The Ascension

II: The Ascension

Acts i. 3-12; Luke xxiv. 44-53; Mark xvi. 19, 20.

The Ascension. J-J Tissot.

Forty days had elapsed since the Resurrection; the time had come for Jesus to leave the earth.  Whether warned by their Master, or perchance drawn thither by the Feast of Pentecost, the Apostles returned to Jerusalem, and there He gathered them about Him once more, probably in the hallowed Supper-Room.  For the last time He took His place at the table consecrated by the Eucharistic Banquet, and " while eating with them, He bade them not to leave Jerusalem, but to await the Father's promise." 

"Even that which you have heard," saith He, "from My mouth; for John baptised with water, but before many days hence you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit."

"Behold!" He added, "the fulfilment of that whereof I told you while I was still with you; but it must needs be that all things which have been written of Me, whether in the Law of Moses or in the Prophets, or in the Psalms, should be accomplished." And, even as He spoke, He opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures; when He added:—

"Look!  Thus it is written: It must needs be that the Christ should suffer, should rise again from among the dead on the third day, and that so penance and remission of sins in His Name be preached throughout the whole world, beginning at Jerusalem.  And you indeed are witnesses of these things.  I will send the Gift which My Father hath promised you; but do you abide in the city tell you be endued with strength from on high."

Then Jesus rose up and walked towards the Mount of Olives.  The Apostles followed, filled with brighter dreams of glory and earthly happiness than ever before; for the sight of the risen Lord proceeding before them rekindled all their old-time hopes.  They began to believe that even now the moment so long expected when they were to triumph with the Christ had come at last, and pressing nearer they ventured to question Him.

" Master," they asked, " wilt Thou even now restore again the Sovereignty of Israel?"

Once more and for the last time, the Saviour checked the surging ambitions of His children, and renewed His former commandment for them to await the coming of the Holy Spirit, that so they might carry the Gospel tidings unto the whole wide world.

"It is not for you," He told them, "to know the times and the moments which the Father hath put in His own power, but you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost, which shall descend upon you, and you shall be My witnesses at Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth."

Even Samaria,— that the land of drunkenness and falsehood to the mind of all Jewry?  Nay, the whole wide world howsoever contaminated by contact with accursed Heathendom, was to become the Kingdom of Jesus!  Whereupon the Apostles realized that this was not the time to question the Master, and they walked on in silence.

Angels address the men of Galilee. J-J Tissot.

Now they were coming to the brow of a hill which marks the outskirts of Bethany and the outer limits of Jerusalem.  There Jesus stood still, and lifting up His hands He began to bless His Apostles.  And behold!  While blessing them, He was raised up above the mountain tops.  A cloud caught Him away out of their sight, and He disappeared into the blue depths of the sky.

The disciples lingered awe-struck and overwhelmed with glad wonderment, when all at once two Angels formed like unto men, arrayed in garments of surpassing whiteness, stood at their side.

"Men of Galilee," they also said, "why do you still linger here gazing up into the sky?  This Jesus Who hath left you to ascend into Heaven shall likewise descend as you have beheld Him going up thither."

These words recalled to the Apostles' minds the promise of their Lord, "that He would not leave them orphans, but would return shortly to take them with Him." "Then having adored Him, they returned filled with great joy to Jerusalem, and they were without ceasing in the Temple, praising and blessing God."

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Jesus appearing to His Disciples in Galilee

Chapter IX: The Forty Days

I: Jesus appearing to His Disciples in Galilee

John xxi. 1-24; Matt. xxviii. 16-20; Mark xvi. 15-18.

As now the last days of the Paschal-tide were over, very many of the disciples set forth from Jerusalem to return home to Galilee.  It was there the Master had declared, even before His death, that He would precede them; and now the Angels and the Resurrected Christ Himself had reiterated his promise.  Accordingly they all hastened towards that country, selected by Jesus not without special design.  Indeed, by thus withdrawing His Presence to that region He avoided any collision with the Sanhedrin people; any solemn manifestation of Himself there was much less dangerous than at Jerusalem, where hatred kept His foes ever watchful, and ready to instantly exterminate the new-born Church, had she ventured to publish abroad the triumph of her Head.

The Apostles were the first to obey the Lord's behests, and shortly after this seven of their number chanced to be gathered on the lake shore of Genesareth.  "There were together Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the two sons of Zebedee.  The two other disciples are not named, but the presence of Peter makes us think at once of Andrew, his brother, a daughter of Philip, their fellow-townsmen and Andrew's usual companion.

The community funds, whereby their daily needs had been provided for, had disappeared with Judas.  Peter's eyes fell upon his boat and nets.

"I go a-fishing," he said.

All started up at once, replying:—

"We too will go with you."

It was near the twilight hour, the most propitious time for fishing; they started, pushed out with their boat, and for a long time trailed across those waters, whose likeliest spots they knew so well; but their efforts were fruitless; all that night they took nothing.

At dawn they were still dragging along near the banks, when they descried a man standing upon the beach.

They descried a man standing upon the beach. J-J Tissot

It was Jesus, but as yet they did not recognise Him.

" Children," said He, "have you anything to eat?"

"No," they answered Him.

"Cast the net on the right side of the boat," He said, "and you shall find."

The grave authority of the words struck the Apostles; the remembrance of a similar prodigy, happening on the same waters and at this very hour, after just such another night of barren toil, at once darted across their minds.  Instantly they cast their net, but were unable to draw it up again, so loaded down was it with fish.  At this token the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter:—

"It is the Lord!"

Peter sprang into the lake. J-J Tissot.

And Simon Peter, when he heard it was the Lord, snatched his coat and girt it about him (for during the work he had thrown off his outer garments), and, that he might rejoin the Master sooner, sprang into the lake.  The other disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net with them towards the shore, which was now only about two hundred cubits distant.

So soon, then, as they had stepped foot on land, they saw a fire of lighted coals with a fish laid thereon, and bread.

" Bring hither some of the fishes which you have caught," Jesus said to them.

The net filled with one hundred and fifty-three great fishes. J-J Tissot

Simon Peter again got into the boat and hauled the net to land, now filled full with one hundred and fifty-three great fishes; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.

Christ eating with His disciples. J-J Tissot.

"Come!" then said Jesus; "come, eat!"

The disciples sat around the fire; then the Master stepping forward, took up the bread and the meats, and passed them about among them.

Thus, then, the Apostles found themselves once more in the same familiar spot and at the Master's side, just as formerly, when in the olden days, after long hours of teaching and preaching, He would take them off by themselves, and explain to them the hidden meaning of His public discourses.  But there could be no longer on their part the same free fellowship, for now more than erstwhile He might well say that " He was no longer of this world." This thought, their very sight of their Resurrected Lord, overwhelmed the minds of all present, and this morning's meal was finished in silence.

Hardly had he come to an end, when Jesus turned toward Peter.

