LIFE OF CHRIST
A Harmony of the Gospels

LESSON  NINETEEN

The Death of Lazarus

Lazarus

The name is a shortened form of Eleazar,  meaning,  "God helps."
He was undoubtedly the youngest of the family,  and overshadowed by his older sisters,  bustling Martha and contemplative Mary .

Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil

This does not take place in the narrative until  John 12:3-8.
John,  writing years later,  uses this in the way of identification,  even as Matthew identified Judas Iscariot as the one who betrayed Jesus in Matthew 10:4,  some time before the actual betrayal took place.

Not unto death

The actual occurrence of death was in no way against this statement. Although death was allowed temporarily,  it was not to be the ultimate end of this illness.

The Glory of God was the object - and that not in order for God to be "made glorious,"

That He that is already Glorious might be recognized as such,  and not only that man might recognize that Glory,

This would point to a three-fold application:

Are there not 12 hours in the day?

Here Jesus alludes to the case of a traveler,  who has to walk the whole day:

He has already used the same mode of speech in chapter 9:4;
"I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work."

He had not traveled these 12 hours yet - His last hour is not yet come;  and the Jews,  with all their malice and hatred,  shall not be able to bring it a moment sooner than God has purposed.  He was physically immortal on this earth until His work was done.

Thomas ... the twin

Many translations have: Thomas, also called Didymus

It is said to have been customary for the Jews when traveling into foreign countries,  or familiarly conversing with the Greeks or Romans,  to assume a Greek or Latin name of  similar meaning to their own. 

He also had a Hebrew name that was Thaom, also meaning "twin."

In the tomb four days

According to the rabbinical notion the Spirit wanders about the sepulcher for 3 days seeking an opportunity to return into the body;  but when the aspect of the body changes it hovers no more,  but leaves the body to itself.
The friends of the deceased were in the habit of visiting the sepulcher for 3 days after the death and burial,  probably because they supposed they could thus be nearer to the departed soul.  When the 4th day came and decomposition took place,  the soul,  they supposed,  went away from the sepulcher,  and they beat their breast and made loud lamentations.

To say that one had been in the grave four days was equivalent to saying that bodily corruption had begun.

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

About 2 miles

Many translations have: "fifteen furlongs," which is about 2 miles.

Many ... joined ... to comfort them

The formal visitation of condolence from friends took place immediately after burial,  and lasted several days.
As soon as they returned from the grave the mourners stood in a row,  and their friends passed by,  each speaking a word of comfort while passing.

Mourning,  among the Jews,  lasted about 30 days:

I AM The Resurrection and The Life

The words  "I AM"  are very significant.

The Greek is emphatic: "ego eimi"

"I, even I am..."

Martha had stated the resurrection rather as a doctrine;
Jesus states it as a  PRESENT  FACT.
Even as light dispels darkness, so does Life dispel death -
and Jesus never came into contact with death without radiating that  LIFE  which  He  is.

Once again we see the recurring pattern:

Some might question  "the persistence of trust"  being applied to Martha,  who seemed to continually question.
But what we see here is marvelous and wondrous on two counts:

He groaned in the spirit ... Jesus wept

There have been several ideas put forth as to why Jesus showed these emotions.
Listed here are four of the possibilities suggested:

Lazarus Raised from the Dead

Take away the stone ... loose him

We see his situation:

We see his deliverance:

No one can give life except God.  All human efforts must fail where God is not the instigator.
However,  since we know that it is not His will that any should perish (II Peter 3 :9),  we know that it is His will that all should live,  therefore,  it remains that any failure to accomplish the life-giving plan of  God would fall wholly on the part of man.

From this we can learn two great lessons:

Excerpts from Farrar

The Sanhedrin met in a spirit of hatred and perplexity.

Caiaphas, being high priest

As they vainly raged in important counsels,  Joseph Caiaphas arose to address them.  He was the civil High
Priest,  and held the office eleven years,  from A.D. 25,  when Valerius Gratus placed him in it,  till A.D. 36,  when Vitellius turned him out.

