The Double Forget-me-not
(No. 3099)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1908.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
5, 1874.
"This do in remembrance of Me." 1 Corinthians 11:24.
[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon this passage and verses before and
after are as follows–Sermons #2, Volume 1– THE REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST;
#2368, Volume 39–THE GREATEST EXHIBITION OF THE AGE; #2595, Volume
44–WHAT THE LORD'S SUPPER SEES AND SAYS and #2638, Volume 45– THE
RIGHT OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER]
THERE are some persons who do not consider the Lord's Supper to be a
Divine ordinance. They say that they cannot see where it is commanded
in Scripture. I have long ago given up trying to understand other
people's understandings, for some of them are constructed upon such
peculiar principles that I believe the Holy Spirit, Himself, could not
put a Truth of God in such a form but that some people would understand
Him to mean the very opposite of what He said! Now to me, Christ's
command to observe the Lord's Supper seems to be so plain and so
positive that it would take greater ingenuity than I possess to be able
to justify myself, as a Christian, if I lived in neglect of the
Communion! I know a good deal of what has been invented by others, but
I cannot myself invent any syllogism, or argument, or reason by which I
could set aside such a plain Divine precept as that which is recorded
in this Chapter– "The Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was
betrayed, took bread: and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and
said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in
remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He
had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do
you, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." If Christ did not
mean that we were to do this, and to do it in remembrance of Him, what
did He mean? It seems to me to be very plain and positive that this is
what He did mean and being so, the precept comes to Christians with
very great force for it is issued upon the highest possible authority!
It is not the Apostle Paul who tells us to do this in remembrance of
Christ, but the Master, Himself, who says, "This do in remembrance of
Me." The utmost solemnity appertains to the Ten Commandments because
they were issued by God Himself on Mount Sinai–and there is no less
weight attaching to the command before us, since it was issued by the
Son of God, Himself, who could truly say, "I and My Father are One."
It also seems to me that this command derives singular solemnity from
the occasion upon which it was given. If the issuing of the Law of God
was specially solemn because "Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke,
because the Lord descended upon it in fire," I venture to say that the
giving of this plain, positive command, "This do in remembrance of Me,"
is none the less solemn because it was given by "the Lord Jesus the
same night in which He was betrayed." What other night, in the world's
history, can be more august and more solemn to Him and to us as
Believers in Him, than that night when He went, with His disciples for
the last time to Gethsemane? My Lord, as this command was given by You
at such a special time, how dare I neglect it if I am indeed Your
disciple? Let none of us who believe in Jesus, live in habitual
disobedience to this command of His!
Let me make just one other introductory observation, namely, that this
commandment was evidently not issued for one occasion only, for it is
quoted by the Apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthians–and he adds
these significant words, "For as often as you eat this bread, and drink
this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He come." The command,
therefore, remains in force until the Second Advent–and until Christ,
Himself, shall again appear upon this earth, these memorials of His
passion are to be constantly before us!
I. I am going to remind you, first, of THE NEED OF SUCH COMMEMORATION
OF CHRIST–"This do in remembrance of Me."
The need exists, first, because of our forgetful memories. Memory, in
common with every other faculty, has been injured by the Fall. It is
more retentive of that which is evil than of that which is good and, as
you all know, far more easily recollects injuries than benefits. But it
certainly does show the deep depravity of the human heart that we
should ever be likely to forget our Lord. Have we not often sung–
"Gethsemane, can I forget?"
Yet we have practically forgotten Gethsemane and have omitted to act
towards our Lord as we should have acted had Gethsemane been
perpetually painted on our memories. Yes, we are apt to forget our
truest Friend, our best Beloved, Jesus, in whom our souls delight! We
do forget Him, and it ought to humble us when we remember that Christ
knew what forgetful lovers we would be and, therefore, gave us this
love-token, this double forget-me-not.
