II: The Talk on the Way to Gethsemane
John xv., xvi.; Matt, xxvi. 31-35; Mark xiv. 27-31.
Jesus conducted His little company in the direction of the garden of Gethsemane, where He was accustomed to pray. Starting from the Supper-Room, which lay on the southern side of Sion, He must have taken the shortest road to reach the Mount of Olives, and hence passed under one of the gates which stood open in the southern quarter of the town; from thence they could at once ascend Kedron Valley. All along this wayside, which is not far from the "Virgin's Fountain" and that of Siloë, the neighbouring hill-slopes of Mount Ophel were in those days covered with gardens, and at every step were to be seen those vineyards which inspired the Saviour with His last discourse to His disciples.
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| The bridge, Kedron valley. J-J Tissot. |
Once they had left the city gates behind them Jesus could taste the sweetness of silence and solitude for a little longer; and so, upon the way of sorrows, He halted for a moment, standing still to look at one of these vineyards, to which He was fond of likening the Kingdom of Heaven. At this season of the year the vines were still arrayed in their leafy dress; the branches already pruned for the second time, were strewn about the ground, some dried by the sun and piled up and ready to be burned, the remainder preserving some tokens of their lusty greenness. The moon, which was now high in the heavens,1 or at all events the bonfires, which were always lighted at the approach of harvest time,2 shed a clear light over the country. Gazing at the vineyard, Jesus began to speak to His disciples:—
"I am the true Vine, My Father is the Vine-dresser ... you are the branches. Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit except it be growing upon the stock, so neither can you bear fruit if you abide not in Me."3
Dwelling further upon this comparison, Jesus pointed to " the barren branches cut off and thrown out of the vineyard, heaped in bundles for the fire and therein burning forevermore." But for "the branch that is laden with fruit," the heavenly Vine-dresser prunes it, quickens it to sturdier life," purges it, "trims it" even of its flowers, when the heavy blossoms exhaust the plant and consume the sweetness necessary for its fuller fruitage. Again Jesus conjured them to remain for ever united to the parent-stem Divine, His Holy Church, giving them the most vital reasons therefor: first of all, the glory which they would thus repay His loving Father; then the blessed assurance that all prayers, uttered in this unity of spirit, would be granted; and finally the joy they should taste in this dear and intimate communion with their Saviour.
So, too, He bade them love one another, after His example, even unto the dying for each other. This, indeed, was above all things "His Commandment," for "greater love no man can have than to give up His life to save his friends." Proclaiming this gracious message, the Saviour declared that perhaps he had now revealed unto His own all that he had learned of His Father; that He no longer treated them as servants, but as dear friends, as the chosen ones of God, His Elect set in His vineyard to grow and bring forth fruit everlasting.
And yet, though the Christian must needs love all mankind as his brethren, his love must not look for any requital; for they shall be the object of never-ending hatred from worldings.4 Jesus for told the Apostles that this hatred which, since He's coming was robbed of its last excuse, would offence for fasten itself upon all who ball His Name, and in them would wickedly pursue His Father and Himself.
" If the world hateth you, know that it first hated Me. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, and because I have chosen you out of the world's midst, therefore the world hateth you. Remember that which I said to you: 'The servant is not greater than his Master.' As they have persecuted Me, so they will persecute you; and they will keep your word," He concluded sorrowfully, "even as they have kept Mine!"
After having thus forearmed them against persecutions, Jesus disclosed something of the fierceness and fury of the future trials;5 the hatred, born of hostile religions, more implacable than any other, madly bent upon exterminating them; the synagogues shut against them, all men believing that in compassing their destruction they would be offering an agreeable sacrifice to God; and these excesses were to be committed with all the blindness of fanaticism.
" I have told you these things," concluded that Master, "that when the hour is come you may remember that I have forewarned you of them. If I told you not from the beginning, it was because then I was still with you, but now I go away unto Him that sent Me."
Certainly this was not the first time Jesus had told His flock of their future persecutions,6 but never yet had He revealed that the whole world was to be arrayed against them; that not only the Gentiles, but the children of Israel, would hold of them aborrhence, and that it would be deemed an act of religion to put them to death. So overwhelmed with grief were they at this prediction that the Lord speedily changed the tenor of His conversation, to comfort and revive their souls.
" I go away," He repeated,"7 and now none of you ask Me where I'm going; but because I have said these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart. And yet, in truth, I tell you it is good for you that I go away, for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you."
Then He explained the Mission of this Divine Spirit, Who would come to "convince the world of sin, for that it had not believed in Jesus," and "to establish the justice" of that same Jesus, " Who is returned unto His Father," there to find in His bosom a glory, " such as the eye of man hath not conceived;" and " to confirm the judgment of the world, long since condemned in the person of Satan, its Prince."
" I have still many things to say to you,"8 added Lord, "but as yet you cannot bear them. Wherefore when the Spirit of Truth shall have come, He will teach you all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself, but He shall tell you whatsoever He shall hear, and future things He shall announce unto you. All, whatsoever My Father hath, is Mine, and will announce unto you that which He shall take thereof." Words which, while they reveal something of the inner life of God, likewise set before our eyes the whole order of the Trinity, the distinction of the Persons, and their interior communications.
