33

CHAPTER 33.

THE LAST SUPPER AND THE BETRAYAL.


PRIESTLY CONSPIRATORS AND THE TRAITOR.

As the time for the annual Feast of the Passover approached, and
particularly during the two days immediately preceding the beginning of
the festival, the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people, in
short the Sanhedrin and the entire priestly party, conspired
persistently together as to the best manner of taking Jesus into custody
and putting Him to death. At one of these gatherings of evil counsel,
which was held at the palace of the high priest, Caiaphas,[1179] it was
decided that Jesus should be taken by subtlety if possible, as the
probable effect of an open arrest would be an uprising of the people.
The rulers feared especially an outbreak by the Galileans, who had a
provincial pride in the prominence of Jesus as one of their countrymen,
and many of whom were then in Jerusalem. It was further concluded and
for the same reasons, that the Jewish custom of making impressive
examples of notable offenders by executing public punishment upon them
at times of great general assemblages, be set aside in the case of
Jesus; therefore the conspirators said: "Not on the feast day, lest
there be an uproar among the people."[1180]

On earlier occasions they had made futile attempts to get Jesus into
their hands;[1181] and they were naturally dubious as to the outcome of
their later machinations. At this juncture they were encouraged and
gladdened in their wicked plots by the appearance of an unexpected ally.
Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, sought an audience with these rulers
of the Jews, and infamously offered to betray his Lord into their
hands.[1182] Under the impulse of diabolic avarice, which, however, was
probably but a secondary element in the real cause of his perfidious
treachery, he bargained to sell his Master for money, and chaffered with
the priestly purchasers over the price of the Savior's blood. "What will
ye give me?" he asked; "and they covenanted with him for thirty pieces
of silver."[1183] This amount, approximately seventeen dollars in our
money, but of many times greater purchasing power with the Jews in that
day than now with us, was the price fixed by the law as that of a slave;
it was also the foreseen sum of the blood-money to be paid for the
Lord's betrayal.[1184] That the silver was actually paid to Judas,
either at this first interview or at some later meeting between the
traitor and the priests, is demonstrated by after events.[1185]

He had pledged himself to the blackest deed of treachery of which man is
capable, and from that hour he sought the opportunity of superseding his
infamous promise by its more villainous fulfilment. We are yet to be
afflicted by other glimpses of the evil-hearted Iscariot in the course
of this dread chronicle of tragedy and perdition; for the present let it
be said that before Judas sold Christ to the Jews, he had sold himself
to the devil; he had become Satan's serf, and did his master's bidding.


THE LAST SUPPER.

The day preceding the eating of the passover lamb had come to be known
among the Jews as the first day of the feast of unleavened bread,[1186]
since on that day all leaven had to be removed from their dwellings, and
thereafter for a period of eight days the eating of anything containing
leaven was unlawful. On the afternoon of this day, the paschal lambs
were slain within the temple court, by the representatives of families
or companies who were to eat together; and a portion of the blood of
each lamb was sprinkled at the foot of the altar of sacrifice by one of
the numerous priests on duty for the day. The slain lamb, then said to
have been sacrificed, was borne away to the appointed gathering place of
those by whom it was to be eaten. During the first of the days of
unleavened bread, which in the year of our Lord's death appears to have
fallen on Thursday,[1187] some of the Twelve inquired of Jesus where
they should make preparations for the paschal meal.[1188] He instructed
Peter and John to return to Jerusalem, and added: "Behold, when ye are
entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of
water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say
unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the
guest chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he
shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they
went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the
passover."

In the evening, Thursday evening as we reckon time, but the beginning of
Friday according to the Jewish calendar,[1189] Jesus came with the
Twelve, and together they sat down to the last meal of which the Lord
would partake before His death. Under strain of profound emotion, "He
said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you
before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof,
until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and
gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: for I
say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the
kingdom of God shall come." The pronouncing of a blessing by the host
upon a cup of wine, which was afterward passed round the table to each
participant in turn, was the customary manner of beginning the Passover
supper. At this solemn meal Jesus appears to have observed the
essentials of the Passover procedure; but we have no record of His
compliance with the many supernumerary requirements with which the
divinely established memorial of Israel's deliverance from bondage had
been invested by traditional custom and rabbinical prescription. As we
shall see, the evening's proceedings in that upper room comprized much
beside the ordinary observance of an annual festival.

The supper proceeded under conditions of tense sadness. As they ate, the
Lord sorrowfully remarked: "Verily I say unto you, One of you which
eateth with me shall betray me." Most of the apostles fell into a state
of introspection; and one after another exclaimed: "Is it I?" "Lord, is
it I?" It is pleasing to note that each of those who so inquired was
more concerned with the dread thought that possibly he was an offender,
however inadvertently so, than as to whether his brother was about to
prove himself a traitor. Jesus answered that it was one of the Twelve,
then and there eating with Him from the common dish, and continued with
the terrifying pronouncement: "The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is
written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed!
good were it for that man if he had never been born." Then Judas
Iscariot, who had already covenanted to sell his Master for money, and
who at this moment probably feared that silence might arouse suspicion
against himself, asked with a brazen audacity that was veritably
devilish: "Master, is it I?" With cutting promptness the Lord replied:
"Thou hast said."[1190]