Did there not also exist a need for this command in the fact of our
childish condition?We are not, my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
what we shall yet be. We are, to a great extent, still underage. We are
children of God and heirs of the Kingdom of God, but at present we are
under tutors and governors. Now in a child's book there should be
pictures. We are not altogether little children–we have grown
somewhat–and some Christians think we have grown so big that we do not
need pictures, but Jesus knew that we should be, in many respects,
little children or big children, so He has put two pictures in the Book
which He has given to us because He would have us remember that we are
not yet men, we have not yet come to our full estate. The two pictures
are Believers' Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Because I am a child,
therefore must I still have emblems and tokens, for these are more
powerful to my mind than mere words would be.
No doubt, also, the two ordinances were left, and especially this one,
because we are yet in the body. We are still linked with materialism.
We are not yet purely spiritual and it is no use for us to pretend that
we are. Some good people sit still till they are moved, which would be
an admirable form of worship if we had not bodies. But, as long as we
have bodies, there must be some kind of linking of the spiritual with
the material, let the links be as few as they may. Christ has made
two–they are enough, but they are none too many, for let it be
remembered that there is a time coming when the material itself is to
be lifted up and re-united with the spiritual! "The creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God." And as if to teach us not to
despise the material, not to consider everything that can be touched
and seen as therefore foul and beneath the consideration of spiritual
minds, our Lord has given us water in which we can wash, and bread and
wine, the products of the earth, that, being yet earthy, we may
anticipate the time when the earth shall shake off the slough which
came upon her at the Fall and, as a new earth, with her new Heaven of
pure blue over her, shall become a holy Temple of the Living God!
I have often grieved over the fact that these two ordinances, Baptism
and the Lord's Supper, have become nests in which the foul bird of
superstition has laid her eggs. But the Lord foresaw that when He
instituted them–yet I have often rejoiced, notwithstanding this
drawback, that we are able, through these material symbols, to get
nearer to Him whose body was material and is material, whose blood was
real blood, who was born into this world of a virgin of real flesh and
blood, was often weary and was, in fact, a Man such as we are, a real
Man, who once on Calvary died–no phantom, no myth, no dream of
history, but One who could have gripped my hand, as I, my Brother or
Sister, can grip yours, and One who felt the nails that went through
His hands as you and I would feel it if nails were driven through our
hands! Therefore it is that we come to no shallow feast, but to a real
one of bread and wine to make us feel that it was a real Christ who
died for us and that this poor body, which is so real to us, is yet,
after all, to be cleansed and purified by that great Sacrifice of His
upon the Cross of Calvary!
I hope I shall not be thought uncharitable if I suggest that the Lord's
Supper was given to us for other reasons. Some have said, "We do not
need this memorial, for we can think of Christ through hearing about
Him from ministers in the pulpit." Yes, you can hear the ministers, but
what can you hear from some of them? In many and many a case, you will
hear what will do you little good, for the one thing that is absent
from many a ministry, nowadays, is the clear proclamation of the great
central Truth of God of the substitutionary Sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Earthly ministries are not to be relied upon, for almost all of them by
degrees fall back from the faithfulness, seriousness, and earnestness
with which they commenced. There is scarcely an instance in history in
which human ministries have fully preserved their pristine purity, yet,
wherever Christians have been able to meet together to observe this
ordinance as a memorial of
Christ's death, they have always kept up a living testimony to Christ's
death! If ministries were silenced, or if ministers had lost their
zeal, there was always this memorial ministry–the breaking of bread
and the pouring out of wine in remembrance of Christ!
Somebody probably says, "But, surely, the Church would always keep
Christ in memory." Alas, alas, that which ought to be the very Glory of
the earth-organized Christianity has full often become one of the main
agents of evil in the earth! And therefore I bless God for an ordinance
which is not a Church ordinance, or a minister's ordinance. I hope none
of you are under the impression that, at the close of the present
service, I am going to administer the Lord's Supper God forbid that I
should ever venture to do such a thing as that! No, it is you, or we,
who come to the Lord's Table to break bread and to drink of the
cup–and we come together, not as a Church holding certain views, but
we come simply as Christians to, "do this in remembrance" of the Savior
who died for us! You may break bread wherever you will, wherever two or
three Christians can meet together and if you truly love your Lord, the
oftener you do this, the better. "This do you, as often as you drink
it," is no command addressed to an ecclesiastical organization
concerning an ordinance to be administered by men who have the
impertinence or impudence to call themselves priests, but a command to
all Christians everywhere, on any day of the week, and in any
place–beneath the blue sky of Heaven, or in a barn, or in a tavern if
they happen to be tarrying there–to break a piece of bread in memory
of their Lord's broken body, and to drink of the cup in mutual loving
memory of His precious blood poured out for them! And, mark you, if it
should ever come to this, that ministries should fail, I mean what we
usually consider to be ordained earthly ministries. And if churches
should fail, there will still be found faithful followers of
Christ–hunted and harried, it may be–to the very ends of the earth!
