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THE MOCKING OF CHRIST UPON THE CROSS
SOME, from idle curiosity, are fond of attending upon public executions; whilst others, from a commendable sensibility, could not prevail upon themselves to be present at such a scene. But there is no room for the one or other of these feelings, in the scene now presented to our view. Our corporeal senses can neither be gratified nor shocked: it is by faith only that we can realize the transactions of this day: but if we have faith, we shall “look on Him whom we have pierced, and mourn, and be in bitterness, as for a first-born son.” In general, the behaviour of the condemned person is the chief object of contemplation; that of the spectators is never so much as thought of: it is taken for granted, that that will be decorous, and suited to the solemn occasion. But, in the present instance, we wish particularly to notice the conduct of those who attended the crucifixion of our Lord: and we shall find that their treatment of him is replete with instruction in a variety of views:
I. As an exhibition of man’s depravity—
[Much of the wickedness of man appears in the arrest, the prosecution, and the condemnation of our Lord: but in no part of his history do we behold such a mass of impiety as in that before us. For all that preceded his crucifixion, there was a reason: it was deemed necessary for the safety of the state that he should be put to death: and, till they had accomplished that object, we do not wonder at any thing they did to attain it. But, when they had attained it, and there was no further occasion for their hostilities, we are surprised beyond measure that there was no relaxation of their resentment. On all other occasions, the execution of criminals, however deservedly they suffer, calls forth a measure of compassion: but towards him the fury of all ranks of men raged with unabated force; and, like dogs, they seemed eager to devour the prey which they had already seized.
Had this ferocity been confined to soldiers, we might have supposed that it arose from their education and habits. But “the Chief Priests, with the Scribes and Elders, and even the Rulers,” all concurred in devouring the Lamb of God! They altogether forgot the demeanour which befitted their rank and office; yea, they lost sight of all the feelings of humanity; and encouraged by their example those atrocities, which policy, no less than humanity, should have led them to prevent. Even the malefactors caught the infernal flame; and, unmindful of their own agonies, or shame, or approaching dissolution, united in vilifying the Son of God: accounting themselves so much his superiors, that they might justly make him an object of derision and contempt.
Whatever had been a ground of accusation against him, they now made a subject of profane ridicule. Three years before, he had, in reference to his own body, said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” This had been alleged against him, though not substantiated, as an evidence of his hostility to the temple: and now they cast it in his teeth, challenging him, if he were able, to do a much smaller thing, namely, to come down from the cross. His relation to God as his Son, and his power over Israel as their King, he was also called upon to prove, by descending from the cross: and even his affiance in God was deemed so absurd, that God himself was challenged by them to his assistance. All this too was attended with such outward expressions of triumph as corresponded with the malignant feelings of their hearts. But who would have conceived that even his most benevolent miracles should now be made a matter of reproach against him? Yet were even these brought forward, to give the keener edge to their blasphemies: “He saved others; himself he cannot save.”
Now view this whole mass of savage cruelty, of base ingratitude, and of horrid impiety; view it as the offspring, not of one superlatively wicked individual, or of any particular class, but of a whole nation; and then you will be constrained to say, “Lord, what is man? Lord, what is man?”]
