XXVI. (1) The portion of the Gospel narrative on which we now enter is common, as far as the main facts are concerned, to all the four Gospels, and this gives to every detail in it a special interest. We cannot ignore the fact that it brings with it also some peculiar difficulties. The first three G... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER TWO DAYS IS THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER. — Assuming (as the facts of the case lead us to assume, but see Notes on John 13:1) the Last Supper to have coincided with the actual Paschal Feast, the point of time at which the words were spoken would either be some time on what we should call the Tues... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ASSEMBLED TOGETHER. — We learn from John 11:49. that the plan, as far as Caiaphas was concerned, had been formed before, immediately after the raising of Lazarus. What had happened since — the kingly entry, the expulsion of the money-changers, the way in which our Lord had baffled their attempt... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY MIGHT TAKE JESUS BY SUBTILTY. — The plan implied in these words and in those that follow (“not on the feast day”) would seem to have been hastened in its accomplishment by the unexpected treachery of Judas. They had intended to wait till the feast was over, but the temptation thus offered... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WHEN JESUS WAS IN BETHANY. — The narrative is given out of its proper order on account of its connection (as indicated in St. John’s record) with the act of the Traitor. St. John fixes it (John 12:1) at six days before the Passover, _i.e.,_ on the evening that preceded the entry into Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE CAME UNTO HIM A WOMAN. — We learn from St. John (John 12:3) that this was Mary the sister of Lazarus. It is hardly conceivable (unless we conjecture that she came in veiled, and that St. John alone knew her) that the writers of the first two Gospels, or those from whom they derived their knowl... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HIS DISCIPLES SAW IT. — There is a singular narrowing of the limits in the three narratives. St. Mark reports that “some had indignation;” St. John (John 12:4), as knowing who had whispered the first word of blame, fixes the uncharitable judgment on “Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son.” The narrow, co... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS OINTMENT MIGHT HAVE BEEN SOLD FOR MUCH. — St. Mark and St. John agree in giving the Traitor’s computation. It might have been sold for three hundred _denarii,_ a labourer’s wages for nearly a whole year (Matthew 20:2), enough _to_ feed a multitude of more than 7,500 men (John 6:7). St. John add... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY TROUBLE YE THE WOMAN? — The Greek is more emphatic, “Why are ye giving trouble?” St. Mark uses a word to describe their conduct which explains the verse. “They murmured against her,” or better, _They were bitterly reproaching her._ One after another of the murmurers uttered his bitter remonstran... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE THE POOR ALWAYS WITH YOU. — Our Lord dealt with the objection of the murmurers on their own ground, as if it were genuine, and does not openly rebuke the dishonesty of the chief objector. But look and tone, and the solemn pathos of the words, “Me ye have not always,” must have made the Trait... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE DID IT FOR MY BURIAL. — The words must have fallen with a strange sadness upon the ears of the disciples and the other guests. They were expecting that “the kingdom of God should immediately appear” (Luke 19:11), and were looking forward to the dawn of the next day as the hour of its victory and... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERESOEVER THIS GOSPEL SHALL BE PREACHED. — The prediction tended, of course assuming the extension of the gospel, to bring about its own fulfilment, but the prevision at such a moment of that universal extension may well take its place among the proofs of a foreknowledge not less than divine. Othe... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ONE OF THE TWELVE, CALLED JUDAS ISCARIOT. — The narrative of St. John leads us, as has been said, to connect the act of treachery with the fact just recorded. There was the shame, and therefore the anger, of detected guilt; there was the greed of gain that had been robbed of its expected spoil,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY COVENANTED WITH HIM FOR THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER. — The reward was relatively a small one, apparently about the market-price of a common slave (Zechariah 11:12); but the chief priests (Caiaphas and his fellows) saw through the sordid baseness of the man, and, as if scorning both his Master and h... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD. — St. Mark and St. Luke, as writing for Gentile readers, add the explanation that it was then that the Passover was to be slain. The precision with which all the first three Gospels emphasise the fact leaves no room for doubt that they looked on the La... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SUCH A MAN. — The Greek word is that used when the writer knows, but does not care to mention, the name of the man referred to. St. Mark and St. Luke relate the sign that was given them. They were to meet a man “bearing a pitcher of water” and follow him. and were to see in the house into which h... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY MADE READY THE PASSOVER. — It may be well to bring together the facts which these few words imply. The two disciples, after seeing that the room was “furnished,” the tables arranged, probably in the form of a Roman _triclinium,_ and the benches covered with cushions, would have to purchase the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SAT DOWN WITH THE TWELVE. — Reserving special Notes for the Gospels which contain the narratives, we may call to mind here the words of strong emotion with which the feast was opened (Luke 22:15), the dispute among the disciples, probably connected with the places which they were to occupy at the... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE OF YOU SHALL BETRAY ME. — The words would seem to have been intentionally vague, as if to rouse some of those who heard them to self-questioning. They had not, it is true, shared in the very guilt of the Traitor, but they had yielded to tendencies which they had in common with him, and which wer... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE EXCEEDING SORROWFUL. — St. John (John 13:22) describes their perplexed and questioning glances at each other, the whisper of Peter to John, the answer of our Lord to the beloved disciple, announcing the sign by which the traitor was to be indicated. All this passed apparently as a by-play,... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT DIPPETH HIS HAND WITH ME. — Better, _he that dipped,_ as of an act just passed. It seems probable from what follows that these words also were spoken to a few only of the disciples, say to the four who were nearest to their Master. We can scarcely think of Judas as asking the question of Mat... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SON OF MAN GOETH AS IT IS WRITTEN. — The words are remarkable as the first direct reference of the coming passion and death to the Scriptures which prophesied of the Messiah. It was appointed that the Christ should suffer, but that appointment did not make men less free agents, nor diminish the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN JUDAS, WHICH BETRAYED HIM... — The words appear to have been spoken in the spirit of reckless defiance, which St. John indicates by saying that “after the sop Satan entered into him” (John 13:27). Did his Master (he calls Him by the wonted title of honour, Rabbi) indeed know his guilt? It would... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THEY WERE EATING. — Again we must represent to ourselves an interval of silence, broken by the act or words that followed. The usual “grace” or blessing had been spoken at the beginning of the feast. Now, taking one of the cakes of unleavened bread, He again utters a solemn formula of blessing, a... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK THE CUP, AND GAVE THANKS. — The better MSS. omit the article; thus making it, “_a_ cup.” In the later ritual of the Passover, the cup of wine (or rather, of wine mingled with water) was passed round three times in the course of the supper. One such cup had been passed round early in the even... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. — Better, _this is My blood of the Covenant;_ the best MSS. omitting the word “new” both here and in St. Mark. It was probably introduced into the later MSS. to bring the text into harmony with St. Luke’s report. Assuming the word “new” to have been actuall... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL NOT DRINK HENCEFORTH OF THIS FRUIT OF THE VINE. — Literally, _product of the vine._ It would be better, perhaps, to translate, _I shall not drink,_ as implying the acceptance of what had been ordained by God rather than an act of volition. The words carry us into a region of mystic symbolism.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD SUNG AN HYMN. — This close of the supper would seem to coincide (but the work of the harmonist is not an easy one here) with the “Rise, let us go hence” of John 14:31, and, if so, we have to think of the conversation in John 14 as either coming between the departure of Judas and th... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL YE SHALL BE OFFENDED BECAUSE OF ME. — We may think of the words as spoken at some early stage of that evening walk. It corresponds in substance with John 16:32, but seems to have been uttered more abruptly. I WILL SMITE THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED. — The citation... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER I AM RISEN. — Our Lord referred to these His words afterwards (Matthew 28:16), but they appear to have fallen at the time unheeded on the ears of the disciples, and to have been rapidly forgotten. No expectation of a resurrection is traceable in their after conduct.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH ALL MEN SHALL BE OFFENDED. — St. Matthew and St. Mark place the boast of Peter, and the prediction of his denial, after the disciples had left the guest-chamber; St. Luke (Luke 22:23) and St. John (John 13:37) agree in placing it before. It is barely possible that both may have been repeated,... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT DENY ME THRICE. — The agreement of all the four Evangelists places the fact of the prediction beyond the shadow of a doubt, and the prevision which it implies is obviously more than a general insight into the instability of the disciple’s character, and involves a power essentially superh... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH I SHOULD DIE WITH THEE. — Though foremost in announcing the resolve, Peter was not alone in it. Thomas had spoken like words before (John 11:16), and all felt as if they were prepared to face death for their Master’s sake. To them He had been not only “righteous,” but “good” and kind, and the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK WITH HIM PETER AND THE TWO SONS OF ZEBEDEE. — The favoured three, as before at the Transfiguration, and in the death-chamber in the house of Jairus (Matthew 17:1; Mark 5:37), were chosen out of the chosen. Their professions of devotion justified, as it were, the belief that they, at least, c... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN COMETH JESUS ... — In the interval between Matthew 26:35, we have probably to place the discourses in John 15 (the reference to the vine, probably suggested by one which was putting forth its leaves in the early spring), John 16, and the great prayer of intercession in John 17. As St. John alon... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WENT A LITTLE FARTHER. — St. Luke adds (Luke 22:41) “about a stone’s cast.” The eight were left, we may believe, near the entrance of the garden; the three, “apart by themselves,” further on; the Master, still further, by Himself. The three heard the words that came from His lips as with a half-c... [ Continue Reading ]
