Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

11

them asleep, he said to Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour? Canst thou so soon forget thy Master? Thou who so lately boasted of thy courage and constancy in my service.

However, in his greatest distress, he never lost sight of that kind concern he had for his disciples: Watch ye, he says, and pray lest ye enter into temptation. Neither was he on those extraordinary occasions, in the least moved with the offences which they had committed through frailty and human weakness: on the contrary, was always willing to make excuses for them: alledging in their defence, that the spirit truly was ready, but the flesh was weak. It seems from these particulars, that he spent some considerable time in his addresses, because the disciples fell asleep in his absence, and he himself retired again to pray; for the sorrows of our Lord continuing to increase upon him, affected him to such a degree, that he retired a second time, and prayed to the same purpose, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. After which he returned again to them, and found them asleep, for their eyes were heavy. He returned thus frequently to his disciples, that they, by reading his distress in his countenance and gesture, might be witnesses for his passion, which proves that his pains were beyond description, intense and complicated; for he went away the third time to pray, and notwithstanding an angel was sent from heaven to comfort and strengthen him; yet they overwhelmed him, and threw him into an agony; upon which he still continued to pray more earnestly: but the sense of his sufferings still increasing, they strained his whole body to so violent a degree, that his blood was pressed through the pores of his skin, which it pervaded, together with his sweat, and fell down in large drops to the ground: And he left them, and went arway again. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it

[graphic]

were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Thus did he suffer unspeakable sorrows in his soul, as long as the divine wisdom thought proper. At length he obtained relief, being heard on account of his perfect and entire submission to the will of his heavenly Father: And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorThis circumstance shews how much the disciples were affected with their Master's sufferings: the sensations of grief which they felt on seeing his unspeakable distress, so overpowered them, that they sunk into sleep. Our blessed Saviour for the last time came to his disciples, and seeing them asleep, he said, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

The owner of the garden, it seems where he now was, had been our Lord's acquaintance, perhaps his disciple, who believing on him, considered himself as highly honoured in JESUS's frequenting it, for the sake of retirement or devotion, and therefore, had given him the free use of it whenever he pleased. We are told that Judas knew the place; for Jesus oftimes resorted thither, with his disciples. The chief priests and elders being informed by Judas, that the proper time for apprehending JESUS was now come, sent a band of soldiers with him, and servants carrying lanterns and torch. es, to shew them the way; because, though it was always full moon at the passover, the sky might be dark with clouds, and the place whither they were going was shaded with trees: at the same time, a deputation of their number accompanied the band, to see that every one did his duty. Judas having thus received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches, and weapons; for they were exceeding anxious, to secure and get him into their hands, and the soldiers having perhaps never seen JESUS before, found it necessary

that Judas should distinguish him, and point him out to them by some particular sign. St. Luke seems to say, that Judas went before them at a little distance, to prepare them for the readier execution of their office, by kissing his Master, the token they had agreed upon, that they might not mistake him, and seize a wrong person: And he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus, to kiss him. Nor can the account which St. John has given us, be understood on any other supposition, who says, that after Judas was come up with the soldiers, JESUS went out of the garden, and asked them, who it was they were seeking? To which they replied Jesus of Nazareth. It therefore follows, that they were at a loss to know him, which they could not have been, had they seen Judas kiss him: the kiss, therefore, must have been given in the garden before the band came up; nor is their agreement about the sign inconsistent with this supposition; because that confusion which commonly attends the commission of an evil action, might prevent Judas from giving the sign at the proper season. He went before the soldiers, on pretence that he would lead them to the place, and shew them the man by kissing him; however, to conceal his villainy from his Master and the disciples, he walked hastily, and without waiting for the band, went up directly and saluted him; feigning, perhaps, to apprize him of his danger. But JESUS did not fail to convince him that he knew the meaning and intent of his salutation, saying, Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? Judas certainly concealed his treachery so well, that Peter did not suspect him, as it is probable, he would have struck at him rather than at Malchus, the high-priest's servant, if he had.

Our Lord's appointed time for suffering being now come, he did not as formerly, avoid his enemies; but on the contrary, on their telling him they sought JEsus of Nazareth, he replied, I am he: thereby insinuating to them, that he was willing to put himself into

their hands at the same time to shew them that they could not apprehend him without his own consent, he in an extraordinary manner, exerted his divine power, he made the whole band fall back, and threw them to the ground: Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. But the soldiers and the Jews imagining, perhaps, that they had been thrown down by some dæmon or evil spirit, with whom the the Jews said he was in confederacy, advanced towards him a second time: Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you, that I am he; expressing again his willingness to fall into their hands: If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way. If your business be with me alone, suffer my disciples to pass for the party had surrounded them also. He seems to have made this request to the soldiers, that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. For as he always proportions the trials of his people to their strength; so here he took care that the disciples should escape the storm, which none but himself could bear.

Some of the soldiers, more daring than the rest, at length rudely caught JESUS, and bound him: upon which Peter drew his sword, and smote off the ear of the high-priest's servants, who probably was shewing greater forwardness than the rest in this business: Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and smote the high-priest's servant, and cut off his right ear; the servant's name was Malchus. The enraged apostle was on the point of singly attacking the whole band, when JESUS ordered him to sheath his sword, telling him, that his unseasonable and imprudent defence might prove the occasion of his destruction: Then

said Jesus unto him, put up again thy sword into its place; for all they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. He told him likewise, that it implied both a distrust of the Divine Providence, which can always employ a variety of means for the safety of good men, and also his ignorance in the Scriptures : Thinkest thou, said he, that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? Matt. xxvi. 53, 54.

Legion was a Roman military term, being the name which they gave to a body of five or six thousand men : wherefore, in regard that the band which now surrounded them, was a Roman cohort, our Lord might make use of this term by way of contrast, to shew what an inconsiderable thing the cohort was, in comparison of the force he could summon to his assistance; more than twelve legions, not of soldiers, but of angels. He yet was tenderly inclined to prevent any bad consequences, which might have flowed from Peter's rashness, by healing the servant, and adding, in his rebuke to him, a declaration of his willingness to suffer: The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink

it ?

Our Lord's healing the ear of Malchus, by touching it, seems to imply, that he created a new one in the place of that which was cut off; but though he performed the cure some other way, it equally demonstrates both his goodness and his power. No wound or distemper was incurable in the hand of JESUS; neither was any injury so great that he could not forgive. It seems somewhat surprising that this evident miracle did not make an impression upon the chief priests, especially as our Lord put them in mind, at the same time of his other miracles; for haviug first said, Suffer ye thus far; and he touched his ear, and healed him: he added, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? When I was daily with you in the temple,

« ÎnapoiContinuă »