They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith (Psalms 22:18 ), They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. That a prediction so exceedingly specific-distinguishing one piece of dress from others, and announcing that while those should be parted among several, that should be given by lot to one person-that such a prediction should not only be fulfilled to the letter, but by a party of pagan military, without interference from either the friends or the enemies of the Crucified One, is surely eminently worthy to be ranked among the wonders of this all-wonderful scene. Now come the mockeries, which are passed by in silence by our Evangelist, as sufficiently recorded in the first three Gospels. These mockeries came from four distinct quarters.
JESUS IS MOCKED, FIRST, BY THE PASSERS-BY
For this particular we are indebted to the first two Gospels.
Matthew 27:39-40; Mark 15:29-30: "And they that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads" - in ridicule: see Psalms 22:7; Psalms 109:25; and compare Job 16:4; Isaiah 37:22; Jeremiah 18:16; Lamentations 2:15 - "and saying," "Ah!" х Oua (G3758)] an exclamation here of derision. "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself" - "and come down from the cross." If one wonders that in seeking for evidence against our Lord at His trial, His enemies should be obliged to fall back upon a few words uttered by Him at the very outset of his ministry, and after having to distort even these, in order to give them even the appearance of indictable matter, that the charge should break down so completely that the high priest felt he had no pretext for condemning Him unless He could draw something worthy of death from Himself on the spot; much more may one wonder that the same distorted words which had failed at the most solemn moment should now be brought up afresh and east in the teeth of the blessed One, as He hung upon the cross, even by the passers-by. (See the notes at Mark 14:58; Mark 14:58.) One thing it would seem to show, that the prosecutors in this case had had to send here and there for witnesses against our Lord, and collect from all quarters whatever might seem to tell against Him; that in this way the more it came to be seen that the materials were few and trivial, the more stress would need to be laid upon the little they had to rest on; that thus it had come to be understood that if all failed, this speech at least would suffice to condemn Him; and as the ecclesiastical prosecutors were not likely to proclaim how signally they had failed in making out this charge, and too little time had elapsed between the Trial and the Execution for the proceedings of the Sanhedrim to get abroad, these "passers-by" had cast the saying in our Lord's teeth in their reckless simplicity, taking it for granted that He was now suffering for that speech as for other misdeeds. And yet that memorable speech in its true sense was now receiving the first part of its fulfillment - "Destroy ye this Temple;" as in His resurrection it was speedily to be fulfilled in the second part of it - "In three days I will raise it up." See John 2:22.
JESUS IS MOCKED, SECONDLY, BY THE RULERS
We have this in the first three Gospels, but most fully-as might be expected-in the first, the peculiarly Jewish We have this in the first three Gospels, but most fully-as might be expected-in the first, the peculiarly Jewish Gospel.
Matthew 27:41-43; Mark 15:31-32; Luke 23:35: "Likewise also the chief priests, mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save." In this, as in other taunts (such as Luke 15:2), there was a deep truth. Both things He could not do; for He had come to give His life a ransom for many. No doubt this added a sting to the reproach, unknown at that moment except to Himself. But the taunt of the rulers ends not here. "If He be the King of Israel (they add), let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him." No, they would not; for those who resisted the evidence from the resurrection of Lazarus, and afterward resisted the evidence of His own resurrection, were beyond the reach of any amount of merely external evidence. But they go on to say, "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him х ei (G1487) thelei (G2309) auton (G846)], answering to "seeing He delighted in Him" х chaapeets (H2654) bow (H871a); hoti (G3754) thelei (G2309) auton (G846)]. These are the words of the Messianic Psalm, Psalms 22:8. The last words of their taunt are, "for He said, I am the Son of God." We thank you, O ye chief priests, scribes, and elders, for this triple testimony, unconsciously borne by you, to our Christ: first to His habitual trust in God, as a feature in His character so marked and palpable that even ye found upon it your impotent taunt; next, to His identity with the Sufferer of Psalms 22:1-31, whose very words ye unwittingly appropriate, thus serving yourselves heirs to the dark office and impotent malignity of Messiah's enemies; and again, to the true sense of that august title which He took to Himself, "THE SON OF GOD," which ye rightly interpreted at the very first (see the note at John 5:18), as a claim to that oneness of nature with Him, and dearness to Him, which a son has to his father.
JESUS IS MOCKED, THIRDLY, BY THE SOLDIERS
We have this in the third Gospel only.
Luke 23:36-37: "And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him, and offering Him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself." They insultingly offer to share with Him their own vinegar, or sour wine, the usual drink of Roman soldiers, it being about the time of their mid-day meal. In the taunt of the soldiers we have one of those casual touches which so strikingly verify these historical records. While the ecclesiastics deride Him for calling Himself "the Christ, the King of Israel, the Chosen, the Son of God," the soldiers, to whom all such phraseology was mere Jewish jargon, make sport of Him as a pretender to royalty - "KING of the Jews" - an office and dignity which they would think it belonged to them to comprehend.
JESUS MOCKED, FOURTHLY, BY ONE OF HIS FELLOW-SUFFERERS-ADDRESSES TO THE OTHER, IN ANSWER TO HIS PENITENT, BELIEVING APPEAL, THE SECOND OF HIS SEVEN SAYINGS ON THE CROSS
This is the only one of the four cases of mockery which is recorded by all the first three Evangelists; but the inestimable details are given only by Luke.
Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:32; Luke 23:39-43: "The thieves also, which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His teeth." So also Mark. But from Luke-the precision and fullness of whose narrative must rule the sense of the few brief words of the other two-we learn that the taunt came only from one of the thieves, whom the other in a wonderful style rebuked: "And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him" - this is His
Second Saying:
"VERILY I SAY UNTO THEE, TODAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME IN PARADISE."
For the exposition of this grand episode, see the notes at Luke 23:39-43, pages 337-339.
But we are new at length brought back to our Fourth Gospel.