The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 537

said, his chosen dh•ciples would be offended, and on that very night. He who should become the Head-stone of the corner would be for a time even to them a stone of stumbling: and a rock of offence. It must be so, the Lord said, for so it had been written, applying to himself that prophecy of Zechariah which has so many mysterious allW!ions to the Passion, " I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." The disciples would remember afterwards that that Shepherd in the prophecy is called by the Lord of hosts " the Man that is ruy fellow; " and they would feel that those words could be true only of One who, "being iu the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." That very night the sheep would be scattered, but only for a short time ; for it is written iu the same place, 11 I will turn mine ha.nd upon the little ones." The Lord would rise again. He would gather together hie little flock; he would go before them, as a shepherd goeth before his sheep. They should see him again in Galilee. 2. Peter's assertion of his 'fidelity. Peter, selt:. confident as ever, asserted his unshaken loyalty; he, at least, would never be offended. And when the Lord repeated his warning, showing his knowledge of the future even in its minute details, he became more earnest and excited, 11 Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." "Likewise also said all the disciples." Let us learn to distrust ourselves. When we are weak, then we are strong. II. GETHSEIU.NE. 1. TM agony. The Lord, in the full knowledge of his coming l'assion, sought a place for solitary prayer. He came to the well-known garden whither he "ofttimes resorted.." He took with him the three best beloved of the apostles, bidding the others rest. Then came that awful.and mysterious agony: "He began to be sorrowful and sore troubled.." He bade the disciples remain at a distance; even the three chosen ones, whose companionship and sympathy he desired, might not. -draw too near to the Lord in his anguish_ "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto ckath: tarry ye here, and watch with me." Where apostles might not walk, we may not presume to intrude. We cannot comprehend the full meaning of that most awful agony. We are sure that it was not the mere fea.r of death which so crushed the holy Saviour's soul. Ile Ebared, doubtless, perfect Man as he was, our human horror of death ; and in him, we must remember, that horror would be increased by his complete foreknowledge of all the circUiilstances of that bitter Passion which was now so close at hand. .Again, the shrinking from death seems to stand in some rela- tion to the sense of life; the feebler that sense of life, the less men fear to die. But the Lord was not only in the full strength of early manhood, with a bodily frame which had never been weakened by sickness; but he was the Life, the essential, self-existent Life ; he had life in himself, therefore it seems the conflict with death must have been in him far more terrible than in ordinary men. Moreover, death must have had an awful aspect in the sight of Christ, because it is the wages, the consequence of sin; and -this cluse connection with sin must ha.ve invested death with a horrible character to the All-holy One. But it was not the fear of death which caused that bloody sweat, that utter anguish. Saints and martyrs, and even ungodly men, have met death with- -oul flinching; and we know with what calm majestic fortitude the Lord endured the cross. On Palm Sunday the impenitence of Jerusalem had wrung from him a .burst of holy tears; and now, when the intense wickedness of men, the wickedness of his own ,apostles, of the leaders of his own -chosen people, was gathering.round him, he may well -have recoiled in horror from that dark and wretched prospect. He had loved those unhappy men, even Judas, even Caiaphas. He had come down from heaven to save them, and they were rushing into deadly sin, into utter ruin. They had rejected his love and mercy. Alas I thousand,i more would do the like, would crucify the Lord afresh, would sin wilfully against knowledge and against light, and would die in their sins. He knew it would be so, and.he wu "exceeding sorrowful, even:unto death." And he 8&W, behind Judas and Oaia.phaa and the rest, the awful form of the evil one. Satan had entered iDto them. "The prince of this world cometh," he had said. Satan had nothing in Christ, no hold upon that pure and apotkss inuocence ; but all around he exerciaed hia terrible power with fiendish malignity, by the agency of those wicked rucn whom he had ensnared to their ruin. It may well be that the nearness nnd -activity of the.evil spirit helped to bring that shuddering horror over the Saviour's -soul. But, once more, "He was made sin for us, though he was without sin." \Ve .caunot pencLrate into the awful mysteries which tho~e l/Ords seem to imply. We -oa. xxv1. 1-76.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 543