"Simon, son of Jonas," He said to him, "lovest thou Me more than these?"

"More than these?" what a reproach for the Apostle, ever mindful of his presumptuous and boast, – 

"Even though all should deny Thee, yet not I!"

Simon understood,— in Jesus' eyes he seemed now only the son of Jonah; " Peter" and the firmness once foretokened by that name, had disappeared.  Thinking thus, he bowed his head in grief.  

"Lord," he said humbly, " Thou knowest that I love Thee."

"Feed My lambs," replied Jesus, confirming him in his functions as the Shepherd of souls.

But for a power so lofty as this, there must needs be assured and solid foundations; wherefore Jesus again sounded the depth of Peter's heart.

"Simon, son of Jonas," He repeated, "lovest thou Me?"

This time the Master spared His Apostle any further comparison with his brethren, nor did He make allusion to his fall.  And Peter humble he bowed his head once more:

"Lord," he reiterated, " Thou knowest that I love Thee."

Then, as though the greater the trial, so much the more of confidence can be placed in his humility, Jesus said once more:—

"Guard My young sheep," thereby committing to discharge, no longer the lambs of the fall had only, but the mature a portion of the flock as well, whom henceforth he must needs both pasture and lead onward and defend from every danger.

But a third protestation of his sincerity was requisite to complete the expiation of Peter's threefold denial.

" Simon, son of Jonas," his Master demanded once again, "lovest thou Me?"

Jesus no longer asked the Apostle whether he adored Him as his God, but whether he loved Him passionately with a real warmth of charity.

Grieved at heart to hear Jesus still questioning him vast for the third time, Peter was sadly troubled.  Yet having learned at last to distrust his own strength, he threw himself upon the tender mercy of Him Who searcheth there reins and the hearts.

"Lord," he cried, "Thou knowest all things;Thou knowest that I love Thee!"

Thenceforth the humility of the son of Jonas was proven beyond doubt, and is love accounted worthy of the highest favours of God.  Where for one last sentence from the lips of Jesus made him once for all the infallible Teacher, the To judge from whom there is no appeal, the supreme Shepherd of the Church.

" Feed My sheep," Jesus saith. J-J Tissot.

" Feed My sheep," Jesus saith; no longer the lambs only, but "both the lands and the sheep,—space the mothers as well as their little ones, and the past is likewise, shepherds as regards their own people, but sheep also in the eyes of Peter." And the sheep, these past is of the nation's, must receive all things from the Prince of the cats apostles; from him they must obtain jurisdiction, power, doctrine.  In a word, or that Jesus had been to them hitherto Peter hereafter was to be, and, according to the expression consecrated by centuries of faith, was even now become the Vicar of Christ on earth.  Yet truly this commission was a dear-bought; four to walk in the likeness of Jesus it would be necessary for the Apostle to make his life the reflection of his Masters sufferings, and carry the imitation of his Model even unto the death of the Cross.

"Of a truth, of a truth, I say to thee," added the Lord, "when thou wast young thou didst walk whither thou wouldst; but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth by hands, and another shall girds thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldst not."

By these words, In John says, He meant to refer to the death whereby Peter "was to glorify God;" while at the same time they represented the entire life of the Apostle,— his fiery spirit in youth, eager to plunge into action, yet only on condition that he be allowed to be gird his loins had his own good time and pleasure; then his right by age, destined to endure the heaviest toils, wherein he would be required to renounce himself altogether, to suffer long and patiently, to bare all contradictions and opprobrium; finally his death on the Cross after the example of his divine cats master.  And all this conformity to the cap saviours life and death is comprised in the final utterance of the Christ:—

"Follow Me!"

Having spoken thus He rose up and withdrew from the circle of the Apostles.  But Peter, accepting this bidding literary, walked close behind him.  Nor was he alone; the disciple Jesus loved, he who during the Last Up and leaned upon His breath and said to Him: "Lord, who will betray Thee?"— this disciple followed also.

Peter, turning about, saw him.

"Lord," he asked, "and what shall before this one?"

"If I he will that he carried till I come," replied the Saviour, "what is that to thee?  Do thou follow Me!"

These last were as ever remained an enigma to the early believers, and gave rise to the strangest fancies; the saying soon spread abroad that the beloved of Jesus would never die.  John in his extreme old age, seeing a great credit had been placed in this fabrication, when writing the closing lines of his Gospel protested that the lord had not said: "He shall not die;" but "If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to the?" But it was useless for the Apostle to try to correct the popular misapprehension; even his death and the sight of his tomb could not undies see them.

"John but sleepeth in his sepulchre," they said; "there he waiteth the coming of the Lord, and the clouds of dust whirling above his grave bear testimony that are living breath ever quickeneth his ashes."

All that was now left the to do on earth was the fulfilment of His promise that He would manifest Himself to His disciples assembled together.  For the holding of this first Council of all Christendom He had designated a certain mountain; and here were gathered not only the eleven Apostles, but all that Jerusalem, Judaea, and it Galilee could furnish forth of faithful followers, because the Lords message had been addressed to the whole body of disciples:—

"Go and tell My brethren to go into Galilee; it is there they shall see Me!"

From Saint Paul's testimony we have it that more than five hundred were there met together.

When Jesus appeared the Apostles fell down before Him, but even in that congregation there was a movement of hesitation and Some doubted." Neither the Voice from Heaven which  had summoned them thitherwards, nor the site of the Apostles worshipping the Master, could chase away the trouble which filled their souls at witnessing this Apparition.  Still they remained standing, speechless, not daring to believe their eyes.

Jesus came forward to this anxious flock.

" All power," He said, "hath been given Me in Heaven and upon her.  Go, then, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.  Teach them to keep all things that I have commanded you, and lo!  I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the ages."

And it was not only unto men, but "to every creature" He sent them forth, thus to be the bearers of the Good News; for "all creation," fallen with Adam, "groaneth and travaileth in pain together." Jesus had forgotten nothing He had made; extending the Redemption bought for them by the Cross unto every created thing, He held forth hope and peace for all in His overflowing hands.  Saint Mark's account shows us how that regeneration is consummated by the preaching of the Gospel,—  devils flying before the very Name of Jesus, serpents and poison powerless to injure the Apostles, every ailment disappearing at the laying on of their hands.  

"Go into all the world and preache the Glad Tidings.  He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned.  And behold the signs which shall follow them that believe: They shall cast out devils in My Name; they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents" without fear of their venom, "and if they drink any deadly thing it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and the sick folk shall recover."

This appearance was but one of very many Manifestations which Jesus made of Himself during these days.  We know, likewise, that He showed Himself to James, "the brother of the Lord." Unfortunately the memory of what occurred at this event soon came to be distorted and finally grew into the legend that Saint Jerome read in the "Gospel of the Nazarenes."

