Matthew 26:20-25 Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.… We have here an example of fixed determination to do evil, unshaken by the clearest knowledge that it is evil. Judas heard his crime described in its own ugly reality. He heard his fate proclaimed by lips of absolute love and truth; and notwithstanding both, he comes unmoved and unshaken with his question. The dogged determination in the man, that dares to see his evil stripped naked and is not ashamed, is even more dreadful than the hypocrisy and sleek simulation of friendship in his face. Most men turn away with horror from even the sins that they are willing to do, when they are put plainly and bluntly before them. We have two sets of names for wrong things; one of which we apply to our brethren's sins and the other to the same sins in ourselves. What I do is "prudence," what you do of the same sort is "covetousness;" what I do is "sowing my wild oats," what you do is "immorality" and "dissipation;" what I do is "generous living," what you do is "drunkenness" and "gluttony;" what I do is " righteous indignation," what you do is "passionate anger." And so you may go the whole round of evil. Very bad are the men who can look at their deed, described in its own inherent deformity, and yet say, "Yes, that is it, and I am going to do it." "One of you shall betray Me." Yes, I will betray you." It must have taken something to look into the Master's face, and keep the fixed purpose steady. This obstinate condition of dogged determination to do a wrong thing, knowing it to be a wrong thing, is a condition to which all evil steadily tends. We may not come to it in this world, but we are getting towards it in regard of the special wrong deeds and desires that we cherish and commit. And when a man has once reached the point of saying to evil, "Be thou my good," then he is a "devil," in the true meaning of the word; and wherever he is, he is in hell! (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.WEB: Now when evening had come, he was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. |
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