That one  man should die for the people

In saying these remarkable words,  Caiaphas had no other intention than merely to state that it was better to put Jesus to death than to expose the whole nation to ruin on His account.  His maxim was,  it is better to sacrifice
one man than a whole nation.  He meant nothing more than that the way to prevent the apprehended ruin of their nation was to make a sacrifice of the Disturber of their peace.
But in giving utterance to this suggestion of  political expediency,  he was so guided as to give forth a Divine prediction of deep significance.

Rom 5:15
"... the grace of  God and the gift by the grace of  the one Man,  Jesus Christ,  abounded to many."

A city called Ephraim

A city about 20 miles north of  Jerusalem,  also mentioned in 2 Samuel 13:23.
It was a little village situated in the neighborhood of Bethel.

The chief priests ... had given a commandment

On or about February 22,  A.D. 33,  the Great Sanhedrin published the following notice for arrest and
punishment.  A court crier had to announce publicly or post such an official handbill in the major towns of  Judea some 40 days prior to a trial:

Yeshu Hannosri - this is Aramaic for Jesus the Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazareth.
But for the caption and the last sentence,  this proclamation is verbatim from the rabbinical tradition on  "Yeshu Hannosri"  in  "Sanhedrin"  43 a,  the Babylonian Talmud.

As both Galilee and Samaria were now closed to Him,  He could only journey on His way to Peraea,  down the valley of  Bethshean,  between the borders of both provinces.  There a very touching incident occurred.  On the outskirts of one of the villages a dull,  harsh,  plaintive cry smote His ears,  and looking up He saw "ten men who were lepers," united in a community of deadly misery.

They were afar off,  for they dared not approach,  since their approach was pollution,  and they were obliged to warn away all who would have come near them by the heart-rending cry,  "Tame! Tame!" -"Unclean! Unclean!"   There was something in that living death of  leprosy recalling as it did the most frightful images of suffering and degradation,  corrupting as it did the very fountains of the life-blood of man,  distorting his countenance,  rendering loathsome his touch,  slowly encrusting and infecting him with a plague-spot of  disease far more horrible than death itself - which always seems to have thrilled the Lord's heart with a keen and instantaneous compassion.

And never more so than at this moment.  Scarcely had Jesus heard their piteous cry of   "Jesus,  Master,  have mercy on us!"  than instantly,  without sufficient pause even to approach them more nearly,  He called to them aloud,  "Go, show yourselves unto the priests."  They knew the significance of that command  (See Life of Christ  Lesson 6).

Already,  at the sound of that potent Voice,  they felt a stream of wholesome life,  of recovered energy, of  purer blood,  pulsing through their veins;  and as they went they were cleansed.
He,  who has not seen the hideous,  degraded spectacle of the lepers clamorously revealing their mutilations,  and almost demanding alms,  by the roadside of some Eastern city,  can hardly conceive how transcendent and immeasurable was the boon that they had thus received at the hands of Jesus.

One would have thought that they would have suffered no obstacle to hinder the passionate gratitude that should have prompted them to hasten back at once - to struggle,  if need be,  even through fire and water,  if thereby they could fling themselves with tears of  heartfelt acknowledgment at their Savior's feet,  to thank Him for a gift of something more precious than life itself.

What absorbing selfishness,  what Jewish infatuation,  what sacerdotal interference,  what new and worse leprosy of shameful thanklessness and superstitious ignorance,  prevented it?
We only know that of  ten who were healed,  but ONE returned,  and he was a Samaritan.

The heart of Jesus,  familiar as He was with all ingratitude,  was yet moved by an instance of it so flagrant,  so all but unanimous,  and so abnormal.  "... but the nine - where are they?"  The voice of their misery had awakened the instant echo of  His mercy;  but the miraculous utterance of  His mercy,  though it thrilled through their whole physical being,  woke no echo of  gratitude in their earthy and still leprous hearts.
But this alien shall not have returned in vain,  nor shall the rare virtue of  his gratitude go unrewarded.

