“No
one’s eyes were more penetrating than His, and much of what He saw pierced His
heart. Surely His ears heard every cry of distress, every sound of want amid
despair. To a degree far more than we will ever understand, He was “a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Indeed, to the layman in the streets of
Judea, Christ’s career must have seemed a failure, a tragedy, a good man
totally overwhelmed by the evils surrounding Him and the misdeeds of others.
“He
was misunderstood or misrepresented, even hated from the beginning. No matter
what He said or did, His statements were twisted, His actions suspected, His
motives impugned. In the entire history of the world no one has ever loved so
purely or served so selflessly – and been treated so diabolically for His
effort. Yet nothing could break His faith in His Father’s plan or His Father’s
promises. Even in those darkest hours at Gethsemane and Calvary, He pressed on,
continuing to trust in the very God whom He momentarily feared had forsaken
Him.
“Because
Christ’s eyes were unfailingly fixed on the future, He could endure all that
was required of Him, suffer as no man can suffer except it be “unto death”, as
King Benjamin said, look upon the wreckage of individual lives and the promises
of ancient Israel lying in ruins around Him, and still say then and now, “Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
“How
could He do this? How could He believe it? Because He knows that for the
faithful, things will be made right soon enough. He is a King; He speaks for
the crown; He knows what can be promised. He knows that “the Lord….will be a
refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble….For the needy shall not
always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.” He
knows that “the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth
such as be of a contrite spirit.” He knows that “the Lord redeemeth the soul of
his servants: and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.”
-
Jeffrey
R. Holland, “An High Priest of Good Things to Come”, GC Oct 1999
As
Golgotha raged and tore
Your
flesh without mercy,
The
Garden sprang anew
As
from every drop of blood You spilt
New
flowers came into bloom.
How
pitiful the cross that claimed You
Not
knowing it sent a God to a
Darkened
tomb!
-
CATHRYNE ALLEN
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