Lord
does not name the traitor and denounce him; he singles him out and sends
him from the table on his hateful mission by a process that left every
man at the table unaware on what errand he was despatched. In this
process there were three steps. First of all, our Lord indicated that
among the disciples there was a traitor. With dismay these true-hearted
men hear the firmly pronounced statement "one of _you_ shall betray Me"
(ver. 21). All of them, as another Evangelist informs us, were exceeding
sorrowful, and looked on one another in bewilderment; and unable to
detect the conscious look of guilt in the face of any of their
companions, or to recall any circumstance which might fix even suspicion
on any of them, each, conscious of the deep, unfathomed capacity for
evil in his own heart, can but frankly ask of the Master, "Lord, is it
I?" It is a question that at once proves their consciousness of actual
innocence and possible guilt. It was a kindness in the Lord to give
these genuine men, who were so shortly to go through trial for His sake,
an opportunity of discovering how much they loved Him and how closely
knit their hearts had really become to Him. This question of theirs
expressed the deep pain and shame that the very thought of the
possibility of their being false to Him gave them. They must at all
hazards be cleared of this charge. And from this shock of the very idea
of being untrue their hearts recoiled towards Him with an enthusiastic
tenderness that made this moment possibly as moving a passage as any
that occurred that eventful night But there was one of them that did not
join in the question "Lord, is it I?"--else must not our Lord have
broken silence? The Twelve are still left in doubt, none noticing in the
eagerness of questioning who has not asked, each only glad to know he
himself is not charged.

The second step in the process is recorded in the 26th chapter of
Matthew, where we read that, when the disciples asked "Lord, is it I?"
Jesus answered, "He that dippeth his hand with Me in the dish, the same
shall betray Me." It was a large company, and there were necessarily
several dishes on the table, so that probably there were three others
using the same dish as our Lord: John we know was next Him; Peter was
near enough to John to make signs and whisper to him; Judas was also
close to Jesus, a position which he either always occupied as treasurer
and purveyor of the company, or into which he thrust hi