owing
this, that so when sin's worst was done, He might seize it by the throat
and strangle it. He would put death to death. Yet so terrific is the
struggle that He must accept in Himself that which He thereby destroys.
This is the agony of Gethsemane. It may be told, but not understood. Only
one as pure as He could understand, and then only under circumstances that
never will come again.

The horror of this contact with sin is intensified clear out of our reach
by this: it meant _separation from His Father_. The Father was the life of
Jesus. The Father's presence and approving smile were His sunshine. From
the earliest consciousness revealed to us was that consciousness of His
_Father_. Only let that smile be seen, that voice heard, that presence
felt by this One so sensitive to it, and all was well. No suffering
counted. The Father's presence tipped the scales clear down against every
hurting thing.

_But_--now on the morrow that would be changed. The Father's face
be--hidden--His presence _not_ felt. That was the climax of all to Jesus.
Do you say it was for a short time only? In minutes y-e-s. As though
experiences were ever told by the clock! What bulky measurements of time
we have! Will we never get away from the clocks in telling time? No clock
ever can tick out the length to Jesus of that time the Father's face was
hidden. This hiding of the Father's face was the climax of suffering to
Jesus.

<u>Alone.</u>

It was a very full evening for Jesus. In the upper room of a friend's
house they meet for the eating of the Passover meal. There is the great
act of washing His disciples' feet, the eating of the old Hebrew prophetic
meal, the going out of Judas into the night of his dark purpose, the new
simple memorial meal. Then come those long quiet talks, in which Jesus
speaks out the very heart of His heart, and that marvellous prayer so
simple and so bottomless.

Very likely He is talking, as they move quietly along the Jerusalem
streets, out of the gate leading toward the Kedron brook, and then over
the brook toward the enclosed spot, full of the great old olive trees. The
moon is at the full. This is one of His favorite praying places. He is
going off for a bit of prayer. _So_ He approaches this great crisis. There
is a friendly word spoken to these men that they be keenly alert, and
_pray_, lest they yield to temptation. It is significant, this word about
temptation. Then into the woods He goes, the dis