The nine received their physical healing only,
but the Samaritan received healing for  BOTH  BODY  AND  SOUL.

Men always ought to pray

The plain meaning and moral of  the parable is evident -

The contrast intended here is like that in Matthew 7:11  "If you then, being evil,  know how to give good gifts to your children,  how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

So here - if the judge,  who is unjust,  agreed to avenge the widow because of her continual coming,
SHALL NOT GOD, who is just,  avenge those who suffer for the cause of  His Kingdom?
He answers this question,  not with a mere yes!
But with the promise that He will avenge SPEEDILY, or SUDDENLY!

The lesson for us is:  The Necessity and Benefits of  CONTINUAL  COMMUNION with Christ.

Stood and prayed thus with himself

Or,  "stood by himself and prayed,"  as some translate the words.
He probably supposed it disgraceful to appear to have any connection with this penitent publican.
However,  he seems not only to have

He was not thanking God for His Divine Mercies,  but he
was congratulating himself  for his own human accomplishments -
and that in a voice to be heard by those who were standing around.

God, I  thank You

Jesus had said that unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees,  you shall not enter into the kingdom of God  (Matthew 5 :20). 

A Pharisee himself describes the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees here.
We find it to be two-fold:

In His woes to the Pharisees Jesus says  "...you tithe mint and rue and every herb,  and pass over judgment and the  love of God:  but these ought you to have done,  and not to leave the other undone."  (Luke 11:42)

I fast twice a week

The Jewish days of fasting,  in each week,  were the 2nd and 5th days.
These were instituted in remembrance of  Moses' going up to the mount to give the law,  which they suppose to have been on the 5th day;  and of  his descent,  after he had received the two tables,  which they suppose was on the 2nd day of the week.

That the Pharisees had a strong opinion of their own righteousness,  the following account from the rabbinical writings will prove:

Jesus said that if  we would be great,  we must  HUMBLE  OURSELVES!
No wonder  OUR  righteousness is likened to filthy,  putrid rags!

The tax collector, standing afar off

Not because he was a  "heathen"  (or Gentile),  for he was likely a Jew,  but because he was a true penitent,  and felt himself utterly unworthy to appear before God.  Nor did he feel himself to be more than any other man.

Would not ... raise his eyes

Holding down the head,  with the eyes fixed upon the earth was:

But beat upon his breast

Beating the breast was a token of excessive grief,  commonly practiced in all nations.
It seemed to intimate a desire,  in the penitent;  to punish the heart through the evil propensities of which the sin deplored had been committed.
Note: That the holding down of his head,  and the beating of his breast,  were done publicly - he was not trying to hide his guilt.

This man went ... justified rather than the other

II Corinthians 10:12
For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.      (NKJV)

Job 9:20
Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me;
Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.      (NKJV)

Philippians 1:11
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.      (NKJV)

Jeremiah 23:6
In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell safely;
Now this is His name by which He will be called:  THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.      (NKJV)

Testing Him

The word  "testing"  here means,  "to put to the test for the purpose of discovering what good or evil,  of  power or weakness is in a person or thing."
Since the result of this test usually disclosed evil in the person,  the verb acquired a secondary meaning,  namely,  "to tempt,"  in the sense of soliciting a person to do or say evil.

Is it lawful

What made the Lord's situation at present so critical in respect to this question was:
At this time there were two famous divinity and philosophical schools among the Jews -

Thus, when they asked  "Is it lawful..."  they did not necessarily confine their meaning to Scripture.
By answering the question,  not from Shammai or Hillel,  but from Moses,  Jesus defeated their malice,  and confounded their devices.

