Servant of Servants
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of the cross, and the pain was torturing His heart. He knew that He
would be deserted in the hour of His betrayal. He knew that by the
most humiliating process to which criminals were subjected He would
be put to death. He knew the ingratitude and cruelty of those He had
come to save. He knew how great the sacrifice that He must make, and
for how many it would be in vain. Knowing all that was before Him,
He might naturally have been overwhelmed with the thought of His
own humiliation and suffering. But He looked upon the twelve, who
had been with Him as His own, and who, after His shame and sorrow
and painful usage were over, would be left to struggle in the world.
His thoughts of what He Himself must suffer were ever connected
with His disciples. He did not think of Himself. His care for them was
uppermost in His mind.
On this last evening with His disciples, Jesus had much to tell
them. If they had been prepared to receive what He longed to impart,
they would have been saved from heartbreaking anguish, from disap-
pointment and unbelief. But Jesus saw that they could not bear what
He had to say. As He looked into their faces, the words of warning
and comfort were stayed upon His lips. Moments passed in silence.
Jesus appeared to be waiting. The disciples were ill at ease. The
sympathy and tenderness awakened by Christ’s grief seemed to have
passed away. His sorrowful words, pointing to His own suffering, had
made little impression. The glances they cast upon each other told of
jealousy and contention.
There was “a strife among them, which of them should be ac-
counted the greatest.” This contention, carried on in the presence of
Christ, grieved and wounded Him. The disciples clung to their favorite
idea that Christ would assert His power, and take His position on the
throne of David. And in heart each still longed for the highest place
in the kingdom. They had placed their own estimate upon themselves
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and upon one another, and, instead of regarding their brethren as more
worthy, they had placed themselves first. The request of James and
John to sit on the right and left of Christ’s throne had excited the indig-
nation of the others. That the two brothers should presume to ask for
the highest position so stirred the ten that alienation threatened. They
felt that they were misjudged, that their fidelity and talents were not
appreciated. Judas was the most severe upon James and John.