stranger (as we may presume him to have been, or his name would have been given) to Christ, to show them a chamber in his house where they might make ready.1 A precisely analogous case of prevision and miraculous power over the human will occurred when the two disciples were sent, as Jesus was approaching Jerusalem, to a neighbouring village to procure the animal on which He was to make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The paschal lamb was slain between the hour of evening sacrifice, the ninth hour, or three o'clock in the afternoon, and sunset, at which the 15th of Nisan, the day of the crucifixion began. John or Peter, representing the household or company to which they belonged, was to aid the Levites in sacrificing the lamb. It was then to be carried to the house where it was to be eaten, and they were also to provide bread and wine, bitter herbs, and all that was necessary for the proper celebration of the feast. 1 Luke xxii. 7-14. "It may be observed," says Trench, "that a great peculiarity was attached to the circumstance of a man bearing a pitcher of water.' It would have been no sign to speak of a woman bearing a pitcher of water; for that business always has been, and is still, the exclusive task of the women. An Eastern missionary brought this to my notice" (Life and Character of St. John, p. 85, note). 2 Matt. xxi. 2, 3. See an ingenious and suggestive discourse on this subject by Henry Melville, Sermons, new edit. 1844, p. 534. "We can declare the incident before us," he says, "a singular exhibition of the power of prophecy and the power of miracle; an exhibition, moreover, as appropriate as it was striking. We can suppose that our Redeemer, knowing the bitter trials to which His disciples were about to be exposed, desired to give them some proof of His superhuman endowments, which might encourage them to rely on His protection when He should no longer be visible among them. What shall be the proof? Shall He control the tumultuous elements? Shall He summon legions of angels? Shall He shake Jerusalem with the earthquake? Shall He divide the Jordan? Nay; it was not by any stupendous demonstration that the timid disciples were likely to be assured. They rather required to be taught that the knowledge and power of their Master extended to mean and inconsiderable things," etc. CHAPTER V. PREPARATION FOR HIS WORK, FROM INTERCOURSE AND CELEBRATION OF THE PASSOVER. STRIFE.--WASHING DISCIPLES' FEET.- STITUTION OF THE SUPPER. VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. INTERCESSORY PRAYER. GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. THE AGONY.-ST. JOHN PRESENT. -ST. PETER AND HIS SWORD.-FLIGHT OF THE DISCIPLES.-ST. JOHN REGAINS HIS NATURAL BRAVERY.-ST. JOHN ALONE ACCOMPANIES CHRIST TO THE PALACE OF THE HIGH-PRIEST.-PALACE DESCRIBED.-ST. PETER ADMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF ST. JOHN.-JESUS LED BEFORE PILATE. -CHARGED WITH SEDITION.-BEFORE HEROD. MOCKED.-HEROD AND PILATE MADE FRIENDS.-AGAIN BEFORE PILATE. PILATE'S WIFE.-ST. JOHN AT THE SIDE OF CHRIST.-BEARING THE CROSS.-SIMON THE CYRENEAN.-THE PENITENT THIEF.-WHAT ST. JOHN WAS TAUGHT.-ST. JOHN AND THE MOTHER OF JESUS.-THE BLOOD AND THE WATER SEEN BY ST. JOHN. WHILE many others were instructed and blessed through His ministrations, the chief end of the Saviour evidently was to prepare for their great office those to whom He was to commit the work of establishing His kingdom. Never had men such teacher before. For three years they were under the careful training of Him who knew all the secrets of mind as well as heart. But of all the discourses and scenes in our Lord's history, which were fitted to make abiding salutary impressions, none were more so than those which distinguished the concluding period of His visible presence with them on earth. We are, as far as possible, to place ourselves by the side of "the beloved disciple," and hear what he heard, and see what he saw. As the shadows of the evening gather, or soon after it becomes dark, Jesus and His disciples assemble in the large upper room, which had been discovered by Peter and John in a manner which so strikingly exhibited to them the presence and power of their Master and Lord. Although it was the fifth day of the week, or Thursday, the evening which now commenced, introduced according to the Jewish method of dividing time, the sixth day, or Friday. The whole nation are 1 The time of killing the paschal lamb was between the ninth and eleventh 1 engaged in the same solemn service. Even His enemies cease for a time from their plottings. The din of the crowd has subsided, and an unusual quiet, although Jerusalem is full of people, reigns throughout its streets. The great PASCHAL LAMB, although but few may have any kuowledge of the nearness of the event prefigured by so many thousands of victims since the exodus from Egypt on that dreadful night of the flight of the destroying angel, was about to be led to the slaughter. With one of the cups of wine in His hands, which had been provided for the feast, Jesus gives thanks, and the feast proceeds. He tells them with pathetic tenderness that, before He drank the fruit of the vine again, the kingdom of God should come. The old strife, which of them should be accounted greatest in that kingdom, arose. If they could have foreseen the events of the next few hours, would they have spent any of the moments of that solemn interview in vain jangling about mere rank and place? Our Lord seized upon the opportunity to renew the instructions which it was so evident were still needed by His disciples. Did the strife originate, this time, with the ambition of John and his brother, or did it extend through the ranks of the entire twelve? He tenderly sought to recall them to the contemplation of His own example. He would have them be not like the kings and lords of the nations, who exercise authority over their fellow-men, but like Himself, who had been among them as one that serveth, as one who performs the part of a menial or waiter, while others partake of the feast. It was the spirit of humility, of self-forgetting concern and love for others, which the Saviour sought to promote in His followers, and which could alone prepare them for their proper place in the promised kingdom. And then He reiterates. the assurance of that kingdom: "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me; that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." 