Healing in the Hour of Betrayal. "WHILE LUKE xxii. 47-53. LE He yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? When they which were about Him saw what would follow, they said unto Him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And He touched his ear, and healed him. Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the Temple, and the elders, which were come to Him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? When I was daily with you in the Temple, ye stretched forth no hands against Me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness." "Once more He expostulates with him: even in the commission of the sin that Voice of warning spake. Does it not so speak to me often and often, yet I hear not! Help, Lord, that I do so no more."—". 'Daily Steps towards Heaven." "Blessed are the ears that gladly receive the pulses of the Divine whisper, and give no heed to the many whisperings of the world." "Have a good conscience, and thou shalt ever have joy. . . An evil conscience is always fearful and unquiet."—" The Imitation of Christ.” 2 "Suffer ye thus far."] "These words are to be accepted as still addressed to the disciples: 'Hold now; thus far have ye gone in resistance, but let it be no further; no more of this.' . . . Having thus checked the too forward zeal of His disciples, and now carrying out into act His own precept, 'Love your enemies . . . do good to them that hate you,' He touched the ear of the ... wounded man and healed him."—Archbishop Trench. "O blessed Lord, give me grace that, according to Thy precept and practice, I may love mine enemies, pray for them, and do good to them who do evil to me; and be merciful to me."—Litany of Bishop Andrewes. "A man is very apt to think and talk much of his rights, and to profess that he is bound to stand up for his rights, and not to suffer them to be trampled upon. But let the Christian ask, What is his right? Is it not to show mercy, and love, and forbearance, and forgiveness? Let him stand up for this right, and he will do well."-Canon How. "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matt. xi. 29). "AS Jesus before the Council. LUKE xxii. 66-71. S soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led Him into their council,' saying, Art Thou the Christ? tell us. And He said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: and if I also ask you, ye will not answer Me, nor let Me go. Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art Thou then the Son of God? And He said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of His own mouth." "What! Jesus before a tribunal, and a tribunal composed of ungodly men and an impious and prejudiced judge! What! is the Sovereign Judge of the living and the dead led before His own creatures, to be questioned, judged, and condemned to death as a sinner? He, before Whose tribunal all men, yea, all the most powerful monarchs of the earth, must appear as criminals, to hear from His Mouth the irrevocable decree of life or death! How horrible an injustice! how tremendous an outrage! . . . Behold that council of cruel enemies, conspiring the ruin of Him Who came to give His Soul and His Blood to save them, sitting, and looking upon Him with contempt, as a false prophet, as a deceiver; and with hatred and indignation, as a dangerous enemy, Whose merits had effaced theirs, and Who had unveiled their hypocrisy, and condemned their pride and secret licentiousness by the holiness of His own life, and by the purity of His manners; this it was that made Jesus so extremely hateful to them. His preaching, His zeal, His holiness, His glorious miracles, His charity, and the praises of the people; such were the true causes of all the ill-usage they resolved to heap upon Him, of the bitter agonies He was about to endure, of the infamous death to which they were going to condemn Him."-Avrillon. "O gracious Redeemer, Who, in the night of Thy Passion, wouldst be mocked, derided, and many ways despitefully handled; Help mine infirmities, lend me aid that I faint not under temptations or tribulations, but give me grace to be thankful to Thee for them: and be merciful to me. Amen."Litany of Bishop Andrewes. "From darkness here, and dreariness, We ask not full repose, Only be Thou at hand, to bless Our trial hour of woes. Is not the pilgrim's toil o'erpaid By the clear rill and palmy shade? "A Jesus before Pilate and Herod. LUKE xxiii. 1-3 and 8, 9. ND the whole multitude of them arose, and led Him unto Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, We found this Fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar,' saying that He Himself is Christ a King. And Pilate asked Him, saying, Art Thou the King of the Jews? And He answered him and said, Thou sayest it. . . . And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see Him of a long season,2 because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned with Him in many words; but He answered him nothing."3 I "Our Lord had taught exactly the opposite to this (see Matt. xxii. 21). The Jews knew, however, that such an accusation would have more weight with the Roman Governor than any charge of blasphemy against a God in whom he did not believe."