"Jesus in the midst."
It can hardly have been by chance that Jesus was placed in the midst. If three men were crucified together, surely he who was reckoned the chief offender would be put in the central position. The details of punishment would be left to the subordinates charged with carrying it out, and perhaps the feeling on the part of the soldiers was that one who claimed to be a King should have some sort of honor on the cross. But whoever ordered the position, and from whatever motive, we cannot but feel that the position was the right one. If intended as an insult, it has turned into an honor. The soldiers put Jesus just in the proper place. It was his place before, and has been his place since. It was right that, if others were to suffer with Jesus, he who suffered for all mankind should be able to look on a sufferer on either hand.
I. SOMETHING IN HARMONY WITH THE POSITION JESUS NATURALLY TAKES. Jesus never put himself officiously in a position of eminence. He never needed to say, "Leave the central place for me." Wherever he sat naturally became the central place. We cannot help putting Jesus in the midst. He acted in such a way that he could not help being the central character in every assembly. And this is the glorious thing about Jesus that, being the first, he has never lost his position in the midst. He is not so much above men as among them. Wheresoever two or three are gathered together he desires to be in their midst. Jesus, we may be sure, is interested in everything that ought to interest mankind. And in the same way we ought not to be interested in anything unless we can have Jesus in the enterprise.
II. AN EXAMPLE FOR US. There is not anything else in which we should follow the example of these soldiers, but we may well do it by always putting Jesus in the midst. And especially when we have to deal with sufferers of any sort, we should try to make them feel, by a remembrance of his position on the cross, that Jesus himself as a Sufferer was in the very midst of sufferers. And may it not be hoped that all evil-doers, all law-breakers, all suffering punishment for crime, will be particularly susceptible to the claims of Jesus, when it is made clear to them that in this emphatic way Jesus was "numbered with the transgressors"?—Y.
The great Model of filial duty.
The last hours of Jesus, as might be expected, were marked by a very deep feeling of the tie that bound him to his Father in heaven. The ruling motive was strong in death. But the human mother was equally remembered according to her claims and needs. Even in the midst of intense pain, and on the verge of death, Jesus thinks of everybody who ought to be thought of. The pain, intense as it is, will soon be over, but the Father in heaven will remain, with whom Jesus has to dwell in power and glory, and the mother on earth will remain, provided for through the ministry of a trusted friend. Jesus seems to have had a trying time with his relatives; well is it that this last glimpse is so beautiful.
I. CONTRAST WITH THE WAY IN WHICH THE RELATIVES OF JESUS TREATED HIM. This is the only transaction of Jesus with his kinsfolk in which he takes the initiative. Jesus had to guard himself from the plausible suggestions of those who felt they had a claim to shape or at least to modify his course. His difficulties in this way would begin long before he emerged into public life. We may be sure Jesus did not love opposition or contradiction for opposition's or contradiction's sake. But when his natural kinsfolk pointed one way, and his heavenly Father another, there could be no doubt in his own mind which way to take. And we must learn, as Jesus did, to make little of kindred as advisers, and yet remain loving and helpful to them as kindred. That a man is your father does not make him more competent to advise you; it may only make him more powerful to mislead and ruin you, if his advice is bad.
II. KINSFOLK MUST EVER BE TREATED AS KINSFOLK. The time comes when the claim of nature is recognized, and met all the better because other claims had to be refused before. If Jesus had listened to the expostulations of his kindred, he himself might have supported the old age of his mother, and soothed her dying pillow. But he did something far better. Whatever Mary may have lost in the natural, she had the chance of gaining far more in the spiritual. Mary was among the praying band in the upper room, waiting for Pentecost, and doubtless, when the Spirit of power came down, she would rejoice with exceeding gladness that her Son had gone on in single-hearted devotion to his Father's will. Jesus, therefore, is a great Example and Guide to us in all dealings with kinsfolk. In such dealings we peculiarly need an example and guide. He would not let his kinsfolk go beyond their rights, but all the time he was keenly observant of their claims. As we read of him providing a protector and son for his mother, we cannot but remember his indignant exposure of those who kept back helpful gifts from father and mother under pretence that they were dedicated to God. To please Christ we must both attend to the legitimate claim of natural kinship, and also we must be ready for the claim that comes upon the human friend.—Y.