The details of the Passion, the material surroundings and
circumstances, are accepted from others, though tested, most of
them, on the spot; in regard to those details the author would only
say that it is strange how great at times is the divergence of
opinion amongst scholars, even on matters about which it would seem
at first sight that agreement should be easily reached. It would
almost appear that once we depart from, or attempt to add to, the
story of the Passion as it is told by the Evangelists, we are
liable to say what is open to question. Though, for instance, we
may know the main streets in the Jerusalem of that time, yet the
actual sites of the palaces of Annas, of Caiphas, of Herod, and of
late even of Pilate, are by no means agreed upon, while the
scourging, the crowning, the crucifixion, have been given different
descriptions, founded all on some substantial evidence. Frankly,
therefore, the author has taken all these studies as secondary. He
has used them as he has needed them, for the Passion cannot be
described without them; but for the first source of his information
he has relied on the four Gospels themselves. As in the study of
the Public Life, so here he has tried to keep his attention fixed
on Jesus Christ Our Lord, for whose sake alone the story of the
Passion is worth telling, refusing, so far as he has been able, to
be turned aside by any controversial question or discussion
whatsoever. He has asked himself: How does the Passion reveal
Christ to us? What manner of Man does He show Himself during that
ordeal? What were His thoughts and feelings? What was His soul?
And, hence, knowing that He is 'yesterday, and to-day, and the same
for ever', what is the meaning of Jesus crucified to me here and
now? We derive far more light for our purpose from the saints, and
from those who have written in the spirit of the saints, such as S.
Augustine, Ludolph of Saxony, Fra Thomas of Jesus, and in another
sense, S. Catherine of Siena. Love, real and objective, and the
insight and interpretation that come of love, are the only key to
the Passion, certainly far more than learning; for love alone opens
our eyes that we may know Him who endured it and why, whatever we
may know or not know about Him. The method, therefore, of this
study has been to follow the Evangelists as closely as possible,
reading between the lines of their narrative; the harmony used has
been that of Tischendorf, with but a few minor variations. The
streets of Jerusalem were very narrow indeed, some of them scarcely
admitting men to walk six abreast; when a camel lurched down them
with his load on his back there was little room for anyone else.
Though undoubtedly a crowd followed the Passion, which grew in
numbers as the day went on, yet no less certainly there were other
crowds which stood aloof. There was at least one crowd of
sympathisers, which S. Luke equally describes as 'a great multitude
of people' that 'followed Him'; there were many more who looked on
from their doors and windows, or squatting on their shop counters,
with that indifference which only the East can show. If the
procession from the Pretorium to Calvary, as seems not unlikely,
passed through the bazaar of the city, probably business went on as
usual; for crowds such as these were nothing very strange, and the
day, the eve of the great Feast, was an exceptionally busy day in
Jerusalem. We are tempted to compare the suddenness of the Passion,
and the success of its leaders, to one of those sinister coups
d'etat which have captured nations, and of which we have had
examples in plenty in our own time. All this we may assume and lay
aside: our main object is to study Him round whom the story is
gathered, that, if we can, we may know Him the better, whatever may
be our other mistakes and shortcomings.
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