How Christ has been caught in the garden.
Matth. 26, 47-50.
And while he yet spake, stand, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, of the chief priests and elders of the people. And the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he; seize him. And straightway he came to JEsu, and said, Hail, Rabbi; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, why art thou come? And they came near, and laid their hands on JEsu, and took hold of him.
This is the other part of the story that took place in the garden or on Mount Oel. Firstly, it is reported how Judas, one of the twelve, after he had made a deal with the Jews and sold the Lord Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (one of which, in our coinage, makes half a Rhenish guilder), ultimately betrayed him in the garden.
(2) Such a thing is a very grievous thing, and even now prevents many wise and sensible men from speaking evil of the gospel, and from thinking it a pernicious doctrine. For since Satan does not celebrate, but is most careful to sow evil seed where he sees the good seed sprouting, it is not new today that many Judas children, that is, bad boys and unbelievers, are found among those who have God's word right and true. When the world sees such things, it is soon finished with its judgment; as we must also often hear today from our adversaries, that they all blame such ailments on the doctrine and speak of it: If the doctrine were good, good fruits would also follow from it; but because so many aversions come into the world, the like of which were not heard years ago, it must follow that the doctrine is not righteous etc.
(3) Now we cannot deny that the rebellion followed after the gospel came to light. So afterwards followed the sacramentalists, the Anabaptists, and other mobs, such as no one saw or heard of before the gospel came to us.
Doctrine is evil and such trouble is caused by the doctrine and has arisen?
4 Here you may take the rogue Judam before you, who is neither a Gentile nor a Turk, nor such a Jew as is hostile to the Lord Christ and has not heard the word of God. He is one of the twelve, says Matthew, whom Christ called to preach, to baptize in his name, to cast out devils, and to perform all kinds of wonderful miracles. And there is no doubt that because the Lord knew of such a case from the beginning, he would have instructed Judam more than others, and would have always instructed him not to give place to sin and temptation. As the evangelists report especially about the last supper, the Lord always had a few words said about whether Judas should be turned away from such sin. And finally he gives him a dipped morsel, no doubt with a longing look, as if he wanted to say: Oh you poor man, how can you be hostile to me? What do I do to you that you take such things into your mind against me? But when nothing would help, and he had even given himself up to the temptation, the Lord said unto him, What thou wilt do, do quickly. As if to say, "I see that no warning or preaching will help; go on your way, for there is no more counsel or help.
5 What do we say to this, then, that the desperate prankster commits such an abominable sin, and takes such a fierce, bitter heart against his Lord and Master, in whose name he has also done miraculous works, that he thus
for the sake of a small amount of money, betrayed and sold the innocent, pious, gentle, kind man, knowing full well that his life would be worth it? Whom shall we blame? It says here that he is one of the twelve. Shall we say, then, that the blame lies with the Lord Christ and the teaching he heard from Christ? If Christ had taught him better, would he have done it?
(6) Is it not true, that though such a thought occurred to thee, yet thou wouldest heartily fear and be astonished, that thou shouldest thus accuse the Lord Christ? For thou knowest that he is pious and righteous, and is hostile to all iniquity; yea, all his teaching and preaching is to the end that he may prevent and ward off sin, and keep men alive. Why then would you lay such blame on the pious Lord? Rather, you will say that Judas was such a wicked, evil villain that all good warning was lost on him, and he could not keep from his wickedness; otherwise he would have behaved differently. For although the other apostles are weak enough, they do not fall into such horrible sin as Judas. That is why he must be a special arch-rogue, who could neither be helped nor advised.
(7) Why then do you not judge in this way? Why do you want to cast the blame, which is actually that of evil men and Satan, on the holy gospel, and therefore blaspheme it? For if it comes to Christ himself, he cannot preach so well, so earnestly, so righteously, Judas remains a mischievous man, as he was at first: what wonder if such things also come to us, and not everyone follows the word? The rebellion followed after God revealed the gospel to us; we cannot and will not deny that. But should the gospel therefore bear the blame for such arousal and damage? Should we not rather speak thus: Satan is hostile to the gospel; so people are devious in themselves and inclined to evil: therefore both the devil and the wicked world have helped to cause such trouble, so that the pure, good doctrine, the right, good seed, might be hated among men.
This is how the sacramentalists and anabaptists came into being, of whom no one knew before the gospel. But the gospel is innocent of this. The devil, however, and after that the arrogance in the idle, frivolous hearts, which let the word fall and follow their own thoughts and wit, have fiddled this dance and caused such noticeable damage and horrible trouble.
