But there is another way of reconciling this apparent difference. The Jews were accustomed to divide their day into four parts, corresponding with the four watches into which the night was divided. Beginning at six o’clock in the morning, which was the time when their day commenced, they sometimes called the first three hours, from six to nine o’clock, the first hour. The next three hours, from nine to twelve o’clock, they called the second hour; and then, according to this way of reckoning, the three hours following, from twelve to three o’clock, would be the third hour. And if this was the way in which St. Mark was speaking, then his third hour would agree exactly with the sixth hour mentioned by St. Luke and St. John. And so, when we think of the time of the crucifixion, we may remember that Jesus hung upon the cross, in dreadful agonies, from “about” twelve o’clock at noon-day until three in the afternoon. O, how long and painful those hours must have seemed to him!
The next thing to notice is—the manner of the crucifixion. Suppose that you and I had been standing on Calvary at the time of our Saviour’s death: what should we have seen? Why, lying there on the ground, we should have seen the great wooden cross, on which Jesus was to suffer. It is made of two pieces. There is one long, upright piece of timber, and a shorter one fastened across this upright beam, at the upper end. There is Jesus standing by—bound, and bleeding, and crowned with thorns. The soldiers take him and lay his body on the cross, with his back towards it. They stretch out his arms to their full length, along the upper beam of the cross. They take heavy hammers and drive great rough nails through the palms of his hands, and through the tender part of his feet. How terrible the suffering caused by every blow of those hammers! And see, when this is done, the soldiers raise up the cross, and place the lower end of it in a hole they had prepared for it. It comes down with a jar. What terrible tortures that jar sends through every part of the suffering Saviour’s frame! About the middle of the cross is a projecting piece of wood, to form a sort of seat, so as to prevent the whole weight of the body from hanging from the nails, and tearing the flesh of the hands and feet. And there the Son of God is left to suffer tortures that cannot be expressed, till death shall come and bring relief.
The witnesses of the crucifixion is the next thing of which to speak.
Near the cross was his mother and the good women who were her companions. John is the only one of the apostles found near the cross at the time when their Lord was crucified. The soldiers and the priests were there. The walls of Jerusalem were, no doubt, lined with people looking anxiously on; and crowds of strangers were standing by, beholding this sad event; for Jerusalem was always full of persons from a distance at that season who came to keep the feast of the Passover. And then, if our eyes had been opened, as the eyes of Elisha’s servant were, (II. Kings vi: 17), so that we could have seen as spirits do, we should have beheld multitudes of angels among the spectators of the crucifixion. We should have seen them hovering over the cross and gazing with wonder on the sight that met their view there—the Son of God—hanging on the cross in agonies and blood!
The wonders attending the crucifixion is another thing to notice. There was the darkness over all the land from the sixth to the ninth hour, or from twelve to three o’clock. This was not a natural darkness caused by an eclipse of the sun, for the Jewish Passover was held at the time of the full moon, and it is impossible to have an eclipse then. No; it was a miraculous darkness. The sun hid his face, as if he was ashamed to look on and see
“When God, the Mighty Maker died,
For man, the creature’s sin.”
And then there was an earthquake. The great globe itself seemed to tremble at the thought of the dreadful deed that was taking place on its surface. The solid rocks were rent in pieces. The graves were opened, and many of the dead buried in them rose, and came back to life. And then, at the same time, the vail of the temple—that thick, strong vail—which hung between the holy place and the most holy place, without any one touching it, was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. This was done by miracle. If you and I had been there, with our eyes opened, as I said a little while ago, we should probably have seen two mighty angels, taking hold of that vail and rending it. These were the wonders that attended the crucifixion.
And then there are the words spoken by Jesus on the cross, to notice. Seven times the blessed Lord opened his mouth and spoke as he hung amidst the torturing agonies of the cross. The first time he spoke there, was to pray for his murderers. St. Luke xxiii: 34. Then he spoke to his disciple John, who was standing near the cross, and asked him to take care of his mother. St. John xix: 25-27. Then he answered the prayer of the dying thief, and told him he should be with him in paradise that day. St. Luke xxiii: 39-43. Then he said—“I thirst.” St. John xix: 28. Then came the awful cry which he uttered when his Father in heaven forsook him and left him alone. St. Matt. xxvii: 46. Then he said—“It is finished!” St. John xix: 30. Then he “cried with a loud voice,” and said—“Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” St. Luke xxiii: 46. And then he meekly bowed his head and died.
Such is the history of the crucifixion—the most solemn, the most awful, the most important event that ever took place since the world was made.