And they will break the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of
Christ and so, till the trumpet sounds to announce His return, it shall
be remembered that Jesus was Incarnate and that Jesus died, and that
through Him we have access to the Father!
Thus have I tried to show you why a commemoration feast was needed, but
I do not pretend to know all the reasons for its institution, nor a
tithe of them. Jesus said, "This do you in remembrance of Me"–and that
is all the reason that any truly obedient child of God will ever need!
II. Now, secondly, let me try to show you THE SUITABILITY OF THIS
COMMEMORATION FOR THE PURPOSE INTENDED.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this ordinance is in itself a very
suitable commemoration of the death of Christ A crucifix might have
been suggested as a means of keeping the death of Christ before us, but
I need not remind you how that has become the very emblem of idolatry.
I do not know of any memorial of Christ that could have been so
suggestive and so admirable as the one which Christ has ordained. In
itself it is admirable, for here is bread, the very staff of life–a
fit token of that flesh of Christ which is, spiritually, "meat,
indeed." The fact of His Incarnation is most nourishing food to our
hearts. We believe in Him as God, veiled in human flesh, and that great
Truth of God, that wondrous fact is as much food for our souls as bread
is for our bodies. Further, in this memorial we have the bread broken,
indicating Christ's sufferings and the breaking that He endured on our
behalf. The bread is, in itself, a most appropriate memorial of
suffering. Was it not wheat that was sown in a furrow in the field and
there buried? Did it not spring up to be bitten by frosts, to be blown
about by rough winds, to suffer all the extremities of climate, to be
drenched by the rain and scorched by the sun, to be cut down by the
sharp sickle, to be threshed, to be ground, to be kneaded, to be put
into the oven, to be passed through I know not how many processes, any
one of which might be a sufficient type of suffering? The suffering
body of the Incarnate God is the spiritual food for our souls, but we
must partake of it if it is to nourish us. This emblematic bread must
not only be broken, but eaten–a significant type of our receiving
Jesus by faith and depending upon Him, taking Him to be the nutriment
of our new spiritual life. What can be more instructive than all this?
Then there is the wine, "the fruit of the vine." There are two tokens,
you see, because the two represent death. The blood in the body is
life, the blood out of the body is death, so the two emblems are
separate, the wine in the cup and the bread yonder–these together
indicate death. Water was not used, for water had been applied, in
another way, in the other ordinance of Believers' Baptism, and water
would have been a pale, faint memorial of Him whose rich living blood
could far better be set forth by the blood of the grape, trodden under
foot of man and made to flow forth from the winepress. The wine is an
admirable token of the blood of the atoning Sacrifice. Men need drink
as well as food– therefore both are put upon the Communion Table to
show a whole Christ as the true food of the soul. You have not to go to
Christ for spiritual food and to go somewhere else for spiritual drink,
but all you need you can find in Jesus, and find it in Jesus Crucified,
in Jesus Sacrificed and put to death in your place. Surely the emblems
themselves are most significant and suitable reminders of Christ's
death.
