Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1888-05-19
JESUS IN GETHSEMANE.
LESSON vlll, SECOND QUARTER. IN
TERNATIoNAL SERIES. MAY 20.

Holman.
CONDENSED from Lesson Helper Quarterly, by
permission Of II. s. Hoffman. Philadelphia. pub.
hsher.l
Notes-V. Sc Then cometh, that is, after
the institution Of the supper Gethsemane,
which signifies ''olive press place across
the brook Kedron, on the lower slope of the
Mount of Olives. v. 81. Very heavy means
pressed down with great anguish, produced
by foresight of his great sufferings. v. SS
Even unto death, the sense of death was felt;
our sins upon him was the cause Of all his
agony. V. 80. Fell on his face, the usual
posture In times Of great earnestness Num-
bers xvi, %; IL Chron. Xxx, Is; Neh. viii, g
If possible, if the world can otherwise be re-
deemed. Cup often denotes suffering.
Matt XXX, %. v. IS Sleep on now.
Most interpreters think this should be
translated as a question, rather a COM
mand: "Do you sleep now and take your
restv Is this a time, amid SO much
danger and so many enemies, to sleepl This
construction is favored by Luke xxi, 40,
where the expression, eWhy sleep yea" refers
TO the same point of time-the hour is at
hand-the time of betrayal and death is near.
Sinners, Judas, Roman soldiers and Jews.
V. 46. Let us be going, wheresoeyer my cap
tors shall lead me. There was no time now
for escape; none for repose.
In the last lesson we saw tho signs OF
coming sorrow for our Lord in this lesson
we behold him In agony the most intense.
The clouds that had long been gathering now
burst in fury upon him. He knew from the
first what ho would have to meet. He did
not bow to the inevitable. He was no Pro-
metheus fettered by necessity. His human
nature may have made him shrink back for
time from his passion, but the higher mo-
tive of Gods glory and mans salvation made
him welcome the agony of Gethsemane
v. 36. After the institution Of the Lords
Supper, perhaps near midnight our Lord,
with his disciples, left Jerusalem, and on
their way to Gethsemane crossed the per-
turbed waters of the Black brook, tinged and
darkened by the blood of the temple sacri-
fees, fit symbol Of how his own sacrificial
blood should soon flow, making forever after
needless the offering Of bloody sacrifices for
sin. The name Gethsemane, meaning olive
press, seems to be significant as emblematic
Of his own agony and distress. There"
says Matthew Henry, sour Lord Jesus trod
alone the wine press Of the Fathers wrath"
ssIn this oil press, like the olives were crushed
and bruised, Christ was bruised for our sins,
that oil might flow from his wounds to heal
our souls. DIR. Wordsworth.
". 80. Peter, James and John seemed to
constitute holy triumvirate On other
occasions these three disciples had been
favored by our Lord to see his power and
glory as was not accorded the others. They
alone beheld the brightness of his glory on
the Mount, and now the depth Of his agony
in Gethsemane. They alone were permitted
to see the first manifestations of his resurrec-
tion power. And yet, of these three favor
ties, to John our Saviour was most attached.
Jesus has sanctioned and sanctified by his
example Individual friendships as not con-
ficting with the exercises of a universal love.
We also learn that they who live nearest to
him and imbibe most of his spirit are re-
warded by views of his power and glory such
as other men never receive.
v. 3S He acquaints the disciples with his
condition. 1t gives some comfort to un-
bosom ones hearts sorrow to a friend The
seat of his sorrow was the soul, showing US
that Christ possessed true human soul. His
sufferings were not predominately corporal,
but mental
" 80 The center of heavens glory and the
object of the angels worship is now pros
trated upon the earth in earnest prayer
Thick as the cloud was, he could still see
God as his father. In deep sorrow we should
each claim God as "my father.D Whittier
shall the child 60, but unto the fathera
& He begs Of the father that il man can be
redeemed and God glorifed, il the divine
plans can be carried out, that he be spared
the further drinking of the cup Of suffering
His aversion to pain shows that he was truly
man. But though this human nature made
him shrink back an instant from the anguish,
yet beneath there lay, millions of fathoms
deep, unmoved and immovable, the intense
desire that his Fathers wish and win should
be done.
This prayer of Christ sanctions our going
to God when in great affliction and asking
deliyerance, but conditioned upon his will
The third petition in the Lords Prayer, and
our Lords words here, teach the same, sub
mission to the will Of God "Two wills in
the universe break up its harmony; there
can be In harmonic universe but one viii,
and that is God. Parker. The cup that
God puts into our hands, be it ever so bitter,
though nature struggle grace makes us
submit.
v. 40. As If deadly vnpor from the bot
fomless pit had stepped their spirits, both
groups Of disciples were stupeIied with sleep
And yet it was not want OF interest In the
Saviourss passion that made them sleep
Luke. as a physician, tells rs that from sor-
A&W A1a<J eAtkte
Our Lord singled out Peter because be had
been foremost in promising and boasting how
faithful be would be-
v. II. Jay says Prayer without watch.
ing is hypocrisy, and watching without
prayer is presumption Some watch with
out prayer and pray without watching. Tho
two must go hand in hand.
V. A. His prayer is not now that the cup
may pass from him, but that he might be
enabled to fulfil the divine viii in sacrificing
himself The continuance Of the trial he re-
CARDS as Gods answer to his first prayer
When God does not deliver Us from our
sul1erings be win certainly give us greater
strength % bear them
v. 48 The craving for human sympathy
caused him again 20 go 70 his disciples. Inn
potent as all human means are, We still in the
hour OF desp sorrow wish the sympathetic
touch and word OF fh0sn uaar ftz Hnw ai--