Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1942-05-28
FRIDAY: THE DAY OF
SUFFERING


LESSON TExT-Mark l4:a2-s4, A-4e:
1915.
GOLDEN rExT-Not my win. but
thine. be done.-Luke 22:42
Suffering such as no man ever
faced came upon our Lord in the
night between Thursday and Friday
as He prayed in Gethsemane. Ha-
tired and condemnation were poured
upon Him as He went through the
mockery of false trials on Friday.
The important events OF last
weeks lesson had taken place. the
precious words Of comfort and as
surance had been spoken. and now
as midnight brings the darkness or
night to its deepest hue, the Son Of 1
Man goes alone into the depth Of thee
garden where we see Him
1. Sorrowful unto Death (14:32-34).
This Scripture portion uses many 4
words to convey the depth Of His
souls agony, as though it were inn
possible to express it in the faulty
medium of speech. So it is. for our
Lord here experienced something
far more serious than a dread Of
physical death. He was not cow
ard He was not afraid to die But
now His soul was about to have put
upon It's spotless sinlessness the
stain and dishonor of the worlds
sins.
As Krummacher says: Some
thing approached Him which threat
ened to rend His nerves and TN
sight of it to freeze the blood 4
His veins" Little wonder that H
was ''sorrowful even unto death
". 34). It should break our heart,
to see His loving heart break!
Since this was the road the Mas
ter trod. should not His servants
tread it still? Service for Christ may
call for passing through deep and \
chilling waters. but never as deep OK
as cold as those Of Gethsemane.
Jesus took with Him into the gar
den the three who were closest to
Him in the circle of disciples. He
counted on their fellowship and SYM
pathy in His hour of anguish Mere
ly to have them near Him, to know
that they were there to watch and
pray even though they could not
share His holy burden. was to be
comfort to Him. !.
How ignominiously they rallied
The spirit was willing " 38). bul*
the flesh took the upper hand. andy
they sleptl He was alone with His
Father when He prayed that If it
were possible the hour might pass
from Him, but in true and beautiful
submission said, "Not what viii,
but what thou wilt"
IL. Betrayed With Kiss (l4:44-40).
To betray the one who had done
nothing but good, who had loved
him and served him even in the
washing of his feet, this would have
been far more than one could have
expected Of even the sin-bIackened (
heart of Judas But he filed thel
measure of his ignominy to over
flowing by betraying his Lord with
the sign Of Affection kiss.
We know that we may not stang
on the same ground as our Lor
even here, for. whereas He had don
nothing to merit betrayal. we at OF
best are not able to stand fort
without fault. Nevertheless, gre
is the hurt when we face the b
trayals of life. It may be
whom we have befriended, VIII
been the object of dur lovina
and care. and who in the I'd
he thinks to gain himself come al
vantage or avenge some fancied
wrong strikes us In the back. even
as he smilingly processes to be 8
friend. Shall we be embittered Ia
soul and give like for like7 God for.
bid! Let US rather say as Jesus did
to Judas, Friend. wherefore al
thou Gomez" tMatt. 26:50).
iii. Condemned by Hatred and
Cowardice (15:1-5).
We have only a partial pictur
of the betrayal Of Jesus in our le
son. but it Is typical Of all that tod
place, for 1t reveals the hatred,
spired false witness Of the Jci,
which, combined with the coward
of PLATE. resulted In His being a
demned to death.
PLATE was convinced Of His /,
cence, but because Of the pres
by Jewish leaders he was in a
ficult position. He was afrai
follow his convictions. feeling
it was more expedient to vic
the will of the populace. So h
his great opportunity to writ
name large among the her,
history.
Many there are who follow
late's steps. They know VIII
ought to do with Jesus. but
the comments Of friends or
sible loss of earthly advanta
let Him be crucified afresh
unbelief.
The Jewish leaders az
whom they had misled ha
with malicious hatred VIII
them relentless in their
nation to destroy a