THE TWELFTH CHAPTER.

Jesus is taken and bound.

Come now, and with inward sorrow and weeping eyes let us go and see where we have left our Lord Jesus Christ, namely, in the cruel hands of the savage Jews; our most innocent Lamb in the hateful and rough claws of lions, roaring for their prey. Let us see, I pray, in sorrow and affliction of heart, how shamefully and miserably these unclean dogs have treated the Lord of glory. He, indeed, the meek Lamb of God, spake to them kindly in gentle words, and said: “As against a thief have ye come forth to take Me. I was daily with you, teaching in the temple, and ye took Me not. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” O ye blind and wicked, what need was there to come in such numbers to take Him, Who of His own free will giveth Himself into your hands? What need was there to search with lanterns and torches for Him Who cometh forth to meet you, and to speak to you? What will your arms profit you, when by one word He hath laid you flat upon the 95ground? Or why have ye sought by night Him Who was daily with you in the temple? Of a truth, this is the hour of darkness. The children, I say, the children of darkness hate the light; therefore they desire to put it out, that they may remain in their darkness, lest their evil works may be made manifest. But in vain do they labour. As the Scripture saith: His light shall not be put out by night, but it will shine the brighter, and will be lifted up on the candlestick of the Cross, that it may give light to all, who are in the household of Holy Church.

Then all the disciples, leaving their Master alone in the wicked hands of the raging Jews, fled away. Oh! who can think of all the fierceness, and the wickedness, with which those savage wolves treated this our loving Lord, or of the sorrow, and contempt, and shame, that they brought upon Him? Let us for a little while, I implore you, endeavour in our imagination to compass this cross and affliction, in order to stir up our hearts to compassion and devotion. And although all that our Lord here suffered may not appear so plainly as from the Evangelist’s words, yet may we gather and deduce them from those other words, in which he saith: “They did unto Him whatsoever they would.” And who can reckon up all that these mad dogs wrought against this 96innocent Lamb, if they “did whatever they would?” If they could not glut themselves with His Blood, and with all kind of cruelty against Him, when they had crucified Him, and shed His precious Blood like water, without also crucifying Him with their tongue, and blaspheming and mocking Him, and even opening His Side when He was dead, what must they be thought to have done to Him while He was still alive? If at the end of His Life no kind of savage cruelty could satisfy them, what must we think they did to Him in that first mad rush upon Him, when their rage was at a white heat? Where is the mind that can understand, or the heart that can search out all the cruelty with which they treated our gentle Lord, after having for so long a time sought after Him, and laid in wait to kill Him, and so often threatened Him? With what tyrannical and cruel eagerness did they now seize on this innocent Lamb, when they had Him in their power, Whose Blood they had so fiercely thirsted after? All the savageness, the malice, the envy, the contempt they had so long conceived and borne in their minds, they now poured out at once upon Him. All the poison, bitterness, and rage, they had so long before laid up in their hearts, and carried about with them, and nourished, they now in one mass vomited out upon Him.

But let us go a little farther, and with great compassion, and hot burning tears, behold how our tender Jesus stood here alone among all those mad and raging hounds, forsaken by all men. Let us imagine, I beseech you, that we ourselves are standing by, and are looking on, while they thus treat so cruelly this meek and gentle Lamb. One teareth out the hair of His Head, another that of His beard. This one layeth hold of His breast, that one of His neck. One striketh Him hard blows in the face, another on the neck, a third upon His Most Sacred Head. Some heap up spittle upon His loving face, and bind His blessed hands with hard cords. There are doctors who say, that they threw an exceeding heavy iron chain around His neck. Who can unfold how many blasphemies, how many reproaches and revilings, how many foul and shameful names our sweet Lord was compelled to hear? Of a truth, they knew not how to glut their malice, or by what shameful torments to rage against Him. For although they carried out against Him all that they could think of in their traitorous and cruel hearts, nor even then were able to glut their bloody thirst—yet far more did they burn, and desire to do, than they actually did. For the more of wickedness and malice their virulent eagerness vomited out, so much the more did they burn to devise all 98manner of treachery and deceit against Him. And because our Lord had cast them down with their backs upon the ground, so in their exceeding rage and fury, they in their turn threw Him with His back upon the earth, and kneeling upon His breast spat upon His sacred face and adorable mouth; nay, as some doctors think, they so trod upon His breast, and covered His face and mouth with spittle, that by the stopping of His breath He would have died of suffocation, had not the power of His Godhead kept Him alive.

