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Education
A miracle of divine tenderness was Peter’s transformation. It is a
life lesson to all who seek to follow in the steps of the Master Teacher.
A Lesson in Love
Jesus reproved His disciples, He warned and cautioned them; but
John and Peter and their brethren did not leave Him. Notwithstanding
the reproofs, they chose to be with Jesus. And the Saviour did not,
because of their errors, withdraw from them. He takes men as they are,
with all their faults and weaknesses, and trains them for His service, if
they will be disciplined and taught by Him.
But there was one of the Twelve to whom, until very near the close
of His work, Christ spoke no word of direct reproof.
With Judas an element of antagonism was introduced among the
disciples. In connecting himself with Jesus he had responded to the
attraction of His character and life. He had sincerely desired a change
in himself, and had hoped to experience this through a union with
Jesus. But this desire did not become predominant. That which ruled
him was the hope of selfish benefit in the worldly kingdom which he
expected Christ to establish. Though recognizing the divine power of
the love of Christ, Judas did not yield to its supremacy. He continued
to cherish his own judgment and opinions, his disposition to criticize
and condemn. Christ’s motives and movements, often so far above
his comprehension, excited doubt and disapproval, and his own ques-
tionings and ambitions were insinuated to the disciples. Many of their
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contentions for supremacy, much of their dissatisfaction with Christ’s
methods, originated with Judas.
Jesus, seeing that to antagonize was but to harden, refrained from
direct conflict. The narrowing selfishness of Judas’ life, Christ sought
to heal through contact with His own self-sacrificing love. In His
teaching He unfolded principles that struck at the root of the disciple’s
self-centered ambitions. Lesson after lesson was thus given, and many
a time Judas realized that his character had been portrayed, and his sin
pointed out; but he would not yield.
Mercy’s pleading resisted, the impulse of evil bore final sway.
Judas, angered at an implied rebuke and made desperate by the disap-
pointment of his ambitious dreams, surrendered his soul to the demon
of greed and determined upon the betrayal of his Master. From the