The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 197

Each of the evo.n~eliels mention the presence given up to you to effect this sad trinmph, or the traitor. It was evidently e. strange and this (i.e. the power hy which you work) and startling detail for the writers of these is the power of darkness ( i.e. the power of memoirs that one or the chosen twelve should the spirit of darkness)." ho.ve been the betrayer I And drew neo.r Vera. 5t-G2.-The den>'al of Peter. unto J'esua to kiss him, This wa~ the sign Ver. 54.-Then took they him, and led ogreed upon between Judas and his em- him, and brought him into the high priest's ployers. They knew that it would be night, house. And Petor followed afar off. There and that Gethsemane was shaded with has been some discussion here on the q nes- olives, and that therefore somo conspicuous tion of harmonizing the sepo.rate accounts. sign would be necessary to indicate to the There is, however, no real difficulty if the guards which or the company of twelve was following hbtorical details be borne in the Master whom they were to seize. But mind. The actual high priest at this junc- the signal was superfluou!I. for, as St. John ture was Caiaphas, son-in-law to Annas, who tells us, Jesus of his own' accord advanced was the legal high priest, but had been before the others, telling those who came for deposed by the Roman power some time him who he was. Because of this kiss before. Annas, however, although preventer I the early Christian Church discontinued the by the Roman government from bearing customary brothe1·ly kiss on Good Friday. the high priestly insignia, was Rpparently Ver. 50.-And one of them smote the looked upon by the penple as the rightful aervant of the high priest, and cnt oft' his possessor of the dignity, and evidently ex- right ear. The name or the disciple who ercised the chief authority in the Jewish smote the servant of the high priest is given councils. It seems tbat he and his son-in- by St. John: it was Peter. He gives, too, la,v Caiaphas, the Roman nominee, occupied the servout's name, Malchus. Jobn wrote together the high priest's palace. Tl!ere many years later, when Jerusalem had long were three trials or our Lord by the Jews : ceased to exist; Peter, too, had passed away. (1) Before Annas (John xviii. 12-18). (2) Before this incident, St. John relates bow lJefore Co.iaphas and what has been termed the Roman and Jewish guards" went bo.dr- a committee of the Sanhedrin (John xviii. wo.rd, and fell to the ground." What 24; l\lo.tt. xxvi. 59-68; Mark xiv. 55-65). overawed the party of arwed men is un- (3) Formally before the whole Sanhedrin at certain-whether some supernatural or dawn (eh. xxii. 66-71; Matt. uvti. 1; merely a natural cause; possibly something Mark xv. 1). The thrice-repeated denial of or majesty in the Lord's appearance im- Peter took place: ( 1) On his first going in pelled these men to retire o.nd reverently to (he wos admitted through the influence of sttlute him they were ordered to seize. St. ,John, who was known to the officials) to John mentions this to Ahow that it WRS of the court-yard or the high priest's palace, in llis own free will that he rendered him- answer to the female servont who kept the seH up. door (John xviii. 17). (2) As he sat by the Ver. 51.-Slllfer ye thus far. The exact fire warming himself, in suswer to another meaning of these words has been much maid (Matt. xxvi. 69) ond to other by- debated. They probably were addressed to standers (John xviii. 25; eh. =ii. 58), iu- the company of armed men, and contained a cluding the kinsman of Malchus (John plea for the mistaken zerd of his disciple xviii. :16). (3) About an hour la.ter (eh. Peter. "Excuse this resistance." And he xxii. 59), orter he had left the fire to avoid touched his eor, and healed him. This the questioners, and had gone out intn the miraculous cure or the wound inflicted porch or gateway leading into the court-yard, by the zealous disciple is related by the in answer to one of the me.ids who hsd physician Luke. spoken before (l\lark xiv. G9; l\latt. xvi. 71), Ver. 53.-When I was daily with you in and to other bystanders (eh. xxii. 59; Mott. the temple, ye stretched forth no hands xxvi. 73; Mark xiv. 70). against me: but this is your hour, and the Yer. 55.-And whon they had kindled a. power of darkness. These words or tho fire in the midst of the hall, and were set Lord may signily, "It wo.s from o. cowardly down together, Peter sat down among them. fear of the people whom you folt were my We know that the arrest in Gethsem,me friends that you did not do.re to arrest me was followed by the flight of the eleven in the full light of day." But it is better apostles. John and Peter, however, once to take the last cl:.use o.s possessing n deeper out of reo.ch or the armed hand, seem iu meaning : "I have often been in your some way to have recovered from tlieir first power before, when, without concealment, I pani~, and to have followe,I their Mt\ster taught publicly in that sacred house where and his guards into the city. Arrived ,1t you are the appointed guardians; you nevN the hio-h priest's house, Jolin, who was dared to 111.y lia.nds on me then. But this, I known to the high priest, had no difficulty kJJow, is your hour, the moment God ha.e in 1irr curing ar!L:1issiou for llimself a::d his  'l'l1E GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [en. nn. 1-71.