We cannot allege with confidence that it was any permanent loss of
personal attachment to Jesus which brought about his defection. It came
when the belief in a theocracy near at hand filled the minds of the
disciples. These ignorant Galilean fishermen expected that in a very
short time they would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. The custodian of the bag, gifted with more common sense than
his colleagues, probably foresaw the danger of a collision with Rome,
and may have desired by a timely arrest to prevent an open revolt, which
would have meant immediate destruction of the whole band with women and
children. Can any position be imagined more irritating that that of a
careful man of business who is keeper of the purse for a company of
heedless enthusiasts professing complete indifference to the value of
money, misunderstanding the genius of their chief, and looking out every
morning for some sign in the clouds, a prophecy of their immediate
appointment as vicegerents of a power that would supersede the awful
majesty of the Imperial city? He may have been heated by a long series
of petty annoyances to such a degree that at last they may have ended in
rage and a sudden flinging loose of himself from the society.
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