And the whole ordinance is a most suitable memorial of Christ's death
because the Lord's Supper can be celebrated anywhere. There is no
climate where we cannot have bread and wine. There are no persons so
poor that, among them, they cannot furnish the table with these simple
emblems. It may be decorous to have a silver cup and plate, but it
certainly is not necessary–any cup and plate will do. They talk of the
"chalice" and "water'" in the strange ecclesiastical jargon that
so-called "priests" use, but I say, "cup" and "plate." They may be of
any material, and the table of any sort. A cloth of "fair white linen"
is decorous, but not necessary. Let there be but a table and bread and
wine, and that is all that is required. And if half-a- dozen godly
peasants, women in homespun and men in smock frocks, are gathered
together in a cave, or under a wide-spreading beech, they can show
forth Christ's death "till He come." But as for that man-millinery show
over yonder, and that "altar" of theirs, and that bell and the people
bowing down to worship Jack-in-the-Box–for I will give it no better
name–all that is sheer idolatry! It is no memorial of Christ! It may
be a memorial of the devil, and of the way in which he turns
Christianity into Popery, puts Christ off the Throne and sets up a man
who calls himself infallible! But wherever the bread is broken and the
wine is poured out by true Believers in memory of Christ, there His
command is obeyed.
The Lord's Supper is also a suitable memorial because it can be
frequently celebrated. You may break this bread and drink of this cup
as often as you please. A costly rite could only be performed now and
then, but this ordinance can be observed in the morning and in the
evening and every day of the week if you will–and very little expense
will need to be incurred. To the end of this dispensation, there will
be enough bread and wine and sufficient gracious men and women to come
to the Table of their Lord and thus to keep up the recollection that
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of Mary, died on Calvary's
Cross, "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." I
devoutly thank my Lord and Master for giving me so cheap, so easy, so
unostentatious and withal so significant and symbolic a memorial of the
death He died for me and for all His people!
III. Now, thirdly, and very briefly, let me speak of THE PERSONS TO
WHOM THIS CELEBRATION WAS
ENTRUSTED. Who are to "do this in remembrance" of Christ?
Well, first, if you look at the connection of our text, you will find
that they are persons who discern the Lord's body. That is to say, the
persons who rightly come to this Table understand that this bread and
this wine are types or emblems of Christ's broken body and shed blood,
And they are also persons who have the spiritual perception to discern
that the Christ Incarnate, the Christ who died upon the Cross is very
precious to them. I trust there will be many who will come to this
Table, each one of whom will be able to say, "Ah, I know what a
precious Christ He is! He is my joy, my hope, my delight, my All in
All." Come and welcome, all of you who can thus discern the Lord's
body. I know that you can do so, by the joy which this Communion gives
you, by the sweetness which it leaves upon your spiritual palate when
you feed upon it. You may certainly come, for you have the spiritual
life which possesses the spiritual senses by which you discern the
Lord's body. Yes, you may come–no, more, you must come, for your Lord
and Master said, "This do in remembrance of Me."
In the preceding chapter to that from which our text is taken, we are
told that those should come who have fellowship with Christ in so
doing–"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of
the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion
of the body of Christ?…Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they
which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?…But I say, that
the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and
not to God: and I would not that you should have fellowship with
devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils: you
cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table, and of the table of devils."
So it seems to me that as the Jew, who ate of the sacrifices, had, at
any rate, a nominal fellowship with the God of the altar, and as the
heathen, who drank of the cup of devils, thereby had communion with
devils; so none may come to the Lord's Table but those who are prepared
to acknowledge that they are in fellowship with the Lord. Is God your
God? Is Christ your Savior? Do you avow yourself to be a disciple of
Jesus and the child of God? If so, come and welcome to this Table! But
if not, stand back, for you have no right to come here! If you do, you
will bring upon yourself a curse, and not a blessing. But as for all of
you who are trusting in the blood of Jesus, all of you to whom Christ
is all your salvation and all your desire–all of you
who call Jehovah your Father through faith in Jesus, all of you who are
reconciled to God by the death of His Son– come to this Table and have
fellowship with the God of Heaven and earth, the God and Father of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! But let no one else come. I am always
sorry when persons are urged to come to the Communion Table as though
they would receive some benefit from it although they were not
converted, for there can, by no possibility, be any benefit to any who
come to the Lord's Table unless they are Believers in Jesus! God might
bless the ordinance to their conversion, but in the nature of things it
is highly improbable, for they would be acting in direct disobedience
to His command! They have no right there and they will be far more
likely to be blessed if they humbly stay away until they have believed
in Jesus–and then they will have the right to come, the right given by
His love. IV. Now, lastly, LET US CARRY OUT THE DESIGN OF THIS
ORDINANCE.
