Article September 16, 1967 Issue

Let Us Not Follow "afar off"

JEANNE ROE PRICE

In the Garden of Gethsemane, less than a mile from Jerusalem, where shortly he was to stand trial for his life, Christ Jesus kneeled in prayer. He whose coming ancient prophets had foretold, whose mission was acclaimed by thousands of men and women whom he had healed and fed, kneeled in prayer, alone with his God.

Shortly after he arose from prayer, he found himself surrounded by a mob, including the soldiers and guards who had come to arrest him. Deserted by his dearest friends, his disciples, he stood alone, this man of the ages. Yet he was not really alone, for God was ever with him. As for the mob, did it not represent the mass mesmerism of evil, the activity of the so-called carnal mind which even today would crucify the Christ?

Where was the disciple Peter on that awful night? He had eloquently asserted his loyalty to the Master that very evening. "Lord," he had said, "I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death."^{Luke 22:33;} Yet when Jesus was brought into the high priest's house, "Peter followed afar off,"^{v. 54;} and later denied his association with Jesus.