Vers. 6—15.—Christ or Barabbas. I. A REVELATION OF THE HATRED OF THE NATURAL MIND FOR TRUTH AND GOODNESS. Several ancient authorities are in favour of readings here and elsewhere which would give us, “ Jesus Barabbas ” (7.e. son of a father or rabbi), as the full name of the “ robber” who was here the favourite of the populace. If this be so, there would be two of the name Jesus, and the choice would thus be strikingly emphasized. The character of Barabbas as a rioter and murderer is glossed over by the semblance of patriotism, as he is said to have been engaged in the insur- rection caused by Pilate’s appropriation of the corban of the temple for building an aqueduct. In any case the personal character is utterly subordinated, and motives of policy prevail. The season of the Passover recalled the historic sparing of Israel’s firstborn and the destruction of Egypt’s. The positions seemed now to be reversed, or Israel delibe- rately assumed the character of Egypt, preferring that the guilty should be set free. We have here the self-conviction of: 1. Perverted religious instincts. In the case of the chief priests and people of the Jews. Their whole religious training ought to have prepared them to receive’Christ. 2. Popular opinton unguided by the Spirit of God. A prey to unscrupulous influences, to false sentiment, and to passing excitements. 3. Spiritual indifference. In the person of Pilate, in whom it lent itself readily to unprincipled diplomacy and the surrender of innocence.
II, A PARABLE OF THE CHOICE EVERY MAN IS CALLED UPON TO MAKE. 1. In daily life. Minute occurrences in which the contrasts may not seem so striking, or the choice so final. Their ultimate influence in the determination of character and destiny. 2. In the great crises of religious decision. It is well at such times to consider carefully the respective ends of the courses of conduct that present themselves.
Ill. A SYMBOL OF THE CENTRAL MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION. In the gospel the method of salvation is that the innocent shall suffer for the guilty. Jesus the Christ thus became the substitute of Barabbas the robber. The latter only gained the prolongation of his earthly life thereby ; a questionable benefit. But those who believe in Christ as the vicarious Sacrifice and voluntary Self-sacrificer for sinners will receive eternal salvation.—M.
Vers. 16—20, 29—32.—The mockery of Jesus. The scene, the courtyard of the governor’s residence ; the actors, the Roman soldiery ard the Son of God; and the awlul fate that awaited the Sufferer, render this mockery one of the most impressive incidents in human history. It was deliberate, brutal, and inhuman.
I. WHAT IT WAS IN HIM THAT WAS MOCKED. The crown and the purple and the sham homage are interpreted by the cry, “ Hail, King of the Jews!” 1. I¢ was his kingly pretensions they ridiculed, So the Jews had laughed to scorn his prophetic office. ‘To those Roman soldiers, impressed with the grandeur of the power they them- selves represented, the claim to be king of a small and subject land like Palestine was
320 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [ca. xv. 1—47,
very petty. They could afford, so they thought, to laugh at it; even as Pilate was not afraid to have released him who preferred it. 2. But even more did they despise his title as a theorratic King. How far these citizens of the empire of law were from realizing the true character of the kingdom of righteousness! Had he even been recognized by the Jews themselves as their ruler, the nation was too small, too insigni- ficant in a political or military point of view, to be of any consequence. There was no suspicion in their minds of danger to the Roman empire, or of the influence which his moral and spiritual character was to wield in the new ages of the world. It is although they knew it not then, by virtue of this same moral majesty and power that he, in turn, has become the Conqueror of mankind, and is maintaining and extending his sway in regions where mouldering ruins and obsolete statutes are all that remain to witness te Rome’s vanished greatness. It is the mockers themselves that are now ridiculous.
Il. How MEN MAY MOOK HIM sTILL. There is a feeling of human tenderness that is outraged as we imagine the meek Sufferer amidst the brutal throng. But the true sentiment that ought to be awakened is that which concerns the principles of righteous- ness and truth, of which he was the embodiment and representative. It is for them he would have us solicitous even to jealousy. Men still wound and mock Christ: 1. When they render to him a merely nominal homage, ‘“ When we pervert the truth of the Word for our own evil ends, we scourge the Son of man; when to justify our evils we fabricate a system of ingenious error, and thus exalt our own wisdom above the wisdom of Jesus, we plait a crown of thorns and put it on his head; when we substitute our own righteousness for the righteousness of Christ, we clothe him with a purple robe ; when we are inwardly worshippers of self and outwardly worshippers of the Lord, our worship of him is a mocking salutation of ‘ Hail, King of the Jews!’ while every presumptuous sin we commit is a stroke inflicted on the Son of man” (W. Bruce). 2. When they ignore the moral nature of his power, relying on material and external means instead of spiritual. When they use the methods of business in a business spirit, or even the arts of diplomacy, to advance his kingdom. So men clothe Christ in the insignia of Herod. ‘‘ The kingliest King was crowned with thorns!” 3. When they would accept the advantages of his kingdom without observing tts con- ditions. As when persons profess to enjoy the preaching and ordinances of the gospel, but do not carry its doctrines into practice; or when they are “straightway offended ” at the tribulations and privations which true discipleship involves.—M.
Vers. 31, 32.—The Saviour’s helplessness. A paradox. The situation as regarded by those who surrounded the cross was manifestly in contradiction with the pretensions of Jesus. This prima facie impression was not accidentally produced, but belonged, so to speak, to the very essence of the gospel as a “mystery ;” and it had its ends to serve in the inscrutable wisdom of God. That it tended at first to conceal the true character of the Saviour’s sufferings there can be no doubt; but as certainly it prepared the way for subsequent spiritual revelation. It served—
I, To Bxorrs artenrion. This apparent self-contradiction in the career of Jesus waa a matter of public notoriety. Had it been overlooked by any, the enemies of the truth were eager to point it out. There is something piquant to the curiosity and specula- tion of men in a matter which wears such an aspect.