Section 625 — A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels

3. KaTa(j>poveiv, to look down upon from a position of superiority, whether assumed or real, to think lightly of, to neglect, to disdain, with more or less actively hostile design (cf. Herod, i. 5. 66, viii. 10). Mt 6=^ II Lk 16'= : two masters, with opposing in- terests, cannot be served by the same person, the esteem in which tliey are held will vary according to the reward oftered ; one ^^■ill be actively honoured and diligently served, the other will be thought lightly of ani his interests will be neglected. Mt 18'" : luKpol are not to be held in disdain. (1) They are under the sjjecial care of God. Adopting the current Jewish doctrine of angels as guardian spirits, our Lord tells His hearers that children have friends in the court of heaven, in close near- ness to the King Himself, whose ' Face ' they always see ; there they are not thought lightly of, here they must not lie despised. (2) Accepting the order of the vprsps, tlipve is a close connexion between ' (lcs|.i~iiij ■ .111.1 ' otl'ending.' No hostile action must 111' i:ik.ii iM.\,irJs them, even unconsciously, no (Mill. "Ill ,i, to conduct or example which might hurl, llinu ; • liindr.inces' to the life of J'oung disciples, 'di's|iiM,l ' Ikimiisc of their weakness, are sins against His Ium. i.. ihrm. (3) If the connexion with vv.'-* is oiivin.il. til., young ,ire not to be 'despised,' because till' .llill^il^<• ili-|iosi(iiiii i^ Un- true way to eternal lit.'; ili- liumility wliidi i- essential for enterinj^- intu ili.' Kiirjiloni of Iii-.-im-h has its symbol in tlie runs. i.,iisiir,s ,,f vr.ikiie^s and imperfection that Ijulongs to children, wliu are

theitfoic not to be de pised but 1 1 13 Gn 27' )

ed (cf i 1 the word is seen in Bo "*

J dfc

(Westcott 11 loc)

ccS Ti and £*oi/^£ £ are i ot ised bj class cal writers ytciet fps 1 IS m constant use fro n Heiodotus on ards

R MVCPHERSON

DESPONDENCY —Despondency hlls so fiequent I [lice in human life that ^^e lould

I II I 1 It that our Loid -nas tempted in all 1 11 I 111 e I e aie (He 4' ) if He had not e\ perienced it. But the pi ofound depression in the garden of Gethsemane, even if it were alone, and the memorable word, 'My soul is exceeding sorrow- ful, even unto death' (Mt 26^^ y ]vik 143«), testify that He had such experience. What was tlie cause of this depression in Gethsemane ? Was it due to bodily exhaustion, the body affecting the mind and making it more sensitive to sad surround- ings? Was it due to the mental strain of pub- licity and opposition, or to loneliness and the pain of failure ? ( ' He came unto his own, and his own received him not,' Jn 1"). All these were elements in the despondency of Elijah when he sat under the juniper tree, and requested for himself that he might die (1 K 19''). And we may not say tliat such intlueiir. - Mere wholly without effect on our Lord; but in II i^ i:i-i, as we learn from His own words, the LjiiMi 1,111-. ■ of despondency was the pressure on His sjiiril of what He saw near before Him, His cross— that death in which He was (in St. Peter's language) to bear our sins in His own body (1 P 2-^), or (in St. Paul's) to be made sin for us (2 Co 5='), and in wliieh He was to endure that sense of .scim ration from God which was so new to the experieiiie of the well-beloved Son. But why wasthedepressionsoureat now in Gethsemane when He had look. mI forw.n.l to this from the beginning of His ministry, s.i\iim in an early .stage of it, 'The Son of man must be lifted up' (Jn 3")? Part of the answer to this question must be that our Lord's mind, being truly human, was liable to those often mysterious alternations of feeling which, in common men, we call changes of mood. As He drew nearer the accomplishment of the great work of atonement, we find Him sometimes hastening eagerly towards it, full of great purpose, even of joy, and at other times foreseeing the darkness of the experience and shrinking from it. At one of the stages of His approach to that event, and of His own inward acceptance of it, namely after the dismissal of Judas, this joyful anticipation was expressed by Him in language even of exultation — ' Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him ' (Jn 13^'). At another stage He speaks in quite a different manner, ' Now is my soul tronl.leil ; ,111.1 wli.'it shall I say? Father, save

III -I i' . II : 1 1. itf.'d this alternation of feeliiiK.

'I.i:, , ::,i ,, ..iK.I on a mountain, when the

thiiiil' I I I- nil 11.1 -I ; , II stiLTids out jrim and dark; and

then, in a moment, the strnn;^' wind sweeps these away, and the sunlight smites it, and it shines out white and lustrous. With such swift alternations ... to Jesus Christ the Cross was dark and the Cross was radiant ' (La^t Stieavc^, 27).