He did not slink away quietly and poison himself in a ditch.
He boldly encountered the sacred college, confessed his sin and the
innocence of the man they were about to crucify. Compared with these
pious miscreants who had no scruples about corrupting one of the
disciples, but shuddered at the thought of putting back into the
treasury the money they had taken from it, Judas becomes noble. His
remorse is so unendurable that it drives him to suicide.
If a record could be kept of those who have abjured Jesus through love
of gold, through fear of the world or of the scribes and Pharisees, we
should find many who are considered quite respectable, or have even been
canonised, and who, nevertheless, much more worthily than Iscariot, are
entitled to "champing" by the jaws of Sathanas. Not a single scrap from
Judas himself has reached us. He underwent no trial, and is condemned
without plea or excuse on his own behalf, and with no cross-examination
of the evidence. No witnesses have been called to his character. What
would his friends at Kerioth have said for him? What would Jesus have
said? If He had met Judas with the halter in his hand would He not have
stopped him? Ah! I can see the Divine touch on the shoulder, the
passionate prostration of the repentant in the dust, the hands gently
lifting him, the forgiveness because he knew not what he did, and the
seal of a kiss indeed from the sacred lips.
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