There was further cause of sorrow to Jesus at the supper. Some of the
Twelve had fallen into muttering dispute among themselves over the
matter of individual precedence,[1191] possibly as to the order in which
they should take their places at table, over which triviality scribes
and Pharisees as well as the Gentiles often quarreled;[1192] and again
the Lord had to remind the apostles that the greatest of them all was he
who most willingly served his fellows. They had been taught before; yet
now, at this late and solemn hour, they were suffused with vain and
selfish ambition. In sorrowful earnestness the Lord pleaded with them,
asking who is greater, he that sits at the table, or he that serves? And
the obvious reply He supplemented by the statement: "But I am among you
as he that serveth." With loving pathos He added: "Ye are they which
have continued with me in my temptations;"[1193] and then He assured
them that they should lack neither honor nor glory in the kingdom of
God, for if they proved faithful they should be appointed to thrones as
the judges of Israel. For those of His chosen ones who were true to Him,
the Lord had no feeling less than that of love, and of yearning for
their victory over Satan and sin.


THE ORDINANCE OF THE WASHING OF FEET[1194]

Leaving the table, the Lord laid aside His outer garments and girded
Himself with a towel as an apron; then having provided Himself with a
basin and a supply of water, He knelt before each of the Twelve in turn,
washed his feet, and wiped them with the towel. When He reached Peter,
that impulsive apostle protested, saying: "Lord, dost thou wash my
feet?" That the proceeding was something more than mere service for
personal comfort, and more than an object-lesson of humility, appears in
the Lord's words to Peter--"What I do thou knowest not now; but thou
shalt know hereafter." Peter, failing to understand, objected yet more
vehemently; "Thou shalt never wash my feet," he exclaimed. Jesus
answered: "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Then, with
even greater impetuosity than before, Peter implored as he stretched
forth both feet and hands, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands
and my head." He had gone to the other extreme, insisting, though
ignorantly and unthinkingly, that things be done his way, and failing
yet to see that the ordinance had to be administered as the Lord willed.
Again correcting His well-intending though presumptuous servant, Jesus
said to him: "He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all." Each of them had
been immersed at baptism; the washing of feet was an ordinance
pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, the full import of which they had yet
to learn.[1195]

Having resumed His garments and returned to His place at the table,
Jesus impressed the significance of what he had done, saying: "Ye call
me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord
and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's
feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done
to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than
his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye
know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."[1196]


THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.[1197]

While Jesus with the Twelve still sat at table, He took a loaf or cake
of bread, and having reverently given thanks and by blessing sanctified
it, He gave a portion to each of the apostles, saying: "Take, eat; this
is my body"; or, according to the more extended account, "This is my
body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." Then, taking
a cup of wine, He gave thanks and blessed it, and gave it unto them with
the command: "Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new
testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say
unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until
that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."[1198] In
this simple but impressive manner was instituted the ordinance, since
known as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The bread and wine, duly
consecrated by prayer, become emblems of the Lord's body and blood, to
be eaten and drunk reverently, and in remembrance of Him.

The proceedings at the institution of this sacred rite were afterward
revealed to Paul the apostle, whose recorded testimony as to its
establishment and sanctity is in accord with the accounts given by the
Gospel-writers.[1199] As shall be hereinafter shown, the ordinance was
instituted by the Lord among the Nephites, on the western continent, and
has been reestablished in the present dispensation.[1200] During the
dark ages of apostasy, unauthorized changes in the administration of the
Sacrament were introduced, and many false doctrines as to its meaning
and effect were promulgated.[1201]


THE BETRAYER GOES OUT INTO THE NIGHT.[1202]

In saying to the Twelve, whose feet He had washed, "Ye are clean," the
Lord had specified an exception by His after remark, "but not all."
John, the recorder, takes care to explain that Jesus had in mind the
traitor, and, "therefore said he, Ye are not all clean." The guilty
Iscariot had received without protest the Lord's service in the washing
of his recreant feet, though after the ablution he was spiritually more
filthy than before. When Jesus had again sat down, the burden of His
knowledge concerning the treacherous heart of Judas again found
expression. "I speak not of you all," He said, "I know whom I have
chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread
with me hath lifted up his heel against me."[1203] The Lord was intent
on impressing the fact of His foreknowledge as to what was to come, so
that when the terrible development was an accomplished fact, the
apostles would realize that thereby the scriptures had been fulfilled.
Troubled in spirit, He reiterated the dreadful assertion that one of
those present would betray Him. Peter made signs to John, who occupied
the place next to Jesus and was at that moment leaning his head on the
Lord's breast, that he ask which of them was the traitor. To John's
whispered inquiry the Lord replied: "He it is, to whom I shall give a
sop, when I have dipped it."

There was nothing unusual for a person at table, particularly the host,
to dip a piece of bread into the dish of gravy or savory mixture, and
hand it to another. Such action on the part of Jesus attracted no
general attention. He dipped the morsel of bread and gave it to Judas
Iscariot, with the words: "That thou doest, do quickly." The others
understood the Lord's remark as an instruction to Judas to attend to
some duty or go upon some errand of ordinary kind, perhaps to purchase
something for the further celebration of the Passover, or to carry gifts
to some of the poor, for Judas was the treasurer of the party and "had
the bag." But Iscariot understood. His heart was all the more hardened
by the discovery that Jesus knew of his infamous plans, and he was
maddened by the humiliation he felt in the Master's presence. After the
sop, which he had opened his mouth to receive from the Lord's hand,
"Satan entered into him" and asserted malignant mastership. Judas went
out immediately, abandoning forever the blessed company of his brethren
and the Lord. John chronicles the traitor's departure with the terse and
ominous remark, "and it was night."


