The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 597

JeruB&!em. It is certain that his avaricious spirit was troubled exceedingly by what he ea! led the waste of Mary's precious ointment, and that the Lord's reproof, though gentle and loving, irritated his dark and gloomy temper, and became, through the temptations of the evil being to whom he had sold himself, the goad which drove him to his deadly sin. He brooded over his supposed wrongs ; he fretted himself till he was moved to do the most evil deed the world had ever seen. He gave place to the devil; Satan entered into him, and filled him with malice and hatred, and whispered that he might by one act have his revenge, and compensate himself for the fancied loss caused by Mary's generous offering. Perhaps evil thoughts like this, bitter recollections of supposed slights, cruel exultation over his successful treachery o.nd his ill-gotten gains, filled the traitor's heart during the night, and for a while kept him from feeling the horror of his crime. But in the morning he saw that Christ was condemned. He bad not e:i.erted bis Divine power; the twelve legions of angels had not come to his aid. He was condemned like any common malefactor, and delivered to Pilate for the cruel death of the cross. And Judas was the cause of this. He had murdered his Friend, hi8 Master, his Lord, the Innocent, the Holiest One. He repented now ; but his repentance was not ,,,.,&.voui-not a change of heart, not repentance unto life; it •was only ,,...a.,,_t>....a., a change of thought as to his crime (comp. Trench,• New Test. Syn.,' sect. 611). He saw his sin now in a different point of view. He could no longer gloat over the Iuxury of revenge, the evil pleasure of wicked gains; for his crime seemed to glare upon him with fiery eyes; he saw its full horror, its blackness, its hideous!].ess. The thirty pieces of silver which he had coveted were cankered now; they were a witness against him, a witness of his infamy and of hie foul treachery ; they seemed to eat his flesh as it were fire. He loathed, he hated them; he returned them to the chief priests and elders. "I have sinned," he said, "in that I have betrayed innocent blood." Can be have thought that by returning the price of blood he might stay the accomplishment of that deed of blood P If he had such a thought, his hope was a,~ once extinguished by the cold cruelty of the answer, "What is that to us? see thou to that." The guilt was his, they said. They forgot that it was equally theirs. Pilate very soon after forced them to admit it; he was innocent of that blood, he said, " See ye to it." But now they derided the misery of their companion in guilt; he was their tool ; he had served their purpose; they would fling him away. 2. His despair. There was no hope for him; those cruel words drove him to madness. Perhaps he remembered words more awful still, though they were spoken in warning,," Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed I good were it for that man if he had not been born." He had not listened to the Saviour's warning voice; he had thought more of that paltry bribe than of his own poor soul. .Avarice, that degrading vi.ce, had eaten all good and holy thoughts out of his mind; his heart was hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Could he not even now in his misery see his guilt aml own his sin, and weep like Peter, and like Peter be forgiven? Alas I no. A horror of great darkness seemed to engulf him; he could not see that look of love and sorrow which bad won Peter to repentance. He had trodden underfoot the Son of God; he could not bear even to think of Christ. He had done despite to the Spirit of grace ; the Spirit had departed from him. He had no hope either in this world or in the world to come. He could not enjoy the miserable wages of his treason; he threw the pieces of silver back to the priests as they sat or officiated in the sanctuary. He departed; he went and hanged himself. Bis death was attended by strange circumstances of horror; his name has become a word of reproach; his memory is associated with all that is hateful and accursed. Yet Le was an apostle, "one of the twelve," one of the princes of the Church who were to sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. His history\s full of awful warning to all Christian people, especially to the ministers of Christ's Holy Word .e.nd sacraments. It reminds us that the highest plo.ces in the Church are not always safe, that we may not dare to trust in external privileges, how• ever great they may be. It warns us that the deadly sins of ambition and avarice may ensnare those who seem very near to Christ. It adds force and weight to the Lord's solemn lesson," Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." a. The conduct ef the chief prieBts. They would not put the money into the temple treasury, because it was tLe price of blood; yet they themselves had brought about the bloodshedding ot which that money was the price. The money was accursed in their eyes, but not tho Oll. xxvu, 1-66.J 'l'IIE GOSPEL .A:CUORDING 'l'O B'l'. MATTHEW. 603