery and bitter gibes upon The Redeemer. Some
reminded Him in derision of His deep saying at the first Passover of
His public ministry, and bade Him who could _destroy the Temple and
build it in three days, save Himself_ (Mtt. xxvii. 39, 40; Mk. xv. 29).
Others, and especially the chief priests, bade Him if He was in truth
the Son of God, the Messiah, and King of Israel (Mtt. xxvii. 42; Mk.
xv. 32), _come down from the Cross_. The soldiers also took up their
words, and drawing near offered Him in mockery their sour wine[582]
(Lk. xxiii. 36), and required Him, if, as His title portended, He was
the King of the Jews, to deliver Himself, and soon even the crucified
malefactors followed their example, and cast the same in His teeth
(Mtt. xxvii. 44; Mk. xv. 32).
But as the weary time wore on, the feelings of one of the two, won
over by the heroic bearing of the Saviour and His infinite patience,
underwent a striking change. He began to reprove the other for his
revilings (Lk. xxiii. 40). They indeed were suffering justly, and
_receiving the reward of their misdeeds_, but the Holy One in their
midst _had done nothing amiss_. This avowal, made amidst all His
present agony and degradation, was a great step, but soon it led to
another. The more the penitent malefactor reflected on the sinlessness
of Him who hung beside him, the more he contrasted it with his own
shortcomings, the more the light streamed into his soul, and at length
the eye of faith opening to discern the invisible, and the conviction
dawning upon him that this was his Lord, the true King of the Jews, he
turned and said, _Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom_,
and received the comforting reply, _This day shalt thou be with Me in
paradise_ (Lk. xxii. 43).
But now the greatest and most mysterious period of the Passion drew
near. Already nature herself had begun to evince her sympathy with
the awful scene that was being enacted. At the sixth hour, the hour of
noon, the clearness of day began to be obscured. A fearful darkness[583]
gradually spread over the whole land (Mtt. xxvii. 45; Mk. xv. 33; Lk.
xxiii. 44)[584], and deepened in intensity till nearly the ninth hour,
the hour of the evening sacrifice. Meanwhile the Holy One began to be
sensible of the burning thirst, which is the most painful aggravation
of a death by crucifixion, and gave expression to it in words (Jn.
xix. 28). Close at hand stood a vessel full of vinegar, and one of
the soldiers took a sponge, and filling it with the fluid put it on
a hyssop-reed, and raised it to His lips. At this moment the Redeemer
gave utterance to the prophetic words of the xxiind Psalm, in which, in
the bitterness of his heart, David had complained of the desertion of
his God, and said, _Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken me_? (Mk. xv. 34).
On hearing this exclamation, some of those standing near, either
misapprehending His words, or in wilful mockery, declared that He
called not on Eli, God, but on Elias, whose appearance was universally
expected as the sign of the Messiah’s kingdom. They would, therefore,
have waited to see whether the great prophet would really come (Mk. xv.
36), and would have arrested the compassionate hand that was raising
the vinegar. But the moment of release was near. As soon as He had
tasted the vinegar (Jn. xix. 30), the dying Redeemer cried with a loud
voice, _It is finished; Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit, and
gave up the ghost_.
These last words had hardly been uttered before a wondrous event took
place in the Temple. The veil, the beautiful veil, inwrought with
figures of Cherubim, which separated the Holy Place from the Most
Holy, was suddenly _rent in twain from the top to the bottom_[585]
(Mtt. xxvii. 51; Mk. xv. 38; Lk. xxiii. 45), and at the same moment
the earth trembled with the convulsion of an earthquake, and the rocks
were rent, laying open many of the sepulchres with which they were
perforated on all sides of the city[586] (Mtt. xxvii. 52).
These marvellous incidents made a deep impression, not only on the
centurion and his soldiers who had been stationed to watch the cross,
but on the multitudes who had been spectators of all that had occurred,
and the women and kinsmen of the Holy Sufferer who _stood gazing afar
off_ (Mtt. xxvii. 55; Mk. xv. 40). The people beating their breasts
in deep but unavailing sorrow (Lk. xxiii. 48) began to pour back with
fearful forebodings into the city, while the Roman officer, who though
he had often looked upon death and its victims in various forms, had
never witnessed such a death as this[587], under the influence of deep
emotion testified that He, who had been condemned as a blasphemer,
was indeed a _righteous man_ (Lk. xxiii. 47), nay more, that He was in
truth the _Son of God_[588] (Mtt. xxvii. 54; Mk. xv. 39).