April 5

All the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. - Luke 23:48.

OBSERVE what is here said of SOME OF THE PEOPLE. This passage says, “all” the people; but this “all” must be taken with some restriction. We read in the thirty-third verse, that “the people stood beholding.” “And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; himself he cannot save.” The word all is often taken for many. There were many with him; and all those, it is said, who “came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.” The common people had always heard him gladly; they followed him from place to place. These were the persons to whom he principally preached; and he was so popular among them that the priests and rulers dared not lay hands upon him, for they feared the people.

Observe the action and conduct of the people. They “smote their breasts,” in token of solemn displeasure and sorrow. They not only lamented and condemned the injustice and cruelty of others, but reflected upon themselves for not espousing his cause- for not bearing testimony in his favour; and some of them, it is more than probable, had joined in the yell in the courtyard-“ Away with him; crucify him, crucify him.” And probably they had not only beheld his miracles, but had been made partakers of some of his benefits. Now, when they began to see what they had been doing, and who and what he was, they were greatly affected. They did it ignorantly; but it was nevertheless criminal. But, though the ignorance was a crime, it was pardonable; and now they began to discern the truth of the case, they smote their breasts. There was something of that feeling when, seven weeks afterwards, Peter stood up amongst them and said- “Ye have crucified the Lord of life and glory.” “They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.” Was this the case? They smote their breasts and returned.

Whether this may intimate that they would look no further; or that they would stay no longer, nor inquire what was the result of all this; or that the impression made was merely momentary, and that they returned to their ordinary concerns again; or was it in their favour, to show that they were unable to bear the sight any longer- that they wished to be alone to grieve, and therefore withdrew, as Peter went out and wept bitterly-as the stricken deer leaves the herd-or as duty called them to prepare immediately for the solemnities of the Sabbath, now so soon to draw on? Here we are again unable to determine; yet, from all the circumstances of the case, we may conclude that they sorrowed after a godly sort; that they carried away impressions which were never erased; and that this again was another fruit of the Saviour’s death, and the exemplification of his own prophecy, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and. die, it abideth alone; but, if it die, it bringeth forth fruit.”