Il. THE CRUCIFIXION AND ITS ACCOMPANYING OIRSUMSTANCES. “They crucified him;” such is the brief notification of the most stupendous crime committed in the bistory of mankind. Every circumstance recorded in such a connection is worthy of attention. 1. There is a note of time. It was the third hour, 7.e. nine o’clock in the forenoon. From this we infer how hurried had been the proceedings since the break of day, and how prolonged were those sufferings, which did not close until three in the afternoon, 2. There is a memorandum of the superscription. ‘This was the accusation, upon which, unproved and misrepresented, Pilate had been induced to sanction this legal murder. A King crucified, and crucified by his subjects; no wonder that such a crime should be disowned, or rather such a stigma resented, by the priests and elders. When Pilate persisted that the inscription should remain, he bore witness uncon- sciously alike to the spiritual royalty of Jesus and to the flagitious rebellion of the leaders of the Jewish nation. The cross was in truth Christ’s earthly throne, the symbol of a world-wide empire. He had said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” 8, There is an account of his companions upon the cross. If anything could possibly add to the ignominy of our Saviour’s death, it was the society in which he suffered. Barabbas had, indeed, been released; but there were two robbers condemned to death, and awaiting the execution of their sentence. Accordingly, advantage was taken of the opportunity to carry out the sentence against the Christ and the criminals upon the same occasion. Thus was he “ numbered with the transgressors,” and an additional stigma attached to him by his association with the vilest of the vile. No wonder that the ignorant and unspiritual made this a ground of reviling against Jesus, and of reproach against his followers.
If]. THe MocKERY THAT FOLLOWED THE CRUCIFIXION. To add to the insults, the jeering, the scofiing, which Jesus had endured during his trials, it was permitted that his dying hours should be disturbed, and his dying agonies intensified, by the mockery of various classes of his foes. 1. The passers-by railed on him. With the customary contempt for the lallen and deserted, those passing in and out of the city insulted the Crucified, with gestures of derision and tones of contempt, recalling the language in which he had asserted his authority, and contrasting it with his pitiable condition terrible sufferings, and apparent helplessness. 2%. The chief priests and scribes who had been foremost in effecting his downfall, were prominent in glorying Over the work of their hands, and in scofling at him upon whom they had wieaked their vengeance, From their lips came the language which, intended t be a reproach, waa
oH, Xv. 1—47.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 315
really, and has ever been deemed, one of the most glorious tributes ever paid to the Redeemer: “‘ He saved others; himself he cannot save!” When they asked that he should come down from the cross upon which their malice had raised him, and pro- fessed their willingness upon such evidence to believe in him, we cannot doubt that their words were hollow, vulgar mockery. 3. That no element of misery might be wauting in the Saviour’s anguish, it was permitted that the very thieves should join in the raillery with which Jesus was encompassed and tortured. This, indeed, only gives an additional touch of pathos to the stury of the penitent thief which St. Luke tells 80 exquisitely, and shows, in the brighter colours of contrast, the powerful gentleness and unselfish pity of the dying Saviour.
AppLIOATION. 1. Admire the submission and meekness of Christ’s demeanour, 2. Consider with gratitude the redemptive purpose which animated and sustained the Sufferer. 3. Learn to glory in that cross, which, from an emblem of shame, has by Christ been transformed into a symbol of salvation.
Vers. 33—41.—The death of Jesus. Jesus had, in the course of his ministry, raised the dead to life. Three such instances are recorded in the Gospels ; and it is intimated that there were other cases which have not been circumstantially related. And now the time came for himself to die, to accomplish at Jerusalem the decease he had fore- seen and foretold. That he might have avoided this fate is obvious; and he had himself declared that no man took his life from him. The time, however, had arrived for him to lay down that life of himself, in submitting to be, “by wicked hands, crucified and slain.”