DISCOURSE FOLLOWING THE SUPPER.

The departure of Judas Iscariot appears to have dissipated to some
degree the cloud of utter sadness by which the little company had been
depressed; and our Lord Himself was visibly relieved. As soon as the
door had closed upon the retreating deserter, Jesus exclaimed, as though
His victory over death had been already accomplished: "Now is the Son of
man glorified, and God is glorified in him." Addressing the Eleven in
terms of parental affection, He said: "Little children, yet a little
while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews,
Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I
give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye
also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another."[1204] The law of Moses
enjoined mutual love among friends and neighbors;[1205] but the new
commandment, by which the apostles were to be governed, embodied love of
a higher order. They were to love one another as Christ loved them; and
their brotherly affection was to be a distinguishing mark of their
apostleship, by which the world would recognize them as men set apart.

The Lord's reference to His impending separation from them troubled the
brethren. Peter put the question, "Lord, whither goest thou?" Jesus
answered: "Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt
follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow
thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake." Peter seems to have
realized that his Master was going to His death; yet, undeterred, he
asserted his readiness to follow even that dark way rather than be
separated from his Lord. We cannot doubt the earnestness of Peter's
purpose nor the sincerity of his desire at that moment. In his bold
avowal, however, he had reckoned with the willingness of his spirit
only, and had failed to take into full account the weakness of his
flesh. Jesus, who knew Peter better than the man knew himself, thus
tenderly reproved his excess of self-confidence: "Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I
have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren." The first of the apostles, the Man
of Rock, yet had to be converted, or as more precisely rendered, "turned
again";[1206] for as the Lord foresaw, Peter would soon be overcome,
even to the extent of denying his acquaintanceship with Christ. When
Peter stoutly declared again his readiness to go with Jesus, even into
prison or to death, the Lord silenced him with the remark: "I tell thee,
Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice
deny that thou knowest me."

The apostles had to be prepared to meet a new order of things, new
conditions and new exigencies; persecution awaited them, and they were
soon to be bereft of the Master's sustaining presence. Jesus asked of
them: "When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye
anything? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he
that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that
hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say unto
you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he
was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have
an end." The Lord was soon to be numbered among the transgressors, as
had been foreseen;[1207] and His disciples would be regarded as the
devotees of an executed criminal. In the mention of purse, scrip, shoes,
and sword, some of the brethren caught at the literal meaning, and said,
"Lord, behold, here are two swords," Jesus answered with curt finality,
"It is enough," or as we might say, "Enough of this." He had not
intimated any immediate need of weapons, and most assuredly not for His
own defense. Again they had failed to fathom His meaning; but experience
would later teach them.[1208]

For such information as we have concerning the last discourse delivered
by Jesus to the apostles before His crucifixion, we are indebted to John
alone among the Gospel-writers; and every reader is advized to study
with care the three chapters in which these sublime utterances are
preserved for the enlightenment of mankind.[1209] Observing the
sorrowful state of the Eleven, the Master bade them be of good cheer,
grounding their encouragement and hope on faith in Himself. "Let not
your heart be troubled," He said, "ye believe in God, believe also in
me." Then, as though drawing aside the veil between the earthly and the
heavenly state and giving His faithful servants a glimpse of conditions
beyond, He continued: "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you
unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye
know, and the way ye know."[1210] Thus in language simple and plain the
Lord declared the fact of graded conditions in the hereafter, of variety
of occupation and degrees of glory, of place and station in the eternal
worlds.[1211] He had affirmed His own inherent Godship, and through
their trust in Him and obedience to His requirements would they find the
way to follow whither He was about to precede them. Thomas, that loving,
brave, though somewhat skeptical soul, desiring more definite
information ventured to say: "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and
how can we know the way?" The Lord's answer was a reaffirmation of His
divinity; "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father
also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him."

At this point Philip interposed with the request, "Lord, shew us the
Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus answered with pathetic and mild
reproof: "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest
thou then, Shew us the Father?" He was grieved by the thought that His
nearest and dearest friends on earth, those upon whom He had conferred
the authority of the Holy Priesthood, should be yet ignorant of His
absolute oneness with the Father in purpose and action. Had the Eternal
Father stood amongst them, in Person, under the conditions there
existing, He would have done as did the Well Beloved and Only Begotten
Son, whom they knew as Jesus, their Lord and Master. So absolutely were
the Father and the Son of one heart and mind, that to know either was to
know both; nevertheless the Father could be reached only through the
Son. So far as the apostles had faith in Christ, and did His will,
should they be able to do the works that Christ in the flesh had done,
and even greater things, for His mortal mission was of but a few hours
further duration, and the unfolding of the divine plan of the ages would
call for yet greater miracles than those wrought by Jesus in the brief
period of His ministry.

For the first time the Lord directed His disciples to pray in His name
to the Father, and assurance of success in righteous supplication was
given in these words: "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will
I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any
thing in my name, I will do it."[1212] The name of Jesus Christ was to
be thenceforth the divinely established talisman by which the powers of
heaven could be invoked to operate in any righteous undertaking.

