ied with One
against whom the authorities cherished such implacable feelings; and
they may have been quite right not to make themselves too conspicuous.
Apart from the danger to which they might be exposed, they had a whole
tempest of trouble in their hearts. As yet they knew not the
Scriptures that He must rise again from the dead; and this collapse of
the cause in which they had embarked their all for time and for
eternity was a bewildering calamity. They had trusted that it had been
He who should have redeemed Israel, and that He would live and reign
over the redeemed race forever. And there He was, perishing before
their eyes in defeat and shame. Their faith was at the very last ebb.
Or say, rather, it survived only in the form of love. Bewildered as
were their ideas, He had as firm a hold as ever on their hearts. They
loved Him; they suffered with Him; they could have died for Him.

May we not believe that the eyes of Jesus, as long as they were able to
see, turned often away from the brutal soldiers beneath His feet, and
from the sea of distorted faces, to this distant group? In some
respects, indeed, their aspect might be more trying to Him than even
the hateful faces of His enemies; for sympathy will sometimes break
down a strong heart that is proof against opposition. Yet this
neighbourly sympathy and womanly love must, on the whole, have been a
profound comfort and support. He was sustained all through His
sufferings by the thought of the multitudes without number who would
benefit from what He was enduring; but here before His eyes was an
earnest of His reward; and in them He saw of the travail of His soul
and was satisfied.

In these three groups, then, we see three predominant states of
mind--in the soldiers apathy, in the Sanhedrim antipathy, in the
Galileans sympathy.

Has it ever occurred to you to ask in which group you would have been
had you been there? This is a searching question. Of course it is
easy now to say which were right and which were wrong. It is always
easy to admire the heroes and the causes of bygone days; but it is
possible to do so and yet be apathetic or antipathetic to those of our
own. Even the Roman soldiers at the foot of the cross admired Romulus
and Cincinnatus and Brutus, though they had no feeling for One at their
side greater than these. The Jews who were mocking Christ admired
Moses and Samuel and Isaiah. Christ is still bearing His cross through
the st