_The soldiers platted a crown of thorns_ THE UNWILLING TRIBUTE According to prophecy the Messiah was to fill the three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. Carnal expectation ignored the two former, and built its hopes on the latter. They were unwilling to be taught by the Prophet, they could no... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hall, King of the Jews! _ THE MOCK HOMAGE These words were spoken in contemptuous imitation of the words addressed to a Roman Emperor, on his assuming imperial power: “Hail, Emperor!” It was as much as saying, “Thou a King indeed! Thou and Thy kingdom are alike contemptible. ” (_Bp. Ryle_.) It... [ Continue Reading ]
_I find no fault in Him_ PILATE’S CONFESSION Alas! it was discoursing to wolves about the innocence of the lamb. (_W. H. Van Doren, D. D_.) It is very noteworthy that this expression is used three times by Pilate in the same Greek words in St. John’s account of the passion (chap. 18:38; 19:4-6).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pilate saith unto them, Behold the Man_ ECCE HOMO “Behold the Man” I. FROM PILATE’S STANDPOINT. 1. He was a Roman, and apart from the interests of the empire, cared little for the creed or worship of the Hebrews. It was no part of his duty to interfere with the religion of the people he was rul... [ Continue Reading ]
_When the chief priests therefore and officers saw Him_ PILATE AT BAY I. THE CLAMOUR. “Crucify Him!” 1. Its occasion: the presentation of Christ “therefore.” One would have expected, as Pilate doubtless did, that revenge would be satiated by the bleeding form of One who had offended them by His t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Jews answered him, We have a law_ LITERALISM AND PARTY SPIRIT I. WHAT WAS THE MOTIVE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND PRIESTHOOD IN COMPASSING THE DEATH OF CHRIST? It was the one fixed idea of devotion to the law of Moses. It was the stubborn toughness of character which made the Jewish people the bac... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Pilate therefore heard that_ PILATE’S SECOND INTERVIEW WITH CHRIST I. THE STARTLED INQUIRY--on the part of Pilate (John 19:9). 1. Its occasion (1) Not the outcry of the Jews for Christ’s death. Pilate had already twice resisted that. (2) Not the reminder that he, a governor, ought to resp... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whence art Thou?_ But Jesus gave him no answer THE SILENCES OF CHRIST I. CHRIST PRESERVES SILENCE IS THE PRESENCE OF FALSE AND MALIGNANT ACCUSATIONS (Matthew 27:12). But why? Not simply because He was sublimely conscious of innocence, for there may come times when it is the duty of the innocent t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then said Pilate unto Him, Speakest Thou not unto me?_ PILATE’S RESPONSE I. WEAKNESS RAGING IN THE PRESENCE OF POWER. II. COWARDICE STORMING IN THE PRESENCE OF COURAGE. III. SIN WRITHING IN THE PRESENCE OF SANCTITY. IV. MAN BOASTING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD. (_S. S. Times_.) KNOWEST THOU NOT TH... [ Continue Reading ]
_From thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him_ PILATE’S LAST ATTEMPT TO RESCUE CHRIST I. DESPAIRING STRUGGLES BY A FEEBLE SOUL (John 19:12). 1. The earnestness of this attempt. Already he had endcavoured to rescue Christ (1) By refusing to proceed without an accusation (John 18:29). (2) By off... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Pilate therefore heard that_ THE DOWN GRADE Pilate’s time for playing with the situation is gone; now the situation plays with him. First he said, not asked, “What is truth?” Now his frightened heart, to which the emperor’s favour is the supreme law of life, says, “What is justice?” (_J. P.... [ Continue Reading ]
_It was the preparation of the passover._ --The name _Paraskeue? _was given to the day of the week, our Friday, the day before the Sabbath, and had absolutely nothing to do with any preparation for the passover. The Gospels show this beyond a doubt (Mark 15:42; Mt Luke 23:54). If any confirmation we... [ Continue Reading ]
_But they cried out … Crucify Him._ --As the “Crucify Him!” falls upon our ears, it is simply the cry of an excited mob, instigated by the chief priests and elders. It falls painfully upon our Christian, and even upon our civilized, ears. We do not like to see human nature wrought up to such a pitc... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified_ WHEN? I. NOT WHEN THE EVIDENCE AGAINST JESUS WAS CONCLUSIVE. Charges had been made, but nothing had been proved. Neither in their testimony, nor in the utterances of Jesus Himself, did Pilate find any ground for passing the death-sentence... [ Continue Reading ]
