Gethsemane
595
“Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He: hold Him fast.”
Matthew
26:48
. Now he pretends to have no part with them. Coming close
to Jesus, he takes His hand as a familiar friend. With the words,
[696]
“Hail, Master,” he kisses Him repeatedly, and appears to weep as if in
sympathy with Him in His peril.
Jesus said to him, “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” His voice
trembled with sorrow as He added, “Judas, betrayest thou the Son of
man with a kiss?” This appeal should have aroused the conscience
of the betrayer, and touched his stubborn heart; but honor, fidelity,
and human tenderness had forsaken him. He stood bold and defiant,
showing no disposition to relent. He had given himself up to Satan,
and he had no power to resist him. Jesus did not refuse the traitor’s
kiss.
The mob grew bold as they saw Judas touch the person of Him
who had so recently been glorified before their eyes. They now laid
hold of Jesus, and proceeded to bind those precious hands that had
ever been employed in doing good.
The disciples had thought that their Master would not suffer Him-
self to be taken. For the same power that had caused the mob to fall as
dead men could keep them helpless, until Jesus and His companions
should escape. They were disappointed and indignant as they saw the
cords brought forward to bind the hands of Him whom they loved.
Peter in his anger rashly drew his sword and tried to defend his Master,
but he only cut off an ear of the high priest’s servant. When Jesus
saw what was done, He released His hands, though held firmly by
the Roman soldiers, and saying, “Suffer ye thus far,” He touched the
wounded ear, and it was instantly made whole. He then said to Peter,
“Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to
My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions
of angels?”—a legion in place of each one of the disciples. Oh, why,
the disciples thought, does He not save Himself and us? Answering
their unspoken thought, He added, “But how then shall the scriptures
be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” “The cup which My Father hath
given Me, shall I not drink it?”
The official dignity of the Jewish leaders had not prevented them
from joining in the pursuit of Jesus. His arrest was too important
a matter to be trusted to subordinates; the wily priests and elders