Mt Si'' ; the Syrophcenician mother, Mt 15-« ; the Greeks, Jn 12'^^).
What struggles of soul must have resulted from the thwarting of His love and grace by the mis- understanding or unbelief of His relatives (Mk 3'"-35), His disciples (Mt 15" IG^ 26=*S Mk 14-^), His fellow-townsmen (Mk 6''), and the Jeru.salem which He so loved that He wept over it (Lk 13^^ 19-*') ! He strove to turn Judas from his betrayal (Jn 6™, Mt 17-^ 2623, Jn 13=^ Lk 22«), and to save Peter from his denial (Lk 22^-). His struggle of soul culminated, severe and grievous as it had often been, in the agony and desolation of the Cross, when the beloved Son of God was so made sin (2 Co 5-') and a curse (Gal 3'^) for mankind, that in His darkness and loneliness He felt Himself forsaken of God (Mt 27^«).
Alfred E. Garvie.
STUMBLE, STUMBLING-BLOCK. — See Hin- drance.
SUFFERING. — Suffering was not a mere acci- dent in the career of Christ. Neither is it so in the life of any of His true followers. It came to Him in the fulfilment of His Divine mission. Just so must it come to all those who are co-workers with Him in the Kingdom of God. Therefore in the NT the sombre background of physical and spiritual suffering is never absent from the thought of the writers. St. Peter, perhaps more than any other, dwells upon it in its doctrinal and practical aspect, but all were profoundly impressed by the signifi- cance of Christ's sufl'erings, and endeavoured to interpret the tribulations of His followers in the light of His own varied experiences.
1. Concerning the distressing events in the Master's life, the NT gives us warrant for holding to several conclusions. W^e misinterpret the mean- ing of Christ's entrance into humanity, if we limit His tribulations merely to the agony of the Passion. The bitter exjDeriences of His last week were tyjiical of the harsh events of His life as a whole. His emptying of Himself (Ph 2'') to become the humble partner of humanity in its struggle against sin and for holiness, was itself the acme of sufl'er- ing. The Agony in the Garden and the terrors of the death on the Cross were but the last scenes in the drama of His humiliation. Nor must the intensity of His physical sufl'erings blind us to the reality of the Avoes of His spirit. With His Divine sensitiveness to selfishness and dis- obedience and hard-heartedness and unresponsive- ness and sin, how poignant must have been the griefs which His sinless soul endured ! For this 'man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Is 53^), every day must have been one of crucifixion. Against Him who came to destroy sin was dis- played all the violence of which evil was cajjable. That He must needs sufler in His efl'ort to accom- plish His mission was the inevitable consequence of His Messiahship (Ac 2623, Lk 24--«). But not by His mere sufl'erings did He redeem humanity. These, in themselves, were not necessary to His office as the 'anointed One,' but were the certain results of the lifework upon which He had entered. Only as He was willing to endure whatever human experiences might come to Him could He reveal the Father and help to turn men to righteousness, by showing them the entninity of sin (He 13''-). Against Him were displayed the fearful extremes to which sin would go in its eii'ort to overcome good. But by this liigh discipline was His own spirit cultured (5") ; and through His heroic, vic- torious endurance of sin-imposeil siifl'ering did He become our Higli Priest, able to succour those wlio are tempted (2'"- '** 4'''). In this noble sense are the sufferings of Christ central to His go.spel, so
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SUMMER
SUPERNATURAL
that St. Peter can justly call himself a witness of the sufferings of Christ (1 P 5^).
2. Nor are the followers of Christ to escape the experiences that came to Him (Jn 15^"). See art. Sorrow. Charles W. Rishell.
SUMMER {eipo's, Mt 243^ Mk W\ Lk 2po).— This term stands in the Gospels for the time of heat as distinguished from x^'A"^'') the season of cold and rain-storms. These terms indicate the great division of the year in the East. Scripture has no special words for ' spring ' and ' autumn ' ; and while the Arab speaks of er-rabia, ' the time of fresh pasture,' and el-kharif, ' the time of gathering' of grapes and other fruits, they are hardly regarded as distinct seasons. Saifwa shitta\ ' summer and winter,' sum up the year for him. When, in the less frequent showers of early April, the fig-leaves burst out and cover the immature fruit on the twigs, the days of cloudless sunshine are ' at hand.' These last from April, through the harvest in the end of May, the threshing and winnowing that follow, and the gathering of the fruits in August and September, until the clouds of October herald the coming of rains and cold.
W. EwiNG.
SUN. — The rising of the sun marks the morning (Mk 16^), and its setting the evening (Mk P^ Lk 4^"). Its light is one of the gifts whicla the Creator bestows on all men without distinction (Mt S"*®). By 'signs in the sun' (Lk 2P^) we are to under- stand the phenomena of eclipse, as described more clearly in the parallel passages, Mt 24^9, Mk IS'^^ The statement in Lk 23^^ as to ' the sun being darkened' (AV) or 'the sun's light failing' (RV) at the time of the Crucifixion, cannot be explained in this way, since an eclipse of the sun can happen only at new moon, whereas the Crucifixion took place at a Passover, when the moon was full. The sun's scorching heat, so destructive to vegetation, is an emblem of tribulation or persecution (Mt IS"- -\ Mk 4^- ^''). The appearance of the face of Christ at the Transfiguration (Mt 17^) and in the opening vision of the Apocalypse (Rev P") is compared to the brightness of the sun. The same thing is said of the glory in which the righteous shall appear after the final judgment (Mt IS''^).