The Lord's Supper is intended to remind us of Jesus. I am not going to
preach now. I want you who can, to carry out the text–"This do in
remembrance of Me." Many of you are coming to the Table–remember your
Lord and Savior now. Remember who He is and who He was. Remember Him,
let Him stand before your mind's eye now as the "Man of Sorrows and
acquainted with grief." I do not appeal to your imagination, I appeal
to your memory. You know–
"The old, old story,
Of Jesus and His love."
Recall it now. Remember that He died, for that is what you are
especially bid to remember here. I have met with one, who was, I hope,
a Christian, who said to me, "My confidence is in a glorified Savior."
But I could not help saying to him, "My confidence is in a Crucified
Savior." Christ Crucified is the foundation of all our hopes, for
Christ could not have risen from the dead if He had not first died. Of
what use would His plea be if He had not His blood to offer? Do not be
led astray even by ideas about the Second Advent if they depreciate the
death of Christ! Rejoice in Christ's Second Coming and look and long
for it, but remember that the basis of our hope lies in Christ
Crucified. "We preach Christ Crucified" and as we have preached so have
you believed, so let none turn you away from your confidence in Christ
Jesus suffering in the sinner's place, and–
"Bearing, that we might never bear,
His Father's righteous ire."
"Look unto Me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth," is a call
from Christ upon the Cross. Remember that all your hope hangs upon Him
who hung upon the Cross and died there. Remember that when He died, you
died in Him, for "if One died for all, then were all dead." And now you
must "reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ."
Remember Him, I pray you, till your hearts grow warm and your love
burns within you. Remember Him till you resolve to serve Him, till you
go from this Table determined to die for Him if necessary. Remember Him
till you also remember all His people, for it is not to one that He
says, "This do you," but, "This do in remembrance of Me," is said to
all His people, and it needs at least a little company to do this.
Remember Him till all the Church militant, and the Church triumphant,
too, seem gathered around your heart and you commune with the whole
Church of Christ in Heaven and on earth! Remember Jesus till you feel
that He is with you, till His joy gets into your soul and your joy is
full. Remember Him till you begin to forget yourself and forget your
temptations and your cares. Remember Him till you begin to think of the
time when He will remember you and come in His Glory for you. Remember
Him till you begin to be like He. Gaze upon Him till when you go down
from this mount into the wicked world again, your face will glow with
the Glory of having seen your Lord! I long to get to this Table again,
though I have not been away from it any Sabbath for many a long day,
for it has been my constant habit, wherever I have been, to get a few
Christian friends together to break bread in remembrance of Christ.
When I am with you, you know that I would never be absent on the first
day of the week, from my Master's Table unless there was something that
absolutely prevented it and I trust you may come with as keen an
appetite as I have now, and then you shall lack no stores for this
feast! And may the Lord feed us with Himself to the full!
How sorry I am that there are many here who must not come to this
Table, for they have never trusted in Christ! If it seems nothing to
you now not to love and trust the Lord Jesus Christ, remember that if
you die in that state, a day will come when it will seem to you to have
been the most horrible thing that ever happened that you should have
lived and
died without love to Him and trust in Him! God save you! Believe in
Jesus now and you shall be saved now. Cast yourselves upon Him and He
will not cast you away. So may He bless you, for His dear name's sake!
Amen and amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MARK 15:1-41; LUKE 8:1-3.
Let us read again what we have often read before, that saddest of all
stories which, nevertheless, is the fountain of the highest
gladness–the story of our Savior's death, as recorded by Mark.
Mark 15:1. And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a
consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and
bound Jesus, and carried Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate. "The
whole council" could be there, so early in the morning, for such an
evil purpose! Wicked men are very diligent in carrying out their sinful
schemes, so, when Christ was to be murdered, His enemies were there, as
Luke tells us, "as soon as it was day." How much more diligent ought
the followers of Christ to be to give Him their devoted service! It is
a good thing to begin the day with united prayer and holy converse with
His people. Let these wicked men who were so early in the morning
seeking to secure the death of Christ make us ashamed that we are not
more diligent in His blessed service.
