I. The evangelist relates CIRCUMSTANCES PRECEDING CHRIST’s DEATH. 1. The dark- ness which brooded sver the city, and over the whole land, for the space of three hours (from 12 unti! 3 p.m.), was apparently supernatural, and has usually been regarded as a manifest woken of Nature’s sympathy with her Lord. It was an appropriate accompaniment to the sad and awful event that was transpiring. 2. The utterance of desertion and of woe. The dying Saviour’s cry has ever been regarded as affording a glance into the innermost, the sacred, the unfathomable mysteries of his soul. Explain it we cannot; disregard it we dare not. Surely, this cannot be regarded as a mere exclamation of distress! Surely, it cannot have been wrung from the Redeemer by the severity of bodily pain and anguish! It has been well said that the sufferings of his soul were the soul of his sufferings. The only explanation of the cry, “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” is that furnished by the mental agonies which the world’s Redeemer was enduring, which clouded his sense of the Father’s favour. On the one hand, we cannot suppose this language to have been a mere cry of distress ; on the other hand, we cannot conceive that the Father had withdrawn his favour from bis well-beloved Son, who was now proving himself to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The fact is that the burden of the world’s sins and sorrows pressed like a dense cloud upon his soul, and obscured from his view the shining of the Father’s face. 3. The ministry of pity. Although at the commencement of the crucifixion Jesus had refused the stupefying draught which had been offered him, nove that he had hung six hours upon the cross he was consumed with an intolerable thirst. The expression of his distressing sensation seems to have followed upon the cry of desertion. A bystander, doubtless in pity, offered him a sponge filled with the sour wine which was the soldiers’ ordinary drink, and it would seem that he did not now refuse the alleviation offered. It is not easy to understand who could have so misap- prehended his cry as to suppose the dying Sufferer to invoke the ministry of Elijah ; thongh it is easy to believe that some would jeeringly propose to wait for the pro- phetic intervention. 4. The dying cry. Mark gives no words; but from the other Gospels we learn that, immediately before his expiring, Jesus uttered aloud two ever- memorable sayings: viz. “It is finished!” and “ Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!” It is clear, therefore, that the cry was not an inarticulate utterance of pain. There was an expression of his conviction that his ministry of humiliation was ended, that the purpose of his incarnation was completed, that nothing more remained for him to do on earth, And in addition to this utterance, which was ministerial, was mother, which was personal. As he had said “ My God,” so now he says “ Father,” au address which proved his possession of the assurance of his Father’s undiminisb-
316 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [ou. xv. i—47.
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and undimmed approval. The hour of agony and dissolution was thus an hour of triumph: Christ’s work was completed, his obedience was perfected, his acceptance was assured, his victory was achieved.
Il. The evangelist records THe FAOT oF CHRIST'S DEATH. How simply is it related !—‘ He gave up his spirit.” In one word is recorded, without exaggeration, without a word to heighten the effect, without a comment of any kind, the most stupendous, pathetic, and momentous event which this world has witnessed. The Being who was “the Life” bowed his head in death. He who, whilst his hour was not yet come, had eluded his foes, now submitted to the felon’s doom. The Lord of immortality, who was to hold the keys of death and of the unseen world, saw and tasted dissolution, though not corruption. He knew, though the spectators, friends and foes alike, were ignorant of the fact, that his death was destined to be the life of the world. He had foretold that, when lifted up from the earth, he should draw all men unto himself; that the grain of wheat should fall into the earth and die, and should bring forth much fruit. And the events which have followed have verified the Saviour’s words. Even those who have no disposition to regard Christ’s character and work as supernatural cannot be blind to the fact that the cross has proved a tree whose fruits have been for the satisfaction, and whose leaves have been for the healing, of the nations, But, to us Christians, the death of Christ was the redemption of our 0
® Qh, never, never canst thou know What then for thee the Saviour bore, The pangs of that mysterious woe Which wrung his bosom’s inmost core,
“Yes, man for man perchance may brave The horrors of the yawning grave; And friend for friend, or son for sire, Undaunted and unmoved expire,
From love, or piety, or pride; But who can die as Jesus died?”