Human (Filial) saving the penitent Robber who was crucified on that day. John has added a supplementary account of an incident which reflects the Human Nature of Jesus, and His exercise of perfect human love. This is seen in the love wherewith Jesus committed His own Mother to the care of the Apostle John. In the record of this love, as also in the love itself, there is not one superfluous touch, either in the circumstances, or in the expression, or in the response. The act of love, and the inspired expression of it, are alike perfect. in Its Perfection John 19:25-27 John alone among the Gospel writers has given a record of this loving care on the part of Jesus for His Mother. John seems clearly to have intended that the reader 1. Christ's Loving Care of His Mother should see and feel a direct contrast between the heartless gambling of the soldiers for the Lord's garments," and this instance of perfect love on the part of the Lord Himself. John's record is brief, but perfect. Every phrase of his statement is full of suggestion for fruitful discussion and pleasant speculation. The record was made in these words: "But there were standing by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His Mother, and the Disciple standing by, whom He loved, He saith unto His Mother, WOMAN, BEHOLD, THY SON! Then saith He to the Disciple, BEHOLD, THY MOTHER! 2. Thoughts on the And from that hour the Disciple took her unto his own home." The mind loves to linger with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, on this eventful day. She had doubtless gone out to Golgotha, with the morning procession, surrounded by her friends, and probably supported in her grief by the strong arm of John himself, who has told the story. Some have argued, from certain suggestions in this passage, that Jesus and John must have been first cousins. That question cannot be settled with certainty." But there can be no doubt about the love Personal Relationships of 13In this incident, as also in the attention which Jesus gave to the two crucified robbers, there is full proof that He was giving heed to the things that were happen. ing before Him as He hung there on the Cross. John here intimates that the eyes of Jesus had just passed on, in their survey, from watching the gambling, when they fell upon His Mother standing somewhere, among her friends, near the Cross. The suggestion is that Jesus surveyed the situation, group by group, incident by incident. 14For a study of these women, see Chapter VI, page 139 n. 15, and 140; see also "Women" in the Index. and confidence between them, as it was exhibited on this occasion. Probably this commitment of His Mother to the care of John was the Lord's thoughtful and loving dismissal of her from the scene, to prevent her from witnessing the awful agony that was to follow, when darkness had covered the land. Mary had long since learned to heed the suggestions of Her Wonderful Son;" and she probably consented at once to take her sorrowful departure from the Cross. What must have been the thought of her heart! She had seen all Heaven and Earth concerned in the birth of this Son! Now she beheld all Heaven and Earth again concerned in His death! Imagination hesitates to suggest the feelings that must have entered her heart when the darkness fell upon the world, while her Son was dying upon His Cross. John's last words, in his record of this incident, have been understood to mean that he took Mary at once away from the scene, to some place of quiet security. This was probably true: for Mary disappears from the story at this point, and does not re-appear in person until the Christians had assembled for the ten days of prayer in the Upper Room, which occurred between the Lord's Ascension and the Day of Pentecost. Mary is not mentioned as among the women who had part in the burial of Jesus and in the events of His Resurrection Day. However, there are suggestions, as will appear in the later discussion, which seem to show that she was not far away from these central events. John's final testimony, as an eye-witness to the later events of the crucified Christ, seem clearly to imply that he had returned to the Cross after taking Mary away to her place of safety." Perhaps he took her to his own home, or his own lodging place, and returned immediately to the Cross, so that he might witness every event connected with the Crucifixion. The main significance in this committing of His Mother to the loving care of a dear personal friend lies in the fact that 3. Significance of This Act of Love Christ's great and perfect Human Heart spoke out in these words, which were the last words of the Lord in this third stage of the Crucifixion Day. It was the Human in Jesus that spoke in this last message. He was almost ready to enter the Valley of Shadows. It was therefore both logical and proper that the last emphasis of this stage of events should be laid upon the Human Nature of the Lord Jesus. The import of this final emphasis will 15 Compare Mary's words in John 2:5. See Chapter XXV, page 631. 18 See Chapter XXVII, pages 657-658. be more fully realized in the next chapter, which deals with the facts of the darkness and of the Lord's death. Interplay of the Meantime, in closing this chapter, a general observation may be made on the story of the Crucifixion as a whole. By this time it is evident that there is a unifying principle which is running through the entire story of the Crucifixion. That principle is the constant interplay between the Divine Nature and the Human Nature in Jesus Christ, as the events of the day progressed from one center of events to another. This principle has been evident in each stage of the story. In the first stage, the Human strength of Jesus was seen to sink beneath the burden of the Cross; but His Divine Foreknowledge, only a moment later, was outlining the future woes of Jerusalem, and the Jewish Race. In the second stage, Jesus, in His Human Nature, calmly