Pleasant Stone Devotional Meditation: March 29

"Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, ... behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners" ~ Matthew 26:45

Here is a "red stone" reflecting the deepest recesses of the great heart of Jesus Christ. His decision was made. He came to do His Father's will and He would do it "even unto death." Even unto the death of the Cross. He made His decision and the came back to His sleeping disciples and said quite simply and peacefully that His time had come. He used the present tense in the little verb "is." "The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." The betrayal already occurred. So had the dark mystery of His conflict in the garden among the shadowy olive trees in the place called Gethsemane. His torment of soul was ended. He was ready to drink the cup. Knowing all that was in it. He had already tasted it and had overcome His loathing of it and was ready now to drink it. All of it. Jesus was strong and poised and gentle and waiting to die. And the facet of this "red stone" verse which cuts me [Eugenia Price, the author] to the heart is that He was dying for the very ones who were going to murder Him. "The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." He came to save His murderers. Somehow the divine poignancy of His simply telling them that He was already betrayed into the very hands of those He had come to call to Himself, melts me. There is no spirit of revenge. Listen to Him say after the agony under the olive trees in the hideous shadows of that garden:

"The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners ... I came not to call the righteous, but sinners ... him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out."