Pleading With the Indifferent
(No. 3360)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1913.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Behold, and see if there
is any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord has afflicted me in the day ofHis fierce anger." Lamentations
1:12.
THIS was the lamentation of Jeremiah. As he saw the desolation of the
beloved city, as he marked the cruelties inflicted by the invaders upon
the Jewish youth, children and maidens, and as he foresaw the long
years of bitterness reserved for the captives in Babylon, he felt as if
he were a peer in the realm of misery–indeed peerless. He stands
foremost, a very emperor of grief, a king of sighs and tears. "Behold,
and see," he said, "if there was ever sorrow like unto my sorrow, which
is done unto me."
But may there not have been griefs as great as those of Jeremiah? Is
the language that flows from his lips strictly accurate? Like most of
the periods which flow from abundant grief, is there not some
exaggeration here? If we take the words out of the mouth of Jeremiah
and put them into the mouth of Jesus–if we suppose them to be spoken
by Him, as, hanging on the Cross He did bear the wrath of God for us,
then there is no hyperbole, no exaggeration! The words may be read as
they stand–and stand as we read them–and their fullest weight shall
not outweigh the truth!
This evening two things challenge our attention–an earnest
expostulation–"Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by?" And a
solemn question–"Behold, and see, was there ever sorrow like unto my
sorrow, which is done unto me?" First–
I. AN EARNEST EXPOSTULATION.
The Son of God has become Incarnate. He became Man out of love to men.
But men loved Him not and though in Him was every perfection, they
hunted and hounded Him to death! The story is told four times over by
Inspired authority in this Book, but the mass of mankind feel no
concern in it. I come here tonight and I say to many of you–does not
the story of Jesus at all interest you? You heard it read just now, did
it fall flat and stale upon your ears? Did you say to yourselves, "It
is dry work to listen to that. There is nothing there to strike the
attention. If I had taken up a newspaper and had read of some murder,
my wits would have been all awakened, but in the hearing of this death
of Christ, I feel not at all stirred." Well, then, I ask you–Why is
this? Why is it so? If there is anything in all the world that ought to
interest a man, it is the death of Christ! Yet I find men, learned men,
spending year after year in sorting out butterflies, beetles and gnats,
or in making out the various orders of shells, or in digging into the
earth and seeking to discover what strange creatures once floundered
through the boundless mire, or swam in the vast seas! I find men
occupied with things of no sort of practical moment and which, to me,
do not seem so wonderfully enchanting. Yet the story of God, Himself,
who deigned to become a man and as a Man suffered, and bled, and died,
is thought to be too small a trifle for minds to dwell upon it. O
reason! Where have you gone? O judgment! Where have you fled? Men spend
their strength on trifles, but on God Incarnate they turn their backs!
It is strange that even the sufferings of Christ do not attract the
attention of men, for generally if we hear any sad story of the
misfortunes of our fellow creatures, we are interested. The newspaper
is accounted more than usually interesting which contains full
particulars of shipwrecks, the blowing down of houses, murders,
shootings, killings and I do not know what! Everybody has felt he could
read such a paper as that because it concerned his fellow men–what
they had lost and what they had suffered. Everyone stops to hear the
tale of the ancient mariner! Even the wedding guest is held while he,
with the earnest eyes, tells how he suffered on the wide, deep,
stagnant sea. And yet this story of a Man who came to our earth with no
motive but love, and lived here to do nothing but good, and yet was so
despised and rejected as
to be nailed to a cross, and there made to die in the midst of jeers,
sneers, pains and unknown agonies–this does not interest men! I
marvel, and yet I marvel not at the strange indifference of this age to
the wonders of Calvary! How is it Earth does not stretch out her hands
and say, "Come and tell us of the God that loved us and came down to
our low estate–and suffered for us men and for our salvation"? How is
it that the crowds of this great city do not come and besiege our
houses and say, "Tell us yet again this strange, mysterious story of
the sufferings of the perfect Son of God"? It ought to interest us, if
nothing more! Is it nothing to you, however? Is it nothing to you, all
you that pass by?
