CXVII.

Preparation for Passover. Disciples Contend for Precedence.

(Bethany to Jerusalem. Thursday Afternoon and, After Sunset, Beginning of Friday.)

^A Matt. XXVI. 17–20; ^B Mark XIV. 12–17; ^C Luke XXII. 7–18, 24–30.

^c 7 And the day of unleavened bread came, on which the passover must be sacrificed. [See p. 57. Leaven was to the Jew a symbol of corruption and impurity, because it causes bread to become stale. The feast of unleavened bread began properly on the fifteenth of Nisan, and lasted seven days, but this was the fourteenth Nisan, the day on which the paschal lamb was slain. However, it was common to blend the slaying of the passover, the passover feast and the feast of the unleavened bread, and to look upon all three as one great festival, and to use the names passover and unleavened bread interchangeably to describe the entire eight days. This appears from the writings of Josephus, who sometimes reckons the feast as beginning on the fifteenth (Ant. iii. 10. 5), and again as beginning on the fourteenth (Wars v. 3. 1). He also sometimes reckons the feast as lasting seven days (Ant. iii. 10. 5), and again he reckons it as lasting eight days (Ant. iii. 15. 1). The Rabbinists say that all the leaven was carefully removed from the houses on the evening before the fourteenth Nisan. To the present day leaven is removed from the houses of the Jews on the night between the thirteenth and fourteenth. Hence the day could be very fittingly called “the first day of unleavened bread.”] ^b 12 And ^a 17 Now ^b on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the passover, his { ^a the} disciples came to Jesus [as the head of the household], saying, { ^b say} unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and make ready ^a for thee to eat { ^b that thou mayest eat} the passover? [It 645required considerable preparation. The lamb must be slain in the temple, roasted, and unleavened loaves, wine, and bitter herbs, etc., must be provided (Ex. xii. 8), and a room for the feast must be secured.] 13 And he sendeth { ^c sent} Peter and John, ^b two of his disciples, ^c saying, God and make ready for us the passover, that we may eat. 9 And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we make ready? 10 And he said { ^b saith} unto them, Go into the city, and ^c Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house whereinto he goeth. ^b 14 and wheresoever he shall enter in, say to { ^c 11 And ye shall say unto} the master of the house, { ^a Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him,} ^c The Teacher saith unto thee, ^a My time is at hand; I keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. ^c Where is the { ^b my} guest-chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? [It was customary for the residents of Jerusalem to open their houses for guests during this feast, and therefore Jesus might have presumed on the hospitality of almost anyone; but the probability is that the man to whom he sent this message was an acquaintance and a friend. It is not improbable that Jesus let Peter and John thus find the place that Judas might not know its whereabouts in time to bring the officers of the Sanhedrin so as to interrupt the feasts which meant so much to him and to his church.] 15 And he will himself show you a large upper room furnished and ready: and there make ready for us. 16 And the disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. ^a 19 And the disciples did as Jesus appointed them; and they made ready the passover. ^b 17 And ^a 20 Now when even was come, { ^b when it was evening} he cometh with the twelve [The law required that the paschal lamb should be slain “between the evenings.” The Jews reckoned the two evenings as from three o'clock to sunset, and from sunset to nine o'clock, which was the end of the first watch. But 646Josephus tells us that the lambs were killed from the ninth to the eleventh hours, or between the hours of three and five. It would take some time to dress the lamb and to roast it, so that it must have been about sundown or shortly afterward when Jesus and his disciples sat down to the feast.] ^c 14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the apostles with him. 15 And ^a he was sitting at meat with the twelve disciples; 21 and ^c he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 16 for I say unto you, I shall not eat it, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. [Jesus had desired to keep with his disciples this last type which stood so close to the thing typified. It was a feast commemorating a great deliverance from death through the sacrifice of a lamb, and the real sacrifice and deliverance of which it was typical were about to be fulfilled in the unfolding of the kingdom of God.] 17 And he received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18 for I say unto you, I shall not drink from henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. [Luke brings out the parallelism between the passover and the Lord's supper. Each consisted in eating followed by drinking, and the closeness of the parallel is emphasized by the use of almost the same words with regard to the cup. The passover was typical of the Lord's suffering before the event, and the Lord's supper is typical of the same thing after the event.] 24 And there arose also a contention among them, which of them was accounted to be greatest. 25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles have lordship over them; and they that have authority over them are called Benefactors. 26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. 27 For which is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am in the midst of you as he that serveth. [In sending to secure the room in which 647the paschal supper was being eaten, Jesus had said, “My time is at hand.” Such expressions were falsely construed by the apostles. They thought that Jesus was about to set up his kingdom, and began at once to contend for the chief places. Jesus rebukes this false ambition in much the same manner as he had previously. See pp. 430, 557, 558.] 28 But ye are they that have continued with me in my temptations; 29 and I appoint unto you a kingdom, even as my Father appointed unto me, 30 that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and ye shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [The word “temptations” is here used to mean trials (Jas. i. 2, 3). For the rest of the passage compare the remarks on pp. 548, 549. The words concerning eating and drinking at the Lord's table refer to the ancient custom of thus bestowing honor and distinction (II. Sam. ix. 7; xix. 28), and indicate that the apostles, being about to participate in the Lord's condemnation and suffering, should in the end share his exaltation and its attendant joys.]