Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-01-07
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JAN VIII VIM
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THE GREAT ESTIMATE OF JESUS.
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By Rev. James Moffat.
Ye are they which have continued
with me in my temptations.-Luk
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When Josus was sitting with His
disciples at the last supper, He cast
His thoughts backward as well as for
ward. He spoke of the future in order
to encourage His followers. He as
sured them that He had control Of
1t, and that they would have place
in it: 81 appoint to you kingdom"
But He also turned His mind to the
at hand, people like to recall what
they have been to one another in the
old days. they go back upon their
common experiences, grave and bright;
it is the favorite hour for reminis-
cences. And so Jesus spoke for a
moment of what lay behind Him and
of the part which the disciples had
played in the career which was now
closing upon earth You are those
who have stood by Me during My
mate of Jesus.
1t is an estimate Of His own life
We speak of the temptation, as If the
threefold experience at the opening of
His ministry were the only or the
chief period of temptation through
which He had to pass, till at the end
He had to undergo His agony in Geth-
semane. But the long interval be-
tween these crises had it's own varied
and continuous discipline. He was
tempted by His enthusiasm and His
fears, by His affections and His an
tipathies, tempted to lower His re-
ligion to the popular level, tempted to
satisfy the craving for miracles or for
avoid the shame of the cross. He suf-
fered, being tempted"
From one point Of view, he could
describe His life as my temptations"
He seldom spoke Of His inward life
to the disciples; the deeper a nature
is, the less demonstrative 1t is, and
it was from His disciples, as from
His own family, that some Of the
subtlest temptations to His fidelity had
arisen. Probably they did not realize
this to the full, though they must
have been conscious of the threats lev
eled against Him by His opponents.
In any case, it must have been a sur
prise to them to hear Him speak Of
'My temptations. People do not
often realize that the outside service
of life may have to be c5rried on
while inwardly the soul is fighting a
battle of its own against treachery
and weakness Of will No one seems
to have suspected ttat Jesus, under
meath the quiet, strong exterior of
His character, had repeatedly to over
come the shrinking from pain and the
instinct for Joy which are natural to
our being, and which furnish the op-
portunity for some Of our keenest
temptations But we have His word
for it, and His word comes home to
all who may feel now and then, that
life consists OF little more than temp
tations, and that hardly any one real
ICES how much they have TO try their
faith and patience. Some difficulties
are more or less public property. Our
friends cannot help seeing us face to
face with them. and the consciousness
of thei" sympathy, spoken or un-
spoken, nerve US against the strain.
We are the stronger for their intelli-
gence. But how many temptations
strike life of which outsiders, and
even our intimate friends, are ignor-
ant. The strong soul knows when to
be reticent The deeper spirits under
stand that they must keep a brave
front, although others may hardly
suspect the extent or even the exist
ence of their difficulties. But they
have the comfort of knowing that
Christ has been through that disci-
pline, when the heart must forego
sympathy from It's fellows He under
stands what men are obliged to bear
in such dark passages.
The words OF Christ also contain a
generous estimate of His own friends.
evening, and they might not have
been there. Others, all over the coun-
try, had fallen away because the strain
of loyalty proved too severe or because
the novelty of the cause had paled,
and one of the twelve at that very
moment was hurrying along the dark
street to beeray him. Cowardice Is an
infectious spirit. But these men,
though they had often questioned the
wisdom of their leader and sometimes
hesitated to follow Him, had never
gone back. Their first impulse had
settled down into a staunch, practical
devotion, which Jesus, who knew what
it meant for them to hold on, was
forward to appreciate. It Is true that
their loyalty had not always been un-
broken or intelligent. The range of
Christ's temptations had been deeper
than even the most intimate and
thoughtful of His adherents realized.
But their fidelity had been a support.
Jesus could stand alone. But He
never disguised His sensitiveness to
affection, and whenever His friends
could offer Him not counsel, perhaps,
but just answering loyalty. He well
coined it eagerly, as proof of moral
devotion. The great enemy of faith
fulness Is vanity. Many people will be
loyal, but their devotion is really paid
70 Of