2, 3. And Pilate asked Him, Are You the King of the Jews? And He
answering said unto Him, You say it And the chief priest accused Him of
many things: but He answered nothing. Silence was the best answer, the
most eloquent reply that He could give to each accusers–they deserved
no other answer. Moreover, by His silence, He was fulfilling the
prophecy, "As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opens not His
mouth."
4, 5. And Pilate asked Him again, saying, Answer You nothing? Behold
how many things they witness against You. But Jesus yet answered
nothing; so that Pilate marvelled. You will often find that your
highest wisdom, when you are slandered, will lie in the imitation of
your Lord and Master. Live a blameless life, and it shall be the best
reply to the false charges of the wicked.
6-10. Now at that feast He released unto them one prisoner, whomever
they desired. And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with
them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in
the insurrection. And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to
do as he had always done unto these. But Pilate answered them, saying,
Will you that I release unto you the King of the Jews? For he knew that
the chief priest has delivered Him for envy.And he therefore hoped that
the people, who were not moved by the same envy, would have chosen to
have Jesus set at liberty.
11-13. But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather
release Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered and said again unto
them, What will you then that I shall do unto Him whom you call the
King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify Him.This was the
very best reply to the charge of high treason, for if Jesus had really
set Himself up as a king in the place of Caesar, the people, when they
were thus publicly appealed to, would not have cried out, "Crucify
Him." If there had been any truth in the allegation that He was the
ringleader of a sedition, the Jews would not have said again and again,
"Crucify Him." Thus Christ gave Pilate a much more effectual answer
than if He had Himself spoken.
14-16. Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil has He done? And they
cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify Him. 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, called Praetorium. The hall of the Praetorian
guard.
16, 17. And they called together the whole band. And they clothed Him
with purple. The uniform of the Roman soldiers was purple, as if to
indicate that they belonged to an imperial master. So when these
soldiers, in mockery, put on our Lord the old cloak of one of their
comrades, it sufficed to clothe Him with the royal purple to which, as
King, He was fully entitled.
17-19. 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. All this homage was paid to Him in mockery, yet what
stern reality there was in that mockery! That band of soldiers really
preached to Christ such homage as a whole world could give Him.
20. And when they had mocked Him, they took off the purple from Him,
and put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.They
"led Him out to crucify Him." It seems as if Christ had to lean upon
those who led Him. The word almost signifies as much as that. At least
it might be the word employed concerning anyone leading a child or a
sick man who needed support, for the Savior's weakness must have been
very apparent by that time. After the agony and bloody sweat in
Gethsemane and the night and morning trials, and scourging, and
mockery, and the awful strain upon His mind and heart in being made a
Sacrifice for sin, it was no wonder that He was weak! Besides, He was
not like the rough, brutal criminals that are often condemned to die
for their crimes. He was a man of gentle mold and more delicate
sensibilities than they were, and He suffered much more than any
ordinary man would have done in similar circumstances.
21. And they compelled one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out
of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear His
Cross.Christ could not bear it Himself. The soldiers saw that He was
faint and weary, so they laid the Cross, or at least one end of it, on
Simon's shoulders. [See Sermon #1853, Volume 31–up from the country
and pressed into
SERVICE]
22. And they brought Him. Here the word almost implies that they lifted
Him and carried Him, for His faintness had increased. They "led Him out
to crucify Him," but now they bear Him.
22. Unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of
a skull We sometimes speak of it as Mount Calvary, but it was not
so–it was a little rising ground, the common place of execution, the
Tyburn or Old Bailey of Jerusalem.
23. And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but He received
it not. He did not wish to have His sufferings abated, but to bear them
to the bitter end. Christ forbids not that pain should be alleviated in
the case of others, wherever that is possible. But in His own case, it
was not fit that it should be so relieved, since He was to bear the
full brunt of the storm of vengeance that was due on account of sin.
