John 13:1-19 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world to the Father… Are you not trying to build your nests high, and to feather them with down? Are you not trying to provide for the future, so that you shall escape trouble and care? Has the idea entered into your mind that suffering is the baptism of holiness? that it brings you into the likeness of Christ, and that it is to be, not suffering for your own sake, but suffering that other men may be wiser and purer, and truer and juster? Is this the foundation upon which you are building your activity? Can we be saviours of the world, and none of us be willing to suffer, and all of us be fierce for vengeance? Can we be saviours of the world, and all of us carry the whip of justice, and none of us carry the sweet incense and perfume of love? Shall all pulpits, all papers, all Churches, all Christians of every name, clamour for justice, justice, justice, and not one speak of that crowned Sufferer who stood silent and meek, though the world thundered about Him and rolled in upon Him, and overwhelmed Him even unto death? Go! go! ye sons of Zebedee, that want to stand high, but do not want to take the cup or the baptism! But if any man would follow Christ, let him be silent in the presence of that most august spectacle of time — the Saviour crowned with thorns! (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. |
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