Vers. 42-—-47.—The entombment. The sabbath hurried on—the day of rest. Joseph of Arimathwa, “a councillor of honourable estate, who also himself was looking for the kingdom of God,” begged permission of Pilate to have the body of Jesus for interment. Pilate, being satisfied of the death of Jesus, “ granted the corpse to Joseph.” Then with tender hands he wrapped the body in a linen cloth and laidit ina tomb; “and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.” Now the work is complete. The human rage is satisfied. The voice of the accuser is silent. The Divine condescension is perfect. It could descend no lower. The grave is the goal of human weakness. It is the lowest step; then begins the upward ascent. The humiliation being complete, the exaltation begins. The grave is really the pathway to glory and honour. Jesus, who has sancti- fied every path of life, now sanctifies the grave. He has withdrawn the sting from death ; he dissipates the darkness from the tomb. And though we cannot desire the grave yet it is no longer the repulsive, loathsome place it had ever been. Christ in the tomb of darth plainly speaks to us many lessons.
I, Concerning him, it teaches us that No DESCENT WAS TOO GREAT FOR HIM TO MAKE IN HIS LOVING SERVICE TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN. He whostooped so low as to be born in a manger, sharing his first bed with lowing oxen, stoops lower still in making ready for the children of men their last sleeping-place. He who washed the feet of his disciples shared the grave with guilty men. Forasmuch as they whom he was not
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ashamed to call brethren must needs die and be buried, “he also himself in like manner partook of the same;” as “it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren,” he refused not this.
IL. Concerning the grave, it is A SANCTIFICATION oF IT. We need not be ashamed to descend into this valley of humiliation, for our “ Head” has gone before. If we can endure the sufferings of our cross, we can despise the shame of ourtomb. We need not fear to die, for he hath brought “to nought him that had the power of death, that is the devil; ” nor need we fear to lie down in the tomb, for Jesus lay there.
“Tis now a cell, where angels use To come and go with heavenly news, And in the ears of mourners say, ‘Come, see the place where Jesus lay.’ ”
It is not the final goal of the human feet, as we shall soon learn. Its bolts can be with- drawn ; its seal can be broken; its stone can be rolled away. The grave may be the pathway to the throne.
Ill. But it brings home to our hearts CHRiIsT’s CLAIM UPON US FOR OUR UNDYING egaTitupE. Never shall we repay that debt. Even the bitterest cup he will drink for us; the most laborious service he will undertake for us; the uttermost humiliation he will endure for us. We owe all to him in the constitution of our life and its surrounding conditions; we owe no less the entire redemption of our life from all evils; we owe the smoothing of the rough places ot life, our uplifting above the pains of life, and we owe the sanctification and perfecting of life. Truly we owe all. Only by reverent faith, by lowly service, by growing love, can we acknowledge our deep-abiding debt. This we may perfect by a calm and trustful yielding up our life to our Father on high, both in the daily dying to self and in a final committal of all to him, breathing out our life into his hands.
“So, buried with our Lord, we’ll close our eyes To the decaying world, till angels bid us rise.” “
Vers. 1—20.— The second trial. I. Iv ELICITED THE INNOCENCE oF Jesus. Charges were made that he had excited sedition through the country, had prohibited the Roman tribute, and had claimed royalty. The last only had any show of plausibility in it. Jesus admitted his kingship, but declared it in immortal words to be the sovereignty of truth over the consciences of men. Reading the narratives of the other evangelists, we gain a clear impression of the innocence of Jesus, as it was exhibited to all who looked on, and defied the inventions of malice. Especially is that innocence reflected from the bearing of Pilate. ‘T'o him our Lord replied when he asked for information ; but met the accusations of the priests with a silence equally significant. And Pilate was struck dumb with conviction. Character is self-sufficiency. It is “centrality; the impossibility of being displaced or overset.” Words will not prove innocence ; it speaks louder in silence. Passion and unreason illustrate it. We are generally more anxious to avoid misconstruction than to act as we think right. Jesus teaches us to be servants of the truth, and to be indifferent to the constructions of our enemies. God and the angels are the true spectators of our actions; and the judgment of pos- terity will reflect the judgment of God.
Il. Iv ELICITED HIS PERFECT LOYALTY. There must come a time when the truths we have professed will demand to be sealed by our action. Christ had taught men to “seek tirst the kingdom of God; ” to postpone everything to duty; to take heed to the light within; to esteem the soul of greater worth than the whole world. His conduct now falls into harmony with his words; and perfect music flows through the world from both, He preferred the fulfilment of duty to the preservation of mit Ir ELICITED HUMAN INJUSTICE AND vicE. Socrates told his judges at Athens that it was they who were really on their trial. So it was the Sanhedrim, and also Pilate, who were on this occasion tried and condemned. The ages have since been reverberating their damnation. Hxpediency and worldly favour were in one scale; rigbt, innocence, truth, in the otner. The former dipped. Worldly authority was
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opposed to spiritual majesty; the former struck a blow at the latter, which recoiled with Divine effect. The condemnation of Christ was an outrage upon the conscience of the world, both Jewish and pagan. Pilate’s illustrious countryman, Cicero, had taught with enthusiasm that the useful and the right form a unity; that the useful can never be put before the right without defeating the social good (* De Officiis,’ iii.), An action can never be useful unless it is first right. Here was a great reversal of that order. That Jesus should die is expedient, said the Sanhedrim; but not right, said their conscience. On other grounds, Pilate took che same position; while his wife, like a second conscience, would have restrained him. In similar crises of personal experience, let us remember that to subordinate right to expediency is to condemn the Lord of life afresh.