It ought to be more than interesting–it ought to excite our
admiration. You cannot read of a man sacrificing himself for the good
of his fellow creatures without feeling at once that you wish you had
known that fine fellow! And you feel instinctively that you would do
anything in the world to serve him if he still lives, or to help
relatives left behind if he has died in a brave attempt. Who does not
esteem, though you never knew him, the good man at Bethnal Green who
perished but lately in the explosion at the firework factory? He rushes
in to seek to rescue others and is found, at last, a handful of ashes
bewailed by a weeping wife! One felt at once, "There was a man who had
a soul beating beneath his ribs." But is no admiration to be given to
the Son of God who left a Throne of Glory without bound and came here
below to poverty, to shame, to a life of contempt and toil–and then
voluntarily gave Himself up to a death which never could have been
inflicted upon Him if He had not given Himself up to die? Jesus Christ
had no motive in suffering but the good of men! Nothing selfish ever
crossed His soul. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, it was pity that ruled His
heart–pity, and only pity–and while we set up our statues in
reverence of men who have loved their fellow men and speak of
such-and-such a man as "a great philanthropist," is it nothing to you
that Jesus should die for men and shall this greatest of all
philanthropists, this first and chief of lovers of the race of men, be
altogether forgotten? I would admire Him even if He had not saved me!
If I had no share in His blood, I think I would love Him. The life of
Christ enchants me! The death of Christ binds me to His Cross! Even if
I were never washed in His blood and were even cast away into Hell, if
that were possible, I still feel I must admire Him for His love to
others! Yes, and I must adore Him, too, for His godlike Character and
His godlike sufferings for the sons of men! But why, why is it that
such a Christ, so lovely and so admirable, is forgotten by the most of
mankind and is nothing to them?
Now, my dear Hearers, there are some of you to whom I might put this
question very closely. You have heard about Jesus very often. This
pulpit is always ringing with His name. And you have admired what Jesus
did. I know you have and if any spoke ill of Him, you would be very
grieved–and you would be among the first to defend His name! And yet–
and yet–is that all? Are you always going to be interested and to
admire, but are you never going further? Is it, after all, to come to
this, that it is nothing to you that Jesus should die? You have no
interest in that death, no part, no lot in the salvation which that
death brings to the sons of men! I am afraid that with some of you it
will be so all your days. Fifteen years have I preached to some of
you–15 years! And if those 15 years have not brought you to Christ, is
there any reason to believe that 15 more years will do it? No, I fear
that with some of you the harvest is past and the summer is ended–and
you are not saved. There was a time when this voice did seem to cut
into your soul and the Truths of God that were uttered awakened your
conscience! But it is all nothing to you now. You could go to sleep
under the sound of it and your soul does sleep under the sense of it!
What? Will you be lost? Have you resolved to be lost with a Savior
lifted up before you? Have you determined that you will never look to
Him who is lifted up to save you from the serpent's bite? Shall Christ,
the Water of Life, never be tasted by your lips? Do you elect to perish
of thirst? Shall this Bread of Life be never eaten? Do you choose
rather to starve than to come to Him? No, you tell me you hope one of
these days. Ah, but I have no hope of you for any day but today! And I
wish you, too, knew that procrastination is of all things fatal. I
would sooner that you resolved to be damned than that you only said,
"Tomorrow, tomorrow." For if today you resolved upon your ruin, you
might be startled at the resolution–and you might be led to see your
folly and awakened to amend your steps! But if you always say,
"Tomorrow, tomorrow," it will be the will-o'-the-wisp that will tempt
you into the fatal morass where souls have been lost by tens of
thousands–as yours will be!
