down under His crown of thorns. But His bleeding Heart is till unconquered, still beats with love for His tormentors; His Eyes, too, are free, and are raised pleadingly to His Father; His Tongue is unfettered, and with that He prays aloud for His enemies. In the midst of the turmoil of mockery and blasphemy, Jesus prays that His murderers may be forgiven. His Blood, innocently shed, cries to heaven for vengeance, but His loving Heart cries out for pardon. He does not remember that it is through His murderers that He is suffering, He only remembers that He is suffering and dying for them, and prays that even for them His Precious Blood may not be shed in vain. This first utterance of our Lord on the Cross shows us, then, 1. that He is the Redeemer of all men, and that He suffered and died as our Advocate and Mediator with the Father; 2. that Jesus is the Son of God, for even on the Cross He speaks as a Son to His Father, and the consciousness of His divine dignity never left Him even when He was brought most low. He suffered and died as the Son of God. It shows us 3. the infinite love of Jesus for His enemies. By forgiving His enemies and praying that they might be forgiven, He proved Himself to be the Son of God, more than if He had come down from the Cross; for love such as this had never been seen on earth, and did not spring from earth but from heaven, from the bosom of the Eternal Father. Our Blessed Lord thus teaches us not only by His words, but also by His example, that we should “love our enemies, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate us”.
The fruit of our Lord's prayer was that the Jews were given a long reprieve (till the year 70), in which interval many thousands were converted to the Christian faith, and were saved. Only a few weeks later, on the Feast of Pentecost, three thousand were baptized, among whom were, no doubt, many of those who scoffed at Jesus on the Cross, and for whom He had therefore especially prayed.
Blasphemy. The scoffers spoke contemptuously of the power of Jesus, of His Divinity, and of His royal dignity as the Messias or king of the Jews.
Unbelief. Now, would the chief priests and scribes have believed if Jesus had come down alive from the Cross? No! They saw the wonders which accompanied His death, and were convinced of the truth of the most wonderful of all miracles, namely His Resurrection from the dead, but in spite of all, they hardened their hearts and would not believe.
2. The Second Word.
And one of the thieves who were crucified with Him, blasphemed Him like the others, saying: “If Thou be Christ, save
