The Story

They led the Lord from Pilate's palace through the narrow streets and out by the north gate of the city. They met a man named Simon from an African city, and made him carry the cross. So they came to a low, bare-topped hill, called from its shape "the place of a skull," Golgotha in Hebrew, Calvary in Latin. There they crucified the Lord, and two thieves with Him, on the right and left. One joined with those who mocked, one asked His blessing. Notice the tender words which the Lord spoke to those who followed Him weeping (verse 28), and His prayer for those who crucified Him. (Verse 34)

It was about noon when the Lord was crucified, and darkness was over all the land until three o'clock. Then the Lord cried aloud, and the conflict was over, the victory was gained. The veil that hung between the holy and most holy chambers of the temple was torn from top to bottom. Even the centurion who commanded the guard of Roman soldiers said, "Certainly this was a righteous man"; others beholding, smote their breasts and returned. Faithful women were watching from afar off.

As it drew near sunset the women saw two men, Joseph from a town near by, and Nicodemus, both of them leaders of the Jews, who loved the Lord, but secretly. These men, with leave from Pilate, took down the body of the Lord and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in a new tomb cut out in the rocky hillside. The women saw where the body of the Lord was laid, and perhaps they saw too when some of the Pharisees came and put a seal of wax where it would be broken if the great stone should be moved from its place before the door, and set a watch so that no one might come and steal the body of the Lord away. "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandments."

1. What writing was put upon the cross? In what languages was it written?

2. What did the Lord say to those who followed Him weeping? What was His prayer for those who crucified Him?

3. Who laid the Lord's body in the sepulchre? 4. Who else were there who loved the Lord?

Spiritual Study

The crucifixion, and all the sad and dreadful things that were done to Jesus before it, and His terrible agony in Gethsemane, are called the passion of the cross, the word "passion" meaning "suffering." While men heard and saw the things that are described in the literal sense of the Gospel, there was going on in the human mind of the Lord a terrible conflict with the hells, which is described in the spiritual sense. It was the last of His life-long battles with the hells. It was the fiercest conflict of them all, and the terror of it was what caused Him to sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane. We can have little conception of what He then suffered, for He loved all men, and wanted to save them, and the hells fought against this great love. All that the cunning of the hells could devise, all the malignant power they knew how to exercise, was directed against the Lord. They wanted to cause Him to despair of ever attaining His end of redeeming and saving men from the wickedness of loving themselves and the world better than God and the neighbor. They thought that they succeeded in their attacks on Jesus when they led the Jews to crucify Him. But they were mistaken. By the passion of the cross He fully conquered the hells, and putting off mortality glorified His Human. He arose from the tomb in His Divine Human, with His very body made Divine. He no longer had anything left of the mortal humanity which He had put on through Mary, but now all, down to His very flesh and bones, was Divine. And in this Divine Human He can be very near to us, nearer than ever before in the history of the human race.

It was the eternal truth which Pilate was led to write upon the cross. It could not be changed, any more than the cries of the disciples on Palm Sunday could be suppressed. (Luke 19:40) The three languages in which it was written suggest the completeness of the truth, the all-inclusiveness of the Lord's kingdom.

The crucifixion of the two thieves with the Lord reminds us of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:12: "And He was numbered with the transgressors." Indeed, the Lord Himself on the night of trial referred to this prophecy as about to be fulfilled. (Luke 22:37) The words of Isaiah, especially when read in connection with the whole chapter of which they are a part, express very tenderly the humility with which the Lord entered into all human states and trials, that He might bring to men complete victory and protection. With this understanding of the prophecy, the thieves crucified with the Lord in a manner represent mankind whose trials and temptations the Lord shares. One thief represents those who are not humbled by temptation and do not receive the Lord's help so mercifully offered; the other thief represents those who do receive His help, and through Him find victory and peace. This is consistent with the statement, in E. 600, that by the two thieves crucified with the Lord the same is meant as by the sheep and goats on the King's right and left. (Matthew 25:33)

What deeper meaning was there in the darkness over all the land at the time that the Lord was crucified? (E. 401) The rending of the temple veil suggests that the Jewish Church was at an end; the Christian Church had now begun. In this church the Lord's presence would not be veiled in representatives, but would be clearly seen and felt. (E. 400) Remembering that garments represent any external thing which clothes a more internal. The Lord's garments represent especially His Word, which clothes His love to us. How do soldiers even today part His garments? What is the inner garment which they cannot rend? (A. 9093; E. 64)

When burial is mentioned in the Word, angels think of resurrection. The provisions for the safety of the body were to the wise ancients all representative of eternal life in heaven. The burial of the Lord is representative of His glorification and Divine continuance. The ointments associated with His burial are emblems of the eternity of His love, and the linen of the eternity of His truth. We may notice that in all the Gospels the ointments are especially associated with the women, who stand for those who love the Lord and who know His love. (A. 10252)

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