Oh, why should I have to be always coming down these steps and into
this pulpit, to say over and over and over again to you that Jesus
died–and that if you trust Him you shall live? Why should it need to
be repeated over and over? Great God of patience, such a story as this
ought to be accepted of the heart at once! If You bear with men who
reject it, we may well bear with them, too, but, oh, we pray You let
them not go too far with Your long-suffering, nor venture too much
upon Your patience, lest You lift Your hand and swear in Your wrath
that they shall not enter into Your rest because they had the Gospel,
but they counted not themselves to be worthy of it!
One thing I would say to you, to all of you to whom it seems as yet to
be nothing that Jesus should die–that personally to me it is something
that He should die. It is more than something–it is everything–and I
will tell you why. It is much to me that Jesus died, for I know I slew
Him. I sang those verses just now and I sang them with some bitterness
of soul, I was forced to feel–
"'Tis I have thus ungrateful been."
If it were not that I had sinned, as one of the race, there had been no
need for Christ to die. But as it was sin that pierced and nailed Him,
I had a share in His death. But then I know another thing–that by that
death I am delivered from the very guilt that put Him to death! I have
looked to Him and I am forgiven. Fleming tells us in a book of his,
that a great culprit had been condemned to be hanged at Ayr. He had
been a very great offender, but while he lay in prison, God granted him
repentance and he was heard to say continually as they took him to the
scaffold, "Oh, but He's a great for-giver! Oh, but He's a great
forgiver!" And I have often felt as if I could stand and cry, yes, even
dance and say it, "Oh, but He's a great forgiver! Oh, but He's a great
forgiver!" My innumerable sins confessed to Him were blotted out, each
one, and peace and joy bestowed where all before was fear and
trembling! Now, there are hundreds in this house that could say the
same. If I were to ask it, and this were the proper time, there are
thousands within this dome who could rise and say, "I, too, can say
that it is much to me that Jesus died, for though I slew Him, yet by
His death I live, and by the blood which I drew from His veins I have
been washed and made white." Now, if it is so much to us, we do
sincerely wish, oh, unconverted ones, that Christ were as much to you,
for we do think He ought to be! We desire that He should be! We pray
that He may be and we tremble, even to horror, lest, after all, He
should not be, for if Christ is nothing to you, it will be a hard dying
for you, a hard dying–the bed shall be of iron and the pillow shall be
cold as ice–and it will be hard passing into a disembodied state! It
will be hard coming before God. It will be hard for when your body
rises in the day of the Resurrection, when the trumpet sounds, and the
sepulchers are burst open, and your body, linked to your soul again,
shall stand before the flaming Throne of Christ! It will be hard for
you–oh, so hard–throughout eternity! An eternity without Christ! An
eternity without Christ! "Nothing to you, nothing to you," you say now,
but how will it be when conscience shall remind you in eternity, "you
heard of Christ, but you said He was nothing to you! You listened to
earnest admonitions, but you said they were nothing to you." How will
this stir the fire? How will this fan the flame? How will this prick
your conscience and vex your spirit, that Jesus died, and inestimable
mercies dropped from the Cross–pardons sealed with blood were
distributed freely upon Calvary and broken hearts were healed–and sins
were forgiven and the dead were raised and the lost were saved? But it
was all nothing to you, nothing to you! Oh, before death comes–and he
is on his way to some here present–on his way to meet them soon!
Before death comes on the pale horse with Hell following at his heels,
I beseech you, as you love your souls, look to the Crucified and be not
satisfied till you can say, "He is everything to me! I slew Him, but He
saved me! I looked to Him and I live!"
