“Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is He; hold Him fast!” As soon as he saw Jesus, he approached Him, saying: “Hail, Rabbi!” and he kissed Him[1]. Jesus said to him: “Friend[2], whereto art thou come? Judas, dost thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Then, advancing towards the troop, He said: “Whom seek ye?” They answered: “Jesus of Nazareth”. He said to them with a look of majesty: “I am He!” At the sound of His Voice they started back, and fell[3] to the ground as though they had been struck by lightning. When they had raised themselves up, He asked them again: “Whom seek ye?” They spoke as before: “Jesus of Nazareth”. He answered: “I have told you that I am He. If, therefore, you seek Me, let these[4] go their way.”[5] They then laid hold of Him.
The apostles, seeing this, asked their Lord if they might not strike with the sword in His defence. But Peter [6], without waiting for permission, struck a servant of the High Priest, called Malchus, and cut off his right ear. Then Jesus said to Peter: “Put up thy sword into the scabbard. Thinkest thou[7] that I cannot ask My Father, and He will give Me presently more than twelve legions[8]
- ↑ Kissed Him. A kiss is the token of love, faithfulness and reverence; but Judas made use of it for purposes of treachery. The hypocrite did not wish to appear a traitor in the eyes of Jesus and His apostles, but our Lord let him know at once that He saw through his hypocrisy.
- ↑ Friend. I have always treated you as My friend, and yet now you come to Me with the vile purpose of betraying Me ! You abuse the token of friendship to betray the Messias! Our Lord wished to move the hard heart of Judas by these words, and to bring him to realise the vileness of his deed. Judas might even then have been saved if he had contritely implored our Lord’s forgiveness; but, in spite of all, he remained obstinate, and returned defiantly to the band of soldiers and servants.
- ↑ And fell. All fell flat on the ground, and Jesus remained alone standing in the midst of His powerless enemies. He could have fled had He wished it; but He remained where He was, and having commanded the troop of ruffians not to injure His apostles, He gave Himself into their hands.
- ↑ These. The apostles.
- ↑ Their way. He implied by these words that they were at liberty to seize Him, and therefore encouraged them to lay hands on Him.
- ↑ Peter. His love for Jesus made him rash.
- ↑ Thinkest thou. If I wished to resist by force the violence which is about to be done to Me, many thousands of angels would come to My aid; so I do not need your help.
- ↑ Twelve legions, i. e. twelve times 6,000.
