Forty-eighth Sunday.

THE TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION.

FIRST READING.

"Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?"—Luke 22:48.

JUST as our Lord had wakened His three apostles for the last time, there came a tread of soldiers, and lanterns gleamed through the olive trees. For Judas Iscariot, the traitor, knew that his Master was apt to go to the olive garden to pray at night, and he was leading them, and he said to them, "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He: hold Him fast." And he came up first toJesus, and said, "Hail, master;" and kissed Him. All our Lord said was, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?"

Peter tried to defend Him, and drew a sword and cut off the ear of one of the servants; but our Lord bade him put the sword back into the sheath; and then, in His great love, our blessed Lord touched the ear, and cured it in an instant, and begged that all the disciples might be allowed to go their way. Indeed, they were so much afraid that they all forsook Him and fled away, except John and Peter, who both followed to see what would be done with Him.

The soldiers dragged our blessed Lord to the house of the high priest, Caiaphas, where his enemies tried to make out some charge to bring against Him; but as He was good and holy, and had no sin at all, they could accuse Him of nothing. And whenthey asked Him questions, He answered them not a word, for He knew that it was only to accuse Him.

While He stood at the upper end of the hall, John, who knew one of the servants, had come in to the lower end, and had brought in Peter with him. The chill of the morning had come on, and the servants lighted a fire on the pavement, where Peter stood and warmed himself. One of the maids there looked at him, and asked if he did not belong to Jesus of Nazareth. Peter was afraid, and said, "I know not what thou sayest."

JUDAS BETRAYS JESUS.—Matt. 26:48-50.

But then another maid said, "This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.." Peter grew more afraid, and went on declaring he did not know such a person; but presently another servant said, "Did not I see thee in the garden with Him?" Again Peter's fear of being punished for wounding the man in the garden led him further astray, for he began to curse and swear, and say, "I know not the man." Just then the cock crew, and the Lord turned round and looked upon Peter.

That look went to his heart. He went out and wept bitterly; and whenever he thought of his sin, he wept.

CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS.—Matt. 26:65, 66.

QUESTIONS.

1. Where was our Lord? 2. What time was it? 3. Whom had He taken with Him? 4. Who came up in the night? 5. Who was leading them? 6. How did Judas show which was our Lord? 7. What was he wicked enough to say? 8. How did our Lord answer? 9. How did Peter try to save Him? 10. What blow did He strike? 11. What command did our Lord give Peter? 12. What did he do for the wounded man? 13. What care did He take for His disciples? 14. Who only followed Him? 15. Where was our Lord taken? 16. What did the chief priests try to find? 17. Why could they find nothing to accuse Him of? 18. What had He said Peter would do? 19. What had Peter then said? 20. Yet what did he do? 21. What made Him deny? 22. What did he answer? 23. What brought his better mind back? 24. What sound? 25. What look? 26. What did he do when he thought of his sin?

SECOND READING.

"He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter."—Isaiah 53:7.

AS soon as it was light, all the chief men of the Jews met in the council chamber in the Temple, and had our Lord brought before them. But no one could prove that He had broken the law; and whenever a story was brought against Him, it turned out not to be true.

At last the high priest stood up and commanded Him to say whether He were the Christ or not. He answered, "Thou hast said: nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."

PETER DENYING JESUS.—Luke 22:60, 61.

At this answer, Caiaphas and all the other enemies made a great outcry, as if they were very much shocked, at His speaking of Himself as the great Judge of all—namely, as God.

They all cried, "He is guilty of death;" and they began tobeat Him and strike Him; and they blindfolded Him, and struck Him on the face, and bade Him say whose blow it was. And all the time He stood gentle and patient, and said not one word of complaint or anger.

Since the reign of the great wicked Herod, the Romans had not allowed the Jews to put anybody to death without their leave; so the chief priests were obliged to takeJesusbefore the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. But it was not possible to find anything that a Roman would think He deserved to be put to death for.