May God bless this admonition and my heart shall be glad, indeed, if He
will but do it. Oh, how little can I do for you, you unconverted ones,
how little can I do for you! When I sometimes get a handshake from some
of you, and you say, "Well, I have been hearing you for years, Sir, but
I am not converted," I look hopefully upon you, but I cannot help, when
I get away, reproaching myself in part and saying, "Have I preached to
these people as I ought to?" You make me wake up at night to weep about
you and to ask myself again and again, "What more can I say? How shall
I put it? With what force and power can I deliver it, if perhaps I may
reach their hearts?" Oh, I trust you may yet be brought–and God shall
be praised and glorified world without end! Now, let us change to a
second point–
II. A SOLEMN QUESTION.
The Lord Jesus Christ may be represented here as bidding men see if
there is any sorrow like unto His sorrow which is done to Him. Now,
observe, that it may be truthfully said that the sufferings of Jesus
were altogether unique and by themselves. There were never any
sufferings which could match His–and never was there such an
illustrious sufferer put to such boundless shame. He was the eye of
Heaven, the very sun and star of the bright world! It was the seraph's
bliss to do Him homage. King of kings and Lord of lords was He, and the
government was upon His shoulders! And His name was called Wonderful,
The Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace! All the hallelujahs of eternity rolled up at His august feet!
But He was despised and rejected of men, a Man of Sorrows and
acquainted with grief! And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He
was despised and we esteemed Him not. They spat into His face. They
plucked off His hair. They blindfolded Him. They struck Him with their
fists. They scourged Him. The bloody scourges made the sacred drops
roll. They gave Him a felon's death and then stood by and mocked His
prayers and made jests about His groans and pangs! Never was One so
high brought so low. "Behold and see if there were ever sorrow like
unto My sorrow, which is done unto Me." Never One so innocent, so
falsely accused. He had done no evil. He was no rival of Caesar. He
said His Kingdom was not of this world. Instead of doing evil, He had
done boundless good. His food and His drink were to do God's will. His
delight was to help the poor, to feed the hungry, to heal the sick. He
was all gentleness, all goodness. From both His hands He scattered His
bounties lavishly among the graceless sons of men–and yet they said He
was guilty of sedition and of blasphemy! He, seditious? He a
blasphemer? Lying could go no farther! Bribed witnesses could not be
made to agree! The lie was too massive even for those to compass who
were willing to have compassed it! Oh, was ever grief like His–to be
treated as a felon and put to death as though guilty–when all the
while He did no sin, neither was deceit found on His lips!
Remember, Beloved, that in our Savior's death there were aggravations
of an extraordinary kind. Before He actually came to die, that dreadful
night in Gethsemane had broken His already emaciated frame. There He
sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. In two
or three cases, other persons have sweat drops of blood, but they have
invariably died. Our Savior did this and yet lived. Oh, how was the
bitterness of His soul expressed in that awful overflow which fell upon
Gethsemane's soil! Then, remember, He was led, deserted by His friends,
without any comfort from His God, to be tried by Herod, by Pilate, by
Caiaphas–to be scourged, beaten, probably several times with rods and
scourges. God forsook Him–"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
was the very depth of His agony and without one to pity, one to
administer comfort, utterly forsaken, our Savior died with aggravations
of agonies that were to be found in no other death!
Still, the singularity of His death lies in another respect. There was
never sorrow like the sorrow which was done unto Christ, because all
His sorrow was born for others. Whatever you and I may suffer, we
deserve it and, directly or indirectly, we may trace it to the fact
that we are sinners. But He was not a sinner. In Him was no sin and
neither suffering nor death could lawfully have been laid upon Him had
He not made Himself the Substitute for His people. Behold, and see if
there was ever sorrow like His sorrow! He bears the sin of many. He is
numbered with the transgressors. He stands vicariously to endure what
never could have been His if it had not been that He was a Surety and
stood in His people's place.
Now, I want your thoughts just one minute. What was it that Christ, as
Substitute, had to endure? Answer– Although it may not have been
precisely what we ought to have endured, it must have been something
equivalent thereto. Now, what ought one sinner to have suffered?