In this discourse,  Jesus shows that marriage  (except in the case of  sexual immorality  [The word here is from "pornos,"  which meant,  quite literally,  prostitution.] only)  is indissoluble:

If such is the case

This portion (Matthew 19:10-12) is made much clear in the translation of the Syriac Peshitta:

In other words,  Marriage is the Divine plan of God, and only those who are physically or spiritually (or both) prepared for a life of abstinence should not marry (as is borne out in I Corinthians chapter 7).

1 Corinthians 7:1-7
Now for the matters you wrote about:  It is good for a man not to marry.  But since there is so much immorality,  each man should have his own wife,  and each woman her own husband.  The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife,  and likewise the wife to her husband.  The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband.  In the same way,  the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.  Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time,  so that you may devote yourselves to prayer.  Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.  I say this as a concession,  not as a command.  I wish that all men were as I am.  But each man has his own gift from God;  one has this gift,  another has that.     (NIV)

Swete says of this delightful and touching incident:
"This follows with singular fitness after the Lord's assertion of the sanctity of married life.  Matthew regards the sequence as strictly chronological, and Mark appears to locate the arrival of the children at the house where the Lord delivered to the 12 His judgment on marriages and divorce.  ... It was a sign of the growing reverence for the great Rabbi  (among the common people,  at least)  when even infants were brought to Him for His blessing. 
Those who were brought to Jesus were doubtless of various ages,  from the infant in arms to the elder children
still under the mother's care.  The Lord Himself had passed through all the stages of human immaturity,  and this group of children with their friends recall His own experience at Nazareth."

That He might touch them

The custom of laying on of hands with prayer upon children for the purpose of benediction,  finds its archetype in Genesis 48:14,15  (when Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh).  Parents for their children,  it seems, 
commonly obtained such benedictions from the ruler of the synagogue;  and here was One greater than any local synagogue-ruler.  But perhaps the purpose of  the friends was simply to secure a blessing by contact with the wonder-working Prophet.

Excerpts from Farrar

The same basic attitude of  self-righteousness crops in these three places here:

Romans 12:3
For I say ... to everyone who is among you,  not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think    (NKJV)

A certain ruler

Much instruction may be had from seriously attending to the conduct,  spirit,  and question of their person:

What shall I do?

There are those who would condemn this young man  (and all others who would dare)  for trying to find a way to  "work"  his way into salvation.  However,  we must consider that he came to the right Source,  and in,  apparently,  the right attitude.

We know that our own works cannot buy salvation.  It is only through the work of Christ on Calvary,  and yet,  for all those who would enter in,  there is always  "something to do":

So in answer to the question,  "What shall I do?"
The answer is always the same - "that thing which is,  in ourselves,  impossible - in short -TOTAL COMMITMENT!"

Through the eye of a needle

There is supposed to be here a reference to a proverbial form of expression common in the Jewish schools, 
when one desired to express the idea of great difficulty or of impossibility.  Lightfoot gives several quotations from the rabbis,  where the difficulty is represented by the image of an elephant going through the eye of a needle.

Some writers,  however,  think that there is allusion in the text,  not only to a proverbial form of speech,  but also to a fact.  They refer to the low,  narrow entrances to Oriental houses,  and to the difficulty a camel would experience in entering,  though even a camel might enter if he would take off  his load and kneel down;  which may be considered a hint to rich men who would enter the kingdom of heaven.

One ancient writer says:  "In Oriental cities there are in the large gates small and very low apertures,  called,  metaphorically,  "needles-eyes,"  just as we talk of certain windows as  "bulls-eyes."
These entrances are too narrow for a camel to pass through them in the ordinary manner,  or even if loaded.  When a laden camel has to pass through one of these entrances it kneels down,  its load is removed,  and then shuffles through on its knees.

1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves,  therefore,  under God's mighty hand,  that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.     (NIV)

For a denarius

Some translations call it  "a penny."
A  "denarius,"  the chief silver coin of the Romans at this time,  and of the value of about 17 cents.
We must remember to reckon according to the rate of wages in that time.  A denarius was regarded as good pay for a day's work.  It was the pay of a Roman soldier.

