In the opinion of tlie present writer the diffi- culty is due to a misunderstanding of Jn 13' and IS'^"*. When tiiose two passages are rigiitly considered, tiie position seems to be estabiisiied tiiat Trapa(rKevr) means Friday alike in the Fourth Gospel and in tiie Synoptics. Jn 13^ siiouid be read as a separate jiaragraph. As the end approached, .says tiie Evangelist, there was a marked access of tenderness in tiie Lord's deportment towards His disciples. He demonstrated His affection as He iiad never done before. It was the p.athetic tender- ness of imminent farewell. ' Before the feast of the passover, Jesus, knowing tiiat his hour had
* Jesus anticipated the Passover, knowing that at the proper time He would be lying in His grave. St. Chrysostom (in. Joan. Ixxxii.) gives this as an alternative explanation of Jn IS'-M ; Calvin : Since the Passover-day, falling that year on ('"riday, was reckoned a Sabbath (Lv 238- "■ H- 15), the Jews, to avoid ihe in- convenience of two successive Sabbaths, postponed the Passover by a day : Jesus adhered to the regular day.
t Also, according to Chron. Pasch., by ApoUinaris, Hippo- lytus, and Peter of Alexandria.
X Jos. BJ VI. ix. 3.
5 Strauss, Keini, Schiniedel (Encycl. Bihl., art. 'John, son of Zebedee').
II Cf. Aug. (/(■ Com. Kr. ii. 5 1.53.
II Cf. 1 lin. US ii. 7S). I'olycarp was martyred in the stadium at Smyrna ' at the 8th hour ' {Mart. Polyc. x.\i.), i.e., since public spectacles began early (if. Uecker, Charicles, p. 409), at 8 a.m.
*• TO vorr,pi»\i Tr,; fiAoyiaf (n^^jn 012).
410
PREPARATION
PRESENCE
iome to pass out of this world unto the Father, naviiig loved his own that were in the world, lie loved them to the uttermost,' i.e. demonstrated His att'ection as He had never done before.* Then begins a new paragraph, which recounts the story of the Supper (v.'^*'^-), assuming an acquaintance on the readers part with the Synoj^tic details of time and arrangement. It was St. John's wont to cor- rect his predecessors wherever they had erred ; and had they put the Last Supper a day too late, he would have stated expressly when it took place, and would not have said vaguely ' before the feast. '
And what of Jn 18^^? It does not imply that they were looking forward to the Paschal Supper in the evening, and that therefore that day, when Jesus was tried and crucified, was the Preparation- day, 14th Nisan. They Avould indeed have been dehled by entering a heathen house, but the detile- ment would have remained only until the evening
(Cf. LV 1P4. 25. 27. 28. 31. 39. 40 ^446 l^o.ii.7 I7I5 220, J^-^
197. 8. 10. 21. 22^ j)t 23'i), and they could then, after due ablution, have eaten the Paschal Supper, t The truth is that it was not the Paschal Supper that they would have been precluded from, but the C'hagigah or thank-oti'ering, which was pre- sented in the Temple on 15th Nisan, and had to be presented bj' each worshipper in iJyopria per.sonu.X The phrase ' eat the Pas.sover ' comprehended more than participation in the Paschal Supper. Alike in the Scripture and in the Talmud it denotes the celebration of the entire feast, including the Cha- fjifjah.% In the Fourth Gospel 'the passover' in- variably signifies not the Supper but the whole feast, TTjv eopTTju waaav,\\ and it is unreasonable to suppose that in this solitary instance St. John has departed from his usus loquendi.
There remains a final consideration. After the Crucifixion, Joseph of Arimatlnea visited Pilate, and petitioned for the body of Jesus (Jn 19^ = Mt •27"-=8 = Mk 15^---'« = Lk 235»-5-'). He was a San- hedrist, and had no less reason than his colleagues to shun pollution ; yet he went without scruple to the governor's house. The explanation is that, when they refused to enter the Prsetorium, it was the morning, and they must offer the Chagigah in the afternoon ; when he waited upon Pilate, it was the evening (6\j/ia% y€vo/j.€vr]s), and he had already offered it.
On the above theory there is no discrepancy be- tween St. John and the Synoptists. Both he and they represent Jesus as celebrating the Paschal Supper with His disciples on the evening which ushered in 15th Nisan ; and both he and they use ■rrapacTKevri in the sense not of the Preparation-day, but of Friday. St. John says that ' that Sabbath- day was a great one' (19^^), not because, being at once the weekly Sabbath and Passover-day, it was Sabbath in a double sense, but because, as Light- foot puts it, (1) it was a Sabbath, (2) it was the day on which the people appeared before the Lord in the Temple (Ex 23^^), and (3) it was the day on which the slieaf of the firstfruits was reaped (Lv 23"). See also, for difierent views, artt. Dates, Last Supper, Passover (ii.).
* £<",- TsXof, not ' to the end,' but ' to the uttermost.' Chrysost.
V6ima.i. Cf. Euth. Z\%. : i.ya.Txv of tokens of afection ; Mk 1021 ■iyccTy.^iv a.i,T(„, kissed his forehead. See Li'ghtfoot on Mk lO'-i, Jn 1323.
t Strauss argues that they 'would still have disqualified them- selves from participating in the preparatory proceedings, which fell on the afternoon of 14th Nisan ; as, e.'/., the slaving of the lamb m the outer court of the Temple.' But thev might legally have deputed the business of preparation to their servants, a"s Jesus deputed it to Peter and John. Cf. Lightfoot on Mk 1026.