Answer–Eternal misery in Hell! What, then, what then must have been
the pangs which in Christ's case stood as the equivalent for the
eternal agonies of one sinnefi But Christ died not for one sinner, but
for tens of thousands, for countless multitudes, whom no one can
number! Think, then, my Brothers and Sisters, what must have been the
crushing blows which Jehovah laid on Him when those blows were to be an
equivalent for the hells of ten thousand times ten thousand of those
for whom He suffered! Of course, it were not possible for Him to have
endured, even for one, if He had not been God! His Godhead gave Him an
infinite capacity for misery and infused a boundless degree of misery
into all the pangs He bore. You have no more idea of what Christ
suffered in His soul than you have when you take up in a shell, a drop
of seawater! What Christ suffered is utterly inconceivable! We are not
just to think of Him as dying as another dies. His was a vast soul, so
great a soul that it seemed to have all souls within it–and it had the
capacity for suffering what all souls might have borne–and the whole
of that vast Nature which God had given, that wondrous Nature which He
Himself also essentially possessed–was put forth to make an Atonement
for human sin. "Behold and see if there was ever sorrow like unto My
sorrow, which is done unto Me."
"Oh, let us now, instead of talking any more, sit down by meditation at
the foot of the Cross and look up! 'Tis the King! 'Tis the King, but He
is crowned with thorns! It is the Prince of Glory, but He is stripped
naked to His shame! It is the Ancient of eternal days, but He bows His
head to die! He is God, All-Sufficient, yet He cries, "I thirst"! He is
the angel's darling, but He is despised and rejected of men! Hark, He
fills Heaven with honor! His Presence gilds Heaven with light, yet
there upon the Cross He is covered with darkness! And the music about
Him is that of His own sighs, and cries, and groans. Was ever grief
like Yours? Needless question! Needless question! All but shameful
question, for were all
griefs that ever were condensed into one, they were no more worthy to
be compared therewith than the glowworm's tiny lamp with the
ever-blazing sun!
What then, Beloved, what then? If Christ is thus alone in suffering,
what then? Why, let Him standalone in our love. High, high, high set up
Christ in your heart! Now, Brothers and Sisters you have many objects
of your affection, but oh, lift up my lord, your soul's Bridegroom,
your spirit's Well-Beloved! Come now, if you have thought well of Him,
think better of Him! If you have loved Him, oh, love Him more! Now, ask
to have your heart inflamed, as with coals ofjuniper, which have a
vehement heat, and let that heart be all His own! Oh, let there be no
such love as your love to Christ! Let it pass the love of women! Let it
go beyond a mother's love, a brother's affection, a father's
tenderness! Love Him–you cannot match His love to you, but at least
seek to let your little stream run side by side with the mighty river!
If Christ is thus alone in suffering, Brothers and Sisters, let us seek
to make Him, if we can, alone in our service. We do not do much for
Christ, compared with what we should. Some have learned to give much,
but yet what is our giving for such an one as He is? We only give what
we can spare–how few of us ever pinch ourselves for Him? He smarted
for us and gave up even His very garments for us, but we do not come to
that. In the olden times they did–saints, martyrs and Christian
missionaries made sacrifice of all and counted it no sacrifice out of
love to Him. I wish we had more Marys who would break the alabaster box
of precious ointment upon His dear head. Oh, for a little extravagance
of love, a little fanaticism of affection for Him, for He deserves ten
thousand times more than the most enthusiastic ever dream of rendering!
If He is thus, Brothers and Sisters, so far beyond all others in His
sorrow, let Him also be first and foremost tonight in our praise. If
you have poetic minds, weave no garlands except for His dear brow! If
you are men of eloquence, speak no glowing periods except to His honor!
If you are men of wit and scholarship, oh, seek to lay your scholarship
at the foot of His Cross! Come here with all your talents and yield
them to Him who bought them with His blood! Come, here, you with much
and yet with little–come with hearts so warm whom He loved so well–
"Here then your music bring, Strike aloud each cheerful string! Mortals
join the hosts above, Come and praise redeeming love."
