But the disciples' strange failure did not call forth one word of
bitterness from our Lord's lips. A gentle reproach was certainly implied
in the words, "Could ye not watch with Me one hour?" but no shade of
personal displeasure expressed itself, much as the occasion might seem to
warrant it. No! Jesus knew the failures begotten of human weakness, as
well as the horror of human sin. And so He made allowances, and was as
patient with those who left Him, as He was tender to those who were
steadfast. He loved them both.
Go thou, and do likewise. In your home; in your family circle; in your
Corps; in your office; in your work, be it what it may; when men fail and
forsake your Lord; even if all disappoint and desert you, _you must love
them still_. Be faithful with them; but, above all, be steadfast in
your own purpose, and devote all your zeal and strength to finish the work
that God has given you to do. In short, go forward without them; but let
your words, and thoughts, and prayers for them be like your Master's.
And Jesus utters no word of complaint about this failure. The silence all
through that great anguish is indeed very wonderful. Abandoned by man, He
abandoned Himself all the more earnestly to His work for men without a
murmur. And abandoned by God--as for a little time it seemed--He all the
more completely abandoned Himself to God. To have fellowship with Him, you
and I will have to walk the same path, and mind the same rule.
When friends, or followers, or comrades trample upon the solemn covenants
made alike to us and to God, and forsake, and leave us to finish our work
and tread our winepress alone, let there be no moaning because of the pain
it inflicts. When those upon whom we had a right--right by reason of
natural law, or right by reason of the obligations and precious vows of
friendship, or right on the ground of spiritual indebtedness--when those,
I say, upon whom we had a right to depend fail us, let there be no
complaining of their treatment because it is painful to us. Let there be
no filling of the earth with laments and wailings, no accusing of our
accusers, no reviling of those who revile us. Let us be silent in the
patience of Jesus and in the strength of His love, and let His way of
meeting the loneliness of desertion be our way--let us pray.
But all the same, that sleep, that failure to respond to the personal
claim of Jesus, was a sure forerunner of the cowardly flight, and the
deadly denial which followed it. The seeds of Peter's lies and curses were
sown in the selfishness and slumber of the garden; they came to maturity
in the kitchen of the judgment hall. Poor Peter! How many hours of bitter
self-reproach would you have been spared, had you but held out during that
one brief hour of your watch in Gethsemane! How differently we could have
regarded your poor wobbling nature! How differently, too, your Lord's
great trial would have come to Him! How different might have been the
history of mankind!