Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Judas saith unto him, (not Iscariot). Delightful parenthesis this! The traitor being no longer present, we needed not to be told that this question came not from him; nor even if he had been present would any that knew him have expected any such question from him. But the very name had gotten an ill savour in the Church ever since that black treason, and the Evangelist seems to take a pleasure in disconnecting from it all that was offensive in the association, when reporting the question of that dear disciple whose misfortune it was to have that name. He is the same with Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus, in Matthew's catalogue of the Twelve. (See the note at Matthew 10:3.)
Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? - a question, as we think, most natural and pertinent, though interpreters (as Lucke, Stier, Alford, etc.) think it proceeded from a superficial, outside, Jewish misconception of Christ's kingdom. Surely the loving tone and precious nature of our Lord's reply ought to have suggested a better view of the question itself.