(8) Even today, as we can see, there is still a great deal of trouble, because among those who pride themselves on the gospel, avarice and usury, fornication and gluttony, and other troubles are more common than before in the papacy. Where does this come from? Do they learn it from the Gospel? Is it the preacher's fault? No, beware of that. For that would be to revile and blaspheme God and His dear Word, and then the ministry of preaching, which is the most glorious, highest gift of God. But the fault is of the wretched devil, who sees the field finely prepared and sown, and vexes it. For by this his kingdom is greatly diminished. Therefore, when the father of the house sleeps, he comes with his evil seed and makes the field full of weeds. But this does not cause the weeds to grow. For just as Judas, one of the twelve, remains a prankster, but the other disciples, though frail and weak, do not fall into such abominable sin: so, though the offenses are many and very wicked, yet much finer are found of devout Christians, who keep the word with right earnestness, live in the fear of God, and areware of offenses. We should be content with the same and thank God for it. Whether one cannot be superior to Judas, one must tolerate him: that not all are like Judas, but some disciples are better.
(9) First of all, we can use this example of the unruly child of Judah not to blaspheme the gospel, as the papists do, but to know the real cause of the offense: that it is the fault of the devil and of disobedient hearts that will not believe the word nor amend themselves.
10. after that it also serves that we from
In such an abominable case, let us learn to fear God. For as reported above, Judas was not a bad man, but an apostle, and will undoubtedly have had many fine, beautiful gifts; just as he also had a special office among other disciples, and the Lord appointed him as steward or conductor. But because this man, who is an apostle, who preaches repentance and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus, baptizes, casts out devils and performs other miraculous works, so easily falls, becomes an enemy of Christ, sells him for a little money, betrays him and sacrifices him to the meat bank; because, I say, such a great man meets with such a terrible accident: we have ever cause not to be safe, but to fear God and beware of sins, and to pray diligently that God will not lead us into temptation; but if we fall into temptation, that he will graciously lead us out again, and help us not to get stuck in it. For it very soon happens that one gets into trouble and sins, if one does not take care and diligently guard oneself with prayer.
11 This is the case with Judah. He is a stingy man, as the evangelists repeatedly indicate, that because the Lord had appointed him as a conductor, he had carried off and stolen much. He leaves such sin in the bridle and hangs on to it: he lets himself be told and preached to, as unfortunately our angry, ill-advised Christians also do; but nevertheless he goes, steals where he can, and lets himself think that there is no need for him, that he is an apostle as well as the others. Such security brings him to this point, because he leaves room for sin in such a way that the devil finally gets into him and drives him to such horrible actions that he betrays his dear Lord and Master for the sake of fifteen guilders. Since this concerns the devil and he has brought Judas so far, a greater misery follows, that Judas despairs because of such sins and hangs himself. This is the end that the devil was after.
(12) We should diligently keep this example in mind, and, as I said before, use it to keep ourselves in good conscience and righteousness.
Keep the fear of God, and do not cease praying that God will keep us in His Word, and govern us by His Holy Spirit and protect us from sins. For if one overlooks it in a small piece (as it seems), great unspeakable harm can result from it. As our dear Lord Christ, Luke 11, also warns and says, vv. 24-26: "When the evil spirit departs from man, it walks through dry places, seeking rest, and does not find it, saying, 'I will return to my house from whence I came out. When he arrives, he finds himself adorned and adorned with possessions. Then he goes and takes seven spirits to himself, which are worse than he, and when they come in, they dwell there; and afterward he becomes worse with the same man than before."
13 Thus the examples are before our eyes. Before the gospel came to light again, the devil had everything in good peace, for he had almost captured all men's hearts with false worship and trust in his own works. Now, however, God has lifted him up through the Gospel, so that we know that with the reading of masses, vigils, pilgrimages, fasting and other things, neither God nor the devil is in control. For God's Word teaches us another kind of worship, which is called, as the other Psalm calls it: kissing the Son, or as God calls it from heaven: hearing His beloved Son, and believing in Him; we know this: what happens now? The devil would have liked to be in prison again, but his way is lost, he cannot, God's word uncovered him and betrayed him. Then he goes and takes seven, that is, innumerable worse spirits than he is, and goes again into men. For there we see that most of them go into the thoughts, even if they live in fornication, stinginess, usury, lying, deceiving, it does not matter, they want to be good Christians.