--Canon How. 2 "Were these the joy and desire of a pious man longing for true knowledge of Jesus? No; but of mere curiosity. If I find little or no profit from reading or meditation, may it not be that I seek mere knowledge, not the stirring up of holy affections?"- 'Daily Steps towards Heaven." 3 "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth' (Isa. liii. 7). Even so, in his little measure, does that Christian hero who bears patiently and in silence, for Christ's sake, the reproach which he has not merited. . . . He is following the example of One Who Himself, in the very crisis of His earthly fate, exhibited in its fullest glory the dignity and the majesty of silence."— Vaughan's “ Harrow Sundays." "It is an instance of humility silently to bear the calumnies which are raised against us when they relate to ourselves only; but it is a duty of prudence and charity modestly to vindicate ourselves when the honour of God and the Church is concerned. Both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist were slandered: who then will complain that they cannot satisfy the world and stop men's mouths?" -Bishop Wilson. Still Thou openest not Thy mouth, Thou that art innocent, to teach me to suffer persecutions silently, I who am most guilty."—Avrillon. "O blessed Jesus, as Thou didst bear witness to the Truth before Pilate's judgment seat, grant that I may in like manner give myself up with an entire confidence to Thee amidst every outward difficulty. Amen."-Benson's "Benedictus Dominus." "A On the Way to Calvary. LUKE xxiii. 26-31. ND as they led Him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us (Hosea x. 8). For if they do these things in a green tree,2 what shall be done in the dry?" "This prophetical description of extreme terror and anguish is applied by our Lord here firstly to the horrors of the destruction of Jerusalem, yet doubtless even here it is meant to carry on the thoughts to the infinitely more awful day of His own Personal coming to judgment, to which the words are specially applied in the Book of Revelation (vi. 16).” 2 "These words are plainly of the nature of a proverb. Probably the saying was in common use. By the 'green tree' our Lord means Himself, so unfit to suffer; by the 'dry' the Jews, barren and fruitless, and fit only for the axe and the fire. If the green and fruit-bearing tree is thus treated, what will become of the dry and dead tree?' 'If judgment begin with the holy and innocent, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?'"-Canon How. "The solemn warning, the last sermon of Christ on earth, was meant primarily for those who heard it; but, like all the words of Christ, it has a deeper and wider meaning for all mankind. Those words warn every child of man that the day of careless pleasure and blasphemous disbelief will be followed by the crack of doom; they warn each human being who lives in pleasure on the earth, and eats, and drinks, and is drunken, that though the patience of God waits, and His silence is unbroken, yet the days shall come when He shall speak in thunder, and His wrath shall burn like fire."—Farrar's "Life of Christ." "God's 'Spirit will not always strive!' All His other attributes are infinite, but His patience and forbearance have their 'bounds and limits.' The invitation which is thine to-day may be withdrawn to-morrow. The axe may be even now laid at the root of the tree, and the sentence on the wing, 'Cut it down.'" -"The Night Watches." "God's wrath is heavier to bear than Christ's Cross." "THERE ... Intercession and Pardon. LUKE Xxiii. 32-34 and 39-46. `HERE were also two other, malefactors, led with Him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them ;' for they know not what they do. . . . And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this Man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.2 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day3 shalt thou be with Me in Paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the Temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit and having said thus, He gave up the ghost." I "Such is the revenge which Jesus came to teach unto men!" 2O wonderful faith of the penitent thief! He saw Jesus condemned, and he addresses Him as a King; he sees Him on the Cross, and he prays to Him as if He were seated in heaven.' Some saw Jesus raise the dead, and yet believed not; he saw Jesus dying, and believed. He saw to outward eye One dying as a malefactor like himself; he by faith believed that He would come in His kingdom to reign for ever." 3 "To-day."] "The penitent thief received more than he asked. He asked to be remembered when Christ came in His kingdom. He received the promise of a blessedness that very day." "It has been well and often observed, that we have the case of this penitent finding mercy in the hour of death, that none should despair; but we have only this one case, that none should presume." -Canon How. "Jesu, do Thou my soul receive ; Jesu, do Thou my foes forgive!' He who would learn that prayer, must live |