Deeply Did He Suffer
Reflect on these words about the passion of King Jesus:
For it is not the part of a priest passively to suffer, but actively to offer — to offer a sacrifice to God.
No doubt Jesus suffered; deeply did he suffer. He suffered from the rage of men, from assaults of Satan, and from the wrath of God. But even under the wrath of God, which was unspeakably more for the blessed Son to bear than all the efforts of men and devils, he fell not a passive victim. Patiently, positively, powerfully, as a priest fulfilling his course, he presented himself to all that it was appointed to him to suffer; and having defeated all the assaults of Satan, and drunk all the cup of his Father's wrath, there was the triumph of a mighty conqueror in the cry that burst from his lips, "It is finished!" and there was the consciousness of voluntary action and mighty power in consummating the sacrifice when he exclaimed, "Father into your hands I commit my spirit."
Manifestly he was the master of his own life when he thus spoke.
