d--we understand it
now. One day in the city of Jerusalem He utters a great discourse
upon the good shepherd. "I am the good shepherd," He says; "the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." They did not understand
Him--we do. In the last week of His earthly life it was reported that
a company of Greeks had come to see Him. He falls at once into a
thoughtful mood, and when at last He speaks it is to say that "I, if I
be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." The men standing by did not
understand what He said--we understand. All along His journey, from
the Jordan to the cross, He dropt such expressions as this: "I have
a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished." Men did not know what He was saying--it is all clear
now.

But while He did not talk openly to the world about His death, He did
not hesitate to speak about it to His nearest friends. As soon as He
found a man willing to confess that He was indeed the world's Messiah,
the Son of the living God, He began to initiate His disciples into the
deeper mysteries of His mission. "From that time," Matthew says, "he
began to show, to unfold, to set forth the fact that he must suffer
many things and be killed." Peter tried to check Him in this
disclosure, but Jesus could not be checked. It is surprising how many
times it is stated in the gospels that Jesus told His disciples
He must be killed. Matthew says that while they were traveling in
Galilee, on a certain day when the disciples were much elated over the
marvelous things which He was doing, He took them aside and said
"Let these words sink into your ears: I am going to Jerusalem to be
killed." Later on, when they were going through Perea, Jesus took them
aside and said, "The Son of man must suffer many things, and at last
be put to death." On nearing Jerusalem His disciples became impatient
for a disclosure of His power and glory. He began to tell them about
the grace of humility. "The Son of man," He said, "is come, not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom
for many." On the last Tuesday of His earthly life He sat with His
disciples on the slope of the Mount of Olives, and in the midst of His
high and solemn teaching He said, "It is only two days now until I
shall be crucified." And on the last Thursday of His life, on the
evening of His betrayal, He took His disciples into an upper room, and
taking the bread and blessing it, He gave it to thes