(14) Therefore, if a loophole is opened for the devil, when it seems to you that he can hardly pass through with his head, he has had enough and sleeps with his whole body. Just as he did with Judah. It seemed as if it was a small thing, if he had ten, twenty, more or less pennies.
steal. But because he is always in sin and does not want to refuse God's word, the devil finally brings him to the point that he sacrifices his good Lord and Master on the flesh bank for the sake of money.
15 Therefore it is said: Fear God and beware of sins. But if thou wilt continue in sins, and not cease them, wait how it shall come to thee at last. For the devil does not begin it with the opinion that it should prosper you for the best. He lets Judas be stingy until he brings him to the rope and leads him into despair. Let this be a warning to you and stop in time. Ask GOtt for forgiveness and better yourself. That is what God wants; that is why he has set this terrible example with Judah, so that we should look at it diligently and be shocked by it. For who would believe that such an abominable sin should have such a small beginning? Therefore do not jest, do not think: I will remain a Christian, whether I do this or that; I will bring it back again etc. The devil is much too cunning for you; if he gets you into trouble, see how you get out of it.
16 This is spoken of Judah's example. But it serves us in another way for comfort and warning. For it is certainly true that as our Lord Christ fared here on earth, so shall his church and the dear gospel fare to the end of the world. Judas, one of his disciples, betrayed him. So those who sit in the church office, and are not the least but the most, become betrayers and worst enemies of his church for the sake of the silver pieces. As you can see in the case of the pope, he also has the Judas bag around his neck, and lets himself love money and goods so much that he betrays and sells the gospel over it, and does not deal with it any differently than the Jews did with the Lord Christ before Caipha and Pilato.
17 Therefore, just as Judas hangs on the high priests and chiefs, servants and attendants, so the pope hangs on monks, priests, high schools, all of whom help him to catch Christ, that is, who persecute and condemn the gospel as the worst of heresies, until Pilate finally comes to condemn the
secular authorities, and with the sword to eradicate the gospel.
18 This has happened a long time ago, since the pope had such power and authority. And still today there are more and more Judas who buy money from the Gospel and misuse it for avarice, their own honor and other things. These may well take heed of Judas' end. For it is decided that no one shall prosper with the money he buys or redeems from Christ and his gospel. There should and must be an evil conscience and finally, if one does not mend his ways, eternal damnation; no one doubts this.
If it were not for such a severe, terrible judgment, one would be displeased with the unholy people that the pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, monks have such good days and everything full. But dear, grant it to them, as long as God grants it to them; the thirty pieces of silver, for which they sell Christ daily, will still become sour enough for them, when he will say: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels". And here on earth the conscience should not always remain silent, but attack them hard enough, as the examples of our times are many.
20 This is said of Judas, since the evangelists so diligently report how he sold Christ, led the Jews into the garden, and betrayed the Lord Jesus with a kiss. For this, says Matthew, was the lot. But this rhymes especially with false preachers, who by impure doctrine, because they have the ministry, deceive the poor consciences.
Here John the Evangelist remembers two special miracles that our Lord Christ performed in the garden. The first, when they came to the Lord Christ in the garden, he asked, "Whom are you looking for? When they answered, "Jesus of Nazareth," and he said, "I am he." This word so startled them that they all drew back and fell to the ground as if thunder had struck them down.
22. such is a peculiar, divine
This was the power that the Lord especially wanted to see at that time, not only to frighten the Jews with it, but also to strengthen his disciples. For from this they had to conclude that if the Lord would not willingly give himself to death, he would be able to protect himself and defend himself against his enemies, and would not need the help or protection of others, as the disciples would support themselves and try to save him by force. But the Lord did not want to, and as we will hear, he spoke very harshly to Petro about it.
(23) So that this miraculous work serves against the great trouble in which both the Jews and then the disciples of the Lord were almost drowned. For because the Lord allowed himself to be caught, and the Jews to be driven with all their might, and ultimately to be so shamefully strangled on the cross, the disciples themselves were so vexed that they forgot all the miracles they had seen of him, all the beautiful sermons they had heard from him, and thought that it was now over with them, that their hope had been in vain and in vain. The unbelieving, wicked Jews also believed this, and were certain in their minds that if they had brought him to the cross, there would be no more need. Now there is this wonderful, marvelous miracle, that the great multitude of Jews, armed with spears and swords, having received orders from the rulers, and being willing and courageous to trade, is driven behind them by a single man, who is defenseless and speaks to them in the friendliest manner, with a single word, saying, "It is I," and is so terrified that they fall to the ground as if they had been struck on the heads with maces. The disciples see this, the Jews experience it and feel it; and yet they both fall into the thought that it is a man, like another man, because he so patiently surrenders himself to suffering and furthermore does not want to use any power against his enemies.
