Judas and his band.
Judas had not expected that his treason would have produced such
fatal results. He had been anxious to obtain the promised reward, and
to please the Pharisees by delivering up Jesus into their hands, but he
had never calculated on things going so far, or thought that the
enemies of his Master would actually bring him to judgment and crucify
him; his mind was engrossed with the love of gain alone, and some
astute Pharisees and Sadducees, with whom he had established an
intercourse, had constantly urged him on to treason by flattering him.
He was sick of the fatiguing, wandering, and persecuted life which the
Apostles led. For several months past he had continually stolen from
the alms which were consigned to his care, and his avarice, grudging
the expenses incurred by Magdalen when she poured the precious ointment
on the feet of our Lord, incited him to the commission of the greatest
of crimes. He had always hoped that Jesus would establish a temporal
kingdom, and bestow upon him some brilliant and lucrative post in it,
but finding himself disappointed, he turned his thoughts to amassing a
fortune. He saw that sufferings and persecutions were on the increase
for our Lord and his followers, and he sought to make friends with the
powerful enemies of our Saviour before the time of danger, for the saw
that Jesus did not become a king, whereas the actual dignity and power
of the High Priest, and of all who were attached to his service, made a
very strong impression upon his mind.
He began to enter by degrees into a close connection with their
agents, who were constantly flattering him, and assuring him in strong
terms that, in any case, an end would speedily be put to the career of
our Divine Lord. He listened more and more eagerly to the criminal
suggestions of his corrupt heart, and he had done nothing during the
last few days but go backwards and forwards in order to induce the
chief priests to come to some agreement. But they were unwilling to act
at once, and treated him with contempt. They said that sufficient time
would not intervene before the festival day, and that there would be a
tumult among the people. The Sanhedrin alone listened to his proposals
with some degree of attention. After Judas had sacrilegiously received
the Blessed Sacrament, Satan took entire possession of him, and he went
off at once to complete his crime. He in the first place sought those
persons who had hitherto flattered and entered into agreements with
him, and who still received him with pretended friendship. Some others
joined the party, and among the number Annas and Caiphas, but the
latter treated him with considerable pride and scorn. All these enemies
of Christ were extremely undecided and far from feeling any confidence
of success, because they mistrusted Judas.
I saw the empire of Hell divided against itself; Satan desired the
crime of the Jews, and earnestly longed for the death of Jesus, the
Converter of souls, the holy Teacher, the Just Man, who was so
abhorrent to him; but at the same time he felt an extraordinary
interior fear of the death of the innocent Victim, who would not
conceal himself from his persecutors. I saw him then, on the one hand,
stimulate the hatred and fury of the enemies of Jesus, and on the
other, insinuate to some of their number that Judas was a wicked;
despicable character, and that the sentence could not be pronounced
before the festival, or a sufficient number of witnesses against Jesus
be gathered together.
Everyone proposed something different, and some questioned Judas,
saying: 'Shall we be able to take him? Has he not armed men with him?' And
the traitor replied: 'No, he is alone with eleven disciples; he is
greatly depressed, and the eleven are timid men.' He told them that now
or never was the time to get possession of the person of Jesus, that
later he might no longer have it in his power to give our Lord up into
their hands, and that perhaps he should never return to him again,
because for several days past it had been very clear that the other
disciples and Jesus himself suspected and would certainly kill him if
he returned to them. He told them likewise that if they did not at once
seize the person of Jesus, he would make his escape, and return with an
army of his partisans, to have himself proclaimed King. These threats
of Judas produced some effect, his proposals were acceded to, and he
received the price of this treason--thirty pieces of silver. These pieces
were oblong, with holes in their sides, strung together by means of
rings in a kind of chain, and bearing certain impressions.
Judas could not help being conscious that they regarded him with
contempt and distrust, for their language and gestures betrayed their
feelings, and pride suggested to him to give back the money as an
offering for the Temple, in order to make them suppose his intentions
to have been just and disinterested. But they rejected his proposal,
because the price of blood could not be offered in the Temple. Judas
saw how much they despised him, and his rage was excessive. He had not
expected to reap the bitter fruits of his treason even before it was
accomplished, but he had gone so far with these men that he was in
their power, and escape was no longer possible. They watched him
carefully, and would not let him leave their presence, until he had
shown them exactly what steps were to be taken in order to secure the
person of Jesus. Three Pharisees accompanied him when he went down into
a room where the soldiers of the Temple (some only of whom were Jews,
and the rest of various nations) were assembled. When everything was
settled, and the necessary number of soldiers gathered together, Judas
hastened first to the supper-room, accompanied by a servant of the
Pharisees, for the purpose of ascertaining whether Jesus had left, as
they would have seized his person there without difficulty, if once
they had secured the doors. He agreed to send them a messenger with the
required information.