HE COMETH UNTO THE DISCIPLES. — Perhaps to both the groups — first of the three and then of the eight. All were alike sleeping — as St. Luke characteristically adds, “sleeping for sorrow.” WHAT, COULD YE NOT WATCH ...? — Literally, _Were ye thus unable to watch?_ St. Mark (Mark 14:37) individualise... [ Continue Reading ]
WATCH AND PRAY. — The first word is eminently characteristic of our Lord’s teaching at this period (Matthew 24:42; Matthew 25:13). It became the watchword of the early disciples (1 Corinthians 16:13; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Peter 5:8). It left its mark in the history of Christendom in... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THIS CUP MAY NOT PASS AWAY FROM ME. — There is a slight change of tone perceptible in this prayer as compared with the first. It is, to speak after the manner of men, as though the conviction that it was not possible that the cup could pass away from Him had come with fuller clearness before His... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CAME AND FOUND THEM ASLEEP AGAIN. — The motive of this return we may reverently believe to have been, as before, the craving for human sympathy in that hour of awful agony. He does not now rouse them or speak to them. He looks on them sorrowfully, and they meet His gaze with bewildered and stupef... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING THE SAME WORDS. — The fact is suggestive, as indicating that there is a repetition in prayer which indicates not formalism, but intensity of feeling. Lower forms of sorrow may, as it were, play with grief and vary the forms of its expression, but the deepest and sharpest agony is content to f... [ Continue Reading ]
SLEEP ON NOW, AND TAKE YOUR REST. — There is an obvious difficulty in these words, followed as they are so immediately by the “Rise, let us be going,” of the next verse. We might, at first, be inclined to see in them a shade of implied reproach. “Sleep on now, if sleep under such conditions is possi... [ Continue Reading ]
RISE, LET US BE GOING. — It is obvious that the latter clause does not involve any suggestion of flight, but rather a call to confront the danger.... [ Continue Reading ]
A GREAT MULTITUDE WITH SWORDS AND STAVES. — St. John’s account (John 18:3) is fuller. The multitude included (1) the band (not “_a_ band,” as in the Authorised version), _i.e.,_ the cohort (the same word as in Acts 10:1) of Roman soldiers sent by Pilate to prevent a tumult. These probably were armed... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOMSOEVER I SHALL KISS. — It is probable, from the known customs (1) of the Jews and (2) of the early Christians (Romans 16:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:26) that this was the usual salutation of the disciples to their Master. St. John, it may be noted, makes no mention of the sign; probably because here,... [ Continue Reading ]
HAIL, MASTER. — Better, _Rabbi,_ both St. Matthew and St. Mark (Mark 14:45) giving the Hebrew word. The Greek word for “hail” is somewhat more familiar than the English has come to be for us. It was, we may believe, the disciples’ usual greeting.... [ Continue Reading ]
FRIEND, WHEREFORE ART THOU COME? — The word is the same as in Matthew 20:13; Matthew 22:12; and “comrade,” and the old and not yet obsolete English “mate,” come nearer to its meaning. In classical Greek it was used by fellow-soldiers, or sailors, of each other. Socrates used it in conversing with hi... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE OF THEM WHICH WERE WITH JESUS. — It is remarkable that, though all four Gospels record the fact, St. John alone (John 18:10) records the names both of the disciple who struck the blow (Peter) and of the servant whom he attacked. The reticence of the first three Gospels in this instance, as in th... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THEY THAT TAKE THE SWORD. — St. Matthew’s record is here the fullest. St. Mark reports none of the words; St. Luke (Luke 22:51) gives only the calming utterance, “Suffer ye thus far;” St. John (John 18:11) adds to the command to put the sword into its sheath the words, “The cup which My Father h... [ Continue Reading ]
THINKEST THOU THAT I CANNOT NOW PRAY...? — There is a strange and suggestive blending of the possible and the impossible in these words. Could He have brought Himself to utter that prayer, it would have been answered. But He could not so pray unless He knew it to be in harmony with His Father’s will... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW THEN SHALL THE SCRIPTURES BE FULFILLED? — The words indicate what one may reverently speak of as the source of the peace and calmness which had come to our Lord’s human soul out of the depths of its agony. All that was sharpest and most bitter was part of a pre-ordained discipline. Not otherwise... [ Continue Reading ]
