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The Story of Jesus
“Tarry ye here, and watch with Me.”
Matthew 26:38
.
He went a short distance from them, and fell prostrate upon the
ground. He felt that by sin He was being separated from the Father.
The gulf between them appeared so broad, so black, so deep, that He
shuddered before it.
Christ was not suffering for his own sins, but for the sins of the
world. He was feeling the displeasure of God against sin as the sinner
will feel it in the great judgment day.
In His agony, Christ clung to the cold ground. From His pale lips
came the bitter cry, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
[103]
from Me; nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
Matthew 26:39
.
For an hour Christ bore this terrible suffering alone. Then He came
to the disciples, hoping for some word of sympathy. But no sympathy
awaited Him, for they were asleep. They awoke at the sound of His
voice, but they hardly knew Him, His face was so changed by anguish.
Addressing Peter, He said:
“Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour?”
Mark
14:37
.
Just before He bent His footsteps to the garden, Christ had said
to the disciples, “All ye shall be offended because of Me this night.”
They had given Him the strongest assurance that they would go with
Him to prison and to death. And poor, self-sufficient Peter had added,
“Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.”
Mark 14:27, 29
.
But the disciples trusted to themselves. They did not look to the
Mighty Helper as Christ had counselled them to do. So when the
Saviour was most in need of their sympathy and prayers, they were
found asleep. Even Peter was sleeping.
And John, the loving disciple who had leaned upon the breast of
Jesus, was asleep. Surely the love of John for his Master should have
kept him awake. His earnest prayers should have mingled with those
of his loved Saviour in the time of His great agony. The Redeemer had
spent whole nights in praying for His disciples, that their faith might
not fail in the hour of trial. Yet they could not remain awake with Him
even one hour.
Had Christ now asked James and John, “Can ye drink of the cup
that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
[104]
with?” they would not have answered so readily as they did before,
“We can.”
Mark 10:38, 39
.