St Matthew Chapter XXVI : Verses 47-56
Contents
- Matt. xxvi. 47-56. Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
- Notes on the text.
Matt. xxvi. 47-56
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| A great multitude with swords and clubs. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum |
Adhuc eo loquente, ecce Judas unus de duodecim venit, et cum eo turba multa cum gladiis et fustibus, missi a principibus sacerdotum, et senioribus populi.
48 And he that betrayed him, gave them a sign, saying: Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he, hold him fast.
Qui autem tradidit eum, dedit illis signum, dicens : Quemcumque osculatus fuero, ipse est, tenete eum.
49 And forthwith coming to Jesus, he said: Hail, Rabbi. And he kissed him.
Et confestim accedens ad Jesum, dixit : Ave Rabbi. Et osculatus est eum.
50 And Jesus said to him: Friend, whereto art thou come? Then they came up, and laid hands on Jesus, and held him.
Dixitque illi Jesus : Amice, ad quid venisti? Tunc accesserunt, et manus injecerunt in Jesum, et tenuerunt eum.
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| Hail, Rabbi. And he kissed him. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum |
Et ecce unus ex his qui erant cum Jesu, extendens manum, exemit gladium suum, et percutiens servum principis sacerdotum amputavit auriculam ejus.
52 Then Jesus saith to him: Put up again thy sword into its place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Tunc ait illi Jesus : Converte gladium tuum in locum suum : omnes enim, qui acceperint gladium, gladio peribunt.
53 Thinkest thou that I cannot ask my Father, and he will give me presently more than twelve legions of angels?
An putas, quia non possum rogare patrem meum, et exhibebit mihi modo plusquam duodecim legiones angelorum?
54 How then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done?
Quomodo ergo implebuntur Scripturæ, quia sic oportet fieri?
55 In that same hour Jesus said to the multitudes: You are come out as it were to a robber with swords and clubs to apprehend me. I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you laid not hands on me.
In illa hora dixit Jesus turbis : Tamquam ad latronem existis cum gladiis et fustibus comprehendere me : quotidie apud vos sedebam docens in templo, et non me tenuistis.
56 Now all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then the disciples all leaving him, fled.
Hoc autem totum factum est, ut adimplerentur Scripturæ prophetarum. Tunc discipuli omnes, relicto eo, fugerunt.
Notes
47. As he yet spoke. All the Synoptists record the fact that Judas arrived with the soldiers while Jesus was speaking with His disciples.
Judas, one of the twelve. All the Synoptists speak of Judas as one of the twelve. Judas’ name is given in full by the Evangelists, lest Jude, another of the apostles, should be mistaken for the traitor. One of the twelve points out the heinousness of his crime — the traitor was a privileged companion of our Lord. While Jesus was delivering His discourse in the Cenaculum, and praying in the garden, Judas had been making final arrangements to betray Him.
a great multitude. Relatively great, as the garden was not very large. If the soldiers and the Temple guards numbered together three or four hundred, these, with those who followed out of curiosity, would seem a large number.
The multitude included —
(a) a band of soldiers (St John xviii. 3). A detachment from the Roman cohort stationed in the tower of Antonia. One of the six tribunes headed this detachment, and the soldiers were armed with swords (St Luke xxii. 52).
(b) the magistrates of the temple, — i.e. the officers of the Temple guards. These guards were composed of Levites, whose office it was to guard the Temple night and day, to open and shut its massive gates, etc. They were not trained soldiers.
(c) the servants from the chief priests (St John xviii. 3). These might be slaves or hired servants, and probably they were armed with staves (i.e. cudgels).
(d) some of the chief priests and the ancients (St Luke xxii. 52).
from the chief priests, etc. Sent by them in the case of the Levitical guards and servants, and procured by them from the Romans in the case of the band of soldiers.
48. gave them a sign. Judas had evidently not anticipated that Jesus would come forward to meet His enemies, therefore a sign was necessary to point Him out to the Roman soldiers.
They would naturally follow Judas, and probably did not know Jesus, the more so that extra soldiers were placed on duty at the time of the Pasch. Besides, it was night when Jesus was taken, and in spite of its being full moon, it would have been difficult to distinguish our Lord from one of the disciples under the olive-trees or in the grotto. Hence the necessity for a sign from the traitor and for the lanterns and torches (St John xviii. 3).
Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he. In the East, the kiss is the sign of friendship, as with us. It was also usual for the disciples of the rabbis to salute their masters with a kiss as a sign of respect ; they kissed the knee, hand, or foot. Perhaps by this token Judas wished to act as a faithful disciple, and to conceal his treachery, at least from the other apostles, whose anger he might have feared. He must have known that Christ was aware of his base design.
St John supplies further details : Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said to them : Whom seek ye ? They answered him: Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith to them: I am he. And Judas also, who betrayed him, stood with them. As soon therefore as he had said to them : I am he : they went backward, and fell to the ground.
hold him fast. In St Mark the text runs, Lay hold on him and lead him away carefully.
Judas’ suggestion was prompted by his knowledge of our Lord’s power. On a previous occasion Jesus had passed through the midst of enemies when they had tried to cast Him down from the brow of the hill whereon their city was built (St Luke iv. 29), and Judas would have heard of this from the first four companions of Jesus. Judas had witnessed, too, how at the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Jews took up stones to cast at Him, Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple (St John viii. 59). It seems clear that the traitor had completely lost faith in our Lord as the Messias, and it is possible that he may have really brought himself to look on Jesus as a false prophet. Judas perhaps feared that the disciples of Jesus would strive to rescue our Lord.
