is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth Me is at hand. XXIX. THE BETRAYAL, AND APPREHENSION S. Matt. xxvi. 47-56; S. Mark xiv. 43-52; S. Luke xxii. 47-53; And immediately, while He yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude, and officers with lanterns and torches and weapons, from the chief priests, and the Pharisees, and the scribes and elders. the transition of impulse which our Lord's brief words (evidently His exact words) clearly express. He speaks in sorrow and reproof, certainly not in irony, as some have said, to those whom He had brought there to help Him with sympathy and prayer in His hour of need, and who had so soon and so easily failed Him in the awful spiritual contest from which He had just come forth. They had neglected that prayerfulness which was even more necessary in their case than in His; they were not nerved to meet their own trials. The contrast between what He had Himself experienced, and their forgetfulness and apparent indifference of Him, was painful. But as He is speaking, the traitor and his band come into sight, close at hand; and He feels how different is the imperfect devotion, but real attachment, of these chosen ones from the malice of His enemies; and instead of leaving them to themselves, and going forth alone, He will have them with Him still. He "loved them to the end." 1. multitude.—All together a large number: foremost was the traitor, the most guilty, and the most to be pitied of those who were ranged on the side of Christ's enemies. There was also the band of soldiers, with their officers, whom Pilate had sent evidently on the requisition of the Jewish rulers, and on their misrepresentation of Him as a political offender; they left nothing undone to prejudice His cause. There were also the Jewish officers of the Temple watches, captains of the Temple," and many of the rulers and elders, and also some of their servants. They were armed, some with swords, some with staves or clubs; and many of them bore lights, lest Christ should be hidden in the obscurity of night, amongst the deep shade of the olive trees, though the full Paschal moon was now shining. 66 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am He. And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them. As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward, and 2. knowing all things.—The perfect knowledge of Christ of everything that was before Him, and His voluntary submission, are carefully kept before us by S. John throughout his whole narrative. 3. went forth. He came forward from the band of His disciples into the full light, to meet His captors. It is plain that He might, without exercise of supernatural power, have easily escaped in the indistinctness of moonlight, and under cover of His disciples; whilst His enemies, a disorderly multitude, most of them conscious of a cowardly and evil purpose, were groping about with their lanterns, throwing the distance into obscurity. 4. whom seek ye.-Critics have noticed this question as addressed to John's disciples, and again to Mary Magdalene, in the garden after the resurrection, as recorded by S. John i. 38, xx. 15; and have pointed out how the manifestation of Christ depended upon the earnestness of those who answered. There might have been, therefore, the same grace shown to His enemies, had they desired it; but their reply shows at once fear and insolence. They dared not to say, "We seek Thee!" but they gave that name by which Christ was designated; not in their case, as in that of Philip, to distinguish Him when yet unknown, but derisively, as when they nailed His title to the cross. 5. Judas also.-S. John caught sight of him, so lately a disciple, now standing amidst Christ's enemies; and records his presence, as he noticed it, with horror. 6. backward, etc.-See Ps. xxvii. 2, xxxv. 4; Isa. xxviii. 13. Judas was amongst them, and probably now first experienced the power of Christ as manifested against those who rise up against Him. There appears to have been that divinity visible, which from time to time overawed those who came in contact with Christ; His bold and calm gesture, as He advanced singly towards them, and addressed them, and declared Himself, struck them with confusion; and at the awful words, "I AM" (see the Greek), they "stumbled and fell." They had often before been unable to lay hands on Him; but now, at the moment when He stood unarmed before His enemies, it was clear that they were powerless in His presence, at His will. Farrar explains that this was the effect of His dignity, and of their bad conscience; and compares Z with it the effect of the calmness of Marius on the slave being sent to execute him. But the parallel is not correct. The slave had no bad conscience; his errand was in obedience to orders: but even had he fell to the ground. Then asked He them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He: if ye seek Me, let these go their way: that the saying might be fulfilled. which He spake, Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost none. And he that betrayed Him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He take had this, he would scarcely have hesitated. Nothing is gained to the cause of truth, by trying to explain away, by supposed natural causes and forced parallels, what prophecy foreshadowed, and what the Evangelist evidently intends to represent as miraculous, in accordance with his careful plan of showing the willingness of Christ to die. 7. I have told you.-The words seem to convey Christ's permission to His enemies to advance and fulfil their purpose; and that He had no intention of resisting them. 8. the saying. He would have the disciples free, against whom some of the multitude were probably advancing. He was thus thoughtful for them in the moment of peril; and one meaning of His words in John xvii. 12, is thus unfolded. But His chief anxiety was not for their bodily safety, but that He knew them as yet unable to stand in the hour of temptation: the danger was a spiritual one; they might apostatize, and so fall beyond recovery, were they, at this moment of weakness, tempted above that they were able to bear. And hence, as His prayer was over them, so was His anxiety directed to their condition rather than His own; He would have them temporarily withdrawn from this peril, that they should not, in their moment of fiery trial, so fail that they might not be converted and strengthened. He thus found" a way of escape" for them; and presently they were "able to bear" that which now was "above that they were able." The lesson is one of Christ's constant faithfulness and mercy in dealing with those whose infirmities He well knows, and whom His protection and mediation guard. 