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and gall, put it on the end of a reed and presented it to His lips[1]. But when He had tasted the vinegar, He said: “It is consummated!”[2] (John.) Then He cried out with a loud voice[3]: “ Father, into Thy Hands I commend My spirit!” (Luke.) And bowing down[4] His Sacred Head, He expired.
And behold[5] the veil[6] of the Temple was rent in two from the top even to the bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks[7] were rent. And the graves[8] were opened, and many bodies of the Saints[9] that had slept arose. Now the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, were sore afraid[10], saying:
- ↑ His lips. That He might at least moisten His parched lips.
- ↑ Consummated, i. e. the work of Redemption.
- ↑ A loud voice. This loud cry was miraculous, as was everything which surrounded and accompanied the death of Jesus. We who are of the earth die speechless; but He who came to this earth from heaven died, crying with a loud voice, to show that He had triumphed over death. In a general way men lose their strength before they die, and the tongue usually refuses its service, for those who are dying can either not speak at all, or else very feebly. But Jesus cried out His last words with a loud, far-sounding voice. It was as if death did not dare to lay hold of the Author of life, until He Himself bade it come. This loud cry was something so surprising that the bystanders, and especially the centurion, were deeply struck by it. In fact, He who had the strength to cry out so loudly, had the strength to go on living, and when He died, it was only because He willed to die.
- ↑ Bowing down. When the soul leaves the body, the head sinks down on the breast, because the muscles have no more power to hold it up; but Jesus, before He died, voluntarily bowed His Head in token of obedience and resignation to His Father’s will.
- ↑ Behold. This word implies that the following wonders occurred at the very moment when Jesus died.
- ↑ The veil. Which separated the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies. The hand of God tore the veil in two, and the Holy of Holies, into which even the High Priest was only allowed to enter once a year, was exposed to the gaze of everyone.
- ↑ The rocks. Especially on Mount Calvary.
There exists to this day on Mount Calvary a deep cleft twenty feet broad, about which a Protestant explorer, after having examined, it writes thus: “I am convinced that this cleft was the result of no ordinary or natural earthquake, the shock of which might have rent the strata on which the mass of rock rests. Such a fissure would have shown the line of stratum, the rent would have occurred at the weakest part; but here, on the contrary, the rock is rent obliquely, and the fissure crosses the line of stratum in a wonderful and unnatural manner. It is evident that the rent is the effect of a miracle, such as neither nature nor art could produce. I thank God, therefore, who brought me here to behold this witness to His miraculous power, which so clearly reveals the Divinity of Jesus Christ.” [Schuster- Helza miner, Handbuch rur Bibl. Gesch.7 II 552). - ↑ The graves. Which were hewn in the rocks.
- ↑ The Saints. The souls of the departed just rose and appeared to many at the time of the Resurrection of Christ.
- ↑ Afraid. All the marvels that accompanied our Lord’s Death, and especially His loud cry as He gave up the ghost, made a deep impression on the Roman centurion and soldiers, who were keeping watch over Him. The soldiers had seen many people die, but never had they witnessed such a Death as this. They confessed that Jesus was “a just man” (and therefore innocent) and “the Son of God”, and they were “seized with fear”, because they knew they had crucified an innocent Man, and hence they dreaded the punishment of God.
