THE CRUCIFIXION.
Pilate at last delivered Jesus over to be crucified. "And he went out bearing the cross for himself." Through loss of sleep and loss of blood, worn out with the long agony, Jesus fainted, and fell beneath the load of the cross. They compelled a man whom they met coming in from the country, Simon the Cyrenean, to bear the cross for Jesus, and thus, accompanied by a crowd of people, they came at last to Calvary. The scene which followed has been painted hundreds of times, as a whole, and in detail, sometimes with almost revolting realism, sometimes with fascinating power.
Hofmann, Plate 146, represents Jesus carrying the cross to Calvary (John 19:17), and the women who bewailed and lamented him. (Luke 23:27.) The company is just going through the Damascus gate.
Thiersch, Plate 147, gives the tragic incident which occurred just outside the gate. Jesus has fallen. He is speaking to the women the words recorded in Luke 23:28-31. Calvary is seen in the distance where the crosses for the two thieves have already been placed. There they crucified him between the two thieves.
Munkacsy, Plate 149, gives us a picture of the retreating soldiers after the awful deed has been done. "The people stood beholding . . . the rulers scoffed at him, the chief priests mocked, the scribes said, He saved others; himself he cannot save." (Luke 23:35, Mark 15:31.) Darkness is coming upon the earth. In Plate 150, John and the three Marys are at the foot of the cross. (John 19:25.)
Hofmann, Plate 148, has chosen a later moment. Jesus has committed his mother to the care of John (John 19:26-27), and with the word, "It is finished," has given up his spirit into his Father's hands. (Luke 23:46.) Amid rending rocks and opening tombs the Centurion is saying, "Truly this was the Son of God." (Matt. 27:54.)
Rubens, Plate 151, illustrates most graphically Mark 15:42-47. Joseph of Arimathæa went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. His request being granted, "he brought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth." (Mark 15:46.) "And there came also Nicodemus, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes." So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. (John 19:39-40.)
Gerome, Plate 153, has given the most weird and graphic representation of the deserted hill and the doomed city. The supernatural darkness is passing. A flood of lurid light pours upon Calvary, casting the ominous shadows of the crosses towards the retreating multitude. In the distance the livid temple marks the place of the rending veil. (Mark 15:38.)
Morris, Plate 152, has drawn the deserted cross. An unknown woman lifts her little boy that he may see that which was written above the head of Christ. "And there was written, Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews . . . in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek." (John 19:19-22.)