A short time before when Judas had received the price of this
treason, a Pharisee had gone out, and sent seven slaves to fetch wood
with which to prepare the Cross for our Saviour, in case he should be
judged, because the next day there would not be sufficient time on
account of the commencement of the Paschal festivity. They procured
this wood from a spot about three-quarters of a mile distant, near a
high wall, where there was a great quantity of other wood belonging to
the Temple, and dragged it to a square situated behind the tribunal of
Caiphas. The principal piece of the Cross came from a tree formerly
growing in the Valley of Josaphat, near the torrent of Cedron, and
which, having fallen across the stream, had been used as a sort of
bridge. When Nehemias hid the sacred fire and the holy vessels in the
pool of Bethsaida, it had been thrown over the spot, together with
other pieces of wood,--then later taken away, and left on one side. The
Cross was prepared in a very peculiar manner, either with the object of
deriding the royalty of Jesus, or from what men might term chance. It
was composed of five pieces of wood, exclusive of the inscription. I
saw many other things concerning the Cross, and the meaning of
different circumstances was also made known to me, but I have forgotten
all that. Judas returned, and said that Jesus was no longer in the
supper-room, but that he must certainly be on Mount Olivet, in the spot
where he was accustomed to pray. He requested that only a small number
of men might be sent with him, lest the disciples who were on the watch
should perceive anything and raise a sedition. Three hundred men were
to be stationed at the gates and in the streets of Ophel, a part of the
town situated to the south of the Temple, and along the valley of Millo
as far as the house of Annas, on the top of Mount Sion, in order to be
ready to send reinforcements if necessary, for, he said, all the people
of the lower class of Ophel were partisans of Jesus. The traitor
likewise bade them be careful, lest he should escape them--since he, by
mysterious means, had so often hidden himself in the mountain, and made
himself suddenly invisible to those around. He recommended them,
besides, to fasten him with a chain, and make use of certain magical
forms to prevent his breaking it. The Jews listened to all these pieces
of advice with scornful indifference, and replied, 'If we once have him
in our hands, we will take care not to let him go.'
Judas next began to make his arrangements with those who were to
accompany him. He wished to enter the garden before them, and embrace
and salute Jesus as if he were returning to him as his friend and
disciple, and then for the soldiers to run forward and seize the person
of Jesus. He was anxious that it should be thought they had come there
by chance, that so, when they had made their appearance, he might run
away like the other disciples and be no more heard of. He likewise
thought that, perhaps, a tumult would ensue, that the Apostles might
defend themselves, and Jesus pass through the midst of his enemies, as
he had so often done before. He dwelt upon these thoughts especially,
when his pride was hurt by the disdainful manner of the Jews in his
regard; but he did not repent, for he had wholly given himself up to
Satan. It was his desire also that the soldiers following him should
not carry chains and cords, and his accomplices pretended to accede to
all his wishes, although in reality they acted with him as with a
traitor who was not to be trusted, but to be cast off as soon as he had
done what was wanted. The soldiers received orders to keep close to
Judas, watch him carefully, and not let him escape until Jesus was
seized, for he had received his reward, and it was feared that he might
run off with the money, and Jesus not be taken after all, or another be
taken in his place. The band of men chosen to accompany Judas was
composed of twenty soldiers, selected from the Temple guard and from
others of the military who were under the orders of Annas and Caiphas.
They were dressed very much like the Roman soldiers, had morions
(crested metal helmets) like them, and wore hanging straps round their
thighs, but their beards were long, whereas the Roman soldiers at
Jerusalem had whiskers only, and shaved their chins and upper lips.
They all had swords, some of them being also armed with spears, and
they carried sticks with lanterns and torches; but when they set off
they only lighted one. It had at first been intended that Judas should
be accompanied by a more numerous escort, but he drew their attention
to the fact that so large a number of men would be too easily seen,
because Mount Olivet commanded a view of the whole valley. Most of the
soldiers remained, therefore, at Ophel, and sentinels were stationed on
all sides to put down any attempt which might be made to release Jesus.
Judas set off with the twenty soldiers, but he was followed at some
distance by four archers, who were only common bailiffs, carrying cords
and chains, and after them came the six agents with whom Judas had been
in communication for some time. One of these was a priest and a
confidant of Annas, a second was devoted to Caiphas, the third and
fourth were Pharisees, and the other two Sadducees and Herodians. These
six men were courtiers of Annas and Caiphas, acting in the capacity of
spies, and most bitter enemies of Jesus.
The soldiers remained on friendly terms with Judas until they
reached the spot where the road divides the Garden of Olives from the
Garden of Gethsemani, but there they refused to allow him to advance
alone, and entirely changed their manner, treating him with much
insolence and harshness.