JESUS CHRIST

them — ^they were forbidden by Jesus to resist when He was arrested (Mt 2652), and no witnesses were allowed to come forward in His defence at the trial. The beloved disciple, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and two other women, was present at the crucifixion (Jn ig^s).

(3) The bearing of Jems. — The words of Jesus during the last day were few. For the most part He listened to the accusations, and bore the indignities, in silence. The oldest report, while making Him testify that He suffered and died as the Messiah, represents Him as deliberately refusing to answer the false witnesses, or to plead before Klate. The other accounts relate that He condescended, as is probable enough, to point out the iniquity of the procedure (Mt 26«, Jn IS^i), and to explain to Pilate the true nature of His claim (Jn 18*«). The decision in Gethsemane gave Him the insight and the resolution that bore Him unshaken through the ordeal of the trials. He expressed the assurance that, had He asked, the Father would have deUvered Him by His angels (Mt 26"); but He knew the Father's will, to which He had bowed, to be that, according to the Scriptures (v."). He should be led as a lamb to the slaughter. What He felt towards His enemies can only be gathered from His silence — which may have had in it an element of holy scorn, but certainly also involved compassion tor the bUnded men who were now fixedly committed to their murderous purpose. Whether actually heard by witnesses or not, the first word on the cross (Lk 233*) assuredly expresses an authentic thought of Him who had taught, ' Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you' (Mt 5"). Only less striking is the self-forgetting sympathy that came to expression in the journey of Jesus to the cross, when the women bewailed and lamented Him: ' Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children' (Lk 23^).

(4) The CTudflxion. — The scene of the execution was Golgotha (Mk IS^^), possibly so named from the skull- like contour of the eminence. Crucifixion was a form of death by torture which was reserved by the Romans for slaves and rebels, and that combined the height of Ignominy with the extremity of suffering. 'Terrible were the sufferings caused by the piercing of the hands and the feet in the most sensitive parts, the extension of the limbs with their burning wounds, the impeding of the circulation of the blood, the growing oppression and exhaustion, the increasing thirst under the long-drawn mortal agonies' (Weiss, ii. 536). The indignity of such a death was heightened by the spectacle of the soldiers casting lots for His garments (Mk 152<), and by the taunts of His fellow-sufferers, of the multitude, and of the priests (vv.2»-32). The narcotic draught which was usually offered to the victim, was refused by Jesus (v."). For six hours, according to w.^s- ", His torments endured; and late in the afternoon, with a loud cry, He expired (v."). The accompanying signs, according to Mk., were a darkness lasting for three hours (v.^^), and the rending of the veil of the Temple (v."), to which Mt. adds the portent — ' many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised* (27''2). Both, along with Lk. (23"), record a confession of faith by the Roman centurion. Jn. relates, with a solemn aflBrmation of the authority of an eye-witness, that a soldier 'pierced his side with a spear, and straightway there came out blood and water' (19*).

The Seven Words on the cross are commonly supposed to have been spoken in the following order: —

(1) ■ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' (Lk 23'**) — assigned to the time when He was being nailed to the cross.

(2) 'To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise* (v.^^) — spoken to the penitent robber.

(3) 'Woman, behold thy son'; 'Behold thy mother* (Jn 19"- ") — spoken to Mary, and to the beloved disciple.

(4) 'Ithirat' (v.!»).

(5) 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mk 15«, Mt 27?»).

JESUS CHRIST

(6) 'It is finished' (Jn 19'°).

(7) 'Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit* (Lk 23").

The 'words' are not all equally certain. On textual grounds (1) is placed by WH in double brackets, and is regarded by Weiss as unquestionably a second-century gloss. The incident of the penitent robber was unknown to the oldest tradition. Evidently there was also un-certainty as to the last utterance of Jesus. That reported by Mk.-Mt. is certainly authentic; none could have invented a saying which ascribed to Jesus a sense of desertion by the Father in the hour of death. On the other hand, the character of Jesus requires us to beUeve that upon the agony there supervened the filial trust and resignation which find expression in the Lukan and Johannine words.

(5) The burial. — There were friends of Jesus who, though powerless to resist the general will, were at least able to secure the seemly burial of the body. With Pilate's permission, Joseph of Arimathaea, with whom Nicodemus is associated (Jn ig^'), had the corpse re-moved from the cross, wrapped in a linen cloth, and laid in a rock-hewn tomb — the entrance to which was closed by a great stone (Mk 15'^\\). Mt. adds that, at the request of the Jewish authorities, the stone was sealed, and a guard set over the tomb (27«2-").

16. The Resurrection. — Nothing in history is more certain than that the disciples of Jesus believed that, after being crucified, dead and buried. He rose again from the dead on the third day, and that at intervals thereafter He met and conversed with them in different places. The proof that they beUeved this is the existence of the Christian Church. It is simply inconceivable that the scattered and disheartened remnant could have found a rallying-point and a gospel in the memory of one who had been put to death as a criminal, if they had not believed that God had owned Him and accredited His mission in raising Him up from the dead. There are many difiiculties connected with the subject, and the narratives, which are disappointingly meagre, also contain irreconcilable discrepancies; but those who approach it under the impression of the uniqueness of Christ's Person and of His claim on God, find the historical testimony sufficient to guarantee the credibility of the central fact.

(1) The rising on the third day. — There is a consensus of testimony in the Gospels to the following facts — that on the morning of the first day of the week certain women went to the sepulchre, that they found the stone rolled away and the grave empty, that they were in-formed by an angel that Jesus was risen, and that they were bidden to convey the news to the other disciples. Whether the discovery was first made by Mary Magdalene alone (Jn 20'), or in company with other women (Mk 16') ; whether there was one angel (Mt 28^), or two (Jn 20"); whether fear or joy preponderated (Mk 16', Mt 28'), were points on which the report varied. A more serious discrepancy is that, according to the oldest source, the message to the disciples was that they would meet the risen Lord in GaUlee (Mk 16', Mt 28') ; while as a fact all the Gospels, except the mutilated Mk., proceed to narrate appearances in Jerusalem, and Lk. knows of no other. It cannot, however, be said that the incon-sistency is insuperable, as Mt. has consciously combined the GaUlsan promise with a reference to a preliminary appearance in Jerusalem (Mt 28'-'°).

(2) The places and number of the appearances. — Subject to the possibility of confusion arising from the slightness of the allusions, the Biblical list is as follows: —

( 1) To certain women as they returned from the sepulchre (Mt 288-1").

(2) To Mary Magdalene on the same day (Jn 20"-'8).

(3) To Peter, on the day of the Resurrection, in Jerusalem (Lk24«, IColSs).

(4) To two disciples on the same day on the way to Emmaus (Lk 24»-»; of. Mk le"- ").

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