" James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem, did make an oath after the Last Supper, neither to eat nor to drink until he beheld Jesus risen again from the dead.  On the morning of the day of the Resurrection, a table appeared before him furnished with food; and the Lord blessed the bread and he gave it to James, saying: 'Eat of this bread now, My brother, for the Son of Man is risen from the dead.'"

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Disciples at Emmaus; Jesus in the Supper-Room

II: The Disciples at Emmaus; Jesus in the Supper-Room

Luke xxiv. 13-43; Mark xv. 12-14; John xx. 19-29.

Meanwhile the day was slipping away, and, besides Peter and John, not one of the disciples as yet believed in the Resurrection of their Master.  Toward evening two of their number started out for a walk outside the city walls, taking the road leading to Emmaüs, a village situated some sixty stadia from town, in a westerly direction.  The Crucifixion, the wondrous doings at the Sepulchre, these rumours noised about by the women, formed the whole theme of their earnest talk.  And while their minds were absorbed in these thoughts Jesus drawing near walked along beside them, but " their eyes were veiled in such wise that they did not know Him." They became silent, thinking they had to do with a stranger.

The two disciples on the road to Emmaüs. J-J Tissot.

"What were you saying," asked the Lord, "and what were you discussing so earnestly along the way?"

The disciples stopped to look up at Him, with a glance of mingled sorrow and suspicion.

"Stranger," replied one of them, whose name was Cleophas, "are you, then, the only one in Jerusalem ignorant of the things which have happened there in these days?"

"What things?" The Saviour asked.

"Why, concerning Jesus of Nazareth," they responded; and forthwith both, amazed as they were, began to vie with each other in recalling what manner of man was this Jesus,— a Prophet mighty in work and word before God and all the people.

"Do you not know how the princes of the priesthood, and our chief men, delivered him over to be condemned to death and have crucified him?  We indeed had hoped that he would have delivered Israel; moreover and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things occurred.  It is true, certain women who were of our company have much affrighted us.  On going before daybreak to the Sepulchre they did not find his body, but returned saying that they had seen a Vision of Angels who told them that he is alive.  And some of our people went to the sepulchre and found everything as the women had said, but him they saw not."

All this was indeed nothing short of an avowal that they no longer believed in Jesus, and now only recognized in Him a Prophet, who, after blazing forth for an instant in their midst, had disappeared into the vast unknown like so many others.  Putting no further trust in a dead leader they were for withdrawing, saddened with the thoughts of such sweet hopes deceived.

"O foolish and slow of heart," cried their Fellow-Traveller, "who are unable to believe what the Prophets have spoken!  Did not it behove the Christ to suffer these things and so to enter into His Glory?"

And beginning from Moses and from all the Prophets, He explained to them that which was spoken of Him.  Throughout this masterwork of Inspiration, wherein are given the great outlines of that Prophetic figure of the Messiah, it was an easy matter for Jesus to display how, line by line, every feature of His Passion, His Death, and His Resurrection, had been foreshadowed.  And yet by themselves what can the Holy Books effect, even when interpreted by lips Divine?  They can only brighten our eyes with the first rays of faith; to enlighten and convince the soul, God's grace must penetrate it altogether.

The three travellers had reached the hamlet of Emmaüs.  Jesus made as though He would go further, but the disciples, all glowing with so much as they had heard of the Truth, constrained Him to abide with them.

"Stay with us," they begged, "for it is late and the day is drawing to a close."

Yielding to their entreaties, Jesus entered their stopping-place with them, where the place of honour was set aside for Him, and then as He sat with them at table, He took bread, blessed, brake, and gave it to His companions.  But, in the hands of the Priest Eternal, the grain grown from the ground became the Bread of Heaven, while at once a mighty flood of grace filled to overflowing the hearts of these two disciples; their eyes were opened; at last they recognised Jesus, and though indeed He vanished from them forthwith, their faith in His Resurrection remained none the less firm.

"Is it not true," they cried to one another, "that our hearts were all burning within us while he talked with us on the way, and revealed to us the meaning of the Scriptures?"

And they rose up at that same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, to acquaint the Apostles with what had happened.

They found the eleven gathered together in the Supper-Room, and as they entered were greeted with these words:

"The Lord is truly risen.  He has appeared to Simon."

Thereupon they in their turn related what had occurred by the way-side, and how they had known Him in the breaking of bread.  But their tale did not obtain the same credence as had that of Peter; this Wayfarer, walking along beside them, and breaking bread at table with them, this was no longer the Christ in His Triumph, Whom Simon and the holy women had adored.  Far from confirming their newborn faith, this new testimony only contributed to increase the doubts still springing up in their unsettled minds; and so among those gathered around the table where the Apostles sat at supper, unbelief continued to be in the ascendancy, when all at once Jesus stood in their midst.1

Christ appears to the disciples. J-J Tissot.

"Peace be with you," He said.

Their first feeling was one of great fear.  It was indeed the Lord they beheld with their own eyes.  His familiar features, the tones of His voice, even His customary greeting, everything precluded the possibility of mistake.  "But how could He have entered with no noise, the doors were shut for fear of the Jews?  Might it not be a spirit?" And their terror increased.

Jesus reassured them.

"It is I," He said; "fear nothing!  Why are you troubled and reason thus in your hearts?  Behold My hands and My feet!  It is indeed I Myself.  Touch, and consider that a Spirit hath neither flesh nor bones, as you see that I have."

And showing them His pierced hands and His feet, uncovering His side, He bade them contemplate and handle His flesh and His wounds.

Overwhelmed with wondering awe, the Apostles still stood amazed.  One last sign was needed to convince them.

"Have you here anything to eat?" asked Jesus.

A piece of roasted fish and some honeycomb were lying upon the table.  Of these He ate,— not that He was hungry, but to show that His risen body had kept its nature unchanged.  Thereupon taking the fragments, He gave them to the Apostles.  Peace being restored within their troubled minds, Jesus reproached His own for the hardness of their hearts, because they would not believe those who had beheld Him risen from the tomb.  Yet straightway He was moved to compassion for these earthly-minded mortals, and only strove to strengthen their courage by comfortable promises.

"Peace be unto you all," He said again; "as My Father hath sent Me, I send you."

"Receive ye the Holy Ghost," He said; "the sins which you remit shall be remitted, those that you retain shall be retained."

Never was any higher authority conferred on man; for by these words Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Penance and he gave to mortals the power of disposing of eternal treasures, the writer opening and shutting the gates of Heaven.

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus appeared in the Supper-Room.  Of all he was most prone to doubt; so when the joyous disciples greeted him with the words, "We have seen the Lord!" He only answered them:—

"Except I shall see in His hands the mark of the nails, and lay my finger upon the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

Nevertheless, distrustful as Thomas showed himself to be, he was nonetheless deeply attached both to the Master Whom he now mourned, and to his brethren whose renewed faith and gladness he envied.  Eight days later we find him again in their company, though as ever incredulous, and consumed at heart with sad regrets.

Then, just as formerly, the doors of that upper chamber being passed closed, Jesus came and stood in the midst of the disciples.

