CRITICAL NOTES
Matthew 26:47. A great multitude.—See John 18:3 (R.V.); Luke 22:52. The body, guided by Judas, consisted of
(1) a company of Roman soldiers;
(2) a detachment of the Levitical temple-guard;
(3) certain members of the Sanhedrin and Pharisees (ibid.). Staves.—I.e. clubs. Not the same word as in chapter Matthew 10:10.
Matthew 26:51. One of them.—See John 18:10. When the Evangelical tradition first assumed shape and form, prudence required that the name of Peter should not be publicly mentioned. Hence the indefinite expression in the Synoptists. But this necessity did not exist when John wrote his Gospel; therefore he gives the name (Lange).
Matthew 26:53. Twelve legions.—In the Roman army a legion numbered about six thousand. Note the contrast to the “twelve weak men, one a traitor, and the others timorous “; also to the company with Judas.
Matthew 26:56. But all this was done, etc.—A continuation of the address of Jesus. See R.V.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Matthew 26:47-56
Forbearance.—What the Saviour had just spoken of (Matthew 26:46), now comes to pass. “Lo, Judas,” and a “great multitude” “with him” (Matthew 26:47). This is the beginning of this part of the story. The end corresponds. Jesus is seen as a captive—and by Himself—in the hands of His enemies (Matthew 26:50; Matthew 26:56). How has all this come to pass? Through His own action—His own inaction, rather—in very great part. What He has refrained from doing is the chief cause of these things being done. We may contemplate this forbearance of His, first, in His way of dealing with treachery; secondly, in His way of dealing with insult; thirdly, in His reasons for both.
I. His way of dealing with treachery.—This was remarkable, first, because of the nature of the treachery in question. It was something, even for treachery, exceedingly base. Base, as noted before (Matthew 26:14), but noted again here (Matthew 26:47), as though a feature which should never be forgotten in telling the story, because of the position of the traitor himself. What he was doing was to betray the Man whom he had professed to follow and love in a specially eminent way! Wronging his Master! Selling his Friend! Base still more because of the nature of the “sign” which he fixed upon with this view. Was there no other way of effecting betrayal than by a protestation of loyalty? “Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He.” You may know whom I am injuring by my pretending to love Him. Baser yet because of the wholly unnecessary effusion with which this vile purpose was effected. “He said, Hail Rabbi, and kissed Him;” “kissed Him much” (so R.V.); did more than was needed for the evil object in view; over-acted his affectation of friendship; went out of his way, as it were, to indulge in falseness. Basest of all because of the character of the Master whom he was treating with this baseness—even the Truth itself—the Incarnation of Love—and the very last of men, therefore, to be treated thus, even if any man ought. Equally remarkable, therefore, in the next place, was the Saviour’s reply to this baseness. “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” This is all, according to one version, that He says in reply; as though He would thereby merely let the traitor know that His design was seen through. “Friend, do that for which thou hast come.” So we find given in another version of the Saviour’s reply, as though He would not only show to the traitor that He understood his design, but that He did not intend to resist or oppose it, even by so much as a word. In any case, there is not a trace of bitterness or sign of anger in any one of His words. Never, perhaps, was any man more cruelly wronged. Never, surely, did any wrong elicit less wrath in return.
II. His way of dealing with insult.—How much there was of this here, on the one side, is shown in two ways. Partly, by what we read of those who had now come with the traitor. They were carrying “swords” some of them (Matthew 26:47; Matthew 26:55), and appear, therefore, to have been Roman legionaries engaged for this work. Others had “staves” (see as before), so, probably, came from the priests. Either way they had all come against the Saviour as against one of the dregs of mankind—a double insult to One who had recently—and so openly—claimed to be a leader of men. (See especially Matthew 21:1-12; Matthew 21:23). Partly, by what we read here of the Saviour Himself, and by the express way in which He showed that He felt what their conduct involved (Matthew 26:55). And partly, once more, by what is related here of the conduct of one of His disciples. To the Apostle Peter (John 18:10), the indignity offered appeared absolutely beyond endurance. Drawing his sword (Luke 22:38), he struck violently at one of those on the opposite side; not impossibly at one of the foremost of them, and one forward, therefore, both with staff and gesture, to threaten the person of Christ. At any rate, in Peter’s judgment the insult offered warranted even the shedding of blood in return. Hence, therefore, on the other side, the exceeding wonder of Christ’s view of the same. What the disciple could not endure for His sake, He submits to with patience. More than that, what the disciple had done, He undoes, as it were. So we are told, be it observed, by the physician St. Luke (Luke 22:51). He even goes so far as to lay down a law against the adoption, by those who are His, of any remedy of this kind, declaring it to be a remedy which could only in the end be productive of more harm (Matthew 26:52). It is not for Me, He says—it is not for any of Mine—to have recourse to the “sword.” What a way of meeting all the violence with which He was threatened! Not even a breath of it in return!