The Lord give us such a frame of mind as that, tonight, when we come to
the breaking of bread, and His be the glory. Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 69:1-21; MARK 15:15-23;
LUKE23:26-33.
We shall read together at this time a part of the 69th Psalm and
afterwards two passages in the New Testament. Although there is no
doubt that this Psalm is intended to describe a very large class of
sufferers, we think it never had its full meaning perfectly carried out
until our blessed Lord and Master suffered at the hands of men. We
shall read the Psalm believing that it is full of Christ. It is
absolutely certain that we have references hare to His Advent, His
passion and His Resurrection.
To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, a Psalm of David.
Verse 1. Save me, O God, for the waters are come into My soul. The
waves have not only teased the bank, but they have dashed over the
bulwarks and there is a flood within, as well as a flood without.
2. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. I am come into deep
waters where the floods overflow Me. We had this text explained to us
last Friday night when the traveler told us he saw a man sink in the
mud, almost swallowed up by it, till by a very desperate grasp of the
boat, he made his escape. Christ was, as it were, sucked in by the
great deeps of His afflictions–as if He would quickly be swallowed up.
3. I am weary of My crying: My throat is dried. He had been so long in
the Garden in that awful agony, with strong crying and tears.
3, 4. My eyes fail while I wait for My God. They that hate Me without a
cause are more than the hairs of My head. See Him now in the street
being led away to Mount Calvary–a vast multitude has congregated
there, all eager to see Him die!
4. They that would destroy Me, being My enemies wrongfully, are mighty.
They have the Roman soldiers at their backs, while the mob applauds
them.
4. Then I restored that which I took not away. Christ did not take away
our innocence, nor our safety, nor our honor, but He restored them all
to us! He has made us clean! He has made us accepted in the Beloved! He
has put a crown of pure gold upon our heads and set our feet upon a
rock.
5. O God, You know my foolishness and my sins are not hid from You.
These words are not applicable to our Lord, except so far as they may
refer to ourfoolishness and to oursin, which we know were all laid on
Him. But one commentator says that He is here speaking according to the
manner of the people. They called Him foolish. They charged Him with
sin, but He appeals to Heaven, "Lord, You know whether I have been
foolish, whether I have any sins or not." In that sense we might apply
it literally to the Savior.
6. Letnot them that wait on You, O Lord God ofHosts, be ashamed for My
sake: let not those who seek You be confounded for My sake, O God of
Israel "Let not the shame of My Cross destroy their faith. Grant unto
them such confidence in Me that they may take up their cross daily and
follow Me, that they may even learn to say with My Apostle, "God forbid
that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
7. Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered My
face. It was for His Father's sake that He might bring honor to
Jehovah, that He thus suffered reproach. "Shame has covered My
face"–that face which is brighter than the sun and which angels desire
to gaze upon!
8. Ihave become a stranger unto My brethren. "Peter says he knows Me
not. All of them have forsaken Me."
8, 9. And an alien unto My mother's children. For the zeal of Your
house has eaten Me up and the reproaches of them that reproached You
are fallen upon Me. Every hard word that was spoken of the Father fell
upon the Son–the iniquities which were rebellions against Jehovah all
fell upon the Man of Nazareth!
10. When I wept, and chastened My soul with fasting, that was to My
reproach. That was scandal unto them.
11. I made sack cloth also My garment; and I became a proverb unto
them. Just as Michal said of David, "How glorious did the King of
Israel become in the eyes of his handmaidens!" Out of mockery, so did
they reproach Christ, "How glorious was the King of Israel, so daintily
arrayed in a peasant's robe, or stripped naked upon His Cross."
12. They that sit in the gate speak against Me. The judges who there
dispensed justice. The merchants who there trade their wares. The
idlers who were there to loiter, to hear the news–these all speak
against Me.
12. And I became the song of the drunkard. They made ballads of Him. We
may understand that to mean they issued lampoons–every now and then
there came out a caricature.