"My Lord, and My God!" J-J Tissot.

"Peace be unto you!" He said.  Then speaking to Thomas:—

"Put forth thy finger here and see My hands, reach hither thy hand and place it in My side, and be not faithless, but believing."

"My Lord, and My God!" cried out the Apostle.

He no longer asked to touch the wounds of the Saviour, but prostrate at His feet worshipped Him and implored His forgiveness.

For all rebuke, Jesus contrasted this tardy submission with the great merit and happiness of those many souls who should be leaving Him without having seen Him:—

"Thomas, thou hast believed because thou hast seen Me.  Blessed are they that are without seeing have believed!"

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Resurrection : The First Apparitions

Chapter VIII: The Resurrection

I: The First Apparitions

Matt. xxviii. 1-15; Mark xvi. 1-11; Luke xxiv. 1-12; John xx. 1-18.

The Resurrection. J-J Tissot.

While the Sanhedrin party were busied in taking precautions against Jesus, the great middle-class of Jews had deserted Calvary to devote themselves to preparations for the Paschal ceremonies.  Throughout this day what feelings swept over the hearts of the disciples?  Was it not the end of everything for them,— their dreams all shattered, their discouragement and grief more overpowering in the measure that their expectations had been so full of life and righteous hopes?  We might justly confess to a great longing to know something of the conversation of these men, after having been so bitterly undeceived, to hear their complaints and sympathise with their passionate regrets.  But the Gospel is silent concerning the exceeding wretchedness they must have felt that day; and we are told simply of their fidelity to the Law: "According to the commandment," it reads, " the Sabbath Rest was observed."

But then no one expected aught thereafter from their buried Master, still they loved Him always.  The last to leave His grave, the women who had followed Him from Galilee were the first to return to the tomb, eagerly desirous to embalm the Saviour's body with greater care than Nicodemus had been able to do.  Most of them had had time to prepare myrrh and sweet spices, after the Crucifixion; but having returned from Calvary later, Mary Magdalene, with Mary the mother of James, and Salome, were unable to purchase their perfumes till the evening of the morrow, after the hallowed season of rest; but by midnight after next day everything was in readiness, whereupon they arose and set forth, to fulfill their last pious duty to the dead.

It was still dim and misty when, fairly anticipating the First Day of the new week, they passed without the city walls.

Mary Magdalene and the Holy Women at the tomb. J-J Tissot

"Who will help us to remove the stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre?" they kept murmuring to each other as they hastened along.

Listening to these words, we may presume that Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James, and Salome (whom Saint Mark mentions) were at this juncture still alone; for with the united strength the holy women together would have foreseen no difficulty in pushing away the heavy door of the tomb.  Doubtless their companions were following them in the meanwhile, though they were as yet some way behind them.

The three women of Galilee were at some distance from the garden, when of a sudden the darkened earth quivered beneath their feet.  An Angel of the Lords descended from Heaven, and drawing nigh rolled back the stone which blocked the mouth of the Sepulchre.  It was long since tenantless, for Jesus had risen before the dawn, in a great stillness and all unseen.  

The Angel on the Stone. J-J Tissot

And the Angel sat upon the stones; his countenance glowing brighter than the lightning, his garments all of a whiteness like the dazzling snow; whereupon the guards were struck with such fearfulness that they fell down like the dead men, and as soon as might be one and all fled back to town.

Too far away from the tomb to witness what had just happened, the holy women were fain to hesitate for an instant, but reassured by the ensuing quiet they pushed their way within the shadowy garden, and at last making bold to raise their eyes and look about, they beheld the stone drawn away, for it was very great.

At this sight the Magdalene made all haste back to Jerusalem.

"Past all question," she thought, "the Masters tomb has been violated and His body abandoned to His foes!"

So thinking she runs the faster, she calls with hurried words upon His friends; these friends were John the Beloved and Peter, who, finding his way before this to the latter's abode had fallen down at Mary's feet bewailing his own fault.  Thereupon together they mourned the death of Jesus.

They have taken away the Lord. J-J Tissot

"They have taken the Lord away, from out the Sepulchre," cried the Magdalen, "and we do not know what they had done with Him."

At once the disciples sped away to the tomb, but found no trace either of Mary, mother of James, or of Salome; they had indeed but just now hurried away, " transported with fear and great joy."

These two women, lingering there alone after Mary Magdalene's swift departure, had finally decided to enter within the tomb.  And Angel was seated at the right-hand side of the dark cave; he bore the outward aspect of a young man clothed with white raiment.

They trembled much at seeing him and fear enchained their tongues, but he reassured them:—

"Fear not ye!" He said, "I know you seek Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified.  He is risen, He is no longer here!  Come and see the place where they laid Him.  Go quickly and announced to Peter and the disciples that He is risen from the dead.  He will go before you into Galilee: it is there that you shall see Him, according as He foretold it to you.  Lo, I have warned you thereof beforehand."

The two women went forth from the Sepulchre, their hearts divided between happiness and terror; but soon their fear overpowered them, and they fled without daring to repeat what they had just now seen and heard.

Peter and John run to the sepulchre. J-J Tissot

Meanwhile the two Apostles were hastening on their way towards the garden.  Both of them were running, but John was first to reach the spot.  Dreading to push forward beneath the mouth of the cave, he stooped down to scan the inner gloom, but his eyes could only descry the linen cloth lying on the ground. Hereupon Peter joined him, entered unhesitatingly and noted, not only these swathing-bands, but also the napkin wherewith the Lord's head had been enwrapt, now folded and laid apart in a corner by itself.  Reassured, John followed his companion and shared his glad surprise.  Within the empty Sepulchre there were no traces of violence; the burial vestments had been neither snatched away nor hastily left behind, but folded with decent care.  At this token the eyes of the Apostles were opened; at last they believed what a profounder knowledge of the Scriptures would have revealed to them long before,— " that it was necessary that the Christ should rise again from the dead!" And they returned straightway to their homes, overflowing with gladness, marvelling among themselves over this which had now come to pass.

The holy women and the two Apostles had believed upon the Angels testimony, but to Mary of Magdala was reserved the privilege of first beholding the Risen Jesus.

Coming back to the tomb, she stayed without, while, ever and again through her tears she would peer through the dark mouth of the cave.  Suddenly she saw two Angels, all in white array, seated there where the body of Jesus had been laid, one at the head and the other at the feet.

"Woman," they say to her, " why weepest thou?"

Christ appears to Mary Magdalene. J-J Tissot

"It is the gardener," she thought; "perhaps he may have taken the body, to protect it from any insult."

"Sir," she made answer, "if you have taken Him hence, tell me where you have laid Him.  I will go and carry Him away."

Jesus spoke but one word in answer.

" Mary!"

And the Magdalene recognized the Voice which had so many times comforted her soul.  She threw herself at the feet of Jesus, crying:—

"Master!"

