Resume, then, the meditations from the commencement of the Passion, and follow the order even to the end. I shall content myself with a brief history, leaving each one to enlarge upon and draw out the points of meditation, as the Lord grants him the grace to do so.
Attend then, to every particular, as if actually present ; see Him, our Dear Lord, as He goes forth from the Supper, and how, having finished His discourse, He enters the Garden with His disciples. At length, enter with Him, and ponder how affectionately, kindly, and confidingly He talks with them, and exhorts them to prayer ; how also He withdraws from them a little, that is, about a stone’s cast, and falling down humbly and reverently upon His knees He prays to His Father. Pause here a little while, and revolve in your mind devoutly the marvels of the Lord God.
Now the Lord Jesus prays; often before this we read that He prayed ; but on those occasions He prayed as an advocate, now He prays for Himself. Pity Him, and admire His most profound lowliness. For although, as God, He is co-eternal and co-equal with the Father, He seems as it were to forget that He is God, and prays as man, and takes up the posture of one of the weakest creatures, praying to the Lord. Consider, too, His most perfect obedience; for what does He pray for? Certainly, He prays to the Father, that the hour of death may pass from Him ; that is, if it be the Father’s will that He might not die ; and this prayer is not heard, that is according to a sort of will which was in Him. For, so to speak, there was a manifold will in Him. Here, then, exercise pity upon Him, in that the Father wills that He should die, and thus, through His True and Only Son, He spared Him not, but in this way delivered Him up for us all. For “so God loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” And the Lord Jesus fulfils this command, and reverentially accomplishes it. See, in the third place, the unspeakable love for us, both of the Father and of the Son, most worthy of compassion, wonder, and veneration ; for us this Death is appointed ; for us it is endured, through Their exceeding love. The Lord Jesus, then, prays to the Father for a long time, saying, “O My most merciful Father, I beseech Thee, hear My prayer, and hide not Thyself from My petition. Consider and hear Me, how I mourn in My prayer, and My Heart is disquieted within Me.1 Incline Thine ear to Me, and hearken to the voice of My prayer. It pleased Thee, O Father, to send Me into the world, that I might make satisfaction for the injury done to Thee by man; and immediately when Thou didst will, I said, Lo, I come ; in the volume of the book it is written of Me, that I should fulfil Thy Will, O My God ; I am content to do it ; My talk hath been of Thy Truth and of Thy Salvation.2 I have been in poverty and much labour from My youth up, doing Thy will, and all that Thou hast commanded; and I am prepared to fulfil whatever remains. Yet, if it be, O My Father, take from Me this so great bitterness as is prepared for Me by My enemies ; for see, O Father, the enmity of the multitude, how many they are, and how they conspire against Me, and take their counsel to take away My life.3 But, Holy Father, if I have done any such thing, or if there be any iniquity in My hands, if I have rewarded evil to him who dealt friendly with Me, then let Mine enemy take Me. I have always done those things which are pleasing in Thy sight ; but they have rewarded Me evil for good, and hatred for My good-will. They have corrupted My disciple, and made him their guide, that they might kill Me ; they have valued Me at thirty pieces of silver, at which I was prized by them. I pray Thee, O My Father, that this cup may pass from Me ; but if it seem otherwise to Thee, not My will, but Thine be done. But, O Father, stand up to help Me ; make speed to save Me : for granted that they knew Me not, O most Beloved Father, to be Thy Son, yet because I led among them a blameless life, and conferred upon them many benefits, they ought not to be so cruel against Me. For remember that I stood before Thee, that I might speak in their behalf, and turn away Thine indignation from them. But alas ! shall evil be recompensed for good? But they have digged a pit for My soul,4 and prepared a most shameful death for Me. Thou seest, O Lord ; be not silent; go not far from Me, for trouble is hard at hand, and there is none to help Me.5 Thou hast known My reproof, My shame, and My dishonour ; My adversaries are all in Thy sight ; Thy rebuke hath broken My heart ; I am full of heaviness.”6
And the Lord Jesus returned to His disciples, awoke them, and exhorted them to pray. And again a second and third time He returned to prayer; for He prayed in three different spots, which were about a stone’s cast apart ; not indeed as far as a stone may be thrown with a violent effort, but a short distance, perhaps about the length of an ordinary house, as tradition relates; and still upon those spots are said to be marks of the remains of Churches. He returned, then, to prayer, as I have said, a second, and a third time, and prayed the same words, and may have added, “Father, if it be decreed that I should undergo the suffering of the Cross, Thy Will be done. I commend to Thee My mother and My disciples ; I have protected them hitherto; My Father, defend them now.” And in the meanwhile, the most sacred Blood flowed from His Body, breaking forth as sweat, in this conflict or agony, whilst He prayed more earnestly, and the drops fell copiously to the ground.
