ry of man. The second was the rending
of the Temple veil, a type of the "new and living way" opened into the
presence of God for all believers. Thus these two signs correspond to the
human and the divine aspects of this atoning death, and indicate the
heinousness of sin and the purpose of redeeming grace.

The last word spoken by Jesus on the cross was an expression of perfect
trust and peace. He had shown his sympathy for others by his prayer, by
his promise to the penitent thief, and by his provision for his mother; by
three other words he had revealed his sufferings of mind and body and
their result in a completed redemption: "My God, my God ..."; "I thirst;"
"it is finished." He now breathed out his soul in a sentence of absolute
confidence taken from the psalmist and recorded by Luke alone: "Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit." It was the supreme utterance of
faith. The earthly ministry of the Son of God had ended.

Luke notes the effects produced by the manner of Jesus' death, and by the
accompanying signs upon the Roman centurion, the Jewish multitudes, and
the Christian disciples. The soldier was so impressed that he "glorified
God," giving his testimony to the fact that the One whom he had crucified
as a criminal was a "righteous man." Possibly he may be regarded as a type
of that host of believing Gentiles, of whom Luke liked to write, who were
yet to enlist under the banner of the cross.

The crowds of Jews had little real desire for the crucifixion of Jesus;
they had been hounded by their rulers to cry out for his death, but they
now returned to the city "smiting their breasts" in an agony of remorse, a
prophecy of Israel's future repentance and mourning as they "look on him
whom they pierced."

Most pathetic of all was that group of saddened disciples who "stood afar
off" gazing in bewilderment upon the scene; but for them the meaning of
that cross would begin to dawn as they should meet their risen Lord. For
none of his followers has the cross lost its mystery; yet to them all it
has become a symbol of triumph and of hope.

The body of Jesus was given burial by Joseph of Arimathaea, a man whom
Matthew designates as rich, Mark as a "councillor of honorable estate,"
and Luke as "good and righteous." Thus together they describe an ideal man
from the Jewish and Roman and Greek point of view. Perhaps he is to be
criticized for not having identified himself before this more publicly
with the cause of