Chapter VIII

_THE CRUCIFIXION._
A.D. 30.

THUS the Holy One was formally delivered into the hands of the soldiers[563], who instantly made their preparations for His crucifixion. The place of execution was a spot of slightly rising ground without the gates of the city, called, probably from the shape of its rounded summit[564], Golgotha[565], _the place of a skull_ (Mtt. xxvii. 33; Jn. xix. 17). Thither, therefore, after stripping Him of the purple robe, and putting on Him His own garments (Mtt. xxvii. 31; Mk. xv. 20), the soldiers led Him forth bearing[566], as was customary, the Cross on which He was to suffer (Jn. xix. 17), attended by a centurion[567], and two malefactors who were to be crucified with Him[568] (Lk. xxiii. 32).

As they proceeded from the city, the Redeemer, exhausted by the grievous sufferings He had already undergone, sank under the heavy weight of the Cross, and the soldiers meeting one Simon[569] of Cyrene in Northern Africa, coming from the country[570], laid hold upon him, and compelled[571] him to assist in bearing it (Mtt. xxvii. 32; Mk. xv. 21; Lk. xxiii. 26). And so the mournful procession was resumed, followed by a great multitude, amongst which many women began to utter loud laments at the sad spectacle. Turning to these _daughters of Jerusalem_ the exalted Sufferer with superhuman composure bade them _weep not for Him, but for themselves_; for nameless sorrows awaited them, days when they would _bless the wombs which had never borne_, and _the paps that had never given suck_, when they would _cry to the mountains to fall upon them, and to the hills to cover them_[572] (Lk. xxiii. 28–31).

On reaching the appointed place, the hole for the Cross was dug in the ground, and the customary stupefying potion[573] of wine mingled with myrrh was offered to the Holy One. He touched it with his lips (Mtt. xxvii. 34), but would not drink it, being resolved to preserve His senses clear, and to endure all the coming agony in the full possession of His consciousness. Then the soldiers stripped Him of His garments, nailed His hands and feet to the Cross[574], placed over His head the title[575] which Pilate had written in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin,

_This is Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews_,

and between the two malefactors, one on His right hand and the other on His left (Isai. liii. 12), the Redeemer hung suspended between heaven and earth, breathing forth even under the hands of His murderers words of infinite love, _Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do_ (Lk. xxiii. 34).

It was now about the _third hour_[576] (Mk. xv. 25), and the quaternion or party of four soldiers[577] (Jn. xix. 23), with their centurion (Mtt. xxvii. 54), whose special duty it was to see that the bodies of those who suffered by crucifixion were not taken away, sat down and watched (Mtt. xxvii. 36). According to custom, the clothes of the Redeemer had become their perquisite. Of the outer garment they made four parts, probably loosening the seams[578]. But the inner garment[579] _was without seam, woven from the top throughout_ (Jn. xix. 23). That they might not rend this garment, therefore, they drew lots for it whose it should be, and thus unconsciously fulfilled the words of the Psalmist, _They parted My raiment among them; and for My vesture they did cast lots_ (Ps. xxii. 18; Jn. xix. 24).

While, however, the soldiers were thus employed, and the high-priests were busy wrangling with Pilate respecting the title he had placed upon the Cross, a few faithful ones had ventured to draw near the suffering Redeemer. Near His Cross stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas[580], and Mary Magdalene (Jn. xix. 25), and with them the Apostle John. Looking upon His mother, and seeing standing by her the disciple whom He loved, He said to her, _Woman, behold thy son_, and to the disciple, _Behold thy mother, and from that hour_ the Apostle _took her to his own home_[581] (Jn. xix. 27).

