This definitive sorting of the wheat from the chaff in the New Testament comes with a marked reduction in human agency. On the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus, the great persecutor of the Christians is suddenly enveloped in light, blinded, cast down on the ground, and told by God what he is to do. Thus Saul becomes St. Paul through no choice of his own but by the will of God. As God himself tells another of his followers in a vision three days after Paul's conversion, “he [Paul] is chosen as a vessel unto me” (Acts 9:15).
When Peter, in his weakness, denies Jesus, this is only confirmation of Jesus's supernatural power, for Jesus has already predicted it. And when Judas betrays Jesus, this too is part of the plan: “I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me” (John 13:18, emphasis mine, of course). We find ourselves, it seems, in a world where there is no will but the will of God.
Yet, here again the Gospels display a strange transitional quality. The quote I gave in the preceding paragraph is from John, the last of the Gospels. The betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane, as told by John, gives the same impression of a plan in which “every hair is numbered,” in which nothing is permitted which is not part of the workings of the plan:
Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he… (John 18:3-8)Now here’s Luke’s version:
And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? (Luke, 22:47-48)And Mark’s:
And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him. And they laid their hands on him, and took him. (Mark 14:43-46)And Matthew’s:
And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. (Matthew, 26: 47-50)In John, the tables are turned: the betrayal is only another opportunity for Jesus to display his power. In Luke, Jesus knows what is to come. In Mark, we do not know what Jesus knows. Only in Matthew, the first of the gospels, do we find any suggestion that Jesus is himself deceived, any hint that this betrayal might cause him pain and dismay. It is not, of course, as if the plan has gone awry in Matthew's version: Jesus must be betrayed so he can die and be resurrected. But there is a sense that the machinery is not wholly known, that it contains elements that even God does not know perfectly. There is a margin, however thin, for uncertainty. There is a circumference, however vast, to God's power.
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