2 That He might more deeply impress on His disciples the lesson that they should live in harmony and humility one with another,3 the hour, i.e., between our three and five o'clock in the afternoon, àñò évváτns pas μÉXPI ÉVÕEKÁTηs. (Josephus's Wars, vi., 9 (3).) It was eaten the same evening: Exod. xii. 8; Num. xxxiii. 3. The true time of killing the passover in our Lord's day was towards sunset of the 14th of Nisan. The time of eating was the same evening, or after the beginning of the 15th, as the Jews commenced their day at sunset. Four cups of red progress of the meal. wine mingled with water were usually drunk during the The first was in connection with the blessing invoked, and corresponds to the cup mentioned in Luke xxii. 17. See Bib. Sac., Aug., 1845, p. Saviour rose from the table (it was probably just after they had partaken of the first cup of wine, before the bitter herbs had been brought in, and the proper meal commenced),1 He laid aside His garments, and poured water into a basin, and proceeded to wash the disciples' feet. The question who should perform this necessary service may have given rise to the dispute among them, just rebuked by the Saviour. He washed even Judas's feet, but did not fail to make an affecting allusion to that base act of which he was soon to be guilty, in the words: "Ye are clean, but not all." When He came to Peter, that earnest disciple refused to permit Him to perform so humble a service for him, until he heard the words, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me;" when he instantly exclaimed, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." This drew from the Saviour the profound and practical truth, that while there is a cleansing that needs no repetition, it nevertheless does not dispense with daily purification; "He who is washed (or hath bathed) needeth not save to wash feet." The grand lesson of this touching scene was, that in imitation of Him, their Lord and Master, who had humbled Himself, they were to seek all their pre-eminence in humility and love, in generous, self-denying services for one another. While the paschal feast is proceeding, another interesting and most thrilling scene occurred. As they ate, probably in silence, after what they had just been taught on the subject of self-denying love, by the words and example of their Master, a visible sadness came over Him. He " was troubled in spirit." 2 This is the record of John, who was in a position, as will be presently noticed, easily to observe every passing expression of His face. The cause of this sadness or trouble of spirit is not long concealed. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me," broke the painful silence; and the exclamation passed from one to another, "Lord, is it I? Is it I?" and searching glances went from face to face. Simon Peter made a sign to John who was lying on Jesus' breast, his posture betokening the peculiarly endearing tie that subsisted between them, to ask who was meant. It was in connection with this incident, and as if to explain 1 IIpò de τns opτns, K.T.λ. It is not said how long before; but the meaning probably is, that the feet-washing took place before the commencement of the meal proper. Alford, in answer to the question, how long before the feast this took place, says, "probably, a very short time; not more than one day at most." But Alford held that the meal our Lord ate with His disciples, at which the announcement was made that one of them should betray Him, was not the ordinary passover of the Jews, but only in some sense or other regarded as the passover, and that it was eaten on the evening of the 13th (i.e., the beginning of the 14th) of Nisan. See his note on Matt. xxvi. 17-19. 2 'Eтapáɣon τŶ πveúμaтɩ. (John xiii. 21.) his loving posture, that he styles himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved," a title which he repeatedly applies to himself during the short residue of the Lord's history from his pen. His position enabled him to observe what others did not see, and to hear what others did not hear. This may be one of the reasons why he records discourses not contained in the other evangelists, two of whom were not of the number of the apostles. To John's question, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus replied, "He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it." At length Judas summons sufficient assurance to ask the question, "Master, is it I?" Instantly he received the sop at the hands of Jesus, with the words, "That thou doest, do quickly." Judas went immediately out. The twilight was passed. "It was night.' ."3 Darkness shrouded the form of the wretched guilty man as he hurried away through the nearly deserted streets. Scarcely any sound vied with the echo of his own footsteps, save the moaning of the night wind through the valleys and the gorges of the mountains, which were round about Jerusalem. At some appointed place, the chief priests, or their agents, with their silver, awaited his coming. After Judas had departed, these striking words fell from the Saviour's lips: "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him." Let the traitor go; let the unclean be separated from the clean; let him do that which he has resolved to do quickly. I shall only the sooner be glorified, and God shall be glorified in Me. Could John ever forget these words or the occasion of them, or when tenderly turning to the eleven He added: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me, and as I said unto the Jews, so now I say to A new commandyou. ment I give unto you, That ye love one another."4 Late in life, in the very latest of his writings, we have evidence that this new commandment still rang in his ears. And when, according to tradition, in extreme old age, he had to be carried into the church, and could only, as he lifted his trembling hands, utter a few words, they were, "Little children, love one another." The Jews had adopted the Persian manner of reclining at their meals on divans or couches, each on his left side, with his face towards the table. Thus the second guest to the right hand would lie with his head near the breast of the first, and so on. (Lücke, ii., p. 565.) This explains what is meant by the “leaning" of one of the disciples on Jesus's bosom, κείμενος . . . ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. That John is the disciple meant there can be no doubt. See also John xix. 26; xxi. 7 and 20. 2 To wulov, morsel. 3 John xiii. 30. 4 John xiii. 21-35. |