Part 13 (2/2)

His natural character, loving and lovable, made him worthy of the trust.

Apparently he was better able to support her than were any other of the Apostles, and perhaps even than her sons. He seems to have been the only Apostle or relative of Mary who had a home in Jerusalem, where she certainly would choose to dwell among the followers of the Lord. Above all John was the beloved disciple of Mary's beloved son. So to him we can fittingly say:

”As in death He hung, His mantle soft on thee He flung Of filial love, and named the son; When now that earthly tie was done, To thy tried faith and spotless years Consigned His Virgin Mother's tears.”

--_Isaac Williams_.--Trans. An. Latin Hymn.

Blessed John. When Jesus called His own mother ”thy mother,” didst thou not almost hear Him call thee ”My brother”?

One tradition says that John cared for Mary in Jerusalem for twelve years, until her death, before his going to Ephesus. Another tradition is that she accompanied him thither and was buried there. What a home was theirs, ever fragrant with the memory of Him whom they had loved until His death. No incidents in His life, from the hour of brightness over Bethlehem to that of darkness over Calvary, was too trivial a thing for their converse. That home in Jerusalem became what the one in Nazareth had been, the most consecrated of earth. What welcomes there of Christians who could join with Mary as she repeated her song of thirty-three years before, ”My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in G.o.d my Saviour.” Of her we shall gain one more distinct view--the only one.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS _Rubens_ Page 200]

_CHAPTER XXVII_

_John the Lone Disciple at the Cross--Continued_

Three sayings on the cross reported by John:

”Woman, behold, thy son! Behold, thy mother!”

”I thirst.”

”It is finished.”

--_John_ xix. 26, 27, 28, 30.

Of the seven sayings of Christ on the cross, three are preserved by John only; one of love, another of suffering, and another of triumph. The first is that to Mary and John himself. The second is the cry, ”I thirst”--the only one of the seven concerning the Lord's bodily sufferings. John was a most observing eyewitness, as is shown by the details of the narrative,--the ”vessel _full_ of vinegar,” the ”sponge filled with vinegar,” and the hyssop on which it was placed, the movements of the soldiers as they put it to Christ's lips, and the manner in which He received it. He was willing to accept it to revive His strength to suffer, when ”He would not drink” the ”wine mingled with gall” that would relieve Him from the pain He was willing to endure. The end was drawing near. The thirst had long continued. He had borne it patiently for five long hours. Why did He at last utter the cry, ”I thirst”? John gives the reason. A prophecy was being fulfilled, and Jesus would have it known. It was this: ”In My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.” So ”Jesus, ... that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, 'I thirst.'”

John watched Him as He took His last earthly draught. It was probably of the sour wine for the use of the soldiers on guard. What varied a.s.sociations he had with wine,--the joyful festivities of Cana, the solemnities of the Upper Room, and the sadness of Calvary.

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, ”It is finished.” This is the third of the sayings of Jesus on the cross preserved by John, who was a special witness to the chief doings of his Lord on the earth. So the declaration meant more to him than to any other who heard it. Yet it had a fulness of meaning which even he could not fully know. Jesus' life on earth was finished. He had perfectly obeyed the commandments of G.o.d. The types and prophecies concerning Him had been fulfilled. His revelation of truth was completed. The work of man's redemption was done. On the cross He affirmed what John said He declared in the Upper Room to His Father: ”I have glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work Thou hast given Me to do.”

All four Evangelists tell of the moment when Jesus yielded up His life, but John alone of the act that accompanied it as the signal thereof, which his observant eye beheld. ”He bowed His head,”--not as the helpless victim of the executioner's knife upon the fatal block, but as the Lord of Life who had said, ”No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.”

John makes mention of another incident without which the story of the crucifixion would be incomplete. Mary Magdalene and other loving women had left the cross, but were gazing toward it as they ”stood afar off.”

John remained with the soldiers who were watching the bodies of the crucified. ”The Jews, ... that the bodies should not remain upon the cross upon the Sabbath, asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken”--to hasten death--”and that they might be taken away.” As John saw the soldiers ”break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with” Jesus, with what a shudder did he see them approach His cross; but what a relief to him when they ”saw that He was dead already, and brake not His legs.”

In a single clause John pictures a scene ever vivid in Christian thought. He knew that Jesus ”gave up His spirit” when ”He bowed His head.” The executioners p.r.o.nounced Him dead. ”Howbeit one of the soldiers”--to make this certain beyond dispute--”with a spear pierced His side, and straightway there came out blood and water.” There was now no pain to excite the Apostle's sympathy, and yet he reports the incident as being of special importance. He calls attention to the fact that he was an eye-witness, and that there was something in it that should affect others as well as himself. He says, ”He that hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye also may believe.” He explains why these incidents so deeply impressed him. They recalled two prophecies of the Old Testament. One was this, ”A bone of Him shall not be broken.” This reminded John of the Paschal Lamb which should be perfect in body; and of Jesus as the Lamb of G.o.d, by which name He had been called when pointed out to him as the Messiah. All through life Jesus had been preserved from accident that would have broken a bone, and in death even from the intended purpose that would have defeated the fulfilment of the prophecy.

The other prophecy was this,--”They shall look on Him whom they pierced.” Because of what John saw and tells, we pray in song,

”Let the water and the blood From Thy riven side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure: Cleanse me from its guilt and power.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: IN THE SEPULCHRE _H. Hofmann_ Page 201]

John once more furnishes a contrast between Jesus' foes and friends. He says that the Jews asked Pilate that the bodies of the crucified might be taken away. This was to the dishonored graves of malefactors. John more fully than the other Evangelists tells of Joseph of Arimathaea who ”besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus”--for honorable burial. Other Evangelists tell of his being ”rich,” ”a counsellor of honorable estate,” ”a good man and a righteous,” who ”had not consented to” the ”counsel and deed” of the Sanhedrin of which he was a member, because he ”was Jesus' disciple.” Mark says, ”He boldly went in unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.” He had summoned courage so to do. Hitherto as John explains he had been ”a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews.” John implies that Joseph was naturally timid like Nicodemus. As Pilate had delivered Jesus to His open enemies to be crucified, he delivered the crucified body to Joseph, the once secret but now open friend. The Jews ”led him”--the living Christ--”away to crucify Him.” Joseph ”came” and tenderly ”took away His body” from the cross.

”There came also Nicodemus,” says John, ”he who at the first came to Him by night.” Yes, that night which John could not forget, in which to this same Nicodemus Jesus made known the Gospel of G.o.d's love, manifested in the gift of His Son whose body in that hour these timid yet emboldened members of the Sanhedrin took down from the cross. They were sincere mourners with him who watched their tender care as they ”bound it in linen cloths with the spices” for burial, with no thought of a resurrection.

<script>