Historically, in John 18 we see the scattering, and the Lord sheltering the sheep. The hour was come for Him to be delivered up. And in the passage in Zechariah 13:77Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. (Zechariah 13:7), here quoted, He is called Jehovah's fellow. When He is in humiliation, He is called Jehovah's fellow. When He is in exaltation, we are called His fellows. Of course, He has the pre-eminence in everything. When we are called His brethren, He is the Firstborn.
Then there was a time when the disciples would be left. We know the time would come when they would be put under the care of another Comforter. But now they were to be scattered. After His resurrection they were gathered together again in Galilee. And I suppose that was when the Lord was seen of above 500 brethren at once (1 Corinthians 15:66After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:6)).
But how very sweet to find that there is no change in Him. If apparently they gave Him up, the Shepherd would not give them up— “I will go before you into Galilee” (ver. 32).
Then we get a practical lesson. Peter could not believe that it could ever be true of him that he would deny the Lord. He was no hypocrite, but he thought his love to the Lord was so strong it could bear any strain.
Verse 34. The Lord had said “this night” should all be offended, or stumbled. Peter goes a long way beyond, and says, “never.” The offense of the cross puts us in a place of contempt. They had seen their Master escape out of the hands of His enemies, but He knew it would be too much for them to see Him given up into their hands. He knew them better than they knew themselves. There is the principle of apostasy in all sin. It is not what our love to Him is, but what His love is to us. Had not His love to Peter been infinitely more than Peter's love to Him, it would have been all over with Peter. The three in the garden here were the three who were on the mount of Transfiguration. Peter speaks of that as the “excellent glory,” the “holy mount.” Yet in spite of all he had seen, he fell. When, the Holy Ghost was given, it put the saints in a far greater position, and such a sin would have been a far, far greater sin.
More definitely still does the Lord speak to him (ver. 34). I think Mark 13 would help us to understand what is here. It was a certain time of the night. “This night, before the cock crow"; it marked off a time between midnight and the morning; that is what the Lord referred to. He knew all that would take place that night. Even then Peter would not bow to it through self-confidence. “Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples,” influenced, I take it, by Peter. He has prominence here. In ourselves we are weaker than a bruised reed, and this should give us to be characterized by self-distrust. Where there is that, there should be the greatest confidence in the Lord. No doubt Peter benefited by this experience. And we too should learn from whatever we pass through: we ought not only to get benefit to ourselves, but to pass the profit on to others. Both David and Peter fell miserably, and it is easy to see the cause in both. David says “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation" ... "then will I teach transgressors thy law.” His sad fall could be used for the benefit of others. So Peter, “when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren.” It is he who tells us we are “kept by the power of God.”
Gethsemane was at the bottom of the mount of Olives, and the name means “Place of oil presses.” Here indeed we are on holy ground! How reverent should be our minds as we contemplate this scene. The Lord says, “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” He was coming to that time, marked out from all eternity, when sin was to be taken up and judged; and we see what was before His soul. It was only on the cross sins were laid upon Him, and He there made sin who knew no sin"; but in spirit He went through it here with His Father. So those three favored men—you see them marked out frequently in the Gospels— “He took with him Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful, and very heavy.” It is beyond the power of the creature to realize what that dark hour meant to Him. “My soul is exceeding sorrowful.” He was a real man with a human soul; not, as some would teach, His Divinity taking the place of a soul; but a perfect man—spirit, soul, and body. It was the judgment of God about sin that was before Him in death. He said “Tarry ye here and watch.” He never said “Pray for me.” We must weigh the silences of Scripture. But He values their sympathy. Here is His perfection. How intensely He felt being the Sin-bearer—meeting in His holy soul what God was against sin—knowing all, weighing all, yet He came to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish the work given Him to do.
Verse 40. To the one who had said he would lay down his life for the Lord, the Lord now says, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” There was some reproach in the words. Could he not watch one hour? When we think of the Lord, always the same, never overlooking a single saint, never withdrawing His eyes from the righteous, always the same-
“'Tis this that humbles us with shame”
“Watch and pray” —not for Him— “that ye enter not into temptation.” There is all the difference between the Lord, tempting us and our entering into temptation. Like Abraham, if the Lord tempts us, He can sustain us to go through it for His glory; but if we enter into it, like Peter did, we fall in the same way. If we neglect prayer we are courting failure. They slept while the Lord prayed.