The third hour

It has also been suggested that the different hours mentioned represent the time in a person's life when he surrenders to God,  and begins labor in His field.  (Child, Teenager, Adult, Old Age)

Beginning from the last to the first

This is a continuation of  the previous section.

Notice the pattern throughout the Old Testament the Scriptures:

Galatians 3:18
For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.    (NKJV)

Galatians 4:28
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.    (NKJV)

Ephesians 2:11-13
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh -- who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands -- that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.    (NKJV)

Ephesians 1:13-14
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.    (NKJV)

The Mother

Matthew (Matt 20:20) says their  "...mother came to Him with her sons, worshipping Him and desiring..." Salome was her name (Mark 16:1).  We cannot be sure with which of the parties the movement originated;  but as our Lord,  even in Matthew's account,  addresses Himself  to James and John,  making no account of the mother,  it is likely the mother was merely set on by them.  The thought was doubtless suggested to her sons by the recent promise to the Twelve of  "thrones to sit on, when the Son of man should sit on the throne of His glory"  (Matt 19:28);  but after the reproof so lately given them  (Mark 9:33, etc.),  they get their mother to speak for them.
(from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

Excerpts from Farrar:

Jericho

This was a large town about eight miles west of the Jordan,  and about 19 miles northeast from Jerusalem.

There are those who would be troubled by the seeming discrepancies between the three narratives of this occurrence.

As Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary points out  "Many ways of accounting for these slight
divergences of detail have been proposed. Perhaps,  IF WE KNEW ALL THE FACTS,  we should see no difficulty;  but that we have been left so far in the dark shows that the thing is of no moment any way."

We might also point out that it is not beyond the realm of possibility that there might have been 3 healed,  and that the two accounts represent two separate miracles. (John 21 :25).

Vincent says that diseases of the eye were very common in the East.  He quotes Thomson:  "The ash-heaps are extremely mischievous;  on the occurrence of the slightest wind,  the air is filled with a fine pungent dust which is very injurious to the eyes.  I once walked the streets counting all that were either blind or had defective eyes, and it amounted to about one-half of the male population.  The women I could not count,  for they are rigidly veiled."

Son of  David

Jesus was now once again on Judean soil,  and as we have already seen,  there was a particular meaning attached to this phrase,  "son of David."  At Jerusalem all the Jews thought of  David as their father,  and of Messiah as the Son of David in a special sense.

The Greek construction indicates that Bartimaeus kept on crying out to Jesus,  and repeatedly calling Him the
son of David.  In view of the attitude of the Sanhedrin,  we can well understand why the disciples wished to quiet the man - especially when we consider that Jericho was not too far from Jerusalem,  and that many of the priests made their daily trip to and from Jerusalem while they kept their homes in Jericho.

The progression from Spiritual Blindness to Spiritual Sight

This narrative illustrates,  in the natural & physical realm, the progression in the Spiritual realm of going from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight, from spiritual death to spiritual life:

Zaccheus
The name Zaccheus is Hebrew,  and shows that this man was a  "Jew."
The Hebrew name properly means "pure," and is the same as Zacchai in Ezra 2:9; Nehemiah 7:14.

Because he had engaged in a business so infamous,  in the eyes of the Jews,  he was considered as a mere pagan.

A  chief tax collector

Either a  "farmer-general"  of the taxes,  who had subordinate collectors under him,  and as such,  would be in charge of the entire district - or else the most respectable and honorable man among that particular class at Jericho (for further information on Publicans, or tax collectors,  and the possible position of Zaccheus, see Lesson 6).

According to Barnes, a chief tax collector presided over other tax-gatherers,  or who "received"  their collections and transmitted them to the Roman government.

Sought to see who Jesus was

Not only what kind of person He was, but which one of the crowd.

