you. Peace I leave with you; My
peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. Ye heard how
I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved Me, ye
would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is
greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass,
that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe. I will no more speak
much with you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath
nothing in Me; but that the world may know that I love the Father,
and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us
go hence."--JOHN xiv. 22-31.

The encouraging assurances of our Lord are interrupted by Judas
Thaddeus. As Peter, Thomas, and Philip had availed themselves of their
Master's readiness to solve their difficulties, so now Judas utters his
perplexity. He perceives that the manifestation of which Jesus has
spoken is not public and general, but special and private; and he says,
"Lord, what has happened, that Thou art to manifest Thyself to us, and
not to the world?" It would seem as if Judas had been greatly impressed
by the public demonstration in favour of Jesus a day or two previously,
and supposed that something must have occurred to cause Him now to wish
to manifest Himself only to a select few.

Apparently Judas' construction of the future was still entangled with
the ordinary Messianic expectation. He thought Jesus, although departing
for a little, would return speedily in outward Messianic glory, and
would triumphantly enter Jerusalem and establish Himself there. But how
this could be done privately he could not understand. And if Jesus had
entirely altered His plan, and did not mean immediately to claim
Messianic supremacy, but only to manifest Himself to a few, was this
possible?

By His reply our Lord shows for the hundredth time that outward
proclamation and external acknowledgment were not in His thoughts. It is
to the individual and in response to individual love He will manifest
Himself. It is therefore a spiritual manifestation He has in view.
Moreover, it was not to a specially privileged few, whose number was
already complete, that He would manifest Himself. Judas supposed that to
him and his fellow-Apostles, "us," Jesus would manifest Himself, and
over against this select company he set "the world." But this mechanical
line of demarcation ou