49. forthwith coming to Jesus. Judas led the band up to our Lord, for he was the leader of them that apprehended Jesus (Acts i. 16).
Hail, Rabbi. Judas gave the customary salute to his Master.
he kissed him. The original Greek word implies that Judas kissed our Lord effusively and affectionately. (κατεφίλησεν αὐτόν) The same Greek verb is used by the Evangelists of St Mary Magdalene when she kissed our Lord’s feet. Our Lord suffered the indignity of the traitor’s kiss, and replied calmly, Judas, dost thou betray the son of man until a kiss? (St Luke xxii. 48).
50. Friend, whereto art thou come ? It was probably immediately after the kiss of Judas that our Lord went forward to meet the soldiers, saying, Whom seek ye ? (See St John xviii. 5-9.)
51. one of them that were with Jesus. St John alone gives the name: Simon Peter. Before St Peter struck the servant of the high-priest, they that were about him, seeing what would follow, said to him, Lord, shall we strike with the sword ? (St Luke xxii. 49). Perhaps, while the others were asking the question, St Peter, ever impulsive, attacked Malchus.
It has been conjectured that the Synoptists who wrote their gospels much earlier than St John omitted to mention St Peter’s name, in order not to expose him to the vengeance of the Jews. St John wrote after St Peter’s martyrdom.
the servant. St John, who knew the high-priest, was able to give the man’s name, Malchus.
cut off his ear. St Luke’s account runs thus : And one of them struck the servant of the high-priest, and cut off his right ear. But J esus answering, said: Suffer ye thus far. And when he had touched his ear, he healed him (xxii. 50, 51). The apostles had two swords, as we learn from St Luke. They said : Lord, behold here are two swords (xxii. 38).
It was customary for the pilgrims to carry weapons of defence, as they were liable to be attacked by the bands of robbers that waylaid the caravans. As Jesus healed the man’s ear by touching it, it is most likely that the ear was not quite severed from the man’s head.
52. Put up again thy sword. Literally, “ turn away thy sword ” (Ἀπόστρεψον). The sword referred to was one of those which the disciples had shewn our Lord in the Cenaculum.
all that take the sword, etc. Jesus here teaches a general lesson that violence and revenge defeat their own ends and recoil on those who resort to them.
These words are not to be applied to the “ jus gladii,” i.e. to the right of nations and communities to defend themselves against injustice, for God has laid down the law that Whosoever shall shed man’s blood, his blood shall be shed ; for man was made to the image of God (Gen. ix. 6).
53. Thinkest thou, etc. ? Our Lord explains why St Peter’s indiscreet zeal on His behalf was unnecessary.
ask my Father. Better, “appeal to My Father” (παρακαλέσαι τὸν πατέρα μου),
give me. The Greek verb used is a military term signifying “ to place by the side of” (παραστήσει μοι), “to strengthen the flank in a battle.” Hence our Lord implies that, at a sign of His Father’s will, the angels would range themselves beside Him, to support and defend their Lord. “ Twelve legions of angels would be given in place of twelve feeble and timid disciples ” (St Jerome).
presently. Better, “now” (ἄρτι) ; the word “presently” is here used in its archaic sense of “ now,” “ without delay.”
twelve legions. Doubtless Jesus employed the word “legion” with reference to the “ cohort ” (the tenth part of a Roman legion) sent to apprehend Him. A legion numbered 6000 men, and twelve times as many angels were ready to defend Him, had He chosen to summon them.
54. How then shall the scriptures, etc. ? It was foretold in the Scriptures that the Messias should be betrayed, apprehended, and put to death ; hence all these events were permitted by Divine Providence, and Christ accepted them as the expression of His Father’s will. Cf. The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ? (St John xviii. 11).
55. You, are come out, etc. St Luke tells us to whom these words were addressed : Jesus said to the chief priests, and magistrates of the temple, and the ancients that were come unto him. Are you come out, etc. (xxii. 52).
as it were to a robber, — i.e. to a brigand (ἐπὶ λῃστὴν), one of a band of outlaws.
I sat daily with you, etc. Jesus possibly referred specially to His teaching in the temple during Holy Week. He addressed these words to the chief priests and ancients, for He had not taught the Roman soldiers.
56. that the scriptures, etc. Our Lord was evidently referring to the betrayal by one of His own familiar friends, to His falling into the hands of His enemies, and to the accomplishment of the prophecies that were yet to be fulfilled in Him. Christ concluded with the words : But this is your hour, and the power of darkness (St Luke).
Then the disciples, all leaving him, fled. One prophecy was thus verified : Jesus was abandoned by His own disciples.
They may have sinned against faith and lost confidence in Christ as the Messias, or against charity in deserting Him in His hour of trial, though they still believed in Him. It is true that Jesus, in a sense, allowed them to withdraw when He said to His captors, If therefore you seek me, let these go their way . Of them whom thou hast given me, I have not lost any one (St John xviii. 8, 9). All did finally bear witness nobly to Christ and His Gospel, but this was after the descent of the Holy Ghost.
Note. — We must place here the incident of the young man who followed our Lord, And a certain young man followed him having a linen cloth cast about his naked body: and they laid hold on him. But he, casting off the linen cloth, fled from them naked (St Mark).
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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