Morning

“He was heard in that he feared.”  –   Hebrews 5:7

Did this fear arise from the infernal suggestion that he was utterly forsaken.

There may be sterner trials than this, but surely it is one of the worst to be

utterly forsaken? “See,” said Satan, “thou hast a friend nowhere! Thy Father

hath shut up the bowels of his compassion against thee. Not an angel in his

courts will stretch out his hand to help thee. All heaven is alienated from

thee; thou art left alone. See the companions with whom thou hast taken sweet

counsel, what are they worth? Son of Mary, see there thy brother James, see

there thy loved disciple John, and thy bold apostle Peter, how the cowards sleep

when thou art in thy sufferings! Lo! Thou hast no friend left in heaven or

earth. All hell is against thee. I have stirred up mine infernal den. I have

sent my missives throughout all regions summoning every prince of darkness to

set upon thee this night, and we will spare no arrows, we will use all our

infernal might to overwhelm thee: and what wilt thou do, thou solitary one?” It

may be, this was the temptation; we think it was, because the appearance of an

angel unto him strengthening him removed that fear. He was heard in that he

feared; he was no more alone, but heaven was with him. It may be that this is

the reason of his coming three times to his disciples–as Hart puts it–

“Backwards and forwards thrice he ran,

As if he sought some help from man.”

He would see for himself whether it were really true that all men had forsaken

him; he found them all asleep; but perhaps he gained some faint comfort from the

thought that they were sleeping, not from treachery, but from sorrow, the spirit

indeed was willing, but the flesh was weak. At any rate, he was heard in that he

feared. Jesus was heard in his deepest woe; my soul, thou shalt be heard also.

 

Evening

“In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit.”    –    Luke 10:21

The Saviour was “a man of sorrows,” but every thoughtful mind has discovered the

fact that down deep in his innermost soul he carried an inexhaustible treasury

of refined and heavenly joy. Of all the human race, there was never a man who

had a deeper, purer, or more abiding peace than our Lord Jesus Christ. “He was

anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows.” His vast benevolence must,

from the very nature of things, have afforded him the deepest possible delight,

for benevolence is joy. There were a few remarkable seasons when this joy

manifested itself. “At that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank

thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.” Christ had his songs,

though it was night with him; though his face was marred, and his countenance

had lost the lustre of earthly happiness, yet sometimes it was lit up with a

matchless splendour of unparalleled satisfaction, as he thought upon the

recompense of the reward, and in the midst of the congregation sang his praise

unto God. In this, the Lord Jesus is a blessed picture of his church on earth.

At this hour the church expects to walk in sympathy with her Lord along a thorny

road; through much tribulation she is forcing her way to the crown. To bear the

cross is her office, and to be scorned and counted an alien by her mother’s

children is her lot; and yet the church has a deep well of joy, of which

none can drink but her own children. There are stores of wine, and oil, and

corn, hidden in the midst of our Jerusalem, upon which the saints of God are

evermore sustained and nurtured; and sometimes, as in our Saviour’s case, we

have our seasons of intense delight, for “There is a river, the streams whereof

shall make glad the city of our God.” Exiles though we be, we rejoice in our

King; yea, in him we exceedingly rejoice, while in his name we set up our

banners.