And in the greatness of her joy, she clung to that transfigured Body.

But Jesus, while reminding her that she was to behold Him again more than once before the Ascension, now bade her to return immediately to the Apostles.

Do not touch me. J-J Tissot

"Touch Me not," He said, "for I am not yet gone up unto My Father; but go, find My brethren and say to them:—

"'I go up unto My Father and your Father, to My God and to your God.'"

Sublime message, whereby the Saviour tells all those whom He came on earth to redeem that henceforth they have no other Father but His, and that one day they shall follow after Him, to His Home in the skies.

Mary Magdalene rose up and hastened to carry His words to the disciples.

"I have seen the Lord, and behold this which He hath said to me!"

But as yet neither Peter lord John had returned to find their comrades; Magdalene therefore found them overwhelmed with mourning and tears.  In vain did she proclaim that Jesus lived and had appeared to her; her thrilling tones, her glowing certainty and all the great rapture with which the sight of her God had stirred her soul, were powerless to touch them; they would not believe her.

Even while the messenger chosen by the Christ was meeting with such a doleful greeting in Jerusalem, there were other women of Galilee approaching the tomb.  They came thither, after the example of the two Mary's and Salome, to anoint the body of the Lord, and numbered among them, besides certain of the disciples, Joanna, wife of Chuza, the Intendant of Herod Antipas.

At sight of the open Sepulchre, they quickened their steps, but, when they pressed forward within the narrow tomb, they looked about in vain for the body of Jesus.  And as they stood spell-bound with consternation, all at once, two Angels stood by them, in shining garments.  Seized with a great fright, their eyes fell before the glory of the heavenly Visitants.

"Why seek ye among the dead for Him Who liveth?  He is no longer here.  He is risen!  Remember that which He said unto you when He was yet in Galilee:'The Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinners and crucified, and the third day rise again.'"

Christ appears to the Holy Women. J-J Tissot

Recalling those words of the Master at last, they sped back to bear these tidings to the eleven and to all the disciples; but even while they were hastening along the garden path Jesus Himself appeared to them.

"Hail!" He said.

They drew nigh, all trembling, and kissed His feet and worshipped Him.

"Fear not," pursued the Lord, "go, tell My brethren that they departing to Galilee; it is there they shall see Me."

The holy women obeyed and declared before the Apostles that they had seen and touched the risen  body of Jesus; but they credited their words no more than those of Mary Magdalen.  All that they said seemed but wild fancy, and they obstinately refused to believe.

Hatred, however, had given the enemies of Jesus a clearer insight than theirs.  Warned by some of the guards as to what had occurred, the High-Priests called together the Ancients of Israel, and took counsel as to what it behoved them to do, in order to avert any popular belief in this new prodigy.  But there was no time left to concoct any clever explanation; they must content themselves with collecting a considerable sum of money and giving it to the soldiers, telling them:—

"You will testify that his disciples came by night and stole away the body, while you were asleep; and if the Governor comes to know of it, we will appease him and secure you."

The soldiers, taking the money, did as they had been bid, and from mouth to mouth, adds Saint Matthew, this story has been spread among the Jews, even to the present day.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Tomb of Jesus

 

Chapter VII: The Tomb of Jesus

Matt. xvii. 51-66; Mark xv. 38-47; Luke xxxiii. 45, 47-56; John xix. 31-42.

Immediately the veil of the Temple was rent "from the top clean to the bottom and torn in twain; the earth quaked, rocks were cloven asunder, graves opened, and many bodies of the Saints who had slept rose from their tombs."

The Centurion glorifies God. J-J Tissot.

The Roman Centurion was the first to bow down before the evidence of these prodigies.  With his soldiers he had remained on Calvary, standing "over against Jesus;" but when he felt the earth trembling beneath his feet, and beheld the Christ "in death, sending forth that great cry," "fear fell upon him, his eyes were opened, and he gave glory to God."

"Ay, truly this was a just man," he cried, "this was indeed the Son of God."

And forthwith his faith affected the frightened legionaries, and the cry arose:—

"Truly, this was the Son of God!"

That confession from the lips of heathen men, in presence of the expiring Christ, sealed the condemnation of the Jews.  And they, seeing what had come to pass, withdrew from thence, striking their breasts.  Soon upon Golgotha two little groups of men and women were left clustered together, though separated according to sexes, as is the Eastern custom.  On one side were the disciples of Jesus, all those who had known Him so well, finally united together in a common love they bore their Saviour; somewhat further away stood the women, who had followed Him from Galilee, with many others who had accompanied Him hither from Jerusalem.  In silence all were watching Him Whom they had loved so dearly.  Among them we once more meet the Magdalene and Mary mother of James, whom we had left at the foot of the Cross, and with them Salome, the mother of Zebedee's sons.  The gaze of every one there was fixed upon the body of the Master, for they clung to the hope, seeing the marvels whereat even the Jews were confounded, that all was not ended even yet.

Jesus had succumbed about the ninth hour, but the two companions of His sufferings, if nothing shortenedd their torments, had still several hours of agony before them.  Now the law prescribes that no condemned person should be left upon the gibbet longer than one day, and for the day before the Passover this commandment was more imperative than ever, since it was not fitting that that Holy Day should be desecrated by the spectacle of such crucified bodies.  The Jews therefore went in search of Pilate, and requested him to have the legs of the condemned men broken, so that they might be removed the sooner.

A soldier pierces Jesus' side. J-J Tissot.

The Governor dispatched another band of soldiers to Calvary. Taking heavy clubs they broke the legs and thighs of the two thieves; but coming to Jesus, they found only a dead body.  To break His limbs would be an unnecessary labour; so one of the soldiers, in order to make certain that the corpse was altogether lifeless, buried his lance in the right side.

Saint John, who was at the fort of the Cross, saw a stream of water and a blood flow forth from His breast.

"He that saw it," he says, speaking of himself, "gave testimony thereto, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he says true, that you also may believe, for these things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled:'You shall not to break a bone of Him;' and furthermore, the Scriptures saith again:'They shall look upon Him Whom they pierced.'"8

To Saint John's eyes, this last act of the Passion was therefore at once the fulfilment of a Prophecy and a symbol of future grace.  The spear-thrust which prevented a bone of Jesus from being broken made Him of a truth the real Paschal Lamb, the veritable food of the New Israel; while the water and the blood now spilled from His wound foreshadowed on the one His Baptism, with the life-giving ablutions of grace, and on the other, His blood divine in the Blessed Eucharist.

As the evening crept on, a Jew who had not hitherto appeared upon Calvary suddenly presented himself among the soldiers.  His name was Joseph of Arimathea, and he was a member of the tribunal which had condemned Jesus.  Rich, powerful, and of noble mien, he had hitherto lacked courage to declare himself in favour of the Lord, for fear of the Sanhedrin, and consideration of his own rank had held him back.  Nevertheless he was a good and just man, who was awaiting the Kingdom of God, and had made himself one of the Lord's disciples.  Moreover, he had allowed his feelings to be known abroad by firmly refusing any assent to his colleagues' counsels and actions.  The Master's death had finally conquered him; at the season when all were shuddering with fear, a sudden boldness sprang up within him.

