The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 551

from the idea that with extraordinary capacity for wickedness he ha.d a.lso more than ordinary lea.nings to what wa.s good. lle wa.s an apostle, and had been called t.o tha.t office by Christ. He was himself so impressed with Christ as to follow him. It is possible he ma.y have hoped to receive wealth a.nd honour in the new kingdom, but this motive mingled with the a.ttachment to Christ's Person which all the apostles had. Tha.t Judas was trusted by the other apostles is manifest. Even to the end he is unsuspected by them, a.nd to the end he has an active conscience. He le overwhelmed with remorse a.nd shame; his sense of guilt is stronger even than the love of money that had hitherto been his strongest passion: he judgE-s himself fairly, SP.eS what he h11,5 become, and goes to "his own place." If we ask what precisely it was in the crime of Juda.s that makes ue so abhor it, manifestly its most hateful ingredient was its treachery. It is also invested with a lrerror altogether its own by the fact that this Person whom be betrayed was the Son of God a.nd the Saviour of the world-the best beloved _of God and every man's Friend. After three years' acquaintanceship and observat10n of the various ways in which Christ could bless people, this wa.s a.II he could get from him. And there are still such men-men who can fiu.d nothing in Christ that they sincerely care for, though calling themselves his followers. L The sin of Judas teaches us the great power and danger of the love of money. It infallibly eats out of the soul every generous emotion and high aim. It can be so easily and continuously gratified, and it is notoriously difficult to extirpate. Covetous- ness is more a sin of the will than sins of the flesh or of a passionate nature. There is more choice in it, and therefore it above all others is called idolatry, becao.se it above all others proves that the man is in his heart choosing the world and not God. II. Disappointment in Christ is not an unknown thing among ourselves. Men attach themselves to Christ in a loose, conventional way. They a.re not wholly a.nd heartily his, but merely seek to derive some influences from him. The result is that they one day find that through all their religious profession and apparently Christian life their cha.racteristic sin has a.ctwi.lly been gaining strength. And finding this, they become aware that they ha.ve lost both this world and the next. They find that the reward of double-mindedness is the most absolute perdition. Ill. The most comprehensive lesson is the rapidity of sin's growth, and the enormous proportions it attains when the sinner is sinning against light. The position Judas enjoyed and by which he might have been for ever enrolled among the foremost of mankind, one of the twelve foundations of the eternal city, he so skilfully misused that the greatest sinner feels glad that he has yet not been left to commit the sin of Judas. We may, then, walk with Chnst, and yet be no Christians after all. Frequently we think and act as if the knowledge of our duty and the occasional good feelings and impulses that we enjoy were themselves saving, whereas it is this that makes our sin and our danger so much the greater. It is possible that the only result of our knowing Christ may be that we betray him.-D. Vers. 14-25.-The crime of Juda,. L CBA.BACTEB OF JUDAS. Though Judas had extraordinary capacity for crime, he must also have had more than ordinary leanings to what was good. He was an apostle. This implies on Christ's part discern- ment of some qUJ1.lities in Juda.s likely to make him useful to the Church. It implies on Judas's part a willingness a.t least to put himself in the way of what was good. It is true be might follow Jesus as a speculation, expecting advancement and wealth as the result. But this motive mingled to some extent in the discipleship of a.II the apostles. And probably along with this unworthy motive there ~as _in him, as in th_e~ some mixture of higher purpose. He may have felt the elevating 1Dfiuence of Chnst s fellowship, and may have _wish~ to feel it more._ An?- it is som_ethin~ ii; his _favour that he remained so long ID Chnst's company. Yet this man, with hlB 1Dtelhgence, his occasional good impulses, his feeling of affection for Christ, his favouring circUID• stances, committed the greatest crime it bas been possible for any to commit. IL HEINOUSNESS OF HIS cBIME. The most hateful element in the crime is its treachery. CIBSST defended himse!r till struck by the dagger of a friend; then he covered his face, and accepted hie fate. One can forgive the open blow of a deci:J.red enemy, but the man who lives with you on terms of intimacy, a.nd thus learns your past hit!tory, your ways and habits, and the state of your affairs, the man you so gon- mr. XXVI, 1-75.] TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST, MATTUEW, 557