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… It is very interesting to consider ourselves here as only in the childhood of our being, our full manhood being reserved for another and higher state of existence. When a man reviews the ideas, imaginations, and pursuits of his youth, he discovers a number of wild notions which he now would be ashamed to entertain, of false theories which a riper judgment has long ago exposed, and of worthless objects which have long ceased to attract his regards. He finds, moreover, that much which seemed inexplicable has become very plain, and that things at which he used to wonder present no longer any cause for surprise. Thus shalt it be with us hereafter. We shall look back upon riches, and honour, and property — things which now seem to us of great worth and importance — we shall look back upon them as so many toys with which it is wonderful we could ever have been pleased. Many of our present notions and opinions, though framed with care and maintained with pertinacity, will appear to us like the dreams and fancies of boyhood, which fade before the light of riper years; and the dispensations of Providence at which we now wonder, and beneath which we are too often impatient, will become as simple to us and as worthy of our gratitude as the discipline and correction we have received from earthly parents, which, whilst we were young, may have appeared to us harsh and unaccountable, but of which in later days we see all the reasons and feel all the worth. (H. Melvill, B. D.) 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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