Joseph of Arimathea requests the body of Christ. J-J Tissot.

He came to Calvary, and there found the soldiers preparing to take down the corpses, so as to bury them together with the instruments of execution; but he obtained from the Centurion who had just now confessed his belief in the Christ's Divinity that he would accord him such delays as he deemed necessary.  Joseph then boldly presented himself before Pilate and besought the body.

The Governor’s first thought on learning of the decease of Jesus was one of astonishment; so sudden an end to this torture was a thing unheard of.  Having had the Centurion brought before him, he enquired of him whether Jesus was really dead already.  Upon hearing his account he no longer hesitated to put faith in Joseph's word, and willingly granted him the Saviour's body, for it was Roman usage never to refuse this consolation to the friends of the condemned.  

The descent from the Cross. J-J Tissot.

The stars whose first beams would announce the beginning of the Sabbath, had not as yet shone out through the twilight, so Joseph had still sufficient time to purchase the linen shroud, with the winding-sheet, in preparation for the burial; accordingly with these he returned to Calvary, where, aided by the disciples, he lifted Jesus down from the Cross.

The season of humiliations was passed now.  His body, nailed to a criminal's gibbet, was to be entombed with becoming decency.  Another prince of Israel now helped to prepare His resting-place.  It was Nicodemus, the famous Scribe who once went by night to hold converse with Jesus.  Trembling before his fellow-councillors of the Sanhedrin, he has until now dissembled his real faith; but the sight of those wonders and Joseph’s example had triumphed over his weakness, and he followed fast upon his footsteps to Calvary, eager to lavish his wealth upon the Master Whose fate he was now bewailing. 

 

The stone of anointing. J-J Tissot.

Perfumes and spices, to the value of a hundred pounds, were brought thither by his orders; it was acompound of myrrh and aloes ground and mixed together.  With this the bleeding wounds were covered, while they proceeded to pass the long linen bands about the body, the arms, and the legs; according to Jewish custom, the winding-sheet enveloped His head,— and thus swathed in costly ointments, Jesus was borne to the tomb.  They must needs hasten, for the Sabbath was almost upon them; they had only these fleeting moments of even-tide, wherein to complete the sepulture of the Lord.

Christ carried to the Sepulchre. J-J Tissot.

They found the sepulchre already prepared; for near the place of the Cross Joseph of Arimathea owned a garden where there was a tomb hollowed out of the rock, which as yet had never been used for any man.  This he now consecrated to the Master's service, since the nearness of the Sabbath made it impossible to carry Him farther.  Such burial caves, chiselled out of the cliff-side, were made in the form of narrow halls, wherein niches or rows of benches were arranged to receive the bodies.  You entered these Tombs on a level with the ground or by a gentle decline, and the mouth was closed with a stone, difficult to stir from its solid base.  Jesus was laid upon one of these funeral couches.  With the help of their companions, these pious Sanhedrin-Councillors hurriedly pushed the heavy door athwart the entrance way; then all returned homeward to the city, over which the calm of the Sabbath night had now fallen, subduing all mankind to silence,— the holy quiet of their night of the Great Sabbath.

The two Marys watch the tomb. J-J Tissot.

Meanwhile the saintly women had followed Joseph throughout; they had noticed with what haste the two noble Councillors had fulfilled their office, with all else that was still wanting to make the burial worthy of the Christ.  So, having observed keenly where they had laid Jesus, the weeping women returned to prepare their aromatic unguents; "and on the Sabbath day rested, according to the commandment."

Nevertheless, after their departure the garden was not left entirely deserted; to women still lingered there, sitting over against the door of the Sepulchre.  They were Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Joses and the Blessed Virgin's sister.

In vain at the enemies of Jesus hoped that His death would bring them respite from all future anxiety.  Hardly was He safely housed in the grave before they recalled His predictions.  Had He not proclaimed that upon the third day He would rise again; that He meant to vouchsafe them but one Sign,— the Sign of the Prophet Jonas, buried three days beneath the waves only to come forth with a fuller life; that a mystic Temple should be destroyed only to be builded up again in three days?

Guards at the tomb. J-J Tissot.

Recollections like these robbed them of that night's rest; their anxiety and fearfulness was so overpowering that we see them, in the early dawn, already assembling again.  And this notwithstanding that it was the day after the Parasceve, as Saint Matthew remarks,— the morning of their great Paschal Sabbath.  But everything must yield before these importunate terrors, even the hallowed repose of this day; thus they braved such a sacrilege as this in order to hold conference with a Pagan, upon the one solemn this day of the year.

Pontiffs and Pharisees forthwith betook themselves to Pilate's residence.

"My Lord," they began, "we're just remembered that this impostor, while he still lived, said: 'After three days I will rise again.' Give orders therefore that the sepulchre be guarded until the third day, for fear that his discipleS should come and steal him away and tell the people:'He is risen from the dead.'For then the last error would be worse than the first."

" Take some of the guards," answered Pilate; "go, guard it as well as you know how."

They started off straightway, and, to make more sure that no one should secretly open the Sepulchre, they sealed up the huge stone and stationed before it their guard of Roman soldiers.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Death of Jesus: Part 2 of 2

Chapter VI: Death of Jesus

John xix. 23-30; Matt. xxvii. 33, 35, 39-50; Mark xv. 24, 29-37; Luke xxiii. 34-37, 39-46.

Meanwhile the storm of passion which His foes had raised around the silent Christ had grown less violent; though now and then the uproar would swell, as it was caught up again by the populace, renewed shouts bursting forth here and there.  But by this time a mass of dank and murky vapours, which had been rising over the earth, began to mount upward towards the Cross, enveloping it as in a funeral pall.  Terror speed anything the ranks of the throng; soon the space encircling the three crosses was left bare, and the little group drew nearer; it numbered only three women, with one of the disciples.  There was the Blessed Virgin with her sister Mary, Cleophas' wife; close beside them was Magdalene, the sinner, while John followed in their footsteps.  His name indeed is not inscribed here in the inspired history, but everything betrays his presence,— not only the reticence he shows in mentioning his own part therein, but even this very position beside his Lord, whither the Beloved Disciple could not have failed to find his way.

Face to face with the Cross, they halted, transfixed, their gaze riveted upon Him Whom they loved.  And Jesus after having first remembered His torturers only only to forgive them their share in His sufferings, after remembering the companion of His anguish, that so He might open to him the heavenly gates,— Jesus at length allowed His eyes to fall upon His own friends, who came to ask one last farewell; and looking, He beheld His Mother pierced with the sword whereof the aged Simeon had years ago forewarned her.