The Holy Ghost was promised to the apostles; He would be sent through
Christ's intercession, to be to them "another Comforter," or as rendered
in later translations, "another Advocate" or "Helper," even the Spirit
of Truth, who, though the world would reject Him as they had rejected
the Christ, should dwell with the disciples, and in them even as Christ
then dwelt in them and the Father in Him. "I will not leave you
comfortless," Jesus assured the brethren, "I will come to you. Yet a
little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I
live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you."[1213] This was followed by the
assurance that Christ though unknown by the world would manifest Himself
to those who loved Him and kept His commandments.

Judas Thaddeus, otherwise known as Lebbeus,[1214] "not Iscariot," as the
recorder is careful to particularize, was puzzled over the untraditional
and un-Jewish thought of a Messiah who would be known but to the chosen
few and not to Israel at large; and he asked: "Lord, how is it that thou
wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" Jesus explained
that His and the Father's companionship was attainable only by the
faithful. He further cheered the apostles by the promise that when the
Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father would send in the name of the
Son, would come to them, He would teach them further, and would bring to
their remembrance the teachings they had received from the Christ. The
distinct personality of each member of the Godhead, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, is here again plainly shown.[1215] Comforting the yet
troubled disciples, Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give
unto you"; and that they might realize that this meant more than the
conventional salutation of the times, for "Peace be with you" was an
every-day greeting among the Jews, the Lord affirmed that He gave that
invocation in a higher sense, and "not as the world giveth." Again
bidding them put aside their grief and be not afraid, Jesus added: "Ye
have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If
ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for
my Father is greater than I." The Lord made clear to His servants that
He had told them these things beforehand, so that when the predicted
events came to pass the apostles would be confirmed in their faith in
Him, the Christ. He had time to say but little more, for the next hour
would witness the beginning of the supreme struggle; "the prince of this
world cometh," He said, and with triumphal joy added, "and hath nothing
in me."[1216]

In superb allegory the Lord thus proceeded to illustrate the vital
relationship between the apostles and Himself, and between Himself and
the Father, by the figure of a vine-grower, a vine, and its
branches:[1217] "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every
branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,[1218] that it may bring forth
more fruit." A grander analogy is not to be found in the world's
literature. Those ordained servants of the Lord were as helpless and
useless without Him as is a bough severed from the tree. As the branch
is made fruitful only by virtue of the nourishing sap it receives from
the rooted trunk, and if cut away or broken off withers, dries, and
becomes utterly worthless except as fuel for the burning, so those men,
though ordained to the Holy Apostleship, would find themselves strong
and fruitful in good works, only as they remained in steadfast communion
with the Lord. Without Christ what were they, but unschooled Galileans,
some of them fishermen, one a publican, the rest of undistinguished
attainments, and all of them weak mortals? As branches of the Vine they
were at that hour clean and healthful, through the instructions and
authoritative ordinances with which they had been blessed, and by the
reverent obedience they had manifested.

"Abide in me," was the Lord's forceful admonition, else they would
become but withered boughs. "I am the vine," He added in explication of
the allegory "ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If
a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;
and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye
bear much fruit: so shall ye be my disciples." Their love for one
another was again specified as an essential to their continued love for
Christ.[1219] In that love would they find joy. Christ had been to them
an exemplar of righteous love from the day of their first meeting; and
He was about to give the supreme proof of His affection, as foreshadowed
in His words, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends." And that those men were the Lord's friends
was thus graciously affirmed; "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I
command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth
not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things
that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." This
intimate relationship in no sense modified the position of Christ as
their Lord and Master, for by Him they had been chosen and ordained; and
it was His will that they should so live that whatever they asked in the
name of the holy friendship which He acknowledged should be granted them
of the Father.

They were again told of the persecutions that awaited them, and of their
apostolic calling as special and individual witnesses of the Lord.[1220]
That the world then did, and would yet more intensely hate them was a
fact they had to face; but they were to remember that the world had
hated their Master before them, and that they had been chosen and by
ordination had been set apart from the world; therefore they must not
hope to escape the world's hatred. The servant was not greater than his
master, nor the apostle than his Lord, as on general principles they
knew, and as they had been specifically told. They that hated them hated
the Christ; and they that hated the Son hated the Father; great shall be
the condemnation of such. Had the wicked Jews not closed their eyes and
stopped their ears to the mighty works and gracious words of the
Messiah, they would have been convinced of the truth, and the truth
would have saved them; but they were left without cloak or excuse for
their sin; and Christ affirmed that in their evil course had the
scriptures been fulfilled in that they had hated Him without a
cause.[1221] Then, reverting to the great and cheering promise of
support through the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Lord said: "But when
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even
the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from
the beginning."

These things had Jesus declared unto them that they might not "be
offended," or in other words, taken by surprize, misled, and caused to
doubt and stumble by the unprecedented events then impending. The
apostles were forewarned of persecution, of their expulsion from the
synagogs, and of a time in which hatred against them should be so bitter
and the Satanic darkness of mind and spirit so dense that whosoever
succeeded in killing one of them would profess that his foul deed had
been done in God's service. In view of their overwhelming sorrow at the
Lord's departure, He sought again to cheer them, saying: "Nevertheless I
tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go
not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will
send him unto you."

