Jesus Christ, it seemed, had been a complete failure. His ideals had all come crashing to earth with His death and disgrace on Calvary. The few friends He had made were huddled together behind closed doors, disappointed and disillusioned. They have just finished their meal when, to their utter amazement, they see Him standing before them. They cannot credit the evidence of their own eyes. Is this a ghost? No, He holds His hands for them to feel, He takes some of the food off the table and eats it; all this He does with the intention of disabusing them and compelling them to believe that He is risen indeed.
Now, there is one circumstance to be noted most carefully as I join this little group in my prayer and look upon the face of my Christ. He knows exactly how they have behaved; when He needed them most of all they had failed ignominiously. They had all run away at the first sign of danger; they had doubted His word; after Calvary their doubts were confirmed.
But He is with them again; everything is all right after all. They are shamefaced, remembering their cowardice. But little by little a most consoling fact emerges in this upper room. Jesus has not changed in His attitude towards them. It is they who have failed Him, but in His voice today there is the old note of deep affection, and in the face of their Christ the same light of love. He knows all about their defection, but there is not the slightest reference to it. If you were looking on, you would get the impression that, somehow or other, He must not have heard about it. He knows they are full of sorrow, He sees they are ashamed of what they have done, and all He longs for is to restore the old loving relationships that had existed before they sinned.
There is a class of persons who are sorely tried by scruples and their big trouble is that they cannot bring themselves to believe that Our Lord is merciful. They work themselves up into a state of agony thinking that Christ Our Lord is doing His best to construe trivialities into sins, in order to block the road to heaven and plunge them into hell. The confessor tries to comfort them, to direct them. Simple man! They are not listening at all; they are merely waiting for him to pause and take a breath so that they may start again. "Father, I remember, once in my past life . . ." And away they go again. That, it would seem, is the biggest difficulty with a scrupulous person. The disease from which he suffers makes obedience more than ordinarily difficult.
Suppose a child insults a loving mother. An hour later the child is filled with shame and remorse and comes back to mother to tell her so. Of course you know what will happen. Mother will take the little child into her arms and the whole unpleasant incident is ended forever. But that night the child comes again and says: "Mother, are you quite sure it is all right? Did you really mean it when you said you had forgiven me?" Next morning the same question is put at the breakfast table, and two days later the child returns to the charge, and after a whole month she remains still questioning.
When will the scrupulous person learn that the prophet meant us to understand him literally when he told us that God's love for us bears close resemblance to that of the mother for her child?
Jesus, this wonderfully consoling truth is evident in this upper room. Let me too look upon Your face and in it learn that You are easy to forgive sin, patient and abounding in mercy. Never shall I dare to presume on Your mercy, but neither let me ever distrust Your understanding Heart.
Summary:
1. The face of Christ as He lies in Mary's arms.
2. The face of Christ as He kneels in Gethsemani.
3. The face of Christ in the upper room after the Resurrection.
Thought:
Only in Christ can be found the solution to the many problems and discussions that vex and agitate men's minds.