The tenderest of all the Church's hymns, our Stabat Mater, does but feebly express the poignant grief within her Mother's heart at such a woeful spectacle.  Better than anyone else Jesus realized what it meant for her: it was death He beheld drawing down upon Himself, but for His Mother could see only present grief and future loneliness.  Of His Apostles, John alone remained by Him, and growing more faithful in proportion as the danger increased, he now stood close at her side, protecting Mary.

Careful not to utter her name, fearing lest He might expose her to insults by revealing who she was, Jesus said, gently,—

" Woman, behold thy son!"

And then to John,—

" Behold thy Mother!"

From that moment the disciple received Mary into his dwelling and regarded her as his Mother.

" Behold thy Mother!" J-J Tissot

This last link binding him to earth now broken, Jesus cast Himself upon God's Bosom, that so His Passion might be consummated.  It was noonday when the first shades crept round about Golgotha; thereafter they had still continued to float upwards, shrouding Jerusalem, Judæa, and the entire world in a black winding-sheet.  No natural cause could be sufficient to account for this phenomenon, for the moon, just now at the full, rendered an eclipse of the sun impossible.  But the ground is wont to be swathed in murky vapours at the approach of earthquakes, which tear asunder the bowels of the earth, and now the world was wrapped in the trappings of woe, to bemoan the sufferings of its God.  The Cross, whereon the Christ hung in death, was hidden in a thick, black cloud; all human noises were hushed and died away, and the cry which antiquity has put into the mouth of Dionysius the Aeropagite expresses that mighty fear which shook the souls of men:

"Either the Divinity suffers, or He is moved to pity at some great woe!"

In this death of the Cross the torture grew each instant more unendurable; the lacerated feet and hands, the shattered body, wrenched so violently apart, the involuntary contraction of the muscles, the thirst, the delirium of fever,— everything intensified each separate pang to such a point that the crucified criminal cried upon death as a deliverer.

Thus, during three hours Jesus battled without uttering a single complaint.  What took place in the midst of those impenetrable shades?  The Evangelists, who have described the Agony in the garden, are silent concerning this of the Cross.  Yet in the end a great cried pierced the gloom, revealing the mystery of these hours of anguish.  Saint Mark has preserved these words just as they came from the lips of Jesus, in that familiar Aramean tongue which as a child He had learned at Mary's knee:—

"Eloï! Eloï! Lamma sabachthani?"

"My God! My God!  Why hast thou forsaken me?"

This lament is the opening of the Psalm wherein the Messiah’s Passion is all predicted,1— His strength ebbing away in streams of blood, His burning wounds and that parching thirst of whose fierceness the dying man alone has any knowledge.  But what were those bodily torments compared with the sufferings which racked His soul?  Indeed it was a mental agony which found an utterance in that cry of distress,—

"My God! My God!  Why hast thou forsaken me?"

Yet never did any dying soul feel as Jesus felt when now forsaken by God, because none but He alone has ever lived with God and in God.  Hanging there, reviled by earth and rejected by Heaven, He lingered in lonely conflict with another Agony like that which passed over Him in Gethsemane; yet this time He drained the cup to the very dregs.  To gather any faint idea of the wretchedness which seized Him in His present abandonment, we must remember that despite His own innocence, Jesus, when upon the Cross, bore the actual load of our crimes,—that he actually had taken upon Himself the wickedness of the world.  And now that God had transferred two Him all sins committed from the beginning unto the end of time, these all stood forth distinctly before His dying eyes, together with their very least circumstances.  Every treacherous and revengeful deed, the lewd and adulterous works of shame, blasphemies, slanders, and lying,— all together surged their foul floods into His Soul, and every other sense was swallowed up under these torrents of iniquity.  And it was in the same hour wherein the Christ was, as it were, overwhelmed in that first wild onslaught, that God saw fit to withdraw His Presence from Him, as if to crush Him beneath the weight of His vengeance.  Jesus, " having become sin for our sake," being made "a curse and an execration" (according to Saint Paul's expression), Jesus suffered at the hand of God such unutterable horror as no human tongue can declare.  In that hour Heaven drew away from Him into the darkness; Hell alone remained before the Saviour’s sight,— wherein was disclosed that never-ending despair, eternal, infinite, even as is the God whose penalty it is.

One lowermost depth of sorrow had still to be reached; it was the knowledge of how scanty was the number of souls who should profit by His Passion.  The multitude of the damned were all marshalled before His eyes; however unworthy, they were the members of His mystical Body, so closely united to Him that they could not be separated from Him without violence.  And as He saw this dearly loved portion of Himself about to be wrested from Him, Jesus felt that He indeed, like them was left destitute and reprobate for ever.

" He mourned," says Arnaud de Chartres, " that the fruit of His struggles should be torn from Him; He cried aloud that His sweat, His toils, and His death, were the thus bereft of their reward; since those for whom He had suffered so much would abandoned to everlasting perdition." This, then, was what wrung from Him that mournful cry:

"My God! My God!  Why hast thou forsaken me?"

But how can we make this moment of hope and despair to which Jesus yielded harmonise with the blessedness essential to His divine personality?  Here again there is involved an unfathomable mystery, the Mystery of the Incarnation.  To comprehend how the Son of God could speak of Himself as forsaken by His Father, we should first need to explain how the Infinite Being could take upon Himself a finite nature; for between these two humiliations there is only a difference of degree,— the abandonment of Jesus upon the Cross only continued what was first accomplished in the Incarnation, and in these two Mysteries the Godhead remains equally inviolable.  With the Christ in His anguish it was even as with those mountain chains whose white crests pierce the clouds.  Often the tempests do havoc with their rugged sides, strewing them with the wreckage of the storm; yet naught can trouble the snowy peaks, which, far, far above the whirlwind's reach, stand evermore serene and crowned with light.

In that same hour, the darkness disappearing, and with it the mists of fear, forthwith the Jews found courage to re-echo those words of Jesus,— feigning to mistake the divine Name of Eli for that of the Prophet.

"He is calling upon Elias," they said.

"He is calling upon Elias," they said. J-J Tissot.

Yet even by this and jibe they confessed to the throes of terror they had just felt; for all Israel knew that the awful Seer was to reappear upon a day of terror and blazing fire, beneath cloud-hung skies and a moon like blood, when all the heavenly powers would tremble in their spheres.

All at once another cry was heard.

"I thirst," Jesus said, giving tongue to the most excruciating pangs of crucifixion.

"I thirst," Jesus said. J-J Tissot.

One of the bystanders hurriedly dipped a sponge into the soldiers’ bitter drink and offered it to the Saviour; and as his arm could not reach so high as the head of the Sufferer, he took a reed, set the sponge upon the end of its stem, and put it to the lips of the Christ.  His deed of mercy drew forth a shriek of hatred from the mob:—

"Let's be!  Let's be!  And see if Elias will come to save him!"

"Let me alone," said the man; "we shall see, all the same, whether Elias will save him."

