expression of hatred; it stated no reason, and only urged personal opposition, even if
such were in the face of the personal wish of the sovereign who appointed him king.
In the last scene, the King, now duly appointed, has returned to His country. He first
reckons with His servants, when it is found that all but one have been faithful to their
trust, though with varying success (the mina of the one having grown into ten; that of
another into five, and so on). In strict accordance with that success is now their further
appointment to rule - work here corresponding to rule there, which, however, as we
know from the Parable of the Talents, is also work for Christ: a rule that is work, a nd
work that is rule. At the same time, the acknowledgment is the same to all the faithful
servants. Similarly, the motives, the reasoning, and the fate of the unfaithful servant are
the same as in the Parable of the Talents. But as regards His 'enemies,' that would not
have Him reign over them - manifestly, Jerusalem and the people of Israel - who, even
after He had gone to receive the Kingdom, continued the personal hostility of their 'We
will not that this One shall reign over us' - the ashes of the Temp le, the ruins of the City,
the blood of the fathers, and the homeless wanderings of their children, with the Cain
curse branded on their brow and visible to all men, attest, that the King has many
ministers to execute that judgment which obstinate rebellio n must surely bring, if His
Authority is to be vindicated, and His Rule to secure submission.
Book V
THE CROSS AND THE CROWN
Chapter 8
THE FOURTH DAY IN PASSION -WEEK
JESUS IN HIS LAST SABBATIC REST BEFORE HIS AGONY, AND THE
SANHEDRISTS IN THEIR UN REST
THE BETRAYAL
JUDAS: HIS CHARACTER, APOSTASY, AND END.
(St. Matthew 26:1-5,14-16; St. Mark 14:1,2,10,11; St. Luke 22:1-6.)
FROM the record of Christ's Sayings and Doings, furnished by St. Matthew, we turn
once more to that of public events, as, from one or another aspect they are related by
all the Evangelists. With the Discourses in the Temple the public Teaching of Christ had
come to an end; with that spoken on the Mount of Olives, and its application in the
Parables of the 'Virgins' and the 'Tale nts,' the instruction of the disciples had been
concluded. What follows in His intercourse with His own is parænetic,1 rather than
teaching - exhortation, advice, and consolation: rather, perhaps, all these combined.
1. I take leave to introduce a term which has become naturalised in German theological
literature. There is no other single word which so expresses the ideas.
The three busy days of Passion-Week were past. The day before that on which the
Paschal Lamb was to be slain, with all that was to follow, would be one of rest, a
Sabbath to His Soul before its Great Agony. He would refresh Himself, gather Himself
up for the terrible conflict before Him. And He did so as the Lamb of God - meekly