The assured descent of the Holy Ghost, through whom they should be made
strong to meet every need and emergency, was the inspiring theme of this
part of the Lord's discourse. Many things which Christ yet had to say to
His apostles, but which they were at that time unable to understand, the
Holy Ghost would teach them. "Howbeit," said Jesus, "when he, the Spirit
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not
speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and
he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall
receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father
hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall
shew it unto you."[1222]

Turning again to the matter of His departure, then so near as to be
reckoned by hours, the Lord said, in amplified form of what He had
before affirmed: "A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a
little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father."[1223]
The apostles pondered and some questioned among themselves as to the
Lord's meaning, yet so deep was the solemnity of the occasion that they
ventured no open inquiry. Jesus knew of their perplexity and graciously
explained that they would soon weep and lament while the world rejoiced;
this had reference to His death; but He promised that their sorrow
should be turned into joy; and this was based on His resurrection to
which they should be witnesses. He compared their then present and
prospective state to that of a woman in travail, who in the after joy of
blessed motherhood forgets her anguish. The happiness that awaited them
would be beyond the power of man to take away; and thenceforth they
should ask not of Christ alone, but of the Father in Christ's name;
"And," said the Lord, "in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name,
he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and
ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."[1224] They were to be
advanced to such honor and exalted recognition that they should approach
the Father in prayer direct, but in the name of the Son; for they were
beloved of the Father because they had loved Jesus, the Son, and had
accepted Him as One sent by the Father.

The Lord again solemnly averred: "I came forth from the Father, and am
come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father."
The disciples were gratified at this plain avouchment, and exclaimed:
"Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure
that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask
thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God." Their
satisfaction threatened danger through over-confidence; and the Lord
cautioned them, saying, that in an hour then close they should all be
scattered, every man to his own, leaving Jesus alone, except for the
Father's presence. In the same connection He told them that before the
night had passed every one of them would be offended because of Him,
even as it had been written: "I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep
of the flock shall be scattered abroad."[1225] Peter, the most vehement
of all in his protestations, had been told, as we have seen, that by
cock-crow that night he would have thrice denied his Lord; but all of
them had declared they would be faithful whatever the trial.[1226] In
further affirmation of the material actuality of His resurrection, Jesus
promised the apostles that after He had risen from the grave He would go
before them into Galilee.[1227]

In conclusion of this last and most solemn of the discourses delivered
by Christ in the flesh, the Lord said: "These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have
tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."[1228]


THE CONCLUDING PRAYER.

The impressive discourse to the apostles was followed by a prayer such
as could be addressed to none but the Eternal Father, and such as none
but the Son of that Father could offer.[1229] It has been called, and
not inappropriately, the Lord's High-Priestly Prayer. In it Jesus
acknowledged the Father as the source of His power and authority, which
authority extends even to the giving of eternal life to all who are
worthy: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." By way of reverent
report as to the work assigned Him, the Son said: "I have glorified thee
on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was." With unfathomable love the Lord
pleaded for those whom the Father had given Him, the apostles then
present, who had been called out from the world, and who had been true
to their testimony of Himself as the Son of God. Of them but one, the
son of perdition, had been lost. In the fervor of devoted supplication,
the Lord pleaded:

"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy
truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world,
even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their
sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all
may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in
me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may
know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given
me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which
thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of
the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee:
but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it:
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I
in them."

When they had sung a hymn, Jesus and the Eleven went out to the Mount of
Olives.[1230]


THE LORD'S AGONY IN GETHSEMANE.[1231]

Jesus and the eleven apostles went forth from the house in which they
had eaten, passed through the city gate, which was usually left open at
night during a public festival, crossed the ravine of the Cedron, or
more accurately Kidron, brook, and entered an olive orchard known as
Gethsemane,[1232] on the slope of Mount Olivet. Eight of the apostles He
left at or near the entrance, with the instruction: "Sit ye here, while
I go and pray yonder"; and with the earnest injunction: "Pray that ye
enter not into temptation." Accompanied by Peter, James and John, He
went farther; and was soon enveloped by deep sorrow, which appears to
have been, in a measure, surprizing to Himself, for we read that He
"began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy." He was impelled to deny
Himself the companionship of even the chosen three; and, "Saith he unto
them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here,
and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face,
and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Mark's version
of the prayer is: "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take
away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou
wilt."[1233]

This part of His impassioned supplication was heard by at least one of
the waiting three; but all of them soon yielded to weariness and ceased
to watch. As on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the Lord appeared in
glory, so now in the hour of His deepest humiliation, these three
slumbered. Returning to them in an agony of soul Jesus found them
sleeping; and addressing Peter, who so short a time before had loudly
proclaimed his readiness to follow the Lord even to prison and death,
Jesus exclaimed: "What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and
pray, that ye enter not into temptation"; but in tenderness added, "the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." The admonition to the
apostles to pray at that time lest they be led into temptation may have
been prompted by the exigencies of the hour, under which, if left to
themselves, they would be tempted to prematurely desert their Lord.

Aroused from slumber the three apostles saw the Lord again retire, and
heard Him pleading in agony: "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away
from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." Returning a second time
He found those whom He had so sorrowfully requested to watch with Him
sleeping again, "for their eyes were heavy"; and when awakened they were
embarrassed or ashamed so that they wist not what to say. A third time
He went to His lonely vigil and individual struggle, and was heard to
implore the Father with the same words of yearning entreaty. Luke tells
us that "there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening
him"; but not even the presence of this super-earthly visitant could
dispel the awful anguish of His soul. "And being in an agony he prayed
more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood
falling down to the ground."[1234]

Peter had had a glimpse of the darksome road which he had professed
himself so ready to tread; and the brothers James and John knew now
better than before how unprepared they were to drink of the cup which
the Lord would drain to its dregs.[1235]

When for the last time Jesus came back to the disciples left on guard,
He said: "Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand,
and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." There was no
use of further watching; already the torches of the approaching band
conducted by Judas were observable in the distance. Jesus exclaimed:
"Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me."
Standing with the Eleven, the Lord calmly awaited the traitor's coming.

