Vers. 15, 16.-The Passion, from two standpoints. I. As IT r.oo:i;:m TO OUR LoBD WHEN HE WAS APPROACHING IT. It was to him a terrible trial, which he was eager to reach e.nd pass through. "With desire he desired" the time to arrive when he should suffer and should complete his work. He did not wish to escape it; be was not looking about for an alternative; he knew that he could not save himself if he would save the world; and he longed for the trial-time to come and to be passed. Here was the heroic, and here was also the human. Here was the determination to endure, and, at the same time, the natural, human anxiety to know the worst and to exchange an almost intoler- able suspense for the suffering that awaited him. 1. Having chosen the path of self- Hacrifice, and having entered upon and pursued it, it behoved him to continue and to complete his appointed work. He could not tum back without suffering defeat; he accepted the dark future that was before him as a sacred duty. From it there must be no turning aside to other ends ; and there was none. He never wavered in his purpose from beginning to end. "This shall not be unto thee," from Peter, appears to have been a strong shock of temptation to him (Matt. xvi. 21-23). But nothing induced him to turn aside by a single step from the path of sacrificial service. 2. Yet we have here a glimpse of the extreme severity of the trial he underwent. He knew that his "suffering" would immediately follow this Passover, and he "earnestly desired" that Passover to come, that the sufferings might follow. With perfect reverence we may say that he could not realize what they would include, for they had never before been experienced; they stood absolutely by themselves, and could not be known until they were actually felt. And this element of BUBpense and uncertaint.v must have added a great weight of trouble to the sorrows of our Lord. "How bitter that cup no heart can conceive;" not even his heart did conceive until it was in hie hands. (1) Like our Lord, we should go on without faltering to the darkest future which we feel it becomes us to face. (2) AB with him, the uncertainty of the actual elements of our grief may oppress oar spirit and fill Ill! with eager desire for its coming (see also eh. xii. 50). (3) We shall find, aa he found, all needful Divine help when the hour does actually arrive. IL AB HE WOULD HAVE us REGARD IT Now. That is, as a completed work of redeeming love. '!'hat last Passover has been "fulfilled in the kingdom of God." All that the Passover prophesied has been fulfilled. 'l'he "Lamb of God" has been slain- that Lamb "which t-iketh away the Hin of the world." Everything in the way of ctt. :x.xu.1-71.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUK~. 217
sacred enduro.nce, of Divine preparation, is now completed, and the way into the kingdom is open. Those sufferings to which Jesus was so eagerly looking forward, to which be had now come, with nothing between them and him hut that Passover Feast, had to be endured (see eh. xxiv. 26); and now they have been endured. Everything predicted in sacred rite or solemn utterance has been "fulfilled," and we wait for nothing more. We sit down to no predictive Passover Feast, because" Christ, our Passover, is slain for us." What we have to do is gratefully and eagerly to avail ourselves of the" finished" work of our redeeming Lord; to let that suffering, that death, that sacrifice, (1) evoke our humility; (2) call forth our faith; (3) kindle our love and command our obedience; (4) inspire us with sacred and abiding joy, ina~much as his" sorrow unto death" i.'I the sow·ct, of our eternal life.-U.
Vers. 19, 20.-771e Lord:s Supper. A very simple rite as first observed was the Lord's Supper. But for certain passages in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we should not have known that Jesus Christ intended to create a permanent institution. But though the simpler the ceremony is the more scriptural it is, yet are the ideas associated with it and suggested by it many and important. 'fhey are these- I. THE NEAR PRESENCE OF OUR LORD. Not in the elements but presiding over the company. It is a. table at which he entertains his friends; and can he, the Divine Host, himself be absent ? - " Around a fable, not a tomb, He willed our gathering-place should be; When going to prepare our home, The Saviour said, • Remember me.'" And at that table, meeting and communing with his friends, we ma.y feel !ure and can realize forcibly that our living Lord is, in snirit and in truth, "in the midst of us." II. CHRIST OUR STRENGTH AND OUR Joy. The chosen elements are bread and wine, the sources of strength and of gladness. He, our Lord, is the one constant Source of our spiritual nourishment and strength, of the joy with. which our hearts are for ever glad. III. CHRIST OUR PRoPrrIATION. The bJ"Oken bread, the outpoured wine-of what do these speak to our hearts? Of the " marred visage," of the weariness, of the poverty and privation, of the toilfulness and loneliness of that troubled life, of the griefs aod pains of that burdened and broken heart, of the shame and the darkness and the death of the last closing scene. We stand with bowed head and reverent spirit at that cross and see- " Sorrow and love II.ow mingled down.'' And our hearts are full as we ask- "Did e'er such love e.nd sorrow meet: Or thorns compose so rich a crown?,. And we realize that that sorrow was borne, that death died.for us. "This is my body, • given for you;' my blood,' shed for yon.'" It is the Propitiation for 0111" sins. IV. OUR INDIVIDUAL APPROPRIATION OF OUR LORD'S GREAT WORK. Each one eats o( that bread and drinks of that cup. As he does so, in and by that act he declares his own personal need of a Divine Saviour; he affirms his conviction that the sacrifice was offered for him; he renews his faith in the Divine Redeemer; he recognizes the claim of him that loved him unto death; he rededicates himself to Jesus Christ and to his service; he rejoice/!, in spirit, in his reconciled Father, in his Divine Lord and Friend. V. HAPPY AND HOLY COMMUNION WITH ONE ANOTHER. Gathered round one table, in the felt presence of our common Lord, all invited to drink. of the same cup (Matt. xxvi. 27), we a.re drawn to ·one o.nother in the bonds of Christian love. ,ve realize our oneness in him as a. strong bond which triumphs over all the separating influences of the world. Faith, joy, love, are kindled and" burn within us;" and we are strengthened and sanctified, built up, enabled to "abide in him."-C.
Vers, 21, 22.-Jesus and Judas; our Lord and ourselves, The ordinance of the 218 TUE GOSl'EL ACCORDING TO ST. tuttE:. tcrr. XXH. 1-71.