(24) But they should have thought thus: Behold, if this man can do this with a few words, which are not a word of reproach or a curse, but a kind answer, that such great, strong, brave, armed men shall fall to the ground, as if thunder had struck them down: it will surely be
It must mean something special that he surrenders so willingly and allows himself to be caught. He could defend himself and protect himself; but he does not, but suffers. That is why he does not want to be protected by people. And although he hides his power now and lets himself be handled as the Jews themselves want, it will not always remain that way. His enemies will have to go down; but he will have to reign. For the divine power, which he so often shows, and especially now in the garden with a word, it will not be able to be pressed into length nor to be dampened etc.
The disciples should have taken this from this miraculous work. For there is no doubt that for such a reason the Lord let his divine power be seen here. But it was unfortunately too soon forgotten on both sides. The Jews did all they could with him, and cared for nothing more. The disciples, however, ran out, one here, the other there, they were saddened and frightened, and had no more hope that they should enjoy their Lord and Master again, or see him again. This was the hour of darkness, as Christ is called in John, when trouble took over and the devil exercised his power. For this reason the Lord so earnestly exhorted the disciples to pray: "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
26 The other miracle is almost like this, that Christ answers the second time, "I told you that I am he; if then ye seek me, let these go. He alone, the pious Lord, has neither sword nor spear; but Judas, the traitor, is there against him with a great multitude. Then, by right, poor Jesus, who is so severely overpowered, should speak good words and ask that the Jews remember to leave him his disciples and not to attack any of them.
27 For it is a serious word, Sinite hos abire: "Let me go these." And is not, as we see, a vain word. For they had no doubt gone out thinking to lift up the nest together, master and disciple. But this word makes that they do not reach further and satisfy his disciples.
370 L. 2.42-^4. How Christ was caught in the garden. W. xm, 917-919. 371
Peter, who took up the sword and struck into the heap, did not deserve this.
28 Why does the Lord do this? It is not unjustly inferred that he wants to show how he values his life less than his disciples, because he saves them, but willingly allows himself to be caught and bound. For this very reason the Lord calls himself a good shepherd, that he lays down his life for his sheep, and presents his love to us as a special example, when he says: "No one has greater love than this, that he lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. This is seen here very well, that he is completely silent; they do and do with him what they want, he lets it all happen. But he wants his disciples to let it go and not to lay a hand on them. This proves that he cares more about them than about himself.
29 But this is also a cause: our Lord Christ does not want to have a companion in the suffering that he now has before him. He alone, as Isaiah says, will tread the winepress; for God alone has laid it upon him. Yes, he alone is the one who can bear and endure it. It is true that the disciples also had to suffer for the sake of Christ and his word, as he says to Jacob and John: "The cup that I drink, you will drink also. But the suffering of the Lord Christ is called suffering for my sin and for your sin, so that God may remit them to me and to you, not remembering them, but giving eternal life for Christ's sake. For this reason he wants to be alone and not let anyone be caught with him or suffer.
30 But just as the Jews must obey such a command of Christ, they must go with him.
The pope and his entire clan are not following Christ's command. They seek forgiveness of sins from the deceased saints, and take comfort in their merit and give indulgences. This is just as much as if Christ had wanted to have companions in his suffering and had not done it alone.
31 For that Pilate hanged the Lord between two murderers afterward is of his own account. But here in the garden it is said: Sinite hos abire: "Let these go", I alone belong to the trade, it is alone my office and work. No one belongs to it, neither John, Peter nor Jacob, all these are to be let go. It is I who take hold of me, catch me, bind me, crucify me; it is laid upon me to bear the sin of the world, and all who believe in me, that is, take comfort in my suffering and death, shall have a merciful God and eternal life.
(32) So your love has the other part of the history of Christ that took place in the garden: that we do not forget the terrible fall of Judah, but keep ourselves in the fear of God, guard against sins, and always persevere in prayer, so that God may graciously protect us from such a fall; and secondly, that if we are true Christians, we will also have our Judah, who will inflict all evil on us because of his avarice. We are to suffer this, and hold on to the comfort, although Christ is weak in us, that his power will be seen in his time, and will graciously protect and preserve us. May the eternal Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit, grant this to us all, amen.