John 19:27

Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Then saith he to the disciple,

"BEHOLD THY MOTHER!"

What forgetfulness of self, and what filial love, at such a moment! And what a parting word to both "mother and son"!

And from that hour that ('the') disciple took her to his own [home] - that is, home with him; for his father, Zebedee, and his mother, Salome, were both alive, and the latter was here present (Mark 15:40).

A SUPERNATURAL DARKNESS OVERSPREADS THE SKY, ABOUT THE EXTREMITY OF WHICH JESUS UTTERS AN AWFUL CRY, BEING THE FOURTH OF HIS SEVEN SAYINGS ON THE CROSS

For this deeply significant stage of our Lord's Sufferings on the cross, we have the testimony of the first two Evangelists, and partially of the third. The beloved disciple accordingly passes it by, as sufficiently recorded.

Matthew 27:45-40; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44-42: "Now from the sixth hour" - the hour of noon - "there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour" - the hour of the evening sacrifice. No ordinary eclipse of the sun could have occurred at this time, it being then full moon, and this obscuration lasted about twelve times the length of any ordinary eclipse. (Compare Exodus 10:21-2.) Beyond doubt, the divine intention of the portent was to invest this darkest of all tragedies with a gloom expressive of its real character. "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice" (Psalms 22:1),

Fourth Saying:

"ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI? that is to say, MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?"

There is something deeply instructive in this cry being uttered, not in the tongue which our Lord, we believe, usually employed-the current Greek-but in that of the psalm from which it is quoted; and yet, not as it stands in the Hebrew original of that psalm [ `ªzabtaaniy (H5800)], but in the native Chaldee [shªbaqtaaniy], or Syriac form [ Elooi (G1682)], the Syriac form of [ 'Eeliy (H410)] - as if at that awful moment not only would no other words express His mind but those which had been prophetically prepared for that hour, but, as in the Agony in the Garden (see page 332, second column), that the mother-tongue came to Him spontaneously, as most natively and freely giving forth the deep cry. As the darkness commenced at the hour of noon, the second of the Jewish hours of prayer, and continued until the hour of the evening sacrifice, it probably increased in depth, and reached its deepest gloom at the moment of this mysterious cry-when the flame of the one great "Evening Sacrifice" was burning fiercest.

The words, as we have said, were made ready to His hand, being the opening words of that psalm which is most full of the last "Sufferings of Christ and the glories which followed them" [ tas (G3588) meta (G3326) tauta (G5023) doxas (G1391), 1 Peter 1:11 ]. "FATHER," was the cry in the first prayer which He uttered on the cross; for matters had not then come to their worst; "FATHER" was the cry of His last prayer; for matters had then passed their worst. But at this crisis of His sufferings, "Father" does not issue from His lips, for the light of a Father's countenance was then mysteriously eclipsed. He falls back, however, on a title expressive of His official relation, which, though more distant in itself, yet when grasped in pure and naked faith, was mighty in its claims, and rich in psalmodic associations - "MY GOD." And what deep earnestness is conveyed by the redoubling of this title! But as for the cry itself, it will never be fully comprehended.

An absolute desertion is not indeed to be thought of; but a total eclipse of the felt sense of God's presence it certainly expresses. It expresses surprise, as under the experience of something not only never before known but inexplicable on the footing which had until then subsisted between Him and God. It is a question which the lost cannot utter. They are forsaken, but they know why. Jesus is forsaken, but does not know, and asks to know why. It is thus the cry of conscious innocence, but of innocence unavailing to draw down at that moment the least token of approval from the unseen Judge-innocence whose only recognition at that moment lay in the thick surrounding gloom which but reflected the horror of great darkness that invested His own spirit. There was indeed a cause for it, and He knew it too-the "why" must not be pressed so far as to exclude this. He must taste this bitterest of the wages of sin "Who did no sin." But that is not the point now.

In Him there was no cause at all (John 14:30), and He takes refuge in the glorious fact. When no ray from above shines in upon Him, He strikes a light out of His own breast. If God will not own Him, He shall own Himself. On the rock of His unsullied allegiance to Heaven He will stand, until the light of Heaven return to His spirit. And it is near to come. While He is yet speaking the fierceness of the flame is beginning to abate. One incident and insult more, and the experience of one other predicted element of suffering, and the victory is His. "Some of them that stood there, when they heard that" - the cry just mentioned - "said, This man calleth for Elias" (Matthew 27:47). That in this they simply misunderstood the meaning of His cry - "Eli, Eli" - there can be no reasonable doubt; especially if, as is probable, this remark was made by Hellenistic spectators, or the Greek-speaking Jews from the provinces who had come up to worship at the feast.