13, 14. But as forMe, Myprayeris unto You, OLord, in an acceptable
time: O God, in the multitude ofYourmer-cy hear Me, in the truth of
Your salvation, deliver Me out of the mire, and let Me not sink: let Me
be delivered from them that hate Me, and out of the deep waters.
Imagine you hear your Master as He silently prays this prayer in the
streets of Jerusalem–the mobs are hooting, but He is praying–women
are weeping and He is weeping, too.
15-20. Let not the flood overflow Me, neither let the deep swallow Me
up, and let not the Pit shut her mouth upon Me. Hear Me, O Lord, for
Your loving kindness is good: turn unto Me according to the multitude
of Your tender mercies. And hide not Your face from Your Servant; for I
am in trouble: hear Me speedily. Draw near unto My soul, and redeem it:
deliver Me because of My enemies. You have known My reproach and My
shame, and My dishonor: My adversaries are all before You. Reproach has
broken My heart This is one of the most extraordinary verses in Holy
Writ!
20, 21. And I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity,
but there was none; and for comforters, but I foundnone. They gave Me
also gall for My meat; andin My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.
Now, let us read the incidents in the history of Christ, of which this
Psalm is a sort of prophecy and exposition.
MARK 15:15-23.
Verses 15-23. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released
Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to
be crucified. And the soldiers led Him away into the hall which is
called Praetorium; and they called together the whole band. And they
clothed Him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it
about His head. And began to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews. And
they smote Him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon Him, and
bowing their knees worshipped Him. And when they had mocked Him, they
took off thepurple from Him, and
put His own clothes on Him, andledHim out to crucifyHim. And they
compelled one Simon, a Cyrenian whopassed by, coming out of the
country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear His Cross. And they
brought Him unto the place called Golgotha, which is, being
interpreted, the place of a skull. And they gave Him to drink wine
mingled with myrrh: but He received it not. I shall have to show you
that this was given to Him in mercy. The Romans always gave, before
crucifixion, a cup of drugged wine, in order to lessen the
sensibilities of the victim. In this case there was not only myrrh in
the cup, but gall. A second cup of gall Christ did drink, but this cup,
being intoxicating, He would not receive–when He had tasted it, He
would not drink. He needed the possession of all His faculties–and in
their clearest state–in order to do combat with the dreadful powers of
darkness.
LUKE23:26-33.
Luke supplies some particulars which Mark has left out. Turn,
therefore, to the 23rd Chapter of Luke and the 26th verse. Luke, also,
tells us of Simon.
Verse 26. Andas theyledHim away, theylaidhold upon one Simon, a
Cyrenian, coming out ofthe country, and on him they laid the Cross,
that he might bear it after Jesus. Now these are the things which Mark
has not put in.
27, 29. And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women,
which also bewailed and lamented Him. But Jesus turning unto them said,
Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and
for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in which they
shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and
the breasts which never gave suck This was accounted a curse, but their
curses would seem blessings to them when compared with the curse of the
dreadful slaughter at Jerusalem!
30, 31. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall upon us;
and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree
what shall be done in the dry?If they do these things while yet the
Jewish State is standing, what will they do when that State is broken
up? If they do these things to innocent persons–a green tree–what
will they do to the unhallowed person, the ungodly and the rebellious
who are like dry, rotten trees? How will the flame lay hold on those
branches out of which the sap of virtue has long ago been dried?
32. And there were also two other, malefactors. It should be
"others"–there should be an "s" there. 32, 33. Led with Him to be put
to death. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary,
there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand
and the other on the left. Shall we refuse to take up our cross and
follow the Lord Jesus Christ? I think not. If any ask us whether we
will leave Him because of the fears which may be excited by the world's
frowns, this shall be our answer–let us sing it–with regard to the
world and all its temptations–
"No, facing all its frowns or smiles, Counting its gain but loss!
Outside the camp we take our place, With Jesus bear the Cross."