Sermon Preached in the Holy Trinity Cathedral By Dean Trivett on April 11
Texr:—""And they came to a place Mark 14, 3 which was named Gethsemane." St We begin this afternoon a series of studies in the immediate setting of the Passion of our Lord, Our studies during the first four days of this week will be concerned with the happenings of the night and early morning which precede the crucifixion; and on Good. Friday morning we shall consider the Crucifixion itself.
Our starting point must be the Upper Room on that Thursday evening of sacred memory. There, together with his disciples, he has eaten the Passover, following the age long ritual as laid down by Moses. But before the feast is over he rises to institute a new Feast of Solemn Remembrance which is to supersede the Mosaic ordinance—He breaks the bread and gives it to them. He pours out the wine and bids them drink—and bids them make this an act by which they are to remember him, and his death, and all it signifies. The bread his body broken for them.—The wine, his blood which he will. shed for the women at the sepulchre when they see the angels and are told that Christ is risen—"Sore amazed"—
"Very heavy"..."Exceedingly sorrow ful unto death."—With this we recall the testimony of the other evangelists. The "agony and bloody sweat" of which St. Luke speaks, His falling on his face to pray, as recorded by St. Matthew. The strong crying and tears, to which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, refers. Obviously we are here in the presence of some deep mysterious, unutterable woe and suffering. Was there ever sorrow in the world like this? Can we even approach an understanding of it? Can we give a sufficient answer which explains why our Lord was plunged in such bitter agony in the Garden? Or can we explain what was the cup which he there prayẹd) his Father to take away from him? Several answers have been given which obviously fall far short of the truth, Some have said that in Gethsemane our Lord was overwhelmed with fear as he contem-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.