52 - John 13:21

’Verily, verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.’ -John 13:21.

Only he who stands in relations of amity to a person can betray him. The word is not applicable to anything an enemy can do. They in whom confidence is placed, and from whom fidelity may legitimately be expected, and to whom, in consequence of this, powers are conceded that an enemy could never enjoy, these become traitors when they avail themselves of the peculiar advantages thus enjoyed to play into the hands of the enemy. Judas, one of the twelve chosen and highly favoured friends of Christ, became a traitor, making over to the enemies of his Master those advantages which he enjoyed, and thus affording them special facilities for carrying out their designs against Christ. But was Christ in a position to be betrayed? Was he hiding in some unknown or inaccessible fortress, that his enemies were precluded from approaching him without the treacherous mediation of a professed adherent? Some months before, he had withdrawn from public observation, in a measure; and the Pharisees had commanded, and probably offered a reward, that if any man knew where he was, he should show it, that they might take him. But now, was he not daily preaching in the temple? The chief priests and elders feared the people. They might probably have ascertained without much difficulty where Jesus was to be found at night; but they wanted something to justify their conduct in the eyes of the people. When Judas came offering to lead their band against Jesus, they perceived at once that this was all they needed. For Judas was one of the twelve specially favoured disciples of Christ; one who had attended upon the ministry of Christ from the beginning, seen all his miracles, listened to all his secret counsels; one who had narrowly observed the private life of Jesus, and was as well acquainted as any one could be with whatever evidence of his Messiahship Christ had been able to adduce; yet, lo and behold, this highly favoured apostle, this bosom companion, finds himself at last constrained to acknowledge that the pretensions of Jesus are baseless, that the evidences adduced are valueless, that he has no claim whatever to the confidence of men; finds himself constrained to testify in the most emphatic manner possible, that the chief priests and elders and Pharisees have been all along right in their opposition to this Galilean teacher, and that the people have been utterly misguided in their favourable feeling towards him. This was what was signified by the betrayal of Judas. It was to the rulers like a testimony from heaven that they were in the right, and Jesus an impostor. Who now could ever venture to pronounce a word of censure against them for the course they had taken in endeavouring to check the progress of this heresy, and bring about the overthrow of this false teacher? The eyes of his most intimate and trusted friends are now open, and they bitterly feel that they have been cajoled by Jesus, and led to the brink of a precipice; and though, having gone so far, they for the most part have not the moral courage to break asunder the bonds which have been woven about them, yet here is one at least who finds it impossible to lend himself any more to the imposture, and who comes forward to confess that Jesus is a false prophet, worthy of that death which we decreed against him from the beginning. Thus, in the twinkling of an eye, we stand vindicated in the eyes of the whole community, and are free to go forward and do what we think proper to this deceiver. This was the grand significance to the Pharisees and rulers of the offer of Judas to betray him.

Some might say, In every flock there is a black sheep; this Judas is probably a bad man who has not been able to subject his life to the holy precepts of Jesus. But then would come the answer, Why did Jesus choose such a one? and why has he continued to this day to number him among his confidential disciples? If he does not know the character of his chief disciples, how can he be regarded as a prophet?

Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas would betray him. Jesus was in all points tempted like as we are, and to be our sympathising High Priest it was fitting that he should come closely and bitterly in contact with false disciples. There was needed an exhibition of what human nature was capable of, in the presence of the very highest advantages, in the presence even of God manifest in the flesh. It was expedient that they who accompanied Jesus should be in some respects representatives of the future Church. Judas was chosen not because of the evil elements of his character, but because of what was good in him. That he had convictions of the Messiahship of Christ, of the truth of his words, and of his destined supremacy, we can hardly doubt; his suicide shows that he regarded Christ as a good and true man, and therefore the Son of God. If he had not been a man that sympathised with them to some extent, the other apostles would have felt the incongruity of his companionship; but they were not at all ready to suspect that he was the one who should betray Christ; up to the last they seem to have been prepared to testify of him that he was worthily among them. But he was not consecrated; there was a principle within him never subjected to Christ; his covetousness for a time remained latent; but he bare the bag, he had opportunities that brought temptations with them; the root of evil within him spread and spread, until it swallowed up his better convictions and resolutions. Like the others he had conceived of Christ’s kingdom, from the first, as a temporal kingdom; perhaps he had perspicuity enough to see, at the last, that Christ was simply intent on reigning in the hearts of men; he had no faith for an invisible and spiritual kingdom. But we cannot spare too much of our meditation for the Judas of that day. It is important to inquire who are the successors of this apostle in our day. Who are those that occupy high places of influence in the Church, and betray Christ into the hands of his enemies? Are there not some among us who tell the enemies of Christ that there are no prophecies referring to him in the Old Testament, and teach by inference that Christ speaks falsely when he says, "The Scriptures are they which testify of me; Moses wrote of me"? Are there not some who deny that Christ tasted death for the sins of men, and that his blood cleanseth from all sin, and that we have salvation through his death? Are there not some, professedly ministers of Christ, who deny the miracles of the Bible? Are there not some who claim that Christ has given to their order the power of life and death, even everlasting life and death? Are there not some, called ambassadors of Christ, who teach that holiness is not a sine qua non in Christ’s kingdom, and encourage the wicked to combine hope with wickedness? Some that mind earthly things, whose God is their belly, whose paramount consideration is given to the comforts and honours of life while they avouch Christ as their righteousness, their Leader and Commander? Yes, we have successors of the apostle Judas, and they are daily betraying Jesus into the hands of his enemies, and arming the latter with mighty arguments against the truth, all the time that they are professing to be set for the defence and confirmation of the Gospel.

Blessed are they who when they hear Christ ask, "Which of you shall betray me?" take note of the Judaic element in their own heart, and seek to be filled with the Spirit, and ever led by the Spirit, that they may come off conquerors and more than conquerors through Him that loved them.