_And He bearing His cross went forth_ THE LONELY CROSS-BEARER I. BEARING THE CROSS FOR HIMSELF (Isaiah 63:3). 1. An aggravation of His misery. 2. An intensifying of their sin. 3. A heightening of His love. 4. An enlargement of their hope. II. BEARING THE CROSS FOR US. 1. As an expiation of o... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross_ THE SUPERSCRIPTION ON THE CROSS I. A GLORIOUS FACT UNCONSCIOUSLY PUBLISHED TO THE WORLD--the royalty of Jesus. This is one of the greatest truths of the Bible, although Pilate only meant it in scorn. How often the worst of men utter the highest tr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pilate answered, What I have written I have written_ THE INEFFACEABLE RECORD Men often speak wiser than they know. During Christ’s trial Pilate had made for himself a record of ineffaceable infamy. We, too, are making up a record irreversible, ineffaceable. I. WE ARE WRITING UPON THE TABLETS OF... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments_ ONE EVENT WITH MANY REVELATIONS I. The SPOLIATION OF DEATH. Christ is crucified. Death has completed its work. What had it done? 1. It had not destroyed His existence. He had gone in His full personality, and in the plenitude o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother_ MANIFOLD REVELATION OF LOVE We have here a revelation in love of I. MORAL HEROISM--the presence of the woman and John. Scarcely could they have placed themselves in a more perilous position. Love is the soul of courage. There is no power for magn... [ Continue Reading ]
_After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst_ A WORD FROM THE CROSS 1. Our Lord’s seven words from the cross, have in all ages been very dear to the Church. There is nothing strange in this. Had it been but some earthly mo... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar_ CHRIST DRINKING THE VINEGAR He wished to die sober, so He refused the wine, intended to deaden pain; but the vinegar was an insult. He took it, nevertheless. In some lives the saccharine seems to predominate. Life is sunshine on a bank of flowers. B... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Jews therefore because it was the preparation_ PROFANITY OF FANATICISM They must make ready for keeping holy the Sabbath while their hands are red with the murder of the Son of God. A stroke of that Jewish hypocrisy which strains at gnats and swallows camels similar to John 18:28. These men... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then came the soldiers and broke the legs--By no mode of judicial death has “man’s inhumanity to man” been more shown than by crucifixion._ It was a slow death by exhaustion and starvation. These processes were so slow, that when the crucified person was in ordinary health and vigour, invariably he... [ Continue Reading ]
_One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side_ THE PIERCING OF CHRIST’S SIDE I. IT WAS AN ACT OF INSULT AND INDIGNITY TO HIS PERSON. To this, indeed, He was no stranger. In the hall of Pilate, and on the cross He encountered indignities of the cruellest kind. But, beyond the moment of death,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true_ THE GOSPEL WITNESS I. THE SIGHT--the whole crucifixion, but especially what constituted its essence as an evangelical fact, viz., the issue of blood and water, an emphatic testimony to the Redeemer’s death. This is one of the most important... [ Continue Reading ]
_A bone of Him shall not be broken_ THE INVIOLATE BODY OF CHRIST Why not? 1. His enemies might tear His flesh, &c., take away His life, heap upon Him every dishonour, but they could not break a bone of the body of Jesus. An attempt was made. Pilate commanded the soldiers to break the legs of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall look on Him whom they have pierced_ LOOKING AT THE PIERCED ONE The text in relation I. TO THE JEWS. 1. In relation to the past. It was the fulfilment of prophecy. Zechariah Zechariah 12:10) had predicted what they would do. Christ honours Scripture even in His death, and makes even H... [ Continue Reading ]
_And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews_ A THREEFOLD POWER I. THE POWER OF WORLDLINESS. Both of these men had opportunities of being convinced of Christ’s Messiah-ship, and both were in sympathy with Him, yet neither made a public avowal o... [ Continue Reading ]
_There came also Nicodemus (Text and Joh_3:1; Joh_7:50-51)._ THE COURAGE-INSPIRING POWER OF THE CROSS Each of these passages contains a vivid picture, and together they unfold the progressive spiritual experience of the man portrayed. In the first the night silence is broken by the footsteps of on... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden_ THE SEPULCHRE IN THE GARDEN I. THE PLACE WHERE HE WAS CRUCIFIED. He has conferred honour upon every place where He has been. The place where He was born. There belonged no distinction to Bethlehem Ephratah before, she was little among th... [ Continue Reading ]