“The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.” I can but think myself that it is the Lord's grace to put that construction on it. Man as man is likely to put the worst construction on anything; we should seek to put the best.
Verse 44. We learn an important lesson here. Three times over; but not vain repetition! In an earlier part we are told not to use vain repetitions, but the blessed Lord here uses “the same words.” We may pray the same thing over and over again, and it may not be vain repetition, if our heart is in it. Ah, it was not possible! We find further on, that the two thieves proposed something that was impossible— “Save thyself and us.” If He saved Himself He could not save them. He must go through it all.
Now the Lord asks those to watch with Him that short time. Do you think their eyes were heavy when the armed crowd came, and after? No; but the flesh was weak here. Had there been enough interest in the Lord's request, there would not have been this manifestation. They miss the opportunity of gratifying the Lord. And have not we often, and been made to feel it keenly? We are told to buy up the opportunity (Eph. 5:1616Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:16)). We cannot redeem the past. How earnest we should be to fill up every moment of every day so as to meet the Lord's mind.
“The Son of man is betrayed.” Judas comes and with him a great multitude. All is known to the Lord. Does it not seem remarkable that the One so gentle and so lowly— “His Voice not heard in the street” etc. —should be come out against, as against a ruffian, with a great armed crowd?
And let us weigh up verse 48. A kiss, the sign of peace—the token of affection—but this, the kiss of a Judas! It is only by the grace of God that we believers are what we are. We ought to be very careful when we say we are not such as he. “Hold Him fast.” It brings to mind the hymn of John Newton-
“Some call Him the Pearl of great price,
And say He's the Fountain of joys,
Yet feed upon folly and vice,
And cleave to the world and its joys.
Like Judas, the Savior they kiss,
And while they salute Him, betray;
Oh, what will profession like this
Avail in His terrible day?”
Let us shun hypocrisy in every shape and form. No doubt (it looks so, at any rate) the devil had deceived Judas. He did not think they could ever hold Him fast. We have seen the Lord deliver Himself when His hour was not yet come. When Judas found He did not deliver Himself, He was shocked, and threw down the money in the temple, and went and hanged himself.
Verse 49. It is “Rabbi,” here. “He covered Him with kisses,” as if he could not express his love! Oh, how dreadful! but it shows what any one of us is capable of doing, if left to himself.
“Friend, wherefore art thou come” (ver. 50)? It would correspond to what the Lord felt as we find it expressed in Psalms 55, etc., and typified by David and Ahithophel. The Psalms reveal to us the keenness of the pain the Lord experienced. “My own familiar friend hath lifted up his heel against me.”
“Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.” You don't get everything in one part of Scripture. “He gave his back to the smiters,” or they could not have touched Him. He lived far too long to please men. Look at Nazareth. They sought to kill Him there, but they could not till their hour came. “This is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
And when they took Him, the man who could not watch one hour, and subsequently denied Him with oaths and curses, would fight for Him against the whole crowd! (ver. 51). No doubt he meant to cleave Malchus' skull, but it was permitted him to cut off his ear. There is not only a divine selection in the Gospels, but divine arrangement also; so, as Luke is the Gospel of grace, it is reserved for him to tell us that the Lord immediately healed him. Peter's name is withheld here.
“All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” we are here told (ver. 52); and it would save us much trouble if we bowed to the word of God. “Do not ye judge them that are within? But they that are without God judgeth.” The time is coming when we shall judge the world, but now that would be going beyond our province. Besides, what seems so large in the eyes of man, when the potsherds of the earth are striving together—what is that to the important things of God's assembly?
The Lord was the unresisting One, and the one that follows Him, has His especial care. If you stand up for yourself, He will stand by: you'll not be the object of His special care then.
Verse 53. A legion in the Roman Army would run up to 6,600—the number of the largest. One angel could destroy 180,000 in one night. If it was a question of destroying, there is immense power in the Lord's word. “But how then must the Scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”
“In that same hour Jesus said to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a robber with swords and staves for to take me?” There is a difference between a “thief” and a “robber.” A thief may be a mere purloiner, but a robber is a thief with violence. Such were the “two thieves” crucified with Him, and also Barabbas.
“I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” What a constant appeal we get to the scriptures, in Matthew! There are more references to the Old Testament in his Gospel than in the three others put together. It has such a Jewish bearing, and hence the amplest testimony is given by Matthew to his race.