Jesus passion 1

 Passion of Jesus meditation:

The capture of Jesus:

Away by Caesarea Philippi, not a year before, Judas had heard Simon proclaim,in the name of them all:

" Thou art the Christ

The Son of the living God".

and he had not protested. Jesus could not say of him, as later He could make himself say of His executioners:

" Father forgive him

For he knows not what he does."

He could warn him; He had done so again and again, during the whole of that last year. He could use all manner of endearments to win him from his evil way; He could keep him closer with Him than others, He could trust him as He had not trusted them, he could give him counsel all his own, He could wash his feet, He could call him not a servant but a friend, and allow him to call Him the same, He could give him the power of miracles, send him to preach in His name, see to it that men were won by his preaching,that he shared all honour with the rest of His chosen Twelve.But He could do no more  . If the will of Judas would not bend, if he would abide by his choice, if malice could so possess him, Jesus must let things take their course; it were better for Judas had he never been born.Still even then would Jesus not condemn; condemnation belonged to the Father. He was there to save, not to destroy; He would yield not one tittle of His saving right, not even under such provocation. Judas, traitor as he now was, was still His own, one of those " whom He had chosen Himself", whom the Father had given Him out of the world, who had once stood with Him in His temptations; whom having loved He would love to the end. Whatever Judas did to Him, Jesus would not annul that friendship. He would make a last appeal, even at this eleventh hour. Secretly , as He had done before; affectionately , as He could not but always do; with that love which sought not its own,which endured all things, He answered Judas . While the hands of betrayal still clung about Him, while the sense of the indignity surged within Him, while all nature seemed to cry out against the deed of shame that was being done, Jesus whispered to Judas, the last words he was ever to hear from His lips:

" And Jesus said to him

Friend,

whereto art thou come?

Judas 

Dost thou 

Betray the Son of man 

with a kiss?"