Matthew 27:27-30. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
These soldiers were men to whom the taking of human life was mere amusement, or, at best, a duty to be performed. If the ordinary Roman citizen found his greatest delight in the amphitheater, where men fiercely fought with each other, and shed each other's blood, or were devoured by wild beasts, you may imagine what Roman soldiery-the roughest part of the whole population-would be like; and now that One was given up into their hands, charged with making himself a king, you can conceive what a subject for jest it was to them, and how they determined to make all the mockery they could of this pretended king. They were not touched by the gentleness of his demeanor, nor by his sorrowful countenance; but they proceeded to pour all possible scorn and insult upon his devoted head. Surely, the world never saw a more marvelous scene than this,-the King of kings derided, and made nothing of,-treated as a mimic monarch by the very vilest and most brutal of men.
Matthew 27:31. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
Their action, in restoring to him his own seamless robe, was overruled by God,-whatever their motive may have been,-so that nobody might say that some other person had been substituted for the Saviour. He went forth wearing that well-known garment, which was woven from the top throughout, which he had always worn; and all who looked upon him said, It is he,-the Nazarene. We know his face, his dress, his person.» There was no possibility of mistaking him for anybody else.
Matthew 27:32. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
It was too heavy for him to carry alone, so they bade Simon help him; and, truly, I think that Simon was thereby highly honoured. If this was Simon, who is called Niger, then there may be some truth in the common belief that he was a black man; and, assuredly, the coloured race has long had to carry a very heavy cross, yet there may be a great destiny before it. All Christ's followers are called to be cross-bearers.
«Shall Simon bear the cross alone,
And all the rest go free?
No; there's a cross for every one,
And there's a cross for me.»
If we belong to Christ, we must be as willing to take up his cross as he was to carry ours, and die upon it.
Matthew 27:33-34. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
It was not because of its bitterness that our Lord refused it, for he did not decline to endure anything that would add to his grief; but this was a stupefying draught, a death potion, which was given to those who were executed, in order somewhat to mitigate their pains; but the Saviour did not intend that his senses should be beclouded by any such draught as that, so, «when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.»
Matthew 27:35. And they crucified him,--
A short sentence, but what an awful depth of meaning there is in it! «They crucified him,»-driving their iron bolts through his hands and feet, and lifting him up to hang there upon the gibbet which was reserved for felons and for slaves: «They crucified him,»-
Matthew 27:35. And parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
It was the executioners perquisite to have the garments of the man they put to death; so, in order that no single portion of the shame of the cross might be spared to the Saviour, these soldiers divided his garments amongst them, and raffled for his seamless robe. It must have taken a hard heart to gamble at the foot of the cross; but I suppose that, of all sins under heaven, there is none that does so harden the heart as gambling. Beware of it!
Matthew 27:36. And sitting down they watched him there;
Some to gloat, in their fiendish malice, over his sufferings; others, to make sure that he did really die; and, possibly, some few to pity him in his agony:
«Sitting down they watched him there.»
Matthew 27:37-44. And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
So that, as he looked all around, he met with nothing but ribaldry, and jest, and scorn. His disciples had all forsaken him. One or two of them afterwards rallied a little, and came and stood by the cross; but, just then, he looked, and there was none to pity, and none to help him, even as it had been foretold.
Matthew 27:45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
From twelve o'clock at noon, according to the Roman and Jewish time, till three in the afternoon, there was a thick darkness,-whether over all the world, or only over the land of Palestine, we cannot very well say. It was not an eclipse of the sun, it was a miracle specially wrought by God. Some have supposed that dense clouds came rolling up obscuring everything; but, whatever it was, deep darkness came over all the land. Dore' has, in his wonderful imagination, given us a sketch of Jerusalem during that darkness. The inhabitants are all trembling at what they had done; and as Judas goes down the street, they point at him as the man who sold his Master, and brought all this evil upon the city. I should think that such darkness at mid-day must have made them fear that the last day had come, or that some great judgment would overtake them for their wicked slaughter of the innocent Jesus of Nazareth. Even the sun could no longer look upon its Maker surrounded by those who mocked him, so it traveled on in tenfold night, as if in very shame that the great Sun of righteousness should himself be in such awful darkness.
Matthew 27:46-48. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
For he had also said, «I thirst,» which John records, specially mentioning that he said this, «that the Scripture might be fulfilled.»
Matthew 27:49-51. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
That rending of the great veil of the temple was intended to symbolize the end of Judaism; the horror of the sanctuary that its Lord was put to death; the opening of the mysteries of heaven; the clearing of the way of access between man and God.
Matthew 27:51. And the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
Well says our poet,--« Of feeling, all things show some sign But this unfeeling heart of mine.»
Matthew 27:52-54. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.