The tragedy of Calvary. Part 83.

The tragedy of Calvary: or the minute details of Christ's life from Palm Sunday morning till the resurrection and ascension taken prophecy, history, revelations and ancient writings by Meagher, Jas. L. (James Luke), 1848-1920

Could Ye Not Watch With Me One Hour -  James Tissot

The legends tell us that in this very garden, Adam and Eve wept their fall when driven from Paradise. Here now is the true Adam, with all the sins of Adam's race on him. Here he was alone. But when we suffer it is consoling to receive the sympathy of our friends. With shaking knees, crushed under the weight of sorrows, Jesus staggered out of the Grotto, and went to seek sympathy from his three friends.

"And he cometh and findeth them sleeping. And he said to Peter: Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst thou not watch with me one hour ? Watch and pray that you enter into not temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And going away he prayed, saying the same words." (Mark xiv. 37-38)

It was all so human, so natural for Jesus to look for human sympathy, to seek consolation from his friends. And it was also natural for his disciples to fall asleep just after the midnight hour, although for ages it was the custom in Jerusalem for no one to sleep the night of the Passover. Then the gentleness of Christ. How we do reprove even our friends for any slight they do us when we suffer. Even in his terrible anguish, there is . not a harsh word from Jesus. He excuses them with words about the weakness of the flesh, and turns again and enters the second part of his awful agony.

In Jerusalem you see the Jew of today, with his fine form and refined features. The blood of the ancient race when not oppressed by persecution, shines forth in his intellectual face, and the mind formed for ages in the laws of Moses. The practice of the virtues of Israel, have refined the individual. Christ was of this ancient race, a member of the royal family of David, related to the tribe of Levi, with the blood of Aaron, of kings and priests, flowing in his veins. The more refined the person the more subject he is to pain. We conclude that Christ was more sensitive to sufferings than other men.

We see how the gentle Virgin blushes at the very mention of impurity. The blood rushed to her cheeks, for her organization is so fine and her instincts are so refined, that her whole nature rebels at the very thought that such sins exist, or that she might be guilty of them. If we magnify this feeling a thousand times, we can have a faint idea of the revulsion of Christ's whole nature against the sins of all mankind now placed upon him. He the God of holiness, the Virgin's Son; the Second Person of the Trinity was there with the sins of all men on him, feeling them pressing down on him; filling him as though he had himself committee all of them.

"Again he went the second time saying, O, my Father, if this chalice cannot pass away except I drink it, thy will be done. (Matt. xxvi. 42.) "The eternal decree still stood against mankind. Sin could be only wiped out by him, the Lamb of God foretold from the beginning of the world. The agony became more terrible. The powers of hell re doubled. Was it worth the price? Was sinful, selfish man worth being redeemed? How many would refuse his redemption ? Every reason the demons could bring for-ward they told him, to persuade him to abandon his work. The temptations became more terrible, the mental anguish was becoming unbearable, as the prophet had foretold. " The sorrow of death surrounded me and the torrents of iniquity troubled me. The sorrows of hell encompassed me, and the snares of death prevented me. In my affliction I called upon the Lord, and I cried to my God, and he heard my voice from his holy temple." (Psalm xvii. 5-7.)