The Saviour pressed His lips to the sponge soaked with vinegar; then, with quickened powers, He fixed His gaze upon the world of men below Him.  In a trice His glance swept the whole duration of time and His Work.  He beheld the righteous who had gone before Him, and all those who in after days were to believev in Him who would find their way to His Cross, and there obtain their salvation.

"It is finished!" He said; everything is consummated,— My Passion, My Life, and the Salvation of mankind.

"It is finished!" He said. J-J Tissot.

Having spoken this last farewell to earth, He gave Himself into His Heavenly Father's keeping.

" Father," He cried with a loud voice, "into Thy hands I restore My Spirit."

It was the voice of a son throwing himself into the arms of his father, yet it was likewise the utterance of "Him from Whom no one taketh His Soul, but Who layeth it down when so ever it pleaseth Him."

The death of Christ. J-J Tissot.

Most of the disciples who were gazing upon this scene from afar, only heard "the great cry" mentioned by Saint Matthew and Saint Mark.  So, then, it must have been from some witness standing closer to the Cross, perchance from Mary's own lips, that Saint Luke learned Jesus’ last words.  John, too, was there, gazing upon the Saviour; and he saw that He had bowed down His head upon His breast and that He was dead.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Death of Jesus: Part 1 of 2

 

Chapter VI: Death of Jesus

John xix. 23-30; Matt. xxvii. 33, 35, 39-50; Mark xv. 24, 29-37; Luke xxiii. 34-37, 39-46.

The soldiers had finished their work of fastening Jesus to the Cross; the last spike had been driven through his limbs.  Thereupon the Saviour's first thought was to plead for them.

"Father, forgive them," He said, "for they know not what they do."1

Touching words, yet scarcely heard by those ruffianly soldiers; for other cares already absorbed their attention.  Since the Roman law allowed them such spoils as they could take from the prisoner’s person, they now proceeded to share among themselves the tunic and mantle of Jesus.  The latter garment, being made of many pieces, was quickly separated into four equal shares; but the tunic was without seam, "and, from top to bottom, of the same weft;" to divide it would have been to destroy its value.

"Let us not cut it," said the soldiers, "but cast lots for it, whose it shall be."

And so they appealed to chance for a decision who was to wear the Christ's robe.

'Upon My robe they have cast lots.' J-J Tissot.

"This," says Saint John, "was in fulfilment of those prophetic words: 'They have parted My garments among them, upon My robe they have cast lots.'"

Now when all was settled, the soldiers seated themselves at the foot of the Cross and kept guard, lest anyone should try to remove the bodies of the crucified before they expired.

Generally, when upon the scaffold, criminals are given some last tokens of pity and respect.  Jesus had not even this consolation.  His enemies, after being so long balked of their prey while He was protected by the Praetorium, now crowded about the Cross and revenged themselves by loading  Him with vile jeerrs and hideous abuse.  Foremost in the ranks of the rabble were those lying witnesses produced by the Sanhedrin the night before.  They passed and re-passed continually before the gibbet, wagging their heads in token of contempt, blaspheming, and reminding the Christ of the calumnies to which He had fallen a Victim:—

"Bah!  You who would destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days, come, save yourself and descend from the cross!"

Others hurled at Jesus the self-same challenge which He had once heard in the days of His first Temptation:—

"If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"

However, the multitude still stood motionless, regarding the Saviour with more of curiosity than hatred.  This silence irritated the Sanhedrin party, for in the meanwhile even such neutrality might be enough to allow the voice of justice to become audible in the depths of the people's hearts.  Accordingly we soon see these princes of Israel taking part in the clamour, along with their slaves and menials.  There were the same taunting invectives, the same senseless fury, with nothing but their more spiteful arrogance to distinguish them from the poorer mob.  They disdained even to turn towards the Christ and insult Him to His face, but, gathering together, priests, Scribes, and Ancients scoffed and cheered among themselves at His speechless agony.  Not daring to deny, in presence of the people, the miracles of the Galilean, they tried to blacken their renown, by contrasting them with the powerlessness to which He was now publicly reduced.

"He saved others," they sneered, " but he cannot save himself!"

Then, lifting their eyes towards the superscription, whose humiliating irony was Pilate's most offensive thrust,

"Let 'the Christ,'" they cried, " 'the King of Israel,' forthwith descend from his cross, in order that we may see him there and that we may believe in him!"

That title of "the Christ" brought back to the mind of Jesus all the last night's trial, the scene before the King, the struggles from which Pilate had retired vanquished, Himself stripped and scourged, then the long road to execution.  Still their rage waxed fiercer; now it even ventured to attack the love which Jesus bore His Father and, in its blasphemy, dared to defy the Almighty.

"He put his trust in God; so if God loves him let Him deliver him, for he said: 'I am the Son of God.'"

Nothing could check this fresh outburst of obloquy; in a short time the contagion spread through the masses, until the soldiers themselves had caught the spirit.  These fellows, now standing before Him, held up with mock sympathy the wine cup from which they had been drinking among themselves, and shouted at Jesus, with the crowd:—

"If you are the King of the Jews, now save yourself!"

And yet the insulting tumult had not reached its culminating point.  Jesus had been given companions in His sufferings, and He now beheld even these fellows turn against Him, and from those crosses, set up at His either hand, He heard this blasphemy re-echoed:—

" If you are the Christ, save yourself, save us!"

But only one of the robbers had spoken; the other gazed upon the Saviour, filled with admiration at His patient fortitude, and feeling his own heart drawn toward Him.  So when he heard his comrades scoff, he rebuked him, saying:—

The Penitent Thief. J-J Tissot.

"You have no fear of God, although you are condemned to the same sentence!  Yet for us, this is only justice, since we suffer pains we have merited, but this man here has done no evil."

Then, his faith springing up as if in quick response to his own testimony:—

"Lord," he exclaimed, " when Thou shalt come into Thy Kingdom, remember me!"

Never did grace so suddenly transform a criminal into a martyr, but surely never was confession of faith more meritorious, for it was in the very hour when, deserted and betrayed by all, Jesus hung in death upon the tree, that the good thief paid homage to His Kingliness Divine.

At this moment the Saviour could not make the slightest movement without intensifying His own anguish; yet, as He heard this prayer, He bent His head toward His companion and said:—

"I tell thee that, of a truth, today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise."

The humble penitent had only begged a place in His memory, and lo, this rich boon is granted him,— even the blessedness of God's Presence.  He had been contented with a ray of hope, but from this same day a never-ending happiness had become his portion.  Saint Matthew and Saint Mark seem not to have been aware of this episode, as recorded in the Third Gospel, for they only speak in vague terms of blasphemies having been uttered by the two brigands.  We know how much Saint Luke was indebted to Mary; doubtless it was from her lips he learned these words which passed from one to the other of those high crosses, only overheard by the Mother who stood so steadfastly beneath the gibbet of her expiring Son.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.