Christ's agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as
to intensity and cause. The thought that He suffered through fear of
death is untenable. Death to Him was preliminary to resurrection and
triumphal return to the Father from whom He had come, and to a state of
glory even beyond what He had before possessed; and, moreover, it was
within His power to lay down His life voluntarily.[1236] He struggled
and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth
might even conceive as possible. It was not physical pain, nor mental
anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an
extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such
as only God was capable of experiencing. No other man, however great his
powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so; for his
human organism would have succumbed, and syncope would have produced
unconsciousness and welcome oblivion. In that hour of anguish Christ met
and overcame all the horrors that Satan, "the prince of this
world"[1237] could inflict. The frightful struggle incident to the
temptations immediately following the Lord's baptism[1238] was surpassed
and overshadowed by this supreme contest with the powers of evil.

In some manner, actual and terribly real though to man incomprehensible,
the Savior took upon Himself the burden of the sins of mankind from Adam
to the end of the world. Modern revelation assists us to a partial
understanding of the awful experience. In March 1830, the glorified
Lord, Jesus Christ, thus spake: "For behold, I, God, have suffered these
things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent, but if
they would not repent, they must suffer even as I, which suffering
caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of
pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit:
and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink--
nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my
preparations unto the children of men."[1239]

From the terrible conflict in Gethsemane, Christ emerged a victor.
Though in the dark tribulation of that fearful hour He had pleaded that
the bitter cup be removed from His lips, the request, however oft
repeated, was always conditional; the accomplishment of the Father's
will was never lost sight of as the object of the Son's supreme desire.
The further tragedy of the night, and the cruel inflictions that awaited
Him on the morrow, to culminate in the frightful tortures of the cross,
could not exceed the bitter anguish through which He had successfully
passed.


THE BETRAYAL AND THE ARREST.[1240]

During the period of the Lord's last and most loving communion with the
Eleven, Judas had been busy in his treacherous conspiracy with the
priestly authorities. It is probable that the determination to make the
arrest that night was reached when Judas reported that Jesus was within
the city walls and might easily be apprehended. The Jewish rulers
assembled a body of temple guardsmen or police, and obtained a band of
Roman soldiers under command of a tribune; this band or cohort was
probably a detachment from the garrison of Antonia commissioned for the
work of the night on requisition of the chief priests.[1241] This
company of men and officers representing a combination of ecclesiastical
and military authority, set forth in the night with Judas at their head,
intent on the arrest of Jesus. They were equipped with lanterns,
torches, and weapons. It is probable that they were first conducted to
the house in which Judas had left his fellow apostles and the Lord, when
the traitor had been dismissed; and that finding the little company had
gone out, Judas led the multitude to Gethsemane, for he knew the place,
and knew also that "Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples."

While Jesus was yet speaking to the Eleven whom He had roused from
slumber with the announcement that the betrayer was at hand, Judas and
the multitude approached. As a preconcerted sign of identification the
recreant Iscariot, with treacherous duplicity, came up with a
hypocritical show of affection, saying, "Hail, master," and profaned his
Lord's sacred face with a kiss.[1242] That Jesus understood the
treacherous significance of the act appears in His pathetic, yet
piercing and condemning reproach: "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man
with a kiss?" Then, applying the title with which the other apostles had
been honored, the Lord said: Friend, do that for which thou art
come.[1243] It was a reiteration of the behest given at the supper
table, "That thou doest, do quickly."

The armed band hesitated, though their guide had given the signal agreed
upon. Jesus walked toward the officers, with whom stood Judas, and
asked, "Whom seek ye?" To their reply, "Jesus of Nazareth," the Lord
rejoined: "I am he." Instead of advancing to take Him, the crowd pressed
backward, and many of them fell to the ground in fright. The simple
dignity and gentle yet compelling force of Christ's presence proved more
potent than strong arms and weapons of violence. Again He put the
question, "Whom seek ye?" and again they answered, "Jesus of Nazareth."
Then said Jesus: "I have told you that I am he; if therefore ye seek me,
let these go their way." The last remark had reference to the apostles,
who were in danger of arrest; and in this evidence of Christ's
solicitude for their personal safety, John saw a fulfilment of the
Lord's then recent utterance in prayer, "Of them which thou gavest me
have I lost none."[1244] It is possible that had any of the Eleven been
apprehended with Jesus and made to share the cruel abuse and torturing
humiliation of the next few hours, their faith might have failed them,
relatively immature and untried as it then was; even as in succeeding
years many who took upon themselves the name of Christ yielded to
persecution and went into apostasy.[1245]

