FAMILY AND FRIENDS AT THE CROSS

FAMILY AND FRIENDS AT THE CROSS

Luke alone refers to the fact of the presence of His ac­quaintance at the Cross. The reference is undoubtedly to HIS FAMILY AND HIS NEIGHBORS FROM NAZARETH, and their presence may be suggestive of a deepened interest. In all probability His own brothers, the sons of Mary, were among the number. It would seem as though James, the author of the epistle, who was undoubtedly the Lord's own brother, did not come into true sympathy with Him during the life of Jesus. May it not be that in the presence of that Cross and through the events following, he was led to a knowledge of the truth concerning the Master? In the attitude of these family and acquaintance of Jesus, and if the foregoing supposition concerning His own brothers be correct, what a revelation there is for all time that familiarity may be most distant.

DISCIPLESHIP was represented at the Cross especially by John. He seems to have been the only one who came very near the place of his Master's suffering, and his near­ness issued in the sacred charge of Mary, which was com­mitted to him by his dying Lord.

Looking back at that whole scene, how truly remarkable it is. The first impression is that of a Roman scaffold sur­rounded by a promiscuous mob, while one frail, weak Man finds relief from overwhelming agony in the act of death. But look again, and it is seen to be the place of a throne. The throne is occupied by One Who is at once King and Judge, finding verdicts and pronouncing sentences, and all in the neighborhood of the Cross are judged by the Cross. His dying is the condemnation of evil in every form. His dying is the pathway of deliverance for those who at the Cross turn from the things the Cross condemns, to put their trust in Him. Such He leads by the way of the Cross to the broad life that stretches away on the other side.