Then Judas, who betrayed him, answered and said, Teacher, is it I? He said unto him,
You have said.
Read Chapter 26
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Judas answered . . . Is it I? Franc. Lucas thinks, with probability, that Judas asked this question after Christ had given him the morsel of bread.
Now Judas asked this question out of impudence, to cover his wickedness; and, as Jerome says, "by boldness to lay a lying claim to a good conscience." For he thought that Christ, out of gentleness, would not name His betrayer. As though he had said, "Surely it is not I, 0 Christ, who am Thy betrayer? I who have faithfully served Thee all these years? Who have fed Thy family, and executed all Thy business?"
Thou hast said. This is the modest Hebrew method of answering, by which they confirm what is asked. As though Christ said, "It is not that I say it, and call thee traitor. It is thou thyself who in reality dost call thyself so because thou art, in truth, a traitor." Whence S. Chrysostom extols the meekness of Christ, who, in just anger, did not say, "Thou wicked and sacrilegious wretch! thou ungrateful traitor! but gently, Thou hast sai...
Is it I, Rabbi? After the other disciples had put their questions, and after our Saviour had finished speaking, Judas at length ventures to inquire of himself. With his usual hypocrisy, he wishes to cloke his wicked designs by asking a similar question with the rest. (Origen)
It is remarkable that Judas did not ask, is it I, Lord? but, is it I, Rabbi? to which our Saviour replied, thou hast said it: which answer might have been spoken in so low a tone of voice, as not perfectly to be heard by all the company. (Rabanus)
Hence it was that Peter beckoned to St. John, to learn more positively the person. Here St. Chrysostom justly remarks the patience and reserve of our Lord, who by his great meekness and self-possession, under the extremes of ingratitude, injustice, and blasphemy, shows how we ought to bear with the malice of others, and forget all personal injuries. The Institution of the Holy Sacrament.
The Lord had above foretold His Passion, He now foretels who is to be the traitor; thus giving him place of repentance, when he should see that his thoughts and the secret designs of his heart were known.
Judas acts in every thing to remove all suspicion of his treachery.
O wonderful endurance of the Lord, He had said before, “One of you shall betray me.” The traitor perseveres in his wickedness; He designates him more particularly, yet not by name. For Judas, while the rest were sorrowful, and withdrew their hands, and bid away the food from their months, with the same hardihood and recklessness which led him to betray Him, reached forth his hand into the dish with his Master, passing off his audacity as a good conscience.
Judas, not withheld by either the first or second warning, perseveres in his treachery; the Lord’s long-suffering nourishes his audacity. Now then his punishment is foretold, that denunciations of wrath may correct where good feeling has no power.
We are not to infe...
But woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born. See again in His rebukes His unspeakable meekness. For not even here with invective, but more in the way of compassion, does He apply what He says, but in a disguised way again; and yet not his former senselessness only, but his subsequent shamelessness was deserving of the utmost indignation. For after this conviction he says, Is it I, Lord? Oh insensibility! He inquires, when conscious to himself of such things. For the evangelist too, marvelling at his boldness, says this. What then says the most mild and gentle Jesus? You say. And yet He might have said, O thou unholy, thou all unholy one; accursed, and profane; so long a time in travail with mischief, who hast gone your way, and made satanical compacts, and hast agreed to receive money, and hast been convicted by me too, do you yet dare to ask? But none of these things did He say; but how? You say? fixing for us bounds ...
The Evangelist relates how as they sat at meat, Jesus declares Judas 'treachery, that the wickedness of the betrayer may be more apparent from the season and the circumstances.
I rather think that Christ did this out of regard for him, and to bring him toa better mind.
This He said to comfort His disciples, that they might not think that it was through weakness that He suffered; and at the same time for the correction of His betrayer. And notwithstanding His Passion had been foretold, Judas is still guilty; and not his betrayal wrought our salvation, but God’s providence, which used the sins of others to our profit.
Though the Lord could have said, Hast thou covenanted to receive silver, anddarest to ask Me this? But Jesus, most merciful, said nothing of all this, therein laying down for us rules and landmarks of endurance of evil. "He saith unto him, Thou hast said.”
Serm. 58, 3: He shows that the conscience of His betrayer was known to Him, not meeting his wickedness with a harsh and open rebuke, that penitence might finda readier way to one who had not been disgraced by public dismissal.
What Matthew calls ‘paropsis,’ Mark calls ‘catinus.’ The ‘paropsis’ is a square dish for meat, ‘catinus,’ an earthen vessel for containing fluids; this then might be a square earthen vessel.
This might have been so said by Judas, and answered by the Lord as not to be overheard by the rest.
“With the twelve,” it is said, for Judas was personally among them, though hehad ceased to be so in merit.
And it is beautifully said, “When even was come,” because it was in the evening that the Lamb was wont to be slain.
It belongs to human nature to come and go, Divine nature remains ever the same. So because His human nature could suffer and die, therefore of the Son of Manit is well said that “he goeth.” He says plainly, “As it is written of him, "for all that He suffered had been foretold by the Prophets.
Woe also to all who draw near to Christ’s table with an evil and defiled conscience! who though they do not deliver Christ to the Jews to be crucified, deliver Him to their own sinful members to be taken. He adds, to give more emphasis, “Good were it for that man if he had never been born.”.
Which may be understood thus; Thou sayest it, and thou sayest what is true; or,Thou hast said this, not I; leaving him room for repentance so long as his villainy was not publicly exposed.
Jesus openly reproves the betrayer since he did not amend his ways when he was reproved secretly. This is why He reveals him by saying, "He that dippeth his hand with Me," so that even now he might amend his ways. But Judas was shameless and dipped his hand into Christ’s dish. Then Christ said, "The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him," that is, even though it is preordained that Christ suffer for the salvation of the world, Judas of course is not to be honored for the part he played, but rather, woe to him! For he did not do this deed in cooperation with God’s will; instead he did it out of his own malice. For if you consider well, Christ [in His human nature] did not desire beforehand to be crucified; He shows this when He prays that the cup might be taken from Him. But since Christ [in His divine nature] knew from before all ages that because of the malice of the enemy there was no other way for man to be saved, what He had not willed beforehand became His will. By saying that ...
