Christ the Greatest Hero in Battle

become, without making bitter reproaches to them about it. It is again entirely the language of love, friendship, and forbearance. They are meant to feel their own weakness all the more vividly, and at the same time learn to realize that nothing unexpected is happening to their Teacher, so that they might find peace again all the sooner after the incident. Resurrection and departure to Galilee still lay before them—how much comfort there was for them later in these refreshing words! The sublime Sage The original German "erhabene Weise" (sublime Sage) reflects an Enlightenment-era view of Jesus as a supreme moral philosopher and teacher., who well knows the impact the following scenes of horror This refers to the impending events of the Passion—the arrest, trial, and crucifixion. will have on their dispositions, does not intend to hold against their hearts what happens merely out of human weakness. He forgives them, then, before they fail, and reconciles Himself with them before they abandon Him. — But Peter, with his vehement temperament, begins: "Lord, even if all the others should fall away from you, I would not do so. No! I shall never fall away from you!" So little does a human being know himself; so little does he know what he will decide after an hour, or how he will act on the following day! Deep, very deep can even the otherwise good man sink, when certain circumstances...