The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 423

fl{'~IC'd fnrm~ Rnd ehRrms: (1) the symbolic wonltl have been pl"('ecnted on tho morning c>ffusion of water And hlood; (2) the ooetly of the Jewish llftbbl\th, while the reference un_<:nC'nt spioos and honou!'Rble buri&l in 1 Oor. v. 7-9, written at tho time of o. ln'<"ishoo on One who hRd boon put under Passover, is rather in favour of the shLying ban, nnd hRd dioo the doom of the sl&ve; of the Pasohal lamb coinciding wilh the (8) the gRr,Jen And the watchers. death of J esua than the institution or the Ver. 42.-There, therefore, by reuon of the Eucharist doing so. The most extraordi- preparation of the .Tewa; for the 1epulohre nary reference to the TI<>p<>o-r<•uli is tho.t was nigh at hand, they laid Jem1. John which St. Matthew (xxviii, 62) introduoe1, assigns the rapidity with whioh the process when he actually refers to the snbbnth when (l(lll)ci he completed as a reason for entomb- it had begun (on the evening of the 14th m~nt in this partienlRr g11.rden sepulchre, or 15th, whichever it was, i.e. nftor G p.m.) nnd the g,-onnd of the urgency WA.S the under the designation of "the dny nfter the "prepe.mtinn " solemnities. Once more the preparation." Genoro,lly tho moro important critics dind'e into two groaps as to the Big- aay would receive its own proper no.ma, nnd nificance of this reference to the date of the not be designated by the less signnl do.y, Lord's death. It is obviot1s that both the Why did not St. Matthow so.y, "On the f'YllOptistB and John imply that it wo.s a morrow, which wns the snbbnth"? The one "Friday," nnd that the next day wo.e the group of interpreters answer that he wished sabbath. Why, for the third time in the to discriminate the veritable snbbath as dis- epaoe of a few linea, shonld this circnm- tinct from the half-s11bbath of the previone etanee be noticed ? On the tif'Bt occalrion, the day, maile so by being also the grent dny morning of the day is BBid to be "the pre- of the fea.st I But it is more nntural to paration of the Passover; " on the second it sappose that "the dny of preparo.tion," the is called " preparation before the BBbbath," death-day of the Lord, loomed so largely in and John adds thnt that particular se.bbath the mind of the evangelist, that its morrow was a" high day," which, as we have seen. derived importance in this particular iu- is explained by remembering that its ea.no- ste.nee from itself. The only real difficulty tity was doubled, seeing that on that par- in settling this wearisome controversy nrises ticular year the weekly sabbnth would coin- from one stntement in the synoptists, which, cide with the 15th of Nisan, which had 11, if resolved in the rigid sense of limiting their Babbatic value of its own. Now he BRYS expreesions to the evening of the 14th and for the third time it w&1 the .. preparation beginning of the 15th, involves ne in grave of the Jews "-as we nnderets.nd it, 11, day or difficulties when considering five or six dis- 11, time when special preparations were being tinct and independent st.a.tements of John's mode by the J ewe, and that before ennset, for Gospel We have shown at each of these the "1aying of the PRSchal lamb. Moreover, plaoes the double method of exegetionl the sab bnth W68 drawing on ( l.,,,.,,,,,,,.,c,11, Luke trentment that has been attempted, and in x..riii. 5!). This threefold statement implies each co.ee honesty compels us to admit thnt tho.t there w&1 something more in the -rap11- John is here in appo.rent discord with the rr,m,li than the Fride.y of the Paeeover week. synoptists. If, however, our Lord antici- It is curious to observe the precisely contra- pated by a few hours the eelebra.tion of the dictory conclll.l!ione drawn from this Bta~ Paschal supper, seeing that his "hour was ment by two clasees of interpreters. Godet come," not indeed deviating from the legal h68 g-i'<'en an interesting sketch (vol iii. pp. day (though, as Lord of the sabba.th nnd 286, 287) of the extraordinary idea of M. grentcr than the temple, he was amply Lntterotk, that the Lord w&1 arnoificd on the justified in doing so), but hurrying on the 10th of Niean I that he rose from the dead process between the 13tli nnd 14th, when three full days and nighm afterwards, on the water-bearers would be seen fetching the morning of the 14th. Bat why should their pure water for the purpose; a.nd if he John three times over thna deBigue.te the celebrated the Paseover at the beginning day? and why should the syu.optists lay rather than the entl of the 14th of Nisan, then such emphalris on ite being the .. prep&rB- the apparent discord between John and the tion," if the day were really the first great synoptiets vanishes, and the terrible events day of the Paesover Feast? It is remark- of the trials and crucifl.xion of J esns really able that St. Paul, referring to the institu- took place at the time when the Jews (not tion of the Enche.riat, does not BBY "on the Christ himself) were preparing for the Po.ss- night of the PIIBIIOVer mee.L" but on "the over proper. On this hypothesis the two ojght in which he WIIII betrayed" (I Cor. ne.rratives would be no longer in hopelesa xi 28), awl he Bpeab of Jesus u the antagonism. With this conclusion we are ( """PX'I) " Firstfruita of the dead,n u more eatisfled, Bince, u we have seen in eh. though the resurrection morning coincided xiii. 1 and elsewhere, the synoptiste them- with the pnlll8Utation of the firstfrnita, which, selves afford nnmeroua oorroborntory evi,, on the idea that Je11111 Bdered on the 15th, denoe8 (Introduction, pp. ll:cii.-.xcv.), llll, XII, 1-42,] THE GO~PEL ACCORDING TO ST. ,JOHN. 437