Consider Him, now, at this time, how great is the anguish of His Soul. But in this, learn a lesson whereby to check impatience ; for our Lord prayed thrice before He received any answer from His Father.
But at last, while the Lord Jesus prayed in agony, behold, the Angel of the Lord, perhaps the Prince of the Angelic Hosts, Michael, stood by Him, strengthening Him. We may regard him as thus addressing our Lord : “Hail, Lord Jesus; I have offered Thy prayer, and bloody sweat, before Thy Father, in the sight of the whole company of Heaven,” and falling down before Him, the prayer is offered, ‘ let this cup pass from Him/ And the Father answered, “Jesus, My most beloved Son, knows that the Redemption of the human race, which We so desire, cannot fittingly be brought about without the shedding of His Blood, and therefore, if He wills the salvation of souls, it behoveth Him to die for them. Which would you decide, then ?” Then the Lord Jesus answered the Angel, “I will most strongly the salvation of souls, which the Father created after His image ; I will, therefore, to die for them, rather than not to die Myself and for them to be lost Therefore let the Father’s will be done.” And the Angel said to Him, “Be strong, then, and very courageous, for it is fitting that the Highest should do great things, and the most Valiant should endure hard things. Quickly will the suffering pass, and eternal glory succeed to it. The Father hath said, He will be always with Thee, and protect Thy mother and Thy disciples, and restore them to Thee safe and sound.” And the lowly Jesus, reverently and humbly receives this encouragement from His own creature, considering that He was made a little lower than the angels, whilst He was in this miserable vale of darkness. And thus He was full of sadness, and comforted as man, and as man was willing to be commended to the Father, and aided by the Heavenly Court.
The Lord Jesus rises from prayer the third time, suffused with blood ; behold Him wiping His face, or perhaps washing it in the stream ; regard Him, I say, and be filled with a reverent grief, and let your inmost heart be moved by the sight of His afflictions; for without the intensest inward struggle this could not have occurred.
Some wise expounders of Scripture hold that our Lord Jesus prayed to the Father, not so much from the fear of suffering as from pity for His former people ; because He had compassion for the Jews, who would be lost for having thus most cruelly put Him to death. For they certainly ought not to have killed Him, Who was one of themselves, and observed their law, and wrought for them so many mercies, and prayed to the Father for their salvation, saying, “That the multitude of the Gentiles may believe, I refuse not to suffer ; and if the Jews are to be blinded, that others may see, not My will, but Thine be done.” For there was then in Christ a fourfold will ; namely, a will of the body, and this by no means wanted to suffer; a will of sense, and this deplored and trembled ; a will of reason, and this obeyed and gave consent ; for in Isaiah it is said, “He was offered up, because it was His will.” 1 And there was in Him the Will of Divinity, which commanded and dictated the decree of the Passion. Therefore, because He was true Man, as man He was brought into deep distress. Be moved, then, to pity Him deeply ; and consider and see carefully all the actions and every affection of the Lord thy God.
Then He came to His disciples, and said to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest ;” for they had fallen asleep for a little while then ; but the good Shepherd keepeth watch over His little flock. O grand love ! Truly did He love them unto the end, when, being in sueh an agony Himself, He procured rest for them. He saw afar off His enemies coming with torches and weapons, yet He did not disturb His disciples, till they were quite near at hand ; then He said to them, “It is enough ; behold he is at hand that doth betray Me.” a
And while He yet spake, the wicked Judas came before them — that basest trafficker — and kissed Him. It is said to have been the habit of Jesus, when He had sent out His disciples, to receive them with a kiss when they returned ; and therefore it was that the traitor for a sign, through giving a kiss, betrayed Jesus, and, coming before the rest with a kiss, returned to Jesus, as though he said, “I am not one of this armed band, but return as usual, and kiss Thee, saying, ‘ Hail, Master ! ’”
Notes: Is. liii. 7. V — S. Matt. xxvi. 46.
