John 12:27-29 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I to this hour.… This world is a world of grief. The infant begins its career with a cry of distress premonitory of all it must suffer from the cradle to the grave. Some suffer more than others — martyrs, e.g. (Hebrews 11:36-38). But one stands out preeminent for suffering (Isaiah 53; Psalm 69:1, 2, 20). It was in the foresight of His amazing sufferings that Christ felt this perturbation of spirit, which arose out of — I. AN OVERWHELMING SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY UNDER THE TRUST HE HAD ASSUMED. Those most worthy of responsibility feel its pressure most. Some rush into office without sensibility or conscience, prepared to take all responsibility merely to pervert it to private ends. But men who deserve the trusts of life shrink even from their honours — e.g., the conscientious physician, advocate, judge, parent. What was Christ's trust? It was — 1. To represent the sinner (Galatians 5:4, 5; 2 Corinthians 5:21). 2. To represent God. His holiness, justice, truth, in all the bitter experiences of His Spirit, and that not in His omnipotent Divine, but in His frail human nature. II. THE VIEW OF DEATH AS THE PENALTY OF THE LAW. The dread of death is natural because it formed no part of our original constitution. Whatever belongs to our nature God makes pleasant — e.g., sleep and food. But death is horrible because it has supervened on our constitution (Romans 5:12). But Christ had to die under the Father's judicial displeasure as the substitute for sinners whom the law condemns. He was made sin for us who know no sin, which sinlessness added to the agony. Who that is in any degree sanctified can help but feel the pain of the sins with which He is brought in contact? How then must it have been with the Perfect Man who bore all sin, and all sorrows that are born of sin, even to the privation of the Divine presence. III. THE ANTICIPATION OF CONFLICT WITH THE POWERS OF DARKNESS. It was an old quarrel begun when Satan lifted the standard of rebellion in heaven, continued when Adam fell, and after. We know something of the terribleness of striving with the devil, and as we advance in the Divine life it becomes more terrible. What then must it have been for the spotless Jesus to feel the full brunt of all the forces that hell could muster. Conclusion: 1. All these sufferings are the evidences of Christ's love to us. 2. They show us the awful demerit of sin. (B. M. Palmer, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. |
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