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| On the Passion, VIII.: on Wednesday in Holy Week.
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Sermon LIX.
(On the Passion, VIII.: on
Wednesday in Holy Week.)
I. Christ’s arrest fulfils His own
eternal purpose.
Having discoursed, dearly beloved, in our last
sermon, on the events which preceded the Lord’s arrest, it now remains, by the help of
God’s grace, to discuss, as we promised,
the details of the Passion itself. When the Lord had made it clear by the words of His sacred prayer
that the Divine and the Human Nature was most truly and fully present
in Him, showing that the unwillingness to suffer proceeded from the
one, and from the other the determination to suffer by the expulsion of
all frail fears and the strengthening of His lofty power, then did He
return to His eternal purpose, and “in the form of a”
sinless “slave” encounter the devil who was savagely
attacking Him by the hands of the Jews: that He in Whom alone was
all men’s nature without fault, might undertake the cause of
all. The sins of darkness, therefore, assailed the true Light,
and, for all their torches and lanterns1011
,
could not escape the night of their own unbelief, because they did not
recognize the Fount of Light. They arrest Him, and He is ready to
be seized; they lead Him away, and He is willing to be led; for though,
if He had willed to resist, their wicked hands could have done Him no
harm, yet thereby the world’s redemption would have been impeded,
and He, who was to die for all men’s salvation, would have saved
none at all.
II. How great was Pilate’s crime in
allowing himself to be led astray by the Jews.
Accordingly, permitting the infliction on Himself
of all that the people’s fury inflamed by the priests dared do,
He is brought to Annas, father-in-law to Caiaphas, and thence Annas
passes Him on to Caiaphas: and after the calumniators’ mad
accusations, after the lying falsehoods of suborned witnesses, He is
transferred to Pilate’s hearing by the delegation of the two
high-priests, who in neglecting the Divine law, and exclaiming that
they had “no king but Cæsar,” as if they were devoted
to the Roman laws, and had left the whole judgment in the hands of the
governor, really sought for an accomplisher of their cruelty rather
than an umpire of the case. For they gave up Jesus, bound in hard
bonds, bruised by many buffets and blows, spat upon, already condemned
by their shouts: so that amidst so many signs of their own
verdict Pilate might not dare to acquit One Whom all desired to
perish. In fact, the very inquiry shows both that he found in the
Accused no fault and that in his judgment he did not adhere to his
purpose: for as judge he condemns One Whom he pronounces
guiltless, invoking on the unrighteous people the blood of the
Righteous Man with Whom he felt by his own conviction, and knew from
his wife’s dream1012
| 1012 Cf. S. Matt.
xxvii. 19 and 25. | , he must have
nothing to do. That stained soul is not cleansed by the washing
of hands, there is no expiation in water-besprinkled fingers for the
crime abetted by that wicked mind. Pilate’s fault is
indeed, less than the Jews’ crime; for it was they that terrified
him with Cæsar’s name, chode him with hateful words, and
drove him to perpetrate his wickedness. But he also did not
escape incrimination for playing into the hands of those that made the
uproar, for abandoning his own judgment, and for acquiescing in the
charges of others.
III. Yet the Jews’ guilt was
infinitely greater.
In bowing, therefore, dearly-beloved, to the
madness of the implacable people, in permitting Jesus to be dishonoured
by much mocking, and harassed with excessive insults, and in displaying
Him to the eyes of His persecutors lacerated with scourges, crowned
with thorns, and clothed in a robe of scorn, Pilate doubtless thought
to appease the enemies’ minds, so that when they had glutted
their cruel hate, they might cease further to persecute One Whom they
beheld subjected to such a variety of afflictions. But their
wrath was still in full blaze, and they cried out to him to release
Barabbas and thus, Jesus bear the penalty of the cross, and thus, when
with consenting murmur the crowd said “His blood be on us and on
our sons1013
| 1013 Cf. S. Matt.
xxvii. 19 and 25. | ,” those
wicked folk gained, to their own damnation what they had persistently
demanded, “whose teeth,” as the prophet bore witness,
“were arms and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword1014
.” For in vain did they keep
their
own hands from
crucifying the Lord of glory when they had
hurled at Him the tongue’s deadly darts and the poisoned weapons
of words. On you, on you, false Jews and unholy leaders of the
people, falls the full weight of that crime: and although the
enormity of the guilt involves the governor and the soldiers also, yet
you are the primary and chief offenders. And in Christ’s
condemnation, whatsoever wrong was done either by Pilate’s
judgment or by the cohorts carrying out of his commands, makes you only
the more deserving of the hatred of mankind, because the impulse of
your fury would not let even those be free from guilt who were
displeased at your unrighteous acts.
IV. Christ bearing His own cross is an
eternal lesson to the Church.
And so the Lord was
handed over to their savage wishes, and in mockery of His kingly state,
ordered to be the bearer of His own instrument of death, that what
Isaiah the prophet foresaw might be fulfilled, saying, “Behold a
Child is born, and a Son is given to us whose government is upon His
shoulders1015
| 1015 Is. ix. 6. The interpretation is fanciful,
but not without some support from the parallel phrase in Is. xxii. 22. | .” When,
therefore, the Lord carried the wood of the
cross which should turn for Him into the sceptre of power, it was
indeed in the eyes of the wicked a mighty mockery, but to the faithful
a mighty mystery was set forth, seeing that He, the glorious vanquisher
of the Devil, and the strong defeater of the powers that were against
Him, was carrying in noble sort the trophy of His triumph, and on the
shoulders of His unconquered patience bore into all realms the adorable
sign of salvation: as if even then to confirm all His followers
by this mere symbol of His work, and say, “He that taketh not his
cross and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me1016
.”
