September 1930
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Two Divergent Disciples B y M errill C. T enney ( Boston, Mass.)
“And he went out, and wept bitterly" (Matt. 26:75). “And he went a/way, and hanged himself” (Matt. 27:5). p S g g ^ H E S E brief texts, startling both in their similar- ity and dissimilarity, form the dramatic epitome of two men’s lives. They are the record of the ^sggBÿj common failure and of the diverging fate of two ¡pLjt men who sinned shamefully and inexcusably. 4 Both deserted their dearest friend in the hour of his greatest need. Both violated even the common loy alty that binds man to man, to say nothing of any ties of spiritual allegiance. Both realized their failure, and were wrung by pangs of poignant regret. Yet one was melted to tears, and the other maddened by terror. One was
cluded. Both, doubtless, experienced the joys of success ful service, and the inner stimulus which comes from pro claiming truth. If, then, these men had in general the same social and intellectual advantages, the same opportunity for contact with Christ, and the same experience in practical service, why was their ultimate divergence so radical ? The answer lies deeper than external circumstance; it is in the hearts and dispositions of the men themselvps. I. Peter had a keen sense o f sin, and Judas did, not. Jesus, on His first Galilean tour, was preaching by the lakeside. Pressed by the crowd, he borrowed Peter’s boat for a pul
moved to repentance; the other lashed by- remorse, One came back to Christ; the other leaped unbidden into eternity. One went to Pentecost; the other, to perdi tion. One became the first great preacher of the C h r i s t i a n Church ; the other, “ a hissing and a byword among the nations.” Why? It was not because of any difference in the external oppor tunities which these men enjoyed. If anything, opportunity was on the side of the man who failed. Both were men of ability. Peter was a fairly successful fisherman who, with his associates, John and James, conducted a fishery in Bethsaida. O f Judas’ past we
pit. When He had ended the dis course, Jesus returned the boat with interest, a catch of fish that was so great that the men could bring it to land only with diffi culty. So mightily was Peter overcome by a realization of the power of Jesus, and so unwor thy did he feel in His presence, that he sank on his knees before Him, and cried out: “ Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Lk. 5 :8) ! This was a good beginning. No man can be saved unless he first feels the need of salvation. No man appreciates the salvation of Christ unless he realizes the awfulness of the peril from which he is saved. F. W . Bore-
Which Way ? To every man there openeth A way, and ways, and a way, And the high soul climbs the high way, And the low soul gropes the low ; And in between, on the misty flats, The rest drift to and fro. But to every man there openeth A high way and a low
And .every man decideth The way his soul shall go.
—John Oxenham.
know little, save that, unlike the rest of the disciples, who were Galileans, he was a Judean. He possessed some ex ecutive ability, for he was the treasurer of the little band. Certainly, he was not a man of inferior intelligence. Prob ably he was Peter’s superior in culture and in learning. The divergence was not due, then, to the social or intellec tual inferiority of Judas. Neither was the divergence due’ to any lack o f oppor tunity on Judas’ part for communion with Jesus. Both men had been made members of the inner circle of apostles at the very outset of Jesus’ ministry. To this group He revealed more of Himself than He did to the curious but unsympathetic crowds who thronged about Him. Both Peter and Judas had access to the explanation of those parables that mystified the multitude. Both witnessed the healings that astonished thé learned. Both, doubtless, heard His prayers rise to His father in the midnight still ness of the desert. Jesus never discriminated against Judas in favor of another. Both Judas and Peter had the same opportunities in service. When Jesus commissioned the Twelve “ that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons” (Mk. 3:14, 15), Judas and Peter were in
ham, the great Australian preacher, in one of his delightful essays, relates an experience he had in his student days. In a village where he preached occasionally there lived an aged man of saintly character. It was the young preach er’s custom to call on the old gentleman when he was in town. “ One afternoon,” he says, “ I found the old gentleman bewailing the exceeding sinfulness of his evil heart. This seemed to me, viewing the matter from the point of view of a theological student, a very primitive experience for so mature a saint. Perhaps I as good as said so: I for get. I only remember that in response to my shallow obser vation, the old gentleman sat up straight in bed—a thing I had never seen him do before— stared at me with eyes so full of reproach that they seemed to pierce my very soul, and slowly recited a verse that I had never heard before and have never since f orgotten: ■ ■ ‘What comfort can a Saviour bring To those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing, The Holy Ghost hath made him so,’ ” The old man was right. Keen consciousness of sin is in dicative of progress toward holiness. Impurity is never
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