endured the nailing of His Body to the Cross; but in His Divine Authority, He closed that scene with an intercession for His ignorant and sinful murderers. In the third stage, the majestic Divine-Human Spirit of the Lord at first stood calmly together, while He endured the contradiction of sinners, reviling not again when He was reviled. Then acting separately, the Lord Jesus, first in His Divine Power, saved the Penitent Robber, and then, in His Human Love, He committed His Mother to the care of the Apostle John. In the fourth stage, which is immediately to be considered in the next chapter, the same principle will be seen, in its most sublime expression. The Son of God, in His Human Nature, will die on the Cross; but as the Son of God, he will, with sovereign command of the entire situation and event of His own death, commend His Spirit into the hands of His Divine Father. To that next chapter, with its story of darkness and of death, the reader is now asked to turn his attention. CHAPTER XXV THE DEATH OF CHRIST "Behold the Lamb of God. Which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29. cf. Acts 8:32. "The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1. John 1:7. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6. "He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross." Philippians 2:8. "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." Hebrews 5:8-9. This chapter treats of the Death of Christ, and of the incidents and circumstances attending His Death on the Cross. The chapter covers the period of the Darkness on the Day of the Crucifixion. That period lasted for about three hours; and at the close of the Darkness the Savior died. In the general outline of the Crucifixion Day, this period of the Darkness appears as IV. The Fourth Stage: the Decease of Christ Accomplished at Jerusalem the Veil of Darkness Matthew 27:45-56 Mark 15:33-41 The time had come when Christ must accomplish His "decease at Jerusalem," about which He had conferred with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration.' The Atonement Beneath supernatural setting of the stage at this time was well in keeping with the things that were then taking place. Men had spent their utmost rage against the Lord Jesus Christ; but the Lord God was easily able to still that rage of men into a solemn attention, while He, with a mighty hand in deeds of terror, suggested to the world what it meant for His Son to suffer and die as an Atonement for sin-a suffering, and death, and atonement, which God Himself thought to be most fittingly accomplished beneath a veil of darkness. Luke 23:44-49 John 19:28-37 The Setting of the Stage for the Death of Christ. This darkness, which veiled the sufferings of Christ, according to the 1See Luke 9:31, and the Transfiguration, as discussed above in Chapter XIV, pages 331-333. statement of Luke, "came over the whole land." This darkness began at mid-day, when the day was at the brightest. It lasted Supernatural Matthew 27:45 Luke 23:44-45a 1. Facts of This Darkness from twelve o'clock noon until three o'clock in the afternoon, at which hour the Savior expired on the Cross. It is quite clear that this overshadowing of the world was an historical fact, and equally clear that it was a supernatural fact. The fact of this darkness cannot reasonably be doubted. It is a part of the Gospel record, and partakes of the same historical support as the great central Fact of Christ's Death itself. Luke has explained this phenomenon as "the sun's light failing." This darkness was not an eclipse: for the Passover season was at the full moon, a fact which precludes the possibility of an eclipse at that time. This entire stage of events, from twelve until three o'clock, has been lifted up into the realm of the divine. This darkness was supernatural. The voice of God, in this mysterious way, was speaking. Some definite purpose of God was served in this veiling of the world in darkness for three full hours while the Son of God was suffering and dying on the Cross. Why was this darkness sent at that time? Was it sent for sake of some purpose which God had respecting men? If so, 2. Possible Purposes of This Darkness what men? The guilty Jews, or the world of men in all ages of the world? Was it sent for sake of some purpose of God respecting His dying Son? Certainly this latter possibility is the far more imposing suggestion. But what was that purpose in the mind and the heart of God? There are several possibilities, all of which may have in them. some measure of truth. The darkness may have been sent as a frowning expression of God's displeasure against the Jews. As 2Matthew, Mark, and Luke, alike, record this darkness as one of the incidents that attended the Death of Christ. Compare also the prophecy in Amos 8:9, which pointed to this darkness as the direct doings of God Himself. "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day." There is a support for this supernatural darkness in history, outside of the Bible. "An account of it is given by Phlegon of Tralles, a freeman of the Emperor Adrian. Eusebius, in his records of the year A.D. 33, quotes at length from Phlegon, who says that, in the fourth years of the 202nd Olympiad, there was a great and remarkable eclipse of the sun, above any that had happened before. At the sixth hour the day was turned into the darkness of night, so that stars were seen in the heaven; and there was a great earthquake in Bithynia, which overthrew many houses in the city of Nicaea. Phlegon attributes the darkness which he describes to an eclipse, which was natural enough for him to do. The knowledge of astronomy was then very imperfect. Phlegon also mentions an earthquake. This brings his account into very close correspondence with the sacred narrative. How far this darkness extended, no one knows. The Scriptures state that it extended over the whole land. Dionysius reported that he saw the phenomenon at Heliopolis, in Egypt. |