A great hospitalJ.C. Ryle, "The Gospel of Mark" 1857Mark 14:27, "All of you will desert Me!" Jesus told them. We see in this verse, how well our Lord knew the weakness and infirmities of His disciples. He tells them plainly what they were going to do, "All of you will desert Me!" Let us take comfort in the thought that the Lord Jesus does not cast off His believing people because of failures and imperfections. He knows exactly what they are. He takes them, as the husband takes the wife, with all their blemishes and defects; and once joined to Him by faith, He will never leave them. He is a merciful and compassionate Savior. It is His glory to pass over the transgressions of His people, and to cover their many sins. He knew what they were before conversion:   wicked, guilty, and defiled--yet He loved them. He knows what they will be after conversion:  weak, erring, and frail--yet He loves them. He has undertaken to save them, notwithstanding all their deficiencies and failings. And what He has undertaken, He will perform.Let us learn to pass a charitable judgment on the conduct of professing believers. Let us not set them down in a low place, and say they have no grace--because we see much weakness and sin in them. Let us remember that our Master in Heaven bears with their infirmities, and let us try to bear with them too. The Church of Christ is little better than a great hospital. We ourselves are all, more or less, weak. We all daily need the skillful treatment of the heavenly Physician. There will be no 'complete cures' until the resurrection day. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but s