Excerpts from Farrar

(Life of Christ by Dr. Frederic W. Farrar Copyright: 1949)

I must stay at your house

Adopting the royal style which was familiar to him, and which commends the loyalty of a vassal in the most delicate manner by freely exacting his services  ("Ecce Homo").
(from Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

Revelations 3:20-21
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,  I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.    (NKJV)

I restore fourfold

Salvation has come to this house

They have this day received the blessings of the gospel. Salvation  "commences"  when people truly receive Christ and their sins are pardoned;  it is  "completed"  when the soul is sanctified and received up into heaven.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

For he has given "evidence" that he is a new man, and is disposed to forsake his sins and receive the gospel.

James 2:18
Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.    (NKJV)

Because he  also is a son of Abraham

Not only was he a descendant of Abraham in the natural, but his now he was a true son of Abraham

Galatians 3:6, 7
... just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."  Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.      (NKJV)

Six Days Before Passover

At the house

Jesus did not mean to make the city of  Jerusalem His actual resting-place,  but preferred as usual to stay in the
loved home at Bethany.  There He arrived on the evening of Friday,

Here He would part from His train of pilgrims,  some of whom would go to enjoy the hospitality of their friends in the city,  and others would run up for themselves rude tents and booths in the valley of the Kedron,  and about the western slopes of the Mount of Olives.

The Sabbath day was spent in quiet,  and on the evening they made Him a supper.  This Sabbath preceding the Passover was called by the Jews "Shabbath Haddadol," or the  "Great Sabbath."

Simon the leper

Matthew and Mark say,  a little mysteriously,  that this feast was given in the house of  Simon the leper.
John makes no mention whatever of  Simon the leper,  a name that does not occur elsewhere;  and it is clear from his narrative that the family of  Bethany were in all respects the central figures at this entertainment.

Who then was this Simon the leper?  That he was no longer a leper is of course certain, for otherwise he could not have been living in his own house,  or mingling in general society.  Had he then been cleansed by Jesus?
And,  if so,  was this one cause of the profound belief in Him,  which prevailed,  in that little household;  or was Simon now dead?

We cannot answer these questions,  nor are there sufficient data to enable us to decide whether he was the father of Martha and Mary and Lazarus,  or as some have conjectured,  whether Martha was his widow,  and the inheritress of his house.

Lazarus...who had been dead

Martha seems to have had the entire supervision of the feast,  and the risen Lazarus was almost as much an object of curiosity as Jesus Himself.

So many thronged to see Lazarus when he had been raised,  that the notorious and indisputable miracle had caused many to believe on Jesus.  This had so exasperated the ruling party at Jerusalem that,  in their wicked desperation,  they actually had held a consultation how they might get rid of this living witness (Lazarus) to the supernatural powers of the Messiah whom they rejected.

A Pound

The  "pound,"  varied in weight in different countries. The Roman "litra" which is supposed to be the weight mentioned in the text was equal to nearly 12 ounces.

Spikenard

The rose-red,  fragrant ointment made from the dried roots and woolly stems of the spikenard plant was a
favorite perfume of the ancients.  A precious ointment,  it was transported in an alabaster box to preserve its fragrance.  Because it had to be imported from northern India,  it was extremely yet understandably costly.

Three hundred denarii

The denarii was the "pence", "penny," the "pennyworth" - known as the Roman "denarius," or the Greek "denarion"  - it was the familiar  "day's wages"  of about 17 cents.  Thus, 300 denarii would be about $50.00 - equal to almost a year's work.

He...took what was put in it

Some translations have: bare what was put therein.
Some have:  "And stole what was put in it."  This seems the proper meaning, and it is used in this sense in John 20:15 ("If thou hast STOLEN him away").  In the same sense the word is used by Josephus where,  speaking of the pillage of the temple by Antiochus,  he says  "He carried off, or STOLE, also the vessels of the Lord."
It also agrees with the context,  and John has already (in verse 6),  classified him as a thief.

For my burial

The parts of  Mary and Judas in respect to the death of  Christ are brought into sharp contrast: