Part 3

He knew that all things were possible with God, but He did not want to have His own will, if His dear Father in Heaven wished anything different. He had come to earth to do His will perfectly.

Then after His prayer, He rose and went to His disciples. But he found them asleep! They had not watched as He bade them.

So He said to Peter, "Simon, sleepest thou? couldest thou not watch one hour?"

And then He told them to watch and pray lest they should enter into temptation.

He said He knew they were willing to do it, but they had tired bodies, and this made it the more necessary to be watchful.

So He went away again and prayed to His Father in an agony that the bitter cup might pass from Him.

We cannot fully understand all that is meant by that bitter cup. It is enough for us to know that our blessed Lord dreaded it above everything.

But even in the midst of that misery, He could say, "Oh, My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me except I drink it, Thy will be done!"

And there appeared an angel from heaven, strengthening Him.

Still again a third time He went away and prayed the same prayer, but all the while His disciples were fast asleep!

At last Jesus rose up from prayer, and when He came to His disciples He told them that now He was going to be betrayed into the hands of sinners.

As He was speaking, a great band of men, led by wicked Judas, came hurrying into the garden.

Now Judas had said to the chief priests (when he sold Jesus to them for thirty pieces of silver), "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He; hold Him fast."

The Lord Jesus, who is God as well as man, could easily have escaped from their cruel hands. He told them He could have prayed to His Father, and He would have sent Him thousands and thousands of angels.

The band of men and officers from the chief priests were so amazed at the majesty of Jesus, that they went backward and fell to the ground.

But Jesus was ready to die for us; for how else could we be saved?

Then they took Jesus prisoner, and bound Him and led Him away to the palace of the High Priest.

And as He was led away from Gethsemane, He said to Peter those memorable words of love and submission—"The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?"

He knew that the Cross to which He was going was His Father's Will! For had He not said Himself, to the people?—

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

XVIII. The Trial

When Judas had betrayed the Lord Jesus with a kiss, and the band of soldiers and officers were going to take Him away, Peter tried to defend Jesus by drawing his sword, and he smote one of the servants of the High Priest and cut off his ear.

But Jesus did not wish His disciples to fight for Him with swords, and He told Peter to put it up in the sheath again; and then, in His love and compassion, He healed the man's ear.

And Jesus said to the soldiers, "Are you come out as if I were a thief, with swords and staves to take me? I was with you every day in the Temple, teaching you, and you did not take Me; but the Scriptures must be fulfilled."

Then all His disciples forsook Him and fled.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd; and now it had come to the time when He was going to lay down His life for the sheep.

But oh! How sad it must have made Him, to have all His disciples run away from Him!

Then the soldiers bound Him and led Him away.

But after the first moment of fear and dismay, John, the beloved disciple, ran to follow his Master, and the crowd tried to prevent his going after Jesus. But he managed to escape from them, and presently he reached the High Priest's house, and, as he was known to the High Priest, he went in with Jesus into the palace.

But Peter was left in the garden, and he followed afar off, even into the palace of the High Priest, and sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.

When the whole band had brought Jesus into the palace, they found there all the chief priests, and the elders, and the scribes.

Then the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; but found none.

There were many false witnesses who gave evidence against Him, but they all contradicted each other.

All this time Jesus stood silent, listening to their false charges, but not answering a word.

At last the High Priest exclaimed, "Answerest thou nothing? What is it that these witness against thee?"

But Jesus held His peace, and answered nothing.

Then the High Priest asked Him a question which Jesus answered.

He said, "Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"

And Jesus said, "I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."

Then the High Priest tore his clothes, and said there was no need to examine any more witnesses, for they had heard Him say Himself that He was the Son of God.

[Illustration: THEN THE HIGH PRIEST TORE HIS CLOTHES.]

And for this they all condemned Him to be guilty of death.

XIX. The King of the Jews

When the chief priests of the Jews had determined to kill the Lord Jesus, after examining Him for many hours on the dreadful night when all His disciples had forsaken Him and Peter had denied Him, they consulted together as to how they could carry out their wicked plan.

The morning dawned before they had decided what to do; and at length, as they did not like to put Him to death themselves, they thought the best way would be to take Him to Pilate the Roman governor, for they thought that he would do what they wished.

The Jews and the High Priest had asked Jesus whether He was really the Christ, the Son of God; and the Lord Jesus, to leave them without excuse, told them plainly that He was, and that hereafter they would see Him sitting in heaven, and coming back to earth in the clouds.

At this they had been fearfully angry, and had torn their clothes, and had bound Him and led Him away to Pilate, in the hopes that Pilate would at once order Him to be put to death.

* * * * * * *

Now we are told in Matthew's Gospel that Judas, who had betrayed his Master with a kiss, saw Jesus led away to Pilate. He knew by this that the chief priests had condemned Him to death, and, too late, Judas repented of the wicked thing he had done.

Jesus had told the disciples when they sat down to the Passover supper, that one of them should betray Him, and Judas had asked, among the rest, "Lord, is it I?" And Jesus had told him, that though He must die to save the world, yet it was woe to the man who should betray Him.

But Judas thought of the thirty pieces of silver which he was going to earn for doing this sad deed, and he left the supper table and went out into the dark night.

Judas had made his decision against Jesus!

Oh, children! Let our decision be for Jesus! All through our lives, let our one purpose be that He shall be our Lord and our King. We shall not be sorry by and by that we have decided so.

But Judas had made his evil choice; he had set going a thing which he could not now stop. And when he realized that the chief priests had really condemned Jesus, Judas would have given everything he possessed to undo what he had done. But it was too late.

He hurried back to the chief priests with the money in his hand, and he exclaimed, "I have sinned; I have betrayed the innocent One!"

But they said, "What is that to us? You must see to that!"

So he threw down the thirty pieces of silver in the Temple, and went and hanged himself.

Oh, poor Judas! What good was his money to him then? "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

Then the chief priests took up the silver and consulted as to what they should do with it, because it was "the price of blood," and they might not put it into God's Treasury; and they decided to buy a field, called the Potter's field, to bury strangers in. And that field was called "the Field of Blood" ever afterwards. We read in the Bible that, five hundred years before that, it was foretold by the prophet Zechariah that all these things should be done, when Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver.

* * * * * * *

So Jesus was brought before Pilate, and stood there in all His majesty and humility, and Pilate asked Him, "Art Thou the King of the Jews?" And Jesus again left no excuse to those who condemned Him. Though He had answered nothing when the false witnesses spoke against Him, though He answered nothing now when the chief priests and elders accused Him, yet, to give Pilate an opportunity of believing and accepting Him, He answered him at once—

"You have said what I am—a King. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness of the truth."

Then Pilate told the chief priests that he found no fault in Him.

When Pilate found it impossible to quiet the chief priests, though he told them he could find no fault in Jesus, he decided to send Him to Herod, who was at Jerusalem at that time.

And when Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, because he had heard of Him, and hoped to have seen a miracle done by Him.

So he asked Jesus a great many questions, but He answered him nothing.

And the chief priests stood and vehemently accused Him.

And Herod and his soldiers mocked Him and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate.

Now at the feast of the Passover, the Roman governor pleased the Jews by setting free a prisoner whomsoever they asked for. So, because Pilate did not like the Jews, and knew that they had delivered Jesus up for envy, he offered to release to them Barabbas, who was a great robber, or "Jesus who was called Christ"?

So Pilate went back to the judgment-seat and sat down. And it was quite early morning yet.

Then his wife sent down in haste to him to have nothing to do with condemning Jesus, because she had had a dreadful dream, and she knew that Jesus was a just man.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas.

Pilate was sure that Jesus was not worthy of any punishment; but when he found that the Jews were raising a great tumult, and that they charged Pilate with not being Cæsar's friend, if he allowed Jesus to be the King of the Jews, Pilate was afraid.

He was more afraid of the Jews than of God! And so poor Pilate made his great decision. And he, like Judas, made it on the wrong side!

So he called for water, and when it was brought to him, he washed his hands before all the people, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it."

Then Pilate said to them, mockingly, "Shall I crucify your King?"

But they cried the more exceedingly, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"

And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.

Then Pilate released Barabbas to them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

XX. The Soldiers Mocked Him

So when Pilate had sentenced Him to be crucified the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered together the rest of the soldiers, and began to mock at the dear Lord whom we love so much.

They clothed Him with a purple robe, and they plaited a crown of long sharp thorns and put it on His loving head, and then they put a reed in His hand and bowed down to Him, and mocked Him saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

Jesus did not mind being called the King of the Jews, because He came on earth to be their King; He was only sorry that they would not love Him, or have Him for their King and Saviour.

Ah, how it must have cut Him to the heart in all His pain, to have them mock Him, and beat Him on the head, and spit upon Him, and pretend to worship Him.

If our hearts are filled with grief that He could have suffered so much, should we not love Him more than ever; and turn away from the sins which He died on purpose to save us from?

So Pilate went outside again, and said to the Jews, "Behold, I bring Him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him."

Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns, and Pilate said, "Behold the man!"

But the Jews burst out again with the cry, "Crucify Him!"

And Pilate said, "Why, what evil hath He done?"

But the Jews told Pilate that Jesus had made Himself equal with God, and so He must die.

Then Pilate was more afraid than ever, and went again into the hall, and asked Jesus where He had come from?

But Jesus gave him no answer.

At length the Jews clamoured so loudly, and told Pilate that he was not Cæsar's friend, that though Pilate longed to release Jesus, when he heard them say that, he gave in to them, and brought Jesus forth for the last time, saying to them, "Behold your King!"

And they all cried out, "Away with Him, crucify Him!"

"The head that once was crowned with thorns Is crowned with glory now: A royal diadem adorns The mighty Victor's brow.

"The highest place that heaven affords Is His, is His by right: The King of kings, and Lord of lords, And heaven's eternal light."

XXI. Jesus Carrying His Cross

And after they had mocked Jesus, they took off the gorgeous robe in which Herod and his soldiers had dressed Him, and they put His own clothes on Him again, and led Him away to crucify Him.

And Jesus—the King of glory—went forth, carrying the cross on which He was to be crucified for us!

Thus our dear Lord left the city where He had been rejected and condemned, bearing His heavy, cruel cross.

I think He must have fainted beneath its weight, for we are told that when they came to the gate of the city, they met a man, Simon the Cyrenian, coming in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross after Jesus.

A great multitude came out after them, and the women who had followed and loved Jesus were mourning and grieving at their dear Lord's sorrowful fate.

But Jesus turned to them and told them not to cry for Him, but for all the sorrow which was coming upon Jerusalem because the Jews would not have Him for their Saviour.

[Illustration: HE MUST HAVE FAINTED BENEATH ITS WEIGHT.]

And there were two other men led out with Jesus to be crucified at the same time. They were called malefactors, because they had been very wicked.

So the whole great company went outside the city walls, and they bring Jesus to a place called "The Skull." They offered our dear Lord some wine and myrrh to drink, but, when He had tasted it, He would not take it.

Then they crucified Jesus, our King, and the two malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left, and Jesus in the midst.

Children, in all His dreadful sufferings and sorrow, what is it we hear from those dear lips?

Then Jesus said,—

"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

XXII. The Cross of Jesus

We pause at this picture, dear children, with awe and reverence, and as we gaze upon it our hearts are filled with love and grief.

"Did Jesus bear that cruel death for me?" we whisper to ourselves. "Was my name on His heart when He hung all those hours on the cross? Were my sins pardoned by His most precious blood, which flowed from His bleeding side?"

If we can answer a solemn "yes" to these questions, then the cross of Jesus our Saviour is the place where henceforth we can find joy, and thankfulness, and strength.

