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1. I know, dearly beloved, that some may be moved, as the godly to
inquire into the meaning of, and the ungodly to find fault with, the
statement, that it was after the Lord had given the bread, that had
been dipped, to His betrayer that Satan entered into him. For so it
is written: "And when He had dipped the bread, He gave it to
Judas Iscariot, the Son of Simon. And after the bread, then
entered Satan into him." For they say, Was this the worth of
Christ's bread, given from Christ's own table, that after it
Satan should enter into His disciple? And the answer we give them
is, that thereby we are taught rather how much we need to beware of
receiving. what is good in a sinful spirit. For the point of special
importance is, not the thing that is received, but the person that
receives it; and not the character of the thing that is given, but of
him to whom it is given. For even good things are hurtful, and evil
things are beneficial, according to the character of the recipients.
"Sin," says the apostle, "that it might appear sin, wrought death
to me by that which is good." Thus, you see, evil is brought about
by the good, so long as that which is good is wrongly received. It is
he also that says: "Lest I should be exalted unduly through the
greatness of my revelations, there was given to me a thorn in my
flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. For which thing I
besought the Lord thrice, that He would take it away from me; and
He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for strength is
made perfect in weakness." And here, you see, good was brought
about by that which was evil, when the evil was received in a good
spirit.
Why, then, do we wonder if Christ's bread was given to Judas,
that thereby he should be made over to the devil; when we see, on the
other hand, that Paul was visited by a messenger of the devil, that
by such an instrumentality he might be perfected in Christ? In this
way, both the good was injurious to the evil man, and the evil was
beneficial to the good. Bear in mind the meaning of the Scripture,
"Whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord
unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." And
when the apostle said this, he was dealing with those who were taking
the body of the Lord, like any other food, in an undiscerning and
careless spirit. If, then, he is thus taken to task who does not
discern, that is, does not distinguish from the other kinds of food,
the body of the Lord, what condemnation must be his, who in the guise
of a friend comes as an enemy to His table! If negligence in the
guest is thus visited with blame, what must be the punishment that will
fall on the man that sells the very person who has invited him to his
table! And why was the bread given to the traitor, but as an evidence
of the grace he had treated with ingratitude?
2. It was after this bread, then, that Satan entered into the
Lord's betrayer, that, as now given over to his power, he might
take full possession of one into whom before this he had only entered in
order to lead him into error. For we are not to suppose that he was
not in him when he went to the Jews and bargained about the price of
betraying the Lord; for the evangelist Luke very plainly attests this
when he says: "Then entered Satan into Judas, who was surnamed
Iscariot, being one of the twelve; and he went his way, and communed
with the chief priests." Here, you see, it is shown that Satan had
already entered into Judas. His first entrance, therefore, was when
he implanted in his heart the thought of betraying Christ; for in such
a spirit had he already come to the supper. But now, after the
bread, he entered into him, no longer to tempt one who belonged to
another, but to take possession of him as his own.
3. But it was not then, as some thoughtless readers suppose, that
Judas received the body of Christ. For we are to understand that the
Lord had already dispensed to all of them the sacrament of His body
and blood, when Judas also was present, as very clearly related by
Saint Luke; and it was after this that we come to the moment when,
in accordance with John's account, the Lord made a full disclosure
of His betrayer by dipping and holding out to him the morsel of bread,
and intimating perhaps by the dipping of the bread the false pretensions
of the other. For the dipping of a thing does not always imply its
washing; but some things are dipped in order to be dyed. But if a
good meaning is to be here attached to the dipping, his ingratitude for
that good was deservedly followed by damnation.
4. But still, possessed as Judas now was, not by the Lord, but
by the devil, and now that the bread had entered the belly, and an
enemy the soul of this man of ingratitude: still, I say, there was
this enormous wickedness, already conceived in his heart, waiting to
be wrought out to its full issue, for which the damnable desire had
always preceded. Accordingly, when the Lord, the living Bread,
had given this bread to the dead, and in giving it had revealed the
betrayer of the Bread, He said, "What thou doest, do quickly."
He did not command the crime, but foretold evil to Judas, and good
to us. For what could be worse for judas, or what could be better for
us, than the delivering up of Christ, a deed done by him to his own
destruction, but done, apart from him, in our behalf? "What thou
doest, do quickly." Oh that word of One whose wish was to be ready
rather than to be angry! That word! expressing not so much the
punishment of the traitor as the reward awaiting the Redeemer! For
He said, "What thou doest, do quickly," not as wrathfully looking
to the destruction of the trust-betrayer, but in His own haste to
accomplish the salvation of the faithful; for He was delivered for our
offences, and He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it. And
as the apostle also says of himself: "Who loved me, and gave
Himself for me." Had not, then, Christ given Himself, no one
could have given Him up. What is there in Judas' conduct but sin?
For in delivering up Christ he had no thought of our salvation, for
which Christ was really delivered, but thought only of his money
gain, and found the loss of his soul. He got the wages he wished,
but had also given him, against his wish, the wages he merited.
Judas delivered up Christ, Christ delivered Himself up: the former
transacted the business of his own selling of his Master, the latter
the business of our redemption. "What thou doest, do quickly," not
because thou hast the power in thyself, but because He wills it who
has all the power.
5. "Now no one of those at the table knew for what intent He spoke
this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the
money-bag, that Jesus said unto him, Buy those things which we have
need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the
poor." The Lord, therefore, had also a money-box, where He kept
the offerings of believers, and distributed to the necessities of His
own, and to others who were in need. It was then that the custom of
having church-money was first introduced, so that thereby we might
understand that His precept about taking no thought for the morrow was
not a command that no money should be kept by His saints, but that
God should not he served for any such end, and that the doing of what
is right should not be held in abeyance through the fear of want. For
the apostle also has this foresight for the future, when he says:
"If any believer hath widows, let him give them enough, that the
church may not be burdened, that it may have enough for them that are
widows indeed."
6. "He then, having received the morsel of bread, went immediately
out: and it was night." And he that went out was himself the night.
"Therefore when" the night "was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the
Son of man glorified." The day therefore uttered speech unto the
day, that is, Christ did so to His faithful disciples, that they
might hear and love Him as His followers; and the night showed
knowledge unto the night, that is, Judas did so to the unbelieving
Jews, that they might come as His persecutors, and make Him their
prisoner. But now, in considering these words of the Lord, which
were addressed to the godly, before His arrest by the ungodly,
special attention on the part of the hearer is required; and therefore
it will be more becoming in the preacher, instead of hurriedly
considering them now, to defer them till a future occasion.
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