III. The Saviour’s reasons for this twofold forbearance.—Not want of feeling, as we have seen (see again Matthew 26:55; also compare the use of the word “friend” (= companion, or mate) in Matthew 26:50 with Psalms 41:9; Psalms 55:12-13). Nor yet want of capacity to take vengeance, had He so willed. The Saviour shows here, on the contrary, that what He had to do now lay in the exactly opposite line. Not to exert power, but to restrain it; not to call for help, but to forbid it; not to summon “legions,” but to prevent them from coming; not, in a word, to speak the word which would have destroyed all His enemies at one stroke (cf. John 18:6)—was what lay now upon Him (Matthew 26:53). Why, then, did He restrain Himself thus? Why restrain others—why such others—as well? His own answer is of the simplest and most definite kind. Because the Scriptures, if He had done otherwise, would have been set on one side. It is very observable that, even in this mere summary of the story, this is specified twice (see Matthew 26:54; Matthew 26:56). It is equally observable that no other reason is mentioned beside. All our attention is concentrated by the Saviour—and by the Evangelist also—on this one reason alone. Whatever other reasons there were in the background—and we can well believe there were not a few—they are all hidden here behind this. Christ meets these marvellous wrongs in this marvellous manner because it was prophesied that He should! That is what He Himself leaves last on our minds!
1. How full of awe, then, on the one hand, are the Scriptures of truth! By them even the King of kings holds Himself bound. Not even the Holy One of God will allow Himself to set them aside (cf. Psalms 40:7)!
2. How full of grace, on the other hand, are the Scriptures of truth! For to what is it, when we come to inquire, that they thus bind the Messiah? Is it not to do that which had been predicted of Him of old? Even to “bring in everlasting righteousness,” and “make reconciliation for iniquity” and provide a ransom for all? The more binding, therefore, the more gracious, on this view of the case! The more stringent, the better! What can, indeed, be better for us than that such a Saviour should have thus bound Himself not to fail in His work?
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Matthew 26:49. The traitor’s kiss.—
1. Holy things may be prostituted to basest uses.
2. Symbols of friendship may become signals of treason.
3. Deeds receive their moral worth from underlying motives.
4. Men betray Christ with a kiss, when they mask a hatred of His disciples beneath false shows of friendship.
5. When they mingle with His disciples, to make themselves familiar with, and then laugh over their defects.—J. C. Gray.
Matthew 26:50. An important question.—St. Bernard used often to ask himself the question which our Lord put to Judas, “Friend, wherefore art thou Come? Why hast thou been created and placed in this world at all? Why hast thou been made a member of Christ in baptism? Why hast thou been led by Providence to this or that state of life? Art thou here to do thine own will? Or wouldst thou indeed serve God, and by labour and suffering such as He may appoint prepare for thine everlasting aim? Friend, wherefore art thou come?” If we would sincerely press that question home, how different would be the aim and the perfectness of our work through each day?—Canon Liddon.
Matthew 26:52. Christ’s condemnation of war.—
I. The evils of war are the very evils Christ came to remove.—What are they?
1. Reign of brute force.
2. Carelessness about cruelty.
3. Neglect of the interest of individual souls.
4. Stubborn hindrance of progress and brotherhood.
5. Setting up wrong standards of character; such as Roman honour of Mars and Hercules, and Scandinavian honour of Thor, rather than Christian honour of the Christ. The beatitudes are reversed, and a glamour is thrown around soldiery.
II. The advantages of war are only apparent gains.—
1. War leads to war. The seeds of revenge are sown in the scars of the conquered.
2. There has to be recourse to arbitration at the end, as there might have been at the beginning.
3. If there is acquiescence in victory, it is a wicked confession that Providence is on the side of the strongest battalions.—U. R. Thomas, B.A.
Matthew 26:53-54. Christ’s apprehension.—
I. How easily our Lord could have rescued Himself.—
1. God is pleased to work by the ministry of angels.
2. Our Lord might have had any number.
II. Why He forbore to rescue Himself.—That the Scriptures might be fulfilled.
III. Practical observations.—
1. Prayer will extricate us from trouble.
2. Be content to go to heaven in God’s way.
3. Christ’s solicitude for the fulfilment of the Scriptures was a pledge of His anxiety for their accomplishment in all that relates to our salvation.—C. Simeon, M.A.
Matthew 26:56. The fickleness of friends.—“Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.”
I. The cruelty of this it would be hard to exaggerate.—For three years and upwards their Divine Master had been building up their faith and binding them to Himself by a thousand heavenly acts.
II. A lesson of patience towards one another.—Be more patient, more long-suffering and less ready to take offence and rail against the world and its ways; remembering that thou hast bound no one on the earth’s surface to thee—nor canst bind—as Christ bound the eleven, who, when they beheld Him apprehended in the garden, at once forsook Him and fled.—J. W. Burgon, D.D.