13 October

Bible In 365 Days           

Matthew 26

Matthew 26

The Lord now reverted to the theme of His coming suffering, telling the disciples with great definiteness of the time: "after two days"; and of the event: "The Son of Man is delivered up to be crucified." Meanwhile the priests and elders were assembled in secret conclave, plotting how they might secure Him in order to silence His voice by putting Him to death. Whether the story of the alabaster cruse was in chronological order is of little moment. It is a revelation of perhaps the most wonderful and touching expression of love the Saviour ever received, and leads to the most dastardly act to which He was ever subjected. Mary's love is the brightest gleam, and Judas' treachery the darkest shade.

Jesus ate the Passover feast with the handful of His loyal subjects, and one other. Never in all the history of that great feast had it been so sublimely kept. It was the culmination of the old, and the attitude of the old to Him was marked by the presence and act of Judas. He was the true representative of the nation at that board. Before the new feast (growing out of the old in the infinite grace of God by that dark act of treachery symbolic of the nation's awful failure) was instituted, Judas had gone out (John 13:30).

The story of Peter follows. He was not the only one sure of himself. Every man among them shared the confidence (Matthew 26:35). Yet there was not one among them equal to one hour's vigil with Him.

No words can help us to contemplate the Master in Gethsemane's dark hour. Let us read these words alone, prayerfully, approaching this sacred place of His agony in silence and adoration.

Having faced and conquered the most terrible trial of loneliness, and having rebuked in gentle tones of remonstrance the sleeping three, the King now turned to face His foes. Neither in the annals of the historian nor in the realm of fiction is there anything that can equal the degradation of the unholy trial, the base devices to find a charge to prefer against the Prisoner, the illegal tricks to secure a verdict of guilty which would ensure the death penalty. As one reads this story one wonders more and more at the greatest miracle of all, the patient suffering of the spotless One. There is but one explanation. Let each of us today take time to repeat it in the lurid glare of the light of that iniquitous council chamber, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me."