9. a token. The original word means "a concerted token," prearranged between themselves. In this Judas outraged the common sign of a friendly and hospitable greeting-an act of great hypocrisy, as well as of treachery. The "kiss of Judas" has become the world's proverb for the perversion of any office of friendship, or of friendly courtesy, to purposes of malice. 10. take Him, etc.-The particularity of these directions almost suggests the view which some writers have taken of the treachery of Judas; namely, that whilst concerting with them about the token he should give, and their action upon it, he did not expect that our Lord would deliver Himself into the hands of the rulers, but that He would VOL. II. C Him, and lead Him away safely. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed Him. either pass out of their midst, and so escape them, as He had done before (see Luke iv. 30; John vii. 30, 44, viii. 59, x. 39), or declare Himself with power as the Christ. He therefore emphasizes his direction to the soldiers (being perfectly aware of Christ's power to free Himself), in order that he may appear to have done his best on their side, whilst he hails our Lord as his Master, with professed allegiance on returning to Him. If so, he was doubly false; false to his Lord, and false to his confederates in crime, playing traitor to both sides. The impression, however, generally conveyed by the record of the Evangelists is that Judas was not false to the rulers, and that he was determined that Christ should not escape, except by a miracle. (See xxii, 8; xxiv. d. 5.) 11. he came.-Critics are at issue as to the moment of Judas's act; whether it preceded or followed Christ's declaration of Himself. It seems more in accordance with Christ's voluntary surrender of Himself throughout, to suppose that He anticipated, and so rendered useless, the vile treachery of Judas (wicked plots often do so issue as to display the futile subtlety of their contriver); but that Judas determined to carry out his part, thinking, perhaps, that he still had his reward to earn, and so advanced to give the token. Judas knew our Lord well enough to feel sure that He intended now to deliver Himself to His enemies, and that therefore there was nothing further to fear from His power. But Christ was probably unknown by person to the soldiers at least, whose orders were to seize the man pointed out by Judas, according to the preconcerted signal. They had no orders to seize one who declared Himself, as Christ had just done. A devoted adherent might have personated, in order to save, his Lord: instances of such devotion are on record; and the execution of military orders was proverbially exact and literal in the Roman army. Judas therefore, either spontaneously, or urged by the Jewish officers, advanced and gave the sign. Some of the early writers have thought that Christ prevented recognition of Himself at first (as He did after the resurrection), and that only when He said, "I am He," He allowed Himself to be recognized even by Judas. But it is scarcely necessary to suppose that He thus hid Himself, as He sufficiently, without this elaborate proof, showed that He voluntarily gave Himself up.. 12. Master... kissed Him.-On the use of the term "Master" by Judas, see xxiv. d. 7. The word kissed here means a warm embrace; so, in his anxiety and restlessness, the traitor overdoes the part he has undertaken. It is noticeable that, in the direction he gives to the soldiers, he uses a different term, expressive only of customary salutation. The A. V. in using the term “kiss ” in both instances, does not express this distinction. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took Him. When they that were about Him saw what would follow, they said unto Him, Lord, shall we smite with 13. Friend.—Gk. "comrade." (See sect. viii. 27.) Our Lord does not ask this question expecting an answer, but as questioning the conscience of Judas, and conveying the reflection, For what a base purpose art thou here! His second question is to the same point, but more stern; probably on seeing that there was no trace of penitence in the heart of Judas, and as shrinking from the embrace of such a villain. There is no anger in it; but it is so simple a charge of the baseness of his treachery, and so direct an intimation of our Lord's perfect knowledge of the whole transaction, that it must have gone to the heart of one in whom there remained any good principle to work upon. Had there been this, had Judas shown any softening of penitence, we cannot doubt that even he might have found mercy from One who addressed him so gently. As He "looked upon Peter," so He spoke to Judas: the result was different, for there was great difference of heart. 14. come.-Gk. "art thou present? The word does not simply express arrival on the scene, but presence in the company round Christ, and in order to do this particular act. It was surely a strange company for a disciple of Christ to be found in, and a direful purpose to fulfil. Some, however, explain the first question as a direction to fulfil or to declare the purpose for which he had come. 15. Son of man.-This title was emphatically our Lord's designation as the Saviour, and it is used here with a special intention. It is as if He said, "Judas, destroyest thou the Saviour, to the peril of the world's salvation, so far as thou canst peril it, and to the hazard of thine own soul's life?" 16. then came they.-The soldiers now appear to have advanced to take Jesus according to their orders, and probably seized Him; but they did not bind Him until He had yielded Himself. It is evident that though He manifested not such power as drove them away, yet, throughout the whole scene, He preserved (and the Evangelists carefully note it) His freedom of will. He put forth such power as, to the eye of faith, sufficed to express His possession of this freedom; and so, whilst He continued to speak to His enemies, they could not but suspend action to hear Him. Twice He put forth miraculous power; once when the multitude fell back and prostrate before Him, and again when He healed the ear of Malchus. It is clear, therefore, that His Divine might remained with Him, and that it could now, as ever, be exerted at will. 17. shall we smite.-There is a contrast here between the courage |