Chapter 20

It was close to midnight when Jesus rose from the table and announced that they would now depart. The evening, despite its sadness, had passed quickly; for the disciples, now awake to the fact that they were presently to be left without his guidance, had many questions to ask of their Master.

And the questions were of a surprising nature. Even in the face of all the instructions they had received concerning a Kingdom-to-come, their last-minute entreaties for reassurance showed how vaguely they had understood. So long as they had had him by their side, walking and talking with him, the future seemed far off, something to be dealt with when they got to it. Now that they had got to it, the future demanded a fresh examination.

Jesus had just finished saying, ‘You all know where I am going. Though you cannot come with me now, you know the way.’

Thomas had spoken up promptly: ‘But, Master, we do not know where you are going: how can we know the way?’

‘I am the way,’ said Jesus patiently. ‘I go to our Father.’

‘Tell us about the Father,’ begged Philip, as if he had never heard a word on the subject.

‘The Father is in me,’ said Jesus. ‘The words that I have spoken are His words. The deeds that I have done are His deeds.’

They all nodded their belief that this was true, but their apparent understanding did so little to assuage their feeling of utter desolation that the Master continued, tenderly:

‘I shall not leave you comfortless. I shall come to you.’

At length they descended the stairs and came out into the moonlight, Jesus pausing to offer a gracious word of thanks to their host, who followed them to the gate as if reluctant to see them leave his house.

It was only a short distance to the brow of the hill that overlooked the silent city. Jesus tarried there for a long moment before turning off the highway to the hard-beaten path that wound through the grove of aged olive-trees.

Peter, James, and John had followed closely, the others trailing at some distance, not sure what was expected of them. Deep in the shadows of the grove, Jesus turned to the three and asked them to wait there. He went on a little way and knelt in the shadow of a rock. After a while the watchers’ eyes grew heavy. For the past few nights they had been too gravely troubled to take their accustomed rest, and this evening’s drain on their emotions had left them exhausted. Soon they were stretched on the ground with their heads pillowed in the crooks of their arms, fast asleep.

After an hour of anguished prayer, Jesus returned to them. The little group of men who had known him best and loved him most were unprepared to support him with assurances of their sympathy and affection. He was alone now, without a friend in the world.

* * * * *