See here, in passing, how almost every step of Christ’s Passion was itself a bitter death. Look now, O my soul, with the eyes of thy heart upon thy Lord and Maker, at Whose high Godhead the angels marvel, and see how exceeding low He hath been cast down, and humbled for thy sins. Marvel at, and tremble, and adore this wonder of all wonders! Behold, and with all care consider, how that most high Majesty hath cast Itself down, and, as it were, brought Itself to nothing for the sake of thy measureless vileness. But above all, weigh well that burning love, whereby He willed to do this, for He alone was the cause of His doing so. Contrast, I beg of thee, His highness with thy vileness, and—unless I am mistaken—in the contrast thy powers will fail thee, 99thy understanding will totter to and fro, thy spirit will become faint, and thy heart for exceeding great wonder will shake with horror. Consider, also, the greatness of thy sin and the fearful weight and gravity of the debt which called for such a payment, and stood in need of such a Redeemer, and asked for so dear a ransom of reconciliation. For with nothing less than the very precious Blood of Christ, and the Death of the Son of God, could it be paid. Observe, too, O my soul, both thine own hardness and dissoluteness, in that thou hast so little fear; and at the same time, be ashamed that thou thinkest nothing at all about sinning, exposing thyself so easily to damnation, when Christ had to redeem thee with such measureless torments, and with such great labour.

After this, behold how those shameful ones trampled upon the Lord of Glory. Hear how He complaineth of this by the prophet, when He saith: “Many young bulls have compassed Me, fat bulls have beset Me round, and many dogs have surrounded Me. Upon My back have sinners built, they have prolonged iniquity. I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.” Oh! how deeply hath the Majesty of God cast Itself down, in order to lift us up on high! How humbly hath It submitted Itself unto all men, in order to wipe out our pride, 100and blot out our disobedience. See whether He was not, of a truth, a poor worm, trodden under the feet of the Jews, despised, spat upon, killed? Was ever a thief or malefactor treated so cruelly, so inhumanly, or disfigured so basely, as Jesus Christ the Son of God, to Whom hath never clung the slightest stain of sin. O sweet Jesus, loving Lord, whither shall I turn my heart for exceeding great trouble, when I see in what anguish and distress Thou wert, when Thou didst lie so miserably among those madmen, who, all of them, like hungry lions, thirsted to mangle and tear Thee in pieces, innocent Lamb that Thou art, and how my sins were the cause of Thy Passion? Who, I ask, can have such a breast of steel, such a heart of ice, as not to be inflamed by love like this? For thereby, when we were about to be burnt up in the fires of hell, Christ took all this upon Himself, and suffered, out of His pure love, the punishment due to our sins for our sakes. That we might be freed from the power of Satan and the chains of death, the King of Glory was taken prisoner, and bound, and led to death; and that He might lead us without punishment into the kingdom of heaven, He underwent all the punishment that we deserved.

Wherefore, O most merciful God, what can we render Thee in return for all this 101unutterable grace and love? Much have we hitherto marvelled, that Thou hast willed to sink so low as to take our human nature, and to be laid in a manger, but this humility, this utter casting down of Thyself, is above all Thy former works. For now Thou art no more a man, but, indeed, an outcast and a worm. At Thine Incarnation Thou didst lie in the pleasant arms of Thy most tender Mother, but here Thou liest in the hands of the Jews. Then Thou wert adored as God and Man, now Thou art taken as a thief. Then were offered Thee royal gifts, now Thou art smitten, and blasphemed, and despised, and mocked.

Weigh well with thyself, O my soul, what must have been the sorrow of the holy and heavenly spirits, when they saw their Lord and King, Whom they had ever held in such honour and reverence, brought down to such distress, and punishment, and wretchedness, so exceedingly humbled, despised, and shamed. We may, indeed, picture them to ourselves by a holy imagination, as falling down flat upon their faces in the presence of God the Father, and weeping bitterly and praying for their King. Let us also, therefore, have a fellow-feeling with them, that we may compassionate our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is our sorrow and our wounds, by which He is afflicted and tormented; and 102with deep groans and sorrowful hearts let us fall down upon our faces before the Father, and say:

“O most gracious Father, look down, I beseech Thee, upon the sore distress of Thine only Begotten One, and the cruel torments whereby He is compassed round about. Oh! how could Thy tender Heart endure to see Thy beloved Son suffer such dreadful agony, and yet give Him no help or succour? O Father, Father, why hast Thou forsaken Him? Why were Thy fatherly bowels moved not with compassion towards Thy beloved Son? Why hadst Thou no pity on the tears of the angels, so as to suffer them to avenge the wrongs of their Master and their King? What love hath overcome Thee, O Father of Mercies? What is man, that Thou so lovest him? Thou hast pity upon sinful men, and forsakest Thine only Son. That men might be exalted in heaven, it is for this that Thy Son is so shamefully humbled upon earth. That the guilty and wicked sinner might be freed from death, this is why Thy only holy One, Who knew no sin, is led to a miserable death! O most loving Father, what is this marvellous work which Thou hast willed to do, that Thou shouldst lay all our sins upon Thine only One, and avenge them in Him, although He ever thirsted after Thy honour, and did Thy will, and performed whatever 103was grateful and pleasing in Thy sight? Yes, Thou hast horribly smitten this Thy beloved Son for our sins, and delivered Him wholly into the hands of the cruel Jews. What shall I give Thee in return, O Father of heaven, for all this utterly unfathomable and incomparable love, for all the faithfulness, and mercy, and loving-kindness, which Thou hast shown to me, so worthless, and vile, and ungrateful, and dissolute a sinner? What gratitude, what praise and honour shall I repay Thee for all this? Oh! how can I ever give Thee even the least thing in return for love so far above all understanding?”