24. And when they had crucified Him, they parted His garments, casting
lots upon them, what every man should take.Christ's garments must go to
His executioners in order to carry out the full shame associated with
His death as well as to fulfill the prophecy, "They parted my garments
among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."
25-27. And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And the
superscription of His accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE
JEWS. And with Him they crucified two thieves; the one on His right
hand, and the other on His left As if, in carrying out that ordinary
etiquette which gives the central place to the chief criminal, they
gave to Christ the place of greatest contempt and scorn.
28. And the Scripture was fulfilled, which said, And He was numbered
with the transgressors. You could not count the "transgressors" on
those crosses without counting Him. There were three, and the One in
the middle could not be passed by as you counted the others.
29-32. And they that passed by railed at Him, wagging their heads, and
saying, Ah, You that destroy the Temple, and build it in three days,
save Yourself, and come down from the Cross. Likewise also the chief
priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved
others; Himself He cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend
now from the Cross, that we may see and believe. That is the world's
way–"that we may see and believe." But Christ's way is, "Believe and
you shall see." Christ off the Cross is admired by worldlings, but
Christ on the Cross is our hope and stay, especially as we know that
this same Christ is now on the Throne waiting for the time when He
shall return to claim as His own all who have trusted in the Crucified.
32. And they that were crucified with Him reviled Him. Out of their
black hearts and mouths came words of ridicule and scorn even then.
33. And when the sixth hour was come. When the sun had reached the
zenith, at high noon.
33-41. There was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour And
at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi,
lama Sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why have
You forsaken Me? Andsome of them that stood by, when they heardit,
said, Behold, He calls Elijah. And one ran and filled a sponge full of
vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let Him
alone; let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down. And Jesus
cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the
Temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. And when the
centurion, which stood over against Him, saw that He so cried out, and
gave up the
ghost, He said, Truly this Man was the Son of God! There were also
women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the
mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome (who also, when He
was in Galilee, followed Him, and ministered unto Him). And many other
women which came up with Him unto Jerusalem. We can read further about
these gracious women if we turn to Luke 8.
Luke 8:1-3. Andit came topass afterward, that He went throughout every
city and village, preaching andstrewing the glad tidings of the Kingdom
of God: and the twelve were with Him. And certain women, which had been
healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of
whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward,
and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto Him of their
substance. The previous Chapter tells how the woman in Simon's house
manifested her love to the Savior. She showed her love in one way, and
in a very special way. But there were others who had similar affection
for Him, who showed it in other ways. What is right for one person to
do might not be a wise or right thing for everybody to do. Christ did
not need His feet washed with tears every minute in the day, nor to
have them anointed with even precious ointment very often. There are
some Christians who ought to do and I trust will do, some extraordinary
thing for Christ–something which shall need no apology from them
because they are extraordinary persons, who used to be extraordinary
sinners–and it would not be right for them to run in the ruts made by
others–they ought to strike out a distinct pathway for themselves.
Happy is the Church that has any such members! Happier still if it has
many such. But there are others who love Christ just as truly, yet who
must be content to show their love to Him in some other and apparently
more common but, perhaps, in the long run, more useful way. These
gracious women ministered to Christ of their substance. He was only a
poor itinerant Preacher who needed daily sustenance. Some people say
that every preacher ought to earn his own bread by trade or profession
and preach freely, yet the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Preachers,
did not do this.
"Oh, but Paul did!" Yes, Paul attained to a very high honor. But we may
be perfectly satisfied, as the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, to
attain to as high a degree of honor as our Master did and, inasmuch as
He never did any carpentering after He began to preach, but gave His
whole soul and being up to the work of preaching, He was fed and cared
for by the kindness of these godly women who were glad to minister unto
Him of their substance. "The disciple is not above his master, nor the
servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his
master, and the servant as his lord." So, as ministers of Christ, we
need not be ashamed to minister spiritual things to the people and to
receive of their carnal things in return. These women, though they did
not wash Christ's feet with their tears, nor anoint them with precious
ointment, did well, for they "ministered unto Him of their substance."
Let us all do for Him all that we can.