V. The transference of the cross from the
Lord to Simon of Cyrene signifies the
participation of the Gentiles in His sufferings.
But as the multitudes went with Jesus to the place
of punishment, a certain Simon of Cyrene was found on whom to lay the
wood of the cross instead of the Lord; that
even by this act might be pre-signified the Gentiles’ faith, to
whom the cross of Christ was to be not shame but glory. It was
not accidental, therefore, but symbolical and mystical, that while the
Jews were raging against Christ, a foreigner was found to share His
sufferings, as the Apostle says, “if we suffer with Him, we shall
also reign with Him1017
”; so that no
Hebrew nor Israelite, but a stranger, was substituted for the Saviour
in His most holy degradation. For by this transference the
propitiation of the spotless Lamb and the fulfilment of all mysteries
passed from the circumcision to the uncircumcision, from the sons
according to the flesh to the sons according to the spirit: since
as the Apostle says, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for
us1018
,” Who offering Himself to the Father
a new and true sacrifice of reconciliation, was crucified not in the
temple, whose worship was now at an end, and not within the confines of
the city which for its sin was doomed to be destroyed, but outside,
“without the camp1019
,” that, on
the cessation of the old symbolic victims, a new Victim might be placed
on a new altar, and the cross of Christ might be the altar not of the
temple but of the world.
VI. We are to see not only the cross but
the meaning of it.
Accordingly, dearly-beloved, Christ being lifted
up upon the cross, let the eyes of your mind not dwell only on that
sight which those wicked sinners saw, to whom it was said by the mouth
of Moses, “And thy life shall be hanging before thine eyes, and
thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt not be assured of thy
life1020
.” For in the crucified
Lord they could think of nothing but their
wicked deed, having not the fear, by which true faith is justified, but
that by which an evil conscience is racked. But let our
understandings, illumined by the Spirit of Truth, foster with pure and
free heart the glory of the cross which irradiates heaven and earth,
and see with the inner sight what the Lord
meant when He spoke of His coming Passion: “The hour is
come that the Son of man may be glorified1021
| 1021 S.
John xii. 23; Ibid. 27, 28, 30–32. The reading omni (all
things) will not escape notice in v. 32. | :” and below He says, “Now
is My spirit troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save
Me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Father, glorify Thy Son.” And when the Father’s voice
came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will
glorify it again,” Jesus in reply said to those that stood by,
“This voice came not for Me but for you. Now is the
world’s judgment, now shall the prince of this world be cast
out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all
things unto Me1022
| 1022 S.
John xii. 23; Ibid. 27, 28, 30–32. The reading omni (all
things) will not escape notice in v. 32. | .”
VII. The power of the cross is
universally attractive.
O wondrous power of the Cross! O ineffable
glory of the Passion, in which is
contained the Lord’s tribunal, the
world’s judgment, and the power of the Crucified! For thou
didst draw all things unto Thee, Lord and when
Thou hadst stretched out Thy hands all the day, long to an unbelieving
people that gainsaid Thee1023
, the whole world
at last was brought to confess Thy majesty. Thou didst draw all
things unto Thee, Lord, when all the elements
combined to pronounce judgment in execration of the Jews’ crime,
when the lights of heaven were darkened, and the day turned into night,
and the earth also was shaken with unwonted shocks, and all creation
refused to serve those wicked men. Thou didst draw all things
unto Thee, Lord, for the veil of the temple
was rent, and the Holy of Holies existed no more for those unworthy
high-priests: so that type was turned into Truth, prophecy into
Revelation, law into Gospel. Thou didst draw all things unto
Thee, Lord, so that what before was done in
the one temple of the Jews in dark signs, was now to be celebrated
everywhere by the piety of all the nations in full and open rite.
For now there is a nobler rank of Levites, there are elders of greater
dignity and priests of holier anointing: because Thy cross is the
fount of all blessings, the source of all graces, and through it the
believers receive strength for weakness, glory for shame, life for
death. Now, too, the variety of fleshly sacrifices has ceased,
and the one offering of Thy Body and Blood fulfils all those different
victims: for Thou art the true “Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world1024
,” and in Thyself so accomplishest all
mysteries, that as there is but one sacrifice instead of many victims,
so there is but one kingdom instead of many nations.
VIII. We must live not for ourselves but
for Christ, who died for us.
Let us, then, dearly-beloved, confess what the
blessed teacher of the nations, the Apostle Paul, confessed, saying,
“Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners1025
.” For God’s mercy towards us is the more wonderful that
Christ died not for the righteous nor for the holy, but for the
unrighteous and wicked; and though the nature of the Godhead could not
sustain the sting of death, yet at His birth He took from us that which
He might offer for us. For of old He threatened our death with
the power of His death, saying by the mouth of Hosea the prophet,
“O death, I will be thy death, and I will be thy destruction, O
hell1026
.” For by dying He underwent the
laws of hell, but by rising again He broke them, and so destroyed the
continuity of death as to make it temporal instead of eternal.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive1027
.” And so, dearly-beloved, let
that come to pass of which S. Paul speaks, “that they that live,
should henceforth not live to themselves but to Him who died for all
and rose again1028
.”
And because the old things have passed away and all things are become
new, let none remain in his old carnal life, but let us all be renewed
by daily progress and growth in piety. For however much a man be
justified, yet so long as he remains in this life, he can always be
more approved and better. And he that is not advancing is going
back, and he that is gaining nothing is losing something. Let us
run, then, with the steps of faith, by the works of mercy, in the love
of righteousness, that keeping the day of our redemption spiritually,
“not in the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth1029
,” we may deserve to be partakers of
Christ’s resurrection, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost
liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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