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Why these words should have been referred to by Matthew, and applied to Christ and Judas, I cannot explain. They may fairly be employed to illustrate a model spiritual teacher in relation to secular acknowledgments of His teachings.

I. HE LEAVES THE SECULAR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO THE FREE CHOICE OF THOSE TO WHOM HIS SERVICES HAVE BEEN RENDERED. "And I said unto them, If ye think good, give Me My price; and if not, forbear." He does not exact anything, nor does he even suggest any amount.

II. HIS SPIRITUAL SERVICES ARE SOMETIMES SHAMEFULLY UNDERRATED. "So they weighed for My price thirty pieces of silver." Thirty shekels. An amount in our money of about £3, 2s. 6d. This was the price they put on His services, just the price paid to a bond servant (Exodus 31).

1. Do not determine the real worth of a spiritual teacher by the amount of his stipend.

2. Deplore the inappreciativeness of the world of the highest services.

III. HIS INDEPENDENT SOUL REPUDIATES INADEQUATE SECULAR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, "And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and east them to the potter in the house of the Lord." He felt the insult of being offered such a miserable sum. "Cut it unto the potter," a proverbial expression, meaning, throw it to the temple potter. "The most suitable person to whom to cast the despicable sum, plying the trade, as he did, in the polluted valley of Hinnom, because it furnished him with the most suitable clay." A true teacher would starve rather than accept such a miserable acknowledgment for his services. Your money perish with you!

(Homilist.)

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KJV: And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.

WEB: I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.