The Chief Priests were by no means satisfied with the superscription written by Pilate, for they persisted in believing that Jesus had no right to be called King or Messiah. "Then said the Chief Priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, the King of the Jews; but that he said, I am king of the Jews": an alteration which would have made it appear that He had been justly punished by the Romans, for claiming a power to which no one had any right in the Roman provinces.

"Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written." This was a common mode of expression, meaning that a thing was done, and could not be undone. Probably Pilate wrote this title on purpose, knowing that the Jews would not like it; for he was displeased with them for forcing him, as it were, to do what he felt to be wrong: at any rate, in this title he declared a blessed truth: even that the King of the Jews, the long-expected Messiah, the Son of God, was actually hanging on the cross, atoning for the guilt of man, and purchasing our pardon by the sacrifice of Himself. Let us remember this with such thankfulness and gratitude, as will lead us to love, so as to obey.

Whilst Jesus was hanging in agony upon the cross, He prayed for those who had so cruelly persecuted Him. He had often taught the lesson of loving our enemies, and doing them good whenever we have the opportunity; and now He set us a most wonderful example of that love which we are to show to them. "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do": well might He say of those who had delivered Him to be crucified, "they know not what they do." Little did they indeed consider the sin they were committing; still less did they know what blessings their sin would bring upon all mankind. But their ignorance was in a great degree wilful, and wilful ignorance must always be a great sin: they had, therefore, much need that Christ should pray for them, as now He did.

By law, the executioners had a right to the clothes of their victim; and accordingly we read, "Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout." "They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it whose it shall be. And they parted his raiment and cast lots, 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:" according as David had spoken in the 22nd Psalm.

Thus having finished the work of crucifixion, the soldiers, "sitting down" at the foot of the cross, "watched him there. And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God." Had Jesus, indeed, been the worst of criminals, mocking or deriding Him thus, whilst He hung in agony upon the cross, would have been a most cowardly and brutal act: but these insults were borne patiently by One, who with a word could have silenced these mocking tongues, and have confounded all, by coming down from the cross, and leaving man's redemption for ever unfinished. Blessed be God, that no taunts or mockings could so move Him, Who suffered all for our sakes.

We cannot wonder, that following the example of the Jewish priests and rulers, the heathen "soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar," or a light wine drunk by the common people, "and saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself. And they that passed by reviled him, and railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross. 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 among themselves, 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. Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."

Would they have believed, if Jesus had indeed come down from the cross? No; their hearts were hardened in wilful unbelief, and their words were empty mockery. One great truth, however, the Chief Priests unknowingly proclaimed, when in mockery they cried out, "he saved others, himself he cannot save": truly the choice lay between the two; Jesus could not save Himself and us. For our salvation an atonement must be made: the only effectual atonement was the death of Jesus, He might have saved Himself from this, and left us to perish. Blessed be God for the love, that endured to the end, and thus saved us.

We are told, that even "they that were crucified with him, reviled him"; joining in the abuse now heaped upon him; but without provoking one word of reproof or complaint. No doubt the behaviour of our Lord at this time must have gained the admiration of many, and convinced them that He who now hung upon the cross was no mere man. The Lord certainly saw fit to touch the heart of one of those who were crucified with him, for while "one of the malefactors which were hanged," continued to rail "on him, saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us," 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." Here was true repentance; an acknowledgment of the justice of the punishment inflicted, coupled with a declaration of the innocence of Him, whom the dying thief now believed to be indeed the Son of God, the promised Messiah. In Christ's agony and humiliation, the penitent malefactor looked to Him as the King of the Jews, the Saviour of mankind; and in the strength of his new-born faith, "he said unto Jesus, Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom": he felt the true nature of Christ's kingdom: and Jesus, who knows the hearts of all "said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." What blessed words for the poor penitent thief to hear! May each one of us, when we are dying, have the comfort of believing, This day shall I be in the kingdom of the Lord: but unless our actions during life have shown that we do belong to His kingdom on earth, we cannot feel this comfort.

"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." Mary's sorrow at witnessing the suffering of her Son, must indeed have been, as if a sword had pierced through her own soul, as Simeon had foretold, when three and thirty years before she had carried the Holy Babe into the temple, to do for Him according to the law. Mary, the wife of Cleophas or AlphÆus, was the mother of James called the Less, to distinguish him from James the brother of John, the son of Zebedee. The Apostles had, as we have seen, fled away; but John, who had followed Jesus to the High Priest's palace, now stood with the women beside the cross. Even in the midst of all His agony, Jesus could think of others: He felt for the misery and desolation of His mother, and was anxious to provide for her future comfort; thus He set a double example, showing children that they should never cease to love and honour their parents; and teaching us all, never to let our own troubles or sorrows, whatever they may be, make us unmindful of the sufferings of others.

"When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to his disciple, Behold thy mother!" By these words, He bade His mother look for comfort to His beloved disciple; bidding him treat her for the future as if she were his own mother. Faithfully was this last commandment obeyed, "And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

Jesus had now been hanging on the cross for three hours, suffering the extreme of bodily agony; but the worst was not yet over. It was the sixth hour, or twelve o'clock,—mid-day, as we call it,—when an event took place, which must have greatly alarmed all men. Without any apparent cause, "the sun was darkened"; "when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour." During these three hours of darkness, we have reason to believe that Jesus was allowed to feel the full weight of God's wrath against sin. All the misery deserved by sinful man was in some wonderful and mysterious way laid upon Him, so that in some incomprehensible manner, He, holy as He was, tasted the bitterness of that death from which by His agonies He delivered man. What His sufferings really were, we know not. God grant we never may! But for the time He felt as if His Father had cast Him off for ever. What a dreadful thing must sin be, since it could not be forgiven without such terrible agony, as for three hours was endured in silence by our blessed Lord; and at length wrung from Him that heart-rending cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Let us, for whose redemption He thus felt the wrath of God, watch and pray, that His sufferings may not have been in vain for any one of us.