The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 605

in silence; his followel'II must learn of their dying Lord the Christian lesson of mcok- n0ss. " When t.hou art reviled," says Chrysostom, "sot the sign of the cross' upou thine heart; think how the Lord upon the cross endured that cruel scorn, nnd learn of him.• The piiseers-by reviled him; tl1ey fulfilled unconsciously tho predictions of the twenty-second psalm; they repeated the misrepresentations of the false witnesses; they repeated the taunt of the tempter, "If thou be the Son of God." The Son o'f l1od, the tempter had suggested, should not suffer pain and hunger; the Son of God, the mockers said, could not bang and dio upon the cross, They little thought that it was because he was the Son of God that he would patiently suffer, that he would meekly die. None other th11n the Son of God could suffer that anguish, could die that death-" the Son of God, who loved mo, and gave himself for me." 2, The. chief priests. They came too with the scribes and elders; they did not think it unhecomin.c.( to join in the shameless insults of the vulgar crowd ; they forgot the dignity of their sacred office; they taunted the dying Saviour with his seeming helplessness. "lie saved others," they so.id; they acknowledged the truth of his mire.oles, his works of love; and in their blind wickedness they upbraided him with those very works with that very love. In their ignorance they proclaimed a great truth, though theyknew it not. "He saved others; himself he cannot save." Yes, it was because he would save others that he could not save himself. He was laying down his life of himself; at any moment during those long hours of torture he niight have put forth his almighty power; but how, then, should the Scriptures be fulfilled? How should God and man be reconciled? How should sin be put a.way, and sinful man be saved? He who would save others must forget himself. The Lord is the Divine example of the most entire self-sacrifice: let us adore him; let us imitate him. "He is the King of Israel,''. they said in their biting, wicked irony; they said the truth, though they said it in mockery. They bade him come down from the cross; then, they said, they would believe on him. But he knew their hearts; they would not have believed had he done so. He bad raised Lazarus; he did afterwards raise himself from the dead ; but they would not be persuaded. Faith and love cannot be forced by a. display of power. The Lord would win the love of men by his own constraining love. Love is free ; it springs from the true heart to meet the Jove which calls it forth. It was his blessed death upon the cross, not a descent from the cross in awful majesty, which was to draw all men to him. The chief priests derided him for his seeming weakness; they dared even to deride him for hie trust in God. "He trusted in God," they said, and then unconsciously used the very words of prophecy, the words of the twenty-second psalm, in their wickedness, " Let him deliver him now, if he will he.ve him ; " repeat- ing the insults of the passers-by, and taunting him with his assertion of his Divine nature; for he sa.id, "l am the Son of God." 3. The crucified thieves. They too reviled him, "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us." Affliction does not always soften; sometimes it leads to discontent, murmuring, rebellion. The near approach of death does not always bring men to repentance; sin hardens the heart ; men commonly die as they have lived. The outward cross cannot save the soul; in the very presence of the cross of atonement, in the very sight of the precious blood, there wa.s one miser-· able death-a death of agony without hope, without repentance, without forgiveness. The cross of the Lord Jesus is very awful, but his most blessed love sheds around it a glory of unearthly radiance. The cross of the penitent thief is awful too; but his repentance, faith, and hope are full of sweet comfort for the contrite sinner. 'l'be cross on the left hand is dreadful beyond all words; for, alas ! there is nothing to relieve the horror of that death of agony and blasphemy. Let us beware and take heed to our- selves; there i■ but one ca.se of deathbed repentance recorded in Holy Scripture. There is one; then we may hope for others even against hope: there is only one; then we may not dare to trust for ourselves to a hope so slender. Ill. THE END. 1. The thre£ lwurs' darkness. It was about the sixth hour. The noonday sun should have bern pouring its full light upon Jerusalem, But there was a horror of great darkness-a darkness that could be felt. It might well be so. Ilc was hanging on the cross by whom all things were made. He was dying who upholdcth all things by the word of his power. So stupendous nn event, the death of him who is the Life of the world, must be attended by wonders, by strange and awful signs. '!'lint fe!lrful darkness was a stem rebuke to the cruel brutal mockers. Nature was mourning 011, xxvn. 1-GG.J THE GOSPEI, ACCOTIDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 611