The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 550

we hnve Been that knowledge does not prevent treason; here we see that love does not secure one against the weakness of denial. The disciple betrayed bis great Teacher the friend denied his beloved Saviour. The offences were utterly different. Ye~ St. Pater's is distressing because it overcame the loyalty of love. The emotional and impetuous are in e.n especial danger of falling before sudden temptatione. II. SELF-CONFIDENOE INVITES TEMPT ATIO~. we pray, .. Lead us not into temptation." Yet St. Peter boldly walked into it. His love for bis Master kept him near to Jesus. While almost all the rest of the disciples-a.II but St. John-had fled, Peter hung on to the outskirts of the procession as Jesus was carried off under arrest to Jerusalem. For this we admire him. He was braver than the apostles who had not a chance of denying their Lord, because they had escaped from the dangerons scenes. It is not just, therefore, to say that he wilfully put himself in the way of danger. But if his heart drew him near to Christ, his humility and self-distrust should have warned him to be on his guard. Our loyalty to Christ may call us into difficult places; tut then we should recognize that they are difficult, and pray for grace that we may walk circumspectly in them. III. COURAGE IN EXCITING DANGERS 1B OFTEN FOLLOWED BY COWARDICE UNDER QUIETER CIBCUMSTAN0EB. In the garden St. Peter was brave as a lion, slashing at the high priest's servant with his sword. In the palace court-yard he cowers before a waiting-maid's joke. It is a great man's house, and St. Peter is an uncouth fisherman; Christ has been seized, and his cause is apparently lost; the watch is long, the night chill, the disciple weary. All these things tend to undermine courage. But it is among such circumstances that we most need to be on our guard. Then there is no excitement of the battle to sustain us. In the hour of depression our danger is great. IV. ONE FALL LEADS TO ANOTHER. If St. Peter can deny his Master once, it is not at all wonderful that he should deny him thrice. The descent to evil is an inclined plane, which grows steeper as we proceed along it. Therefore it is most needful to resist the tempter at his first onslaught. Like St. Peter, Christ was thrice attacked by the tempter. But unlike his servant, he worsted the foe at the first attack, and met him with the added strength of victory at the subsequent assaults. V. TilE TBUE CHRISTIAN WILL REPENT OF HIS UNFAITHFULNESS. The crowing cock reminds St. Peter of his Master's warning. Then his repentance is rudden and bitter. Christ's servant cannot sin without suffering. But his tears are healing. Though he fall, he shall rise again.-W. F. A. Vers. 14-25, 47-50.-Judas. By piecing together what the various Gospels tell us about Judas, we can see the process by which our Lord separated him from the rest. 1. Our Lord indicated that among the disciples there was a traitor. Unable to detect the conscious look of guilt in the face of any of his companions, each, conscious of the deep, unfathomed capacity for evil in his own heart, can but frankly ask the Master, 11 Lord, is it I?" But there was one of them who did not join in the question. 2. Jesus answered, "He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me." 'l'he circle of suspicion is thus narrowed. 3. Almost simnltaneously with this Peter beckons to John, who puts at last, in a whisper, the definite 1uestion, "Who is it?" and Jesus, in the ear of the beloved disciple, whispers the reply, 'He it is," etc. (John xiii. 26). The look that accompanies the giving of the sop, as well as the act itself, shows Judas that his treachery is discovered. He therefore mechanically takes up, in a somewhat colder form, the question of the rest and says "Master, is it I?" His fear subdues his voice to a whi~per, heard only by John aud the Lord, and the answer, 11 Thou hast said. That thou doest do quickly," is equally unobserved by the rest. The sin of Judas presents us with one of the most perple.xed problems of life and character. Let us, first of all, look at the connection of this betrayal with the life of Christ. Why might Jesus not have been taken without the help of a traitor? Possibly the reason was that it was needful that Jesus should be made perfect through suffering, that so he might be a merciful High Priest. He had already suffered in a variety of ways in body and mind; but till he was brought into close contact with a man who could accept his love, eat his bread, press his hand with assurance of fidelity, and then sell him, he did not know the misery that one human being can inflict ou another. In conjecturing the character of Judas, we must star\  556 TUE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTIIEW. [cH. XXVI. 1-75.