The conduct of the Jews on this occasion is instructive also,
II. As a trial of Christ’s perfection—
[The sacrifices under the law being required to be without spot or blemish, they were examined with the greatest care, that their fitness to be offered might be clearly ascertained. Now as Jesus was to be a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, it pleased God, that, previous to his being offered, he should undergo the strictest examination. Accordingly the severest scrutiny was instituted, and the result of every fresh examination was a stronger attestation of his innocence. But here we see him put into the hottest furnace, which must infallibly discover the alloy or dross, if any such were found in him. The most eminent of mankind had been subjected to far less trials, and had discovered that they were but men, weak, sinful, and corrupt. Moses had “spoken unadvisedly with his lips;” Job had “cursed the day of his nativity;” and Paul had “reviled the Ruler of God’s people.” But in Jesus there was not the smallest error or imperfection. Such was his patience, that “when he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.” He complains indeed by the prophet, “Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness;” yet, as another prophet testifies, “He was altogether like a lamb led to the slaughter, and, like a sheep before her shearers, dumb.” Such was his forbearance too, that when he might justly have called fire from heaven to consume his enemies, as Elijah did, or caused the earth to open and swallow them up, as it did those who had rebelled against his servant Moses, he would not do it. Nor, on the other hand, would he, as well he might have done, accept their challenge, and prove his almighty power by descending from the cross. He knew that this would not convince them, even if he should do it: he intended also shortly to give them an infinitely stronger evidence of his Messiahship, (even that which he had so often promised them,) by rising from the dead; and he was determined that nothing should divert him from the work which he had undertaken to perform. He might well have said, “Seeing ye put me from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,” I relinquish my work, and leave you to the judgments which you have so richly merited [Note: Act_13:46.]. But he would not save himself, because he was bent on saving us; and “for the joy that was set before him,” of delivering a ruined world, “he endured the cross, and despised the shame,” till he could say, respecting the whole of his work, “It is finished.”
Here then we have ample proof of his sinless character, and that he truly was, what it behoved him to be, “a Lamb without blemish and without spot.”]
There yet remains one other view in which their treatment of him is instructive; namely,
III. As a proof of his Messiahship—
[The circumstance of his being crucified between two malefactors is declared by the Evangelist to have been an accomplishment of that prophecy, “He was numbered with the transgressors.” But it was not only in what they did, that his enemies fulfilled the Scriptures; they fulfilled them equally in what they said; insomuch that, if they had been ever so desirous to conform to the prophetic writings, they could not possibly have fulfilled them more accurately or more minutely. David, personating the Messiah, tells us how his enemies “wagged their heads” at him; and then specified the very words which the chief priests and elders used on this occasion [Note: Psa_22:6-8.]. Now, if we consider how exactly this prophecy was fulfilled, and that there were a thousand years between the prophecy and its completion, we shall see that the most casual circumstances of our Lord’s humiliation, no less than those which were more plainly determined, attest, beyond a doubt, the truth of his Messiahship.
Let it not be thought, that the notice of these things is a needless repetition. It is by an appeal to prophecy that the Apostles prove the divine mission of their Lord; and therefore, the more fully we mark the accomplishment of Scripture in him, the more abundantly shall we be confirmed in the faith of the Gospel.]
Let us then learn from hence,
1. To believe in his name—
[It is not a mere assent to the history of the Gospel that we mean to recommend, but a belief in Jesus as the Saviour of the world. Many consider his death as nothing more than a confirmation of his doctrine; but if he died only to confirm his doctrine, his descent from the cross would have been a stronger confirmation of it than his death. It was as an atoning sacrifice that he died; and therefore his death was indispensable for the completion of his mediatorial work: and it is in this view that we call upon you to believe in him. Consider all this contempt and ignominy as endured for you, as “the chastisement of your peace,” and as the appointed means of rescuing you from “everlasting shame and contempt” — — —]
2. To follow his steps—
[Our Lord has taught us to expect the same treatment which he himself received. Indeed, it is reasonable to suppose, that “if they called the Master of the house Beelzebub, much more will they those of his household.” How then on such occasions should we behave? We answer, That he has purposely “set us an example, in order that we should follow his steps [Note: 1Pe_2:21-23.];” and that therefore, whatever we may be called to endure, we should “possess our souls in patience [Note: Luk_21:19. Jam_1:4.],” “not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing [Note: 1Pe_3:9.].” This is the express command of our adorable Saviour [Note: Mat_5:44.]: and the nearer we can resemble him, the more will he be glorified in us. I know that we are apt to plead our weakness and irritability as an excuse for our impatience: but this is no excuse: it only shews how unlike we are to our blessed Lord, and how much we need both his mercy and grace. Paul was a man of like passions with us; and he tells us how he demeaned himself on such occasions; “being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat [Note: 1Co_4:10-13.].” Let us remember then, that “the grace of Christ is equally sufficient for us;” that “through his strength we can do all things;” and that the greatest “ornament we can have on earth, is that of a meek and quiet spirit [Note: 1Pe_3:4.].”]