On the cross where Jesus was crucified, a piece of parchment was nailed. This was generally done, so that people should know what the crime was for which any one was to suffer this cruel death.

But Pilate had nothing to charge Jesus with. He had said over and over again, "I find no fault in Him." And when he sat down to write His accusation on the parchment, he wrote—

"Jesus of Nazareth—the King of the Jews."

This writing was read by many of the Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city, and many were passing backwards and forwards at this Passover feast time.

And Pilate wrote it in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.

The Jews did not at all like what Pilate had written, and wanted him to take the writing down. They said, "Do not say that He is the King of the Jews! But say, He said He was."

But Pilate would not alter it. "What I have written, I have written," he said.

[Illustration: CALVARY.]

So when Jesus died, He had only this accusation—that He is King!

And the people stood beholding.

They saw the four soldiers carry away His raiment, to divide it between them. But when the soldiers found that His coat, or under-robe, was seamless and woven in one piece, they cast lots for that; so that the Scripture, written hundreds of years before, might be fulfilled, "They parted My raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots." These things, therefore, the soldiers did.

Then the rulers who were standing by mocked Him, saying, "He saved others, why did He not save Himself and come down from the cross?"

Dear children, do you know why Jesus did not come down from the cross?

"He knew how wicked man had been, He knew that God must punish sin; So, out of pity, Jesus said He'd bear the punishment instead.

"And so He died! And this is why He came to earth to bleed and die: The Bible says He came from heaven, That we might have our sins forgiven."

Perhaps some of you may think that the cruel nails held His dear hands and feet so fast that He could not come down?

But that was not the reason—oh no!

It was love that made Him stay there—love to you and to me. He stayed there that He might die for us, that His precious blood should be shed to pay the price for our sins.

The two thieves who were crucified on either side of Jesus, joined with the Jews in reproaching Him; but after a while one of them began to think of Him as He hung there in all His patience and love, and he was sorry that he had spoken against Him. He rebuked the other thief, and told him that they both were condemned justly, "but this Man hath done nothing amiss," he said.

And then we can picture him, turning his poor suffering face towards the loving Saviour who hung beside him, and we can almost hear him saying, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom!"

And Jesus answered and said, "To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise!"

Ah! He was the King of Love! Not a reproach to that sinful man; not a word that now it was too late; nothing but love and cheer and tenderness. "Verily I say unto thee, To-day, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise!"

Oh, does not this tender Jesus make your heart grow warm with love?

Though He was racked with pain, He could cheer one who was suffering by Him; though He was dying for the sins of the whole world, He could save one single soul who turned to Him in faith.

God sent a great darkness over all the land from twelve o'clock till three o'clock, while His holy Son was dying on the cross.

No one can tell all the depth of woe and loneliness which Jesus suffered while the load of our sins rested upon Him; but the more we understand it, the more we shall love Him for His great love.

"When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.

"Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast Save in the death of Christ my God: All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.

"See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down: Did e'er such love and sorrow meet? Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

"Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were an offering far too small: Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.

"To Christ, who won for sinners grace By bitter grief and anguish sore, Be praise from all the ransomed race For ever and for evermore."

Now there were standing by the cross of Jesus, His mother, and His mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus saw His mother, and John, the disciples whom He loved, standing there, He charged him to take care of His dear mother; and John took her to his own home from that hour.

And now everything was done which the Scriptures had said should happen; and Jesus, knowing this, said, "I thirst!"

And one ran and filled a sponge with vinegar and put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.

And when Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, "It is finished!" And He gave up His spirit into His Father's keeping; and then He died.

XXIII. The Sealed Tomb

Now when the centurion who was in charge of the soldiers who crucified Jesus, saw all the things that had happened—His wonderful love and patience, His dying words, the darkness and the great earthquake,—he feared greatly, and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"

And there were many women there, standing as near as they dared. Among these was Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils; and Mary the mother of James and Joses; and Salome the mother of Zebedee's children, James and John, the disciples who had been with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and at other special times during His ministry.