Jesus dwelt no longer upon such exalted truths, He was content to disclose but a few beams of the heavenly light, and then ended this long talk with reminding them that a time of trial, as well as a seasonal consolation, was near at hand:
"Yet a little while, and you shall no longer see Me; again a little while and you shall see Me, because I return unto My Father."
At this point, doubtless, He resumed the journey toward Gethsemane. But the Apostles, following in His footsteps, were absorbed in a great perplexity over these words He had just uttered.
"What does He mean to say?" they whispered among themselves: "'Yet a little while, and you shall no longer see Me; again a little while, and you shall see Me; and this, because I return on to My Father.'"
This "little while" puzzled and disconcerted them; and, indeed, how were they to foresee that the Cross of Jesus was to be His triumph? We had it with fruitless conjecture, they approached the Master to question Him further: but He forestalled their words.
" You are asking yourselves" He said, "what this may mean: 'Yet a little while and you shall no longer see Me; a little while and you shall see Me.'Of a truth I say unto you, you shall moan and you shall weep for your part, but the world shall rejoice; you shall be sad, but your sadness shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come, but after that she has brought forth a son, she no longer remembereth her woes, because she hath brought forth a man-child into the world. And you likewise shall have sorrow, but I will see you again and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you."
Then, describing that gladness which was to spring up in their souls after His Resurrection, He revealed the perfectness of their joy in terms which seem to refer rather to the glorified hosts of Heaven than to men living on this earth of ours.
"In that day," He said,9 "you shall no more question Me concerning anything. Of a truth, yea, of a truth I say unto you, if you ask anything of My Father in My Name, He will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked anything in My Name: ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be fulfilled."
This prayer in the Name of Jesus, though impossible before His glorification, was indeed one of the graces reserved for all Christian souls, who should hereafter own the sway of the Holy Spirit, and thus it would crown their gladness by giving them all power over the heart of God.
And after telling the Apostles the meaning of that saying, "that they should see Jesus no more and a little after should see Him again," the Lord proceeded to explain what was implied in that "return unto His Father."10
"Hitherto," He said, "I have spoken to you using figures and parables. Lo! I will no longer speak in this wise; but I will tell you openly of My Father."
This He did by repeating what He had taught so many, many times, that, though He had come as a Man upon earth, He nevertheless abode always, as God, in the Father's Bosom, and that, having come forth from Him, He might no longer remain separated from Him. The risen Jesus would, therefore, resume the glory which is essential to Him, whereby also He would draw humanity unto Himself, having re-established it in the grace of God. And this reconciliation would be so complete that there would be no more need for Him to pray to His Father for them: the Father Himself loveth them, because they love the Christ and do believe "that He came out from God."
"I am come forth from My Father," Jesus concluded, "and am come into the world; but now I leave the world and I return unto My Father."
Whether or no the disciples comprehended these words more than imperfectly, their joy was great, however, at hearing the Master praise their faith. They believed that surely the time had come when all truth would be made self-manifest and certain.
" In this hour," they said, "Thou hast spoken plainly to us, and dost no longer discourse in proverbs. Now we know that Thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should question Thee; by this we do believe that Thou camest forth from God."
"Yes, you believe now," replied Jesus, sadly, knowing all that it had required to arouse a spark of faith within their breasts at this last moment, "but the time cometh, yea, is now come, when you shall be scattered each of you unto your own homes, and then you shall leave Me alone." But speaking these words with uplifted eyes His glance rested upon the nightly heavens. " Alone!" He said, as though replying to Himself, "no, never shall I be alone, because My Father is with Me."
This prediction, to which Saint John devotes only a passing word, is recorded much more at length by the other witnesses. It was while they were there on the road to Gethsemane, says Saint Matthew, the Jesus addressed these words to the disciples accompanying Him.
" This night I shall be unto you all an occasion of scandal and stumbling, for it is written:'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad.' But after I shall be risen again I will go before you into Galilee."
Peter, already oblivious of the denial whereof the Master only now had foretold him, straightway cried out:—
" Even if all shall be scandalised because of Thee, yet never will I."
One last time did Jesus warn him to beware of presumption.
" Of a truth I tell thee this: Today, yea, this very night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt have denied Me thrice."
Far from humbling himself Peter continued his protestations, as if he would even belie the words of the living Truth.
" Although I must needs die with Thee I will not deny Thee."
And all the Apostles, prompted by this sturdy example, re-echoed his words.
Seeing that nothing could shake their eager self-confidence Jesus endeavoured at least to forearm them against the discouragement with which the knowledge of their own weakness would soon overwhelm them, and therefore He urged them, however lonely and forsaken they might seem in after days, to trust always in the Him.
" I have told you these things that in Me you may find peace. In this world you will have great griefs; but be a good courage, I have anguished the world."
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