But soon others than these faithful ones drew near. The passers-by began to vent their mockery and bitter gibes upon The Redeemer. Some reminded Him in derision of His deep saying at the first Passover of His public ministry, and bade Him who could _destroy the Temple and build it in three days, save Himself_ (Mtt. xxvii. 39, 40; Mk. xv. 29). Others, and especially the chief priests, bade Him if He was in truth the Son of God, the Messiah, and King of Israel (Mtt. xxvii. 42; Mk. xv. 32), _come down from the Cross_. The soldiers also took up their words, and drawing near offered Him in mockery their sour wine[582] (Lk. xxiii. 36), and required Him, if, as His title portended, He was the King of the Jews, to deliver Himself, and soon even the crucified malefactors followed their example, and cast the same in His teeth (Mtt. xxvii. 44; Mk. xv. 32).

But as the weary time wore on, the feelings of one of the two, won over by the heroic bearing of the Saviour and His infinite patience, underwent a striking change. He began to reprove the other for his revilings (Lk. xxiii. 40). They indeed were suffering justly, and _receiving the reward of their misdeeds_, but the Holy One in their midst _had done nothing amiss_. This avowal, made amidst all His present agony and degradation, was a great step, but soon it led to another. The more the penitent malefactor reflected on the sinlessness of Him who hung beside him, the more he contrasted it with his own shortcomings, the more the light streamed into his soul, and at length the eye of faith opening to discern the invisible, and the conviction dawning upon him that this was his Lord, the true King of the Jews, he turned and said, _Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom_, and received the comforting reply, _This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise_ (Lk. xxii. 43).

But now the greatest and most mysterious period of the Passion drew near. Already nature herself had begun to evince her sympathy with the awful scene that was being enacted. At the sixth hour, the hour of noon, the clearness of day began to be obscured. A fearful darkness[583] gradually spread over the whole land (Mtt. xxvii. 45; Mk. xv. 33; Lk. xxiii. 44)[584], and deepened in intensity till nearly the ninth hour, the hour of the evening sacrifice. Meanwhile the Holy One began to be sensible of the burning thirst, which is the most painful aggravation of a death by crucifixion, and gave expression to it in words (Jn. xix. 28). Close at hand stood a vessel full of vinegar, and one of the soldiers took a sponge, and filling it with the fluid put it on a hyssop-reed, and raised it to His lips. At this moment the Redeemer gave utterance to the prophetic words of the xxiind Psalm, in which, in the bitterness of his heart, David had complained of the desertion of his God, and said, _Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me_? (Mk. xv. 34).

On hearing this exclamation, some of those standing near, either misapprehending His words, or in wilful mockery, declared that He called not on Eli, God, but on Elias, whose appearance was universally expected as the sign of the Messiah’s kingdom. They would, therefore, have waited to see whether the great prophet would really come (Mk. xv. 36), and would have arrested the compassionate hand that was raising the vinegar. But the moment of release was near. As soon as He had tasted the vinegar (Jn. xix. 30), the dying Redeemer cried with a loud voice, _It is finished; Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit, and gave up the ghost_.

These last words had hardly been uttered before a wondrous event took place in the Temple. The veil, the beautiful veil, inwrought with figures of Cherubim, which separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy, was suddenly _rent in twain from the top to the bottom_[585] (Mtt. xxvii. 51; Mk. xv. 38; Lk. xxiii. 45), and at the same moment the earth trembled with the convulsion of an earthquake, and the rocks were rent, laying open many of the sepulchres with which they were perforated on all sides of the city[586] (Mtt. xxvii. 52).

These marvellous incidents made a deep impression, not only on the centurion and his soldiers who had been stationed to watch the cross, but on the multitudes who had been spectators of all that had occurred, and the women and kinsmen of the Holy Sufferer who _stood gazing afar off_ (Mtt. xxvii. 55; Mk. xv. 40). The people beating their breasts in deep but unavailing sorrow (Lk. xxiii. 48) began to pour back with fearful forebodings into the city, while the Roman officer, who though he had often looked upon death and its victims in various forms, had never witnessed such a death as this[587], under the influence of deep emotion testified that He, who had been condemned as a blasphemer, was indeed a _righteous man_ (Lk. xxiii. 47), nay more, that He was in truth the _Son of God_[588] (Mtt. xxvii. 54; Mk. xv. 39).