The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 535

behind him, prompting him to his hellish crime. He would have warned him eveq now; he tells him of the dreadful consequences of the sin which was in his thoughts. "Good were it for that man if he had not been born!" How it must have reut the loving heart of the most merciful Saviour t.o say those awful words I But. the stern- ness we.s the sternness of love; he gave the traitor a glimpse of the tremendous future, to save him, if it were possible, in spite of himself; to save others from the like fearful doom. But Judas would not heed; he had not yet joined in the questions of the disciples. But now he too said, "Master, is it I?" Perhaps he felt forced to do so• to say nothing, while all the rest were asking the question, seemed to separate him fro~ the others; it might look like an acknowledgment of guilt. Perhaps it was said in wantonness, or bitter scorn, or in that desperation which is the last stage in atrocious guilt. The Lord answered simply, " Thou l:ast said." It was an ordinary form of affirmation, yet it seems to refer the traitor to his own evil heart-he would find the answer to his question there. III. THE INSTITUTION OF THE HoLY Co1niroNION, 1. TAe bread. The Lord passes from the old covenant to the new, from the Passover to the Holy Communion. He d..id BO "as they were eating," during the protracted ceremonies of the Paschal supper, while they were thinking of God's great deliverance vouchsafed to their forefathers. He announced himself as the trne Lamb of God, the one Sacrifice of which all the sacrifices of the Law were but figures. He took bread, and blessed, He gave thanks for the fruits of the earth, as was customary at the Passover. He blessed God the Father who giveth our daily bread, who giveth the Bread of life; he blessed bread and wine, consecrating them by his words for this new sacred use (comp. 1 Cor. x. 16, " The cup of blessing which we bless"). He gave thanks (St. Luke and St. Paul), and by that thanksgiving made the Holy Communion to be a. Eucharist--& service of thanksgiving. He brake the bread, and himself "gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body." He had prepared them to receive these wonderful words. A year ago in the synagogue a.t Capernaum he had announced the great truth that the food of the Christian soul is the flesh and blood of Christ. 'l'hen he had promised that spiritual food (" The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world"); now he gives it. "This," hesaid-"thiswhich I give you, is my body." He stoed before them, his natural body yet unbroken, his flesh. and blood not yet separated, as he gave them the holy food. He had taught them in that great sermon which had offended so many of his disciples, that "it is tLe Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing." He had told them," He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." 'l'hey would understand that '' the body of Cb.ri,;t is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a Leavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is faith." They would understand as much as is given to us men to understand of that which must ever remain a. sacred mystery. It was God incarnate who spake those holy words. His words, his actions, must have a deep, wide-reaching, mysterious meaning, passing our poor intellect. It is enough for us to know and believe that the body and blood of Christ a.re verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper. 2. The cup. Afterwards the Lord took the cup, the third probably of the four cups which, at that time, were drunk at the Paschal 1upper; that third cup was called "the cup of blessing" (comp. 1 Cor. x. 16). .A.gain he gave thanks, making it a Eucharist, and bade them all drink of it: "For this," he said, "is my blood of the new covenant." "The cup of blessing which we bless," says St. Paul, "is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" "'l'o such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of .Christ." The old covenant made between God and his chosen people was ratified and inaugurated by the blood of sacrifices. "Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the Lord bath made with you" (Exod. xx.iv. 8). It was necessary that the new covenant which the Lord had promised by ;his prophet (Jer. xxxi. 31) should be inaugurated with blood, for" with- out shedding of blood is no remission." The Lord Jesus is the Media.tor of the new covenant, being both Priest and Victim; his blood is the blood of sprinkling, which .can purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. It is the blood of ea xxn 1-76.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTllE\V. 541