finally pass away, and the
whole of their aspirations be realized (John vii. 34; viii. 21).

It is easy to see why Peter was unfit for the deeper realization of
Christ in His resurrection. Our Lord had just spoken of being
glorified through death. It was as Judas left the chamber, intent on
his betrayal, that Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified!" He
saw that the hidden properties of His being could only be unfolded and
uttered through death and resurrection. But Peter had little sympathy
with this; he might avow his determination to die, but he had never
really entered into the meaning of death, and all it might involve.

He could not detect evil. The traitor was beside him; but he had to
ask the beloved disciple to elicit from Jesus who it might be by whom
the Master would be betrayed.

He was out of sympathy with the Lord's humiliation, so that he chode
with Him for stooping to wash his feet; and if he could not understand
the significance and necessity of this lowly deed of love, how could he
enter into the spirit of that life which was planted in death, and
which bore even in resurrection the print of the nails?

He strove with the rest for the primacy. Who should be the greatest?
was the question that agitated them, as the other evangelists tell us,
in that solemn hour. And none that was possessed with that spirit of
pride and emulation could be in harmony with that blessed world where
the greatest are the lowliest, the highest the least, and the King set
on the right hand of power, because more capable of humbling Himself
than any beside.

But, besides all this, Peter was animated by the strong spirit of
self-assertion and determination. Always on the lake shore he had been
able to get to the front by his stronger voice, and broader shoulders,
and more vehement manner. Why should he not do the same now? Why
could he not keep pace with Christ even through the dark valley, and
accompany Him through unknown worlds?

It cannot be, said Christ; you are too strong in your carnal strength,
too self-reliant, too confident. It is not possible for you to be with
Me, in the life that springs from death, and to which death is the
door, till you have deeply drunk into the spirit of My death. You are
too strong to follow Me when I descend to the lowest on My way to the
highest; I must take for My companion now a forgiven malefactor; but I
will some day come for you, and receive you to Myself.

So Pe