ARE YE COME OUT AS AGAINST A THIEF? — Better, _as against a robber with swords and clubs._ The word is the same as that used in John 18:40, of Harabbas, and points to the brigand chieftain of a lawless band as distinct from the petty thief of towns or villages. I SAT DAILY WITH YOU TEACHING IN THE T... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ALL THIS WAS DONE. — Better, _but all this has come to pass._ The words, though they agree in form with those of Mark 1:22, are, as we see from Mark 14:49, not a comment of the Evangelist’s, but our Lord’s own witness to the disciples and the multitude, that the treachery and violence of which H... [ Continue Reading ]
TO CAIAPHAS THE HIGH PRIEST. — St. John alone, probably from the special facilities which he possessed as known to the high priest, records the preliminary examination before Annas (John 18:13; John 18:19). It was obviously intended to draw from our Lord’s lips something that might serve as the basi... [ Continue Reading ]
PETER FOLLOWED HIM AFAR OFF. — We find from St. John’s narrative, here much the fullest, that it was through him that Peter found admission. He sat in the “court” “with the servants” (better, _officers,_ as in John 18:18) and the slaves, who, in the chill of the early dawn, had lighted a charcoal fi... [ Continue Reading ]
SOUGHT FALSE WITNESS. — The tense of the Greek verb implies a continued process of seeking. The attempt to draw the materials for condemnation from the lips of the accused had failed. The law of Moses required at least two witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15), and these, it is natural to... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS FELLOW SAID, I AM ABLE TO DESTROY THE TEMPLE OF GOD. — It is remarkable that the two Gospels which record the charge do not record the words in which it had its starting-point. Apparently, the second cleansing of the Temple (Matthew 21:12) had revived the memory of the first, and brought back t... [ Continue Reading ]
ANSWEREST THOU NOTHING? — A different punctuation gives, _Answerest Thou nothing to what these witness against Thee?_ as one question. The question implies a long-continued silence, while witness after witness were uttering their clumsy falsehoods, the effect of which it is not easy to realise witho... [ Continue Reading ]
I ADJURE THEE BY THE LIVING GOD ... — The appeal was one of unusual solemnity. All else had failed to break through the silence, but this would surely rouse Him. Technically, the oath thus tendered to the accused was of the nature of an oath of compurgation, such as that recognised in Exodus 22:11;... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST SAID. — The silence was broken as they expected. He was indeed what the words they had uttered implied. More than this, He was also the Son of Man of Daniel’s vision (Daniel 7:13), the Head of an everlasting kingdom. No words in the whole Gospel records are more decisive against the views... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE HIGH PRIEST RENT HIS CLOTHES. — The act was almost as much a formal sign of condemnation as the putting on of the black cap by an English judge. The judges in a Jewish trial for blasphemy were bound to rend their clothes in twain when the blasphemous words were uttered, and the clothes so t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS GUILTY OF DEATH. — In modern English the word “guilty” is almost always followed by the crime which a man has committed. In older use it was followed by the punishment which the man deserved. (Comp. Numbers 35:31.) The decision, as far as the meeting went, was unanimous. Sentence was passed. I... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN DID THEY SPIT IN HIS FACE. — We learn from St. Mark (Mark 14:65) and St. Luke (Luke 22:63) that these acts of outrage were perpetrated, not by the members of the Sanhedrin, but by the officers who had the accused in their custody, and who, it would seem, availed themselves of the interval betwe... [ Continue Reading ]
PROPHESY UNTO US, THOU CHRIST. — The words derived their point from the fact recorded by St. Mark (Mark 14:65), that the officers had blindfolded their prisoner. Was He able, through His supernatural power, to identify those who smote Him?... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW PETER SAT WITHOUT IN THE PALACE. — Better, _had sat down in the court._ The word rendered “palace” here and in Matthew 26:58, is strictly the court-yard or quadrangle round which a house was built. It may be well to bring together the order of the Apostle’s thrice-repeated denials. (1) On his e... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH AN OATH. — The downward step once taken, the disciple’s fall was fatally rapid. Forgetful of his Lord’s command forbidding any use of oaths in common speech (Matthew 5:34), he did not shrink from invoking the divine name, directly or indirectly, to attest his falsehood.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY SPEECH BEWRAYETH THEE. — The Galilean _patois_ was probably stronger when he spoke under the influence of strong excitement. It was said to have, as its chief feature, a confused thick utterance of the guttural letters of the Hebrew alphabet, so that they could not be distinguished from each oth... [ Continue Reading ]
TO CURSE AND TO SWEAR. — We may infer from the two words that he used some common formula of execration, such as, _e.g.,_ “God do so to me and more also” (1 Kings 19:2; 1 Kings 20:10), as well as the oath-formula, “By Heaven,” or “By the Temple.” IMMEDIATELY THE COCK CREW. — St. Mark alone records... [ Continue Reading ]
PETER REMEMBERED THE WORD OF JESUS. — St. Luke records (Luke 22:61) that it was at this moment, probably as He was passing from the council chamber, mocked and buffeted by the officers, that “the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.” That glance, full, we must believe, of tenderest pity and deepest sa... [ Continue Reading ]