Evening star., 1928-06-09

Our lesson opens up with the darkest
page In human history. In all the an
nails of men it is not possible to find
a night Of greater darkness than the
one when Judas entered the Garden OF
Gethsemane followed by guard OF
soldiers. and betrayed Jesus with KISS.
1T was one of the II" who Tor ABOUT
three years had been close companion
and confidential friend OF the Master
that deliberately carried out his inta-
NOUS bargain and by repeated acts OF
affection. protesting love and loyalty,
betrayed the Lord. That devilish and
diabolical decd stamped him forever as
traitor and separated him from the
Kingdom Of grace and glory.
John tells us how the poise and power
of the Christ overawed them and mas
tered the motley crowd, assembled
under the leadership Of Judas to ar
rest Jesus about o'clock In the morn
ing. There was no offer OF resistance
to His arrest nor did He attempt to
use His power and escape from their
hands. He recognized that His hour
had come, and aside from protesting at
their secret effort. because they feared A
demonstration Of the people In favor OF
the Lord, and unnecessary demonstra-
ton OF force, the Master surrendered
Himself willingly In calm and delin-
crate manner.
One of the number I'VE know that 1t
was Peter) impulsively sought to defend
Jesus. He drew a sword and smote off
the ear OF the servant of the high
priest, who represented the enemies OF
Christ and was present TO see that
everything was carried out in accord
ance with the plans OF the Lords enc
mics. Jesus rebuked Peter for his act
OF defense, pointing out that the weap-
ons of Christianity are not carnal but
spiritual. While He permits his follow
crs To defend themselves when they are
attacked, even with the sword, our Lord
does not desire that His kingdom should
be advanced by force Of arms.
The arrest Of the Master probably un-
nerVed Peter and the other disciples.
They could not understand why the
Messiah should be subject 10 the Roman
soldiers 10 the extent that He should
request permission, as Luke tells us, To
heal the ear Of the servant Of the high
priest. Peter did not understand the
Lords program and purpose. The au-
thor Of our gospel was among the num-
ber who followed Jesus that night so
closely that the guard sought To arrest
him. but he left his linen cloth coat In
their hands and fed naked"
Preliminary Jewish Trial
Jesus did not have trial in the
sense that we call trial His Bo-called
trials were illegal and informal, espe-
ciaily those conducted by the Jewish
authorities. The Romans had placed
a limitation upon the powers OF the
SanhcdTin so that his trial was divided
into two parts. the preliminary before
the Jewish authorities and the final
before PLATE. the Roman governor who,
alone, had the power 10 impose the
death sentence.
Christ had forced the hands of His
enemies by Ills attitude toward Judas
While the guard was seeking To arrest
Jesus, the high priest had summoned
the members Of the Sanhedrin 10 meet
him In his palace, One may well
doubt the possibility OF Annas or Cai~
aphas notifying Nicodemus, damaliel
or even Joseph OF Arimathea Of the
meeting. when according to law they
could not conduct trial In the resi-
dence OF the high priest or In the night
time. Policy demanded immediate ac~
tion. They could not wait for two days
until after the passover feast A trial
could not be conducted upon the Sab
bath or on a feast day Delay beyond
the passover would probably result in
an uprising, especially by the people
from Galilee, who we're devoted 10
Jesus.
Annaa was the dominant figure In
the thought OF the Jewish leaders. He
had been the high priest and through
his son-in -laW. Calaphas. who was the
high priest. exercised the functions Of
the Office. Within his court, Peter, who