When the officers approached and seized Jesus, some of the apostles,
ready to fight and die for their beloved Master, asked, "Lord, shall we
smite with the sword?" Peter, waiting not for a reply, drew his sword
and delivered a poorly aimed stroke at the head of one of the nearest of
the crowd, whose ear was severed by the blade. The man thus wounded was
Malchus, a servant of the high priest. Jesus, asking liberty of His
captors by the simple request, "Suffer ye thus far,"[1246] stepped
forward and healed the injured man by a touch. Turning to Peter the Lord
rebuked his rashness, and commanded him to return the sword to its
scabbard, with the reminder that "all they that take the sword shall
perish with the sword." Then, to show the needlessness of armed
resistance, and to emphasize the fact that He was submitting voluntarily
and in accordance with foreseen and predicted developments, the Lord
continued: "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he
shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then
shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"[1247] And
further, "the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink
it?"[1248]

But, though surrendering Himself unresistingly, Jesus was not unmindful
of His rights; and to the priestly officials, chief priests, captain of
the temple guard, and elders of the people who were present, He voiced
this interrogative protest against the illegal night seizure: "Are ye
come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat
daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But
all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be
fulfilled." Luke records the Lord's concluding words thus: "but this is
your hour, and the power of darkness." Unheeding His question, and
without deference to His submissive demeanor, the captain and the
officers of the Jews bound Jesus with cords and led Him away, a Prisoner
at the mercy of His deadliest enemies.

The eleven apostles, seeing that resistance was useless, not only on
account of disparity of numbers and supply of weapons but chiefly
because of Christ's determination to submit, turned and fled. Every one
of them forsook Him, even as He had foretold. That they were really in
jeopardy is shown by an incident preserved by Mark alone. An unnamed
young man, aroused from sleep by the tumult of the marching band, had
sallied forth with no outer covering but a linen sheet. His interest in
the arrest of Jesus and his close approach caused some of the guardsmen
or soldiers to seize him; but he broke loose and escaped leaving the
sheet in their hands.


NOTES TO CHAPTER 33.

1. The Day of the Passover Feast.--Controversy has been rife for many
centuries as to the day of the passover feast in the week of our Lord's
death. That He was crucified on Friday, the day before the Jewish
Sabbath, and that He rose a resurrected Being on Sunday, the day
following the Sabbath of the Jews, are facts attested by the four
Gospel-writers. From the three synoptists we infer that the last supper
occurred on the evening of the first day of unleavened bread, and
therefore at the beginning of the Jewish Friday. That the Lord's last
supper was regarded by Himself and the apostles as a passover meal
appears from Matt. 26:2, 17, 18, 19 and parallel passages, Mark
14:14-16; Luke 22:11-13; as also from Luke 22:7, 15. John, however, who
wrote after the synoptists and who probably had their writings before
him, as is indicated by the supplementary character of his testimony or
"Gospel", intimates that the last supper of which Jesus and the Twelve
partook together occurred before the Feast of the Passover (John 13:1,
2); and the same writer informs us that on the following day, Friday,
the Jews refrained from entering the Roman hall of judgment, lest they
be defiled and so become unfit to eat the Passover (18:28). It should be
remembered that by common usage the term "Passover" was applied not only
to the day or season of the observance, but to the meal itself, and
particularly to the slain lamb (Matt. 26:17; Mark 14:12, 14, 16; Luke
22:8, 11, 13, 15; John 18:28; compare 1 Cor. 5:7). John also specifies
that the day of the crucifixion was "the preparation of the passover"
(19:14), and that the next day, which was Saturday, the Sabbath, "was an
high day" (verse 31), that is a Sabbath rendered doubly sacred because
of its being also a feast day.

Much has been written by way of attempt to explain this seeming
discrepancy. No analysis of the divergent views of Biblical scholars on
this subject will be attempted here; the matter is of incidental
importance in connection with the fundamental facts of our Lord's
betrayal and crucifixion; for brief summaries of opinions and concise
arguments the student may be referred to Smith's _Comprehensive Bible
Dictionary_, article "Passover"; Edersheim's _Life and Times of Jesus
the Messiah_, pp. 480-2, and 566-8; Farrar's _Life of Christ_, Appendix,
Excursus 10; Andrews' _Life of our Lord_, and Gresswell's
_Dissertations_. Suffice it here to say that the apparent inconsistency
may be explained by any of several assumptions. Thus, first, and very
probably, the Passover referred to by John, for the eating of which the
priests were desirous of keeping themselves free from Levitical
defilement, may not have been the supper at which the paschal lamb was
eaten, but the supplementary meal, the Chagigah. This later meal, the
flesh part of which was designated as a sacrifice, had come to be
regarded with veneration equal to that attaching to the paschal supper.
Secondly; it is held by many authorities on Jewish antiquities that
before, at, and after the time of Christ, two nights were devoted yearly
to the paschal observance, during either of which the lamb might be
eaten, and that this extension of time had been made in consideration of
the increased population, which necessitated the ceremonial slaughtering
of more lambs than could be slain on a single day; and in this
connection it is interesting to note that Josephus (Wars, vi, ch. 9:3)
records the number of lambs slain at a single Passover as 256,500. In
the same paragraph, Josephus states that the lambs had to be slain
between the ninth and the eleventh hour (3 to 5 p.m.). According to this
explanation, Jesus and the Twelve may have partaken of the passover meal
on the first of the two evenings, and the Jews who next day feared
defilement may have deferred their observance until the second. Thirdly;
the Lord's last paschal supper may have been eaten earlier than the time
of general observance, He knowing that night to be His last in
mortality. Supporters of this view explain the message to the man who
provided the chamber for the last supper, "My time is at hand" (Matt.
26:18) as indicating a special urgency for the passover observance by
Christ and the apostles, before the regularly appointed day. Some
authorities assert that an error of one day had crept into the Jewish
reckoning of time, and that Jesus ate the passover on the true date,
while the Jews were a day behind. If "the preparation of the passover"
(John 19:14) on Friday, the day of Christ's crucifixion, means the
slaughtering of the paschal lambs, our Lord, the real sacrifice of which
all earlier altar victims had been but prototypes, died on the cross
while the passover lambs were being slain at the temple.