Behold, then, attentively the scene, and observe every movement of your Lord, and see how patiently and kindly He receives the embrace and kiss of the wretched traitor, whose feet He had so recently washed, and to whom He had given Heavenly Food. How does He suffer Himself to be taken, bound, smitten, madly hurried away, as if He were a malefactor, and wholly unable to defend Himself ! How, too, does He compassionate His disciples, as they flee and are scattered ! You can also contemplate their grief ; how, sorrowfully sighing and groaning, as orphans overpowered by fear, they depart from Him ; and how their distress is heightened when they see their Lord so cruelly dragged along ; when they see these dogs hurrying Him off as the victim, and Him, as a most meek lamb, following them without resistance. Now look at Him, how He is dragged on by these most wretched men, from the brook up to Jerusalem, in haste and tumult, His Hands bound behind His Back, stripped of His garment, His remaining clothes in disorder, His Head uncovered, bent to the ground with weariness, and goaded on with excessive speed. And now they present Him before the chief priests Annas and Caiaphas, and the other elders who are gathered together with them ; and they exult like a lion when he has taken his prey ; they examine Him, they procure false witnesses, they condemn Him, they spit on His most sacred Face, blindfold Him, buffet Him, smite Him with the palms of their hands, saying, “Prophesy who is it that smote Thee?” They afflict Him with manifold insults, and He bears all with perfect patience. Behold Him in any one particular suffering, and pity Him.
At length the elders departed, and we can conceive that they put Jesus into a sort of dungeon, traces of which are
s said to remain, and bound Him to a pillar of stone, and committed Him to the guard of armed men for greater safety, who occupied themselves throughout the night in deriding and cursing Him. Hear those daring and coarse revilers, saying, “Do you think you are better and wiser than our chiefs ? What folly this is of yours ! How can you dare to open your mouth against them ? Their wisdom is evident, and now where is yours ? They will doubtless condemn you to death, and you will undergo the sentence.” And thus through the whole night, then one, then another, in deeds or words insult Him. No words can tell what passed that night, or what our Lord endured from the hands of those vile mercenaries. Behold Him, silently and humbly bearing all these insults, as though He deserved them, with downcast face, and compassionate Him deeply. O Lord, into whose hands hast Thou now come? What patience Thou manifestedst ! Truly this is the hour of darkness.
And there our Lord remained till morning. Meanwhile we can imagine S. John going to the Blessed Virgin, and to the company of holy women, who were assembled in the house of Magdalen, where they perhaps had had the Supper; and relating all that had happened to our Lord and to His disciples. Then an indescribable scene of sorrow took place. Behold them, and excite pity for them ; they are in terrible affliction, and deepest sorrow for their Beloved Lord, because now they fully realize and believe that He is going to die. Picture His mother, turning to the wall; imagine her praying. “O Father, most Adorable, most Gracious, most Merciful, I commend to Thee my most beloved Son. Thou canst not be cruel, for Thou, Eternal Father, art good to all. Wherefore should my Son Jesus die, for He hath never done amiss? Yet, O Just Father, if Thou wiliest the redemption of the world, may it not be, I pray Thee, brought about in another way, for all things are possible to Thee ? I pray Thee, Most Holy Father, if it be Thy will, may my Blessed Son Jesus be spared from dying, may He be delivered out of the hands of sinners, and restored to me. He, from obedience and reverence for Thee, will not exercise His power to rescue Himself. He has surrendered Himself, as one powerless and without knowledge, into their hands. Wherefore do Thou, O Lord, help Him.” Such prayers, we might venture to imagine, the Blessed Virgin, with a true mother’s love, would pour forth at this time, with all earnestness of supplication, and with intense bitterness of heart Excite compassion as you see her now in such affliction.
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