When the chief priests said that "by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God," Pilate only feared to do anything against Him; for he saw that there was no fault inJesus, but that the chief priests were spiteful, and hated Him.

Then the chief priests said that He called Himself King of the Jews. This made Pilate more anxious, for to set up to be an earthly king would have been rebelling against the Romans; but still he wanted to letJesusgo, because he saw that He was innocent; yet he did not like to offend the priests, who might have accused him to the Emperor of Rome. Pilate saw what was just; but he was afraid, and cared for himself more than for his duty.

QUESTIONS.

1. Where did the chief priests meet? 2. Who was brought there before them? 3. What did they intend to do? 4. But could they find any fault in Him? 5. So what did the chief priest ask Him? 6. What did He say? 7. What did they all cry out? 8. How did they begin to treat Him? 9. How did He bear it all? 10. How can we try to be like Him? 11. What were not the Jews allowed to do? 12. Who had the power over them? 13. Before whom did the chief priests take our Lord? 14. Who was Pilate? 15. What did Pilate think of the charges against Him? 16. But why did not Pilate set Him free? 17. Why was he afraid of His being called King of the Jews?

THIRD READING.

"Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you."—Acts 3:14.

PILATE thought he had found a way of saving the Lord Jesus without offending the Romans. It was the custom that at the feast of the Passover he should set some prisoner free, whomsoever the Jews asked for. And he thought, as the people loved our Lord, that they would ask for Him.

But there was a robber and murderer in prison named Barabbas, and the enemies of our Lord went about among the people, stirring them up to ask for him to be set free; so that the poor, foolish people all broke out with a great shout to ask that this murderer Barabbas might be set free.

JESUS CROWNED WITH THORNS.—Mark 15:16-19.

Pilate asked them what he was to do withJesus, and then there was a great roar from all the people, "Crucify Him! crucify Him!"

Now, crucifying was a very horrible and painful punishment, that had never been allowed among the Jews, but was chiefly used by the Romans themselves for slaves and for robbers; so that their savage cry was forJesusto have the punishment that belonged to Barabbas.

CHRIST BEFORE PILATE.—John 19:14-16.

Pilate's soldiers were very cruel, and they laughed at a poor man being called a king; so when they had beaten the blessedJesustill He was bleeding all over, they took one of their old red soldiers' cloaks and threw it over Him; and they platted a crown of sharp thorns, and forced it upon His head; and they put a reed in his right hand, instead of a sceptre; and they bowed their knees, mocking Him by pretending to do Him honor.

He never spoke one word of anger all this time; and when Pilate saw His meek, brave, patient face, pale and faint with pain, and streaming with blood, he thought the people would pity Him; so he led Him out once more to the top of the steps of the judgment hall, and said, "Behold the man!" But the people weretoo mad to have any pity or feeling, and they only cried louder and louder still, "Crucify Him! crucify Him!"

Pilate was not brave enough to go against them all, even to save an innocent man; so all he did was to take water and wash his hands before them all, to show that he was clear of wishing it, and he said, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person." But the chief priests made the dreadful answer, "His blood be on us, and on our children!" meaning that they would take the guilt and punishment.

THE END OF JUDAS ISCARIOT.—Matt. 27:3-5.

QUESTIONS.

1. What plan had Pilate for saving our Lord? 2. Whom did he always set free at the feast? 3. Whom did he wish to set free? 4. But whom did the chief priests make them ask for? 5. Who was Barabbas? 6. What did they all cry out? 7. What kind of punishment was crucifying? 8. To whom would it naturally have belonged? 9. But who was going to bear the worst of punishments? 10. How did the soldiers treat our Lord? 11. Why did they mock Him? 12. What did they put on His head? 13. What did they dress Him in? 14. What did they put in His hand? 15. What did Pilate hope to do? 16. What did he say? 17. What was the cry in answer?

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