Il. His REGARD FOR THE OBSERVANCES AND INSTITUTIONS OF THE Law. This is shown in the careful attention he gave to the details of the feast. Whether the arrangements made were due to the exercise of supernatural foresight, or merely to the natural forethought and human care of Christ, it is impossible to determine. In the former case, the “ man bearing a pitcher of water,” who was to meet them, would be indicated as a Divine token; in the latter, the man would be simply arranged for with the master or “goodman” of the hostelry. Hither way, the feast was really prepared for by Christ, and no regulation was neglected. When the poverty, homelessness, and
-personal danger of the Saviour are remembered, his observance of the Passover will be seen to possess an emphasis and intention quite special.
III. THe continviry IN WHIcH THE “ Logp’s SupPER” sTaNDs. It was a “moment” or stage of the Paschal feast, and therefore a portion of the same celebration. Douht- less the feast would be protracted, or at any rate the actual eating of the lamb would be distinguished in time from the partaking of the bread and wine, which came a little later, as a new commencement after Judas had withdrawn at the bidding of the Master. In this way the retrospective character of the eating and drinking is quite natural. The two great feasts of Judaism and Christianity are thus vitally connected, the new celebration being a survival of the old one, and a perpetuation of its spiritual meaning, In such instances do we see the continuity of essential ideas, observances, and institutions throughout the varying phases and progressive stages of religious development.
IV. THE SPIRITUAL PREPARATION OF CHRIST FOR THAT WHICH THE PASsoVEB BYMBOLIZED. It is just in the attention to these minute details, paid by One to whom in general the “ spirit” was ever of so much more consequence than the “ letter,” that the inward preparedness of the Saviour is sugested for his great sacrifice. The whole typology of the sacred festival had been spiritually realized by him, and its connection with his own deatn. In Matthew’s Gospél this foreboding consciousness of doom, elevated into a higher mood by spiritual willinghood, is expressed : “The Master saith, My time is at hand,” etc.—M.
Vers. 17—21.— The betrayer denounced. I. THe sHADOW AT THE FEAST. Not fear, as of a criminal under sting of conscience; nor over-anatety, the spectre that sits with the worldling at his board; but moral repugnance expressing itself in sympathetic sorrow. An inward sense of interrupted sympathy and fellowship.
Il. THE BETRAYER INDICATED, It is necessary to declare what it is which prevents the full communion of the household of Christ. This is done in order: 1. To awaken the spirtt of self-examination and self-distrust. “Is it 1?” Therefore the indication given is general and anonymous. 2. To characterize and accentuate the moral hideous- ness of the crime. It was shown to be an evil foretold from afar. The betrayal is to take place, “that the Scripture [Ps. xli. 9] may be fulfilled, He that eateth my bread for his bread with me] lifted up his heel against me” (John xiii. 18). And so, antici- patively, a new evidence is furnished by which to identify Jesus as the Messiah (John xiii, 19). As done by one enjoying the benefits of the Christian household, and reclining in pretended communion with the Lord, it is declared to ve an act of the basest treachery and ingratitude. 3. Asa personal discovery determining the further action of the guilty one. The special sign given was perceived by Judas alone, alth ugh explicitly mentioned. In answer to John’s inquiry (the question of spiritual love), the
king, which is here spoken of as a general thing, is: specialized in a definite way
with respect to the individual meant (John xiii. 26). The further command is given,
not to do the deed, but, as he is determined even then to do it, to do it quickly 17
254 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [on. xrv. 1—72. ©
(John xiii. 27, 30). Thus the foulest crime against the Son of God is determined and accelerated amidst communion and sacred celebration—a psychological truth. 4. As an occasion for solemn lamentation over the miserable destiny of Judas. The “woe” is not spoken so much as a denunciation, but rather in commiseration. All the good of life is spoken of as forfeited—and more than forfeited. “The apophthegm is rather remarkable when microscopically examined, for, strictly speaking, nothing would be good to a man who never existed. But our Saviour’s meaning is not microscopic, but obvious, and most solemn. A man’s extstence ts turned into a curse tohim when he inverts the grand moral purpose contemplated in its Divine origination” (Morison). At the teast of love thers is ever a sense of mingled reprobation and sympathy with respect to sinners.
IIL. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF GOOD AND EVIL STATED. “ The Son of man goeth,” etc. Evil is overruled and made the occasion of good. Not that it is thereby necessitated : it is still the product of the free-will of the creature. Yet is it foreseen, and the operation of good is modified so as to produce the greater good. That Christ should die was foreordained; it was the expression of an eternal deter- mination of the Divine nature; but the particular circumstances affecting the external character of his death were not foreordained. And, therefore, as freely committed, evil is not altered in its moral character by the result flowing from its being divinely overruled. Judas was a criminal awfully and uniquely wicked, and his “ woe” is wailed forth by Infinite Love himself !—M.
Vers. 22—25.—-The Lord’s Supper. A good title, as it was an evening meal; and it was appsopriated to a new and special purpose by our Lord, in connection with whom its significance is received. He is the Host, while his disciples are the guests. Oon- sider it—
I. In RELaTIon To THE Passover. The general meaning of the Passover was per-
tuated in a spiritual sense. There was: 1. A tramsfer. Not of the whole Passover,