122. Friday after Quinquagesima Sunday.
Lord Jesus, we thank thee for thy life of suffering. Give us grace to follow after thee. Amen.
Matthew 16, 21-23. From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
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The path which Jesus trod was so dangerous and difficult that none other would have been able to walk it. The devil lay in wait for him at every turn, and spread his toils before him where it was least to be expected. When the Savior, in tender and intimate love, prepares the disciples for his suffering, the devil is at hand, and makes use of Peter’s zeal, which still is altogether too much of the earth, for the purpose of giving poison to the Lord. He tempts him to step aside from the path of obedience with its attendant suffering. While we are here on earth we can hardly have even a suspicion of the great craftiness of the cunning which the deceiver has employed against Jesus. And how keenly did not the Lord feel all our distress and infirmity! You need not think that his burden rested lightly on him because he had such strong shoulders. “He poured out his soul unto death;” what does this mean? He truly suffered, suffered unutterable pain; he felt our distress, and “tasted death for every man.” He had the purest soul and the purest body, the most deep and intense horror of death, and the keenest sense of its pain. There is none other to whose nature suffering was as foreign as to his, yet it has not fallen to the lot of any other to suffer as much as he; none ever hated death as he did, and yet none has gone to his death with such perfect willingness. Now the victory is won, the power of the devil is destroyed, and before our feet is laid the way of the cross, leading straight to the open gate of heaven. Before him everything was closed, everything dark; while friends and enemies were his tempters. To him the cross was a curse, while death was death and nothing else. To us, on the other hand, the door is opened, the light is burning, and death has been turned into life. However, the path which in self-denial he trod we also must follow. We are baptized into his death, and the old man in us must die, if we are to live. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for his sake shall find it.
Lord Jesus, like Peter we find it very difficult to understand these things. Correct us, but do not reject us. Draw us after thee; help each of us to take up his cross and follow thee, that we may save our souls. Amen.
Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost;
Christ’s the rock of my salvation:
His the name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on thee their hopes have built.