2. Did Judas Iscariot Partake of the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper?--This question cannot be definitely answered from the brief
accounts we have of the proceedings at the last supper. At best, only
inference, not conclusion, is possible. According to the records made by
Matthew and Mark, the Lord's announcement that there was a traitor among
the Twelve was made early in the course of the meal; and the institution
of the Sacrament occurred later. Luke records the prediction of
treachery as following the administering of the sacramental bread and
wine. All the synoptists agree that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
was administered before the sitting at the ordinary meal had broken up;
though the Sacrament was plainly made a separate and distinct feature.
John (13:2-5) states that the washing of feet occurred when supper was
ended, and gives us good reason for inferring that Judas was washed with
the rest (verses 10, 11), and that he later (verses 26-30) went out into
the night for the purpose of betraying Jesus. The giving of a "sop" to
Judas (verses 26, 27) even though supper was practically over, is not
inconsistent with John's statement that the supper proper was ended
before the washing of feet was performed; the act does not appear to
have been so unusual as to cause surprize. To many it has appeared
plausible, that because of his utter baseness Judas would not be
permitted to participate with the other apostles in the holy ordinance
of the Sacrament; others infer that he was allowed to partake, as a
possible means of moving him to abandon his evil purpose even at that
late hour, or of filling his cup of iniquity to overflowing. The
writer's personal opinion is based on the last conception.

3. Washing of Feet.--The ordinance of the washing of feet was
reestablished through revelation December 27, 1832. It was made a
feature of admission to the school of the prophets, and detailed
instructions relating to its administration were given (see Doc. and
Cov. 88:140, 141). Further direction as to the ordinances involving
washing were revealed January 19, 1841 (see Doc. and Cov. 124:37-39).

4. Discontinuity of the Lord's Last Discourse to the Apostles.--It is
certain that part of the discourse following the last supper was
delivered in the upper room where Christ and the Twelve had eaten; it is
possible that the latter portion was spoken and the prayer offered (John
15, 16, 17) outdoors as Jesus and the Eleven wended their way toward the
Mount of Olives. The 14th chapter of John ends with "Arise, let us go
hence"; the next chapter opens with another section of the discourse.
From Matt 26:30-35, and Mark 14:26-31 we may infer that the prediction
of Peter's denial of his Lord was made as the little company walked from
the city to the mount. On the other hand, John (18:1) states that "When
Jesus had spoken these words", namely, the whole discourse, and the
concluding prayer, "he went forth with his disciples over the brook
Cedron." Not one of our Lord's sublime utterances on that night of
solemn converse with His own, and of communion between Himself and the
Father, is affected by the circumstance of place.

5. Gethsemane.--The name means "oil-press" and probably has reference to
a mill maintained at the place for the extraction of oil from the olives
there cultivated. John refers to the spot as a garden, from which
designation we may regard it as an enclosed space of private ownership.
That it was a place frequented by Jesus when He sought retirement for
prayer, or opportunity for confidential converse with the disciples, is
indicated by the same writer (John 18:1, 2).

6. The Bloody Sweat.--Luke, the only Gospel-writer who mentions sweat
and blood in connection with our Lord's agony in Gethsemane, states that
"his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the
ground" (22:44). Many critical expositors deny that there was an actual
extrusion of blood, on the grounds that the evangelist does not
positively affirm it, and that the three apostles, who were the only
human witnesses, could not have distinguished blood from sweat falling
in drops, as they watched from a distance in the night, even if the
moon, which at the passover season was full, had been unobscured. Modern
scripture removes all doubt. See Doc. and Cov. 19:16-19 quoted in the
text (page 613), also 18:11. See further a specific prediction of the
bloody sweat, B. of M., Mosiah 3:7.

7. "Suffer Ye thus Far."--Many understand these words, uttered by Jesus
as He raised His hand to heal the wounded Malchus, to have been
addressed to the disciples, forbidding their further interference.
Trench (_Miracles_, 355) considers the meaning to be as follows: 'Hold
now; thus far ye have gone in resistance, but let it be no further; no
more of this.' The disputed interpretation is of little importance as to
the bearing of the incident on the events that followed.

8. The Cup as a Symbol.--Our Lord's frequent mention of His foreseen
sufferings as the cup of which the Father would have Him drink (Matt.
26:39, 42; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 18:11; compare Matt. 20:22; Mark
10:38; 1 Cor. 10:21) is in line with Old Testament usage of the term
"cup" as a symbolic expression for a bitter or poisonous potion
typifying experiences of suffering. See Psa. 11:6; 75:8; Isa. 51:17, 22;
Jer. 25:15, 17; 49:12. In contrast, the opposite meaning is attached to
the use of the term in some passages, e.g. Psa. 16:5; 23:5; 116:13; Jer.
16:7.