Third section the judgment upon the church itself second picture of judgment

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The Passover and the Lord’s Supper.—Both in their relation to circumcision and baptism.—The question of the disciples, Where wilt Thou, etc. ( Matthew 26:17)? an expression of their feelings and state: 1. Of their legal anxiety; 2. of their painful embarrassment and sad presentiments; 3. of their want of decision.—The disciples helped forward the doom of their Master: 1. unconsciously, and yet2. inevitably.—(a) as instruments of the Lord, and (b) as representatives of mankind.—The Lord’s silent guests.—The secret friends of God in all times concealed in Jerusalem, ready at the critical moment to do the Lord service (the friend at Bethphage, the friend in Jerusalem, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus).—When it was evening ( Matthew 26:20): the supper in the Egyptian night of fear, and in that of Mount Zion.—The feelings with which the Lord celebrates the institution of the Supper, in presence of the traitor: 1. The moral horror which shook His whole being; 2. the stern solemnity which amazed all the disciples; 3. the compassion which revealed itself in the severest self-denial; 4. a boldness of love which established the feast of heaven in spite of all the murmurs of hell.—The traitor amidst the preparations of the Passover; or, how hardness of heart ripens under the midday sun of tender love.—The deportment of the Lord toward the traitor, an everlasting type of all true ecclesiastical discipline: a holy frame of mind, a penetrating eye, a general, all-comprehensive judgment.—One of you ( Matthew 26:21).—The important question, Is it I? a question of preparation for the sacrament.—The decisive conflict at the table of grace, or the most quiet and the greatest victory of the Lord (see my Leben Jesu, ii3, p1327).—Judas, master of hypocritical dissimulation, unmasked by the Master of divine simplicity1. The points of development in his hypocrisy:—(a) his receiving the bag, and deceiving the disciples; (b) the pretence of care for the poor; (c) the question, Is it I? (d) the kiss2. His detection in its corresponding points of interest.—The institution of the Supper an expression of the Lord’s supreme certainty of victory before His final conflict.—How the Lord transfused the Old Testament into the New: 1. In all its parts generally; 2. in the institution of the Eucharist especially.—Christ present at the first supper, and present at all others: 1. Always present, because present the first time. He alone can distribute, interpret, and make it effectual2. Always present, as present the first time. Distinguished from the sacrament; presenting Himself in it.—The bread and the wine in their inseparable unity: 1. With each other: the broken body, the expiating blood; 2. one after the other: the assurance of reconciliation, the new life.—The Eucharist, the great feast of the Church: 1. A true feast (for the nourishment of the spiritual life); 2. a sacred feast (separating from all sinful enjoyment); 3. a covenant feast (sealing redemption); 4. a love feast (uniting the redeemed); 5. a supper feast (fore-festival of death, of the end of the world, of the coming of Christ).—The Lord’s Supper a glance of light into the new world of glory in the shadows of the present world: 1. A sure pledge that the old world is perishing as Christ’s body was broken; 2. a sure pledge that the new world will appear penetrated by the eternal resurrection life of Christ.—And when they had sung a hymn ( Matthew 26:30).—The Christian enters upon his final conflict strengthened by the Supper: 1. Upon the deciding conflict of youth (over the brook Kedron); 2. upon the repeated conflicts of adult life (Gethsemane); 3. upon the final conflict of death (imprisonment and Calvary).—Judas the infinitely dark riddle of Christianity; Christ its eternally bright mystery.—The Lord’s household company the figure and the germ of the Church.

Starke:—Nov. Bibl. Tub.; Out of the depths of the humiliation of Jesus stream forth the brightest rays of His Divine omniscience, and power over the human heart.—Happy he into whose heart Jesus comes! 1 Corinthians 5:7-8.—Hedinger: Is it marvellous that there should have been a wicked one, and a hypocrite, among the disciples?—We may publicly speak of prevailing sins, but should not mention the sinner by name.—Cramer: Many have enemies and traitors frequenting their tables.—Osiander: Foreknowledge and prediction do not make sinners sin, 1 Corinthians 11:27.—Quesnel: The communion of the body and blood of Christ a pledge of the fellowship of Heaven.—In the worthy participation our hope of perfect enjoyment of the transcendent blessings of the kingdom of glory is strengthened.—The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament which must abide in the Church until the Lord comes.

Lisco:—In the glorified world a glorified feast.

Heubner:—Jesus was subject to the law, observed all the feasts as a perfect Israelite; thus approving Himself a true lover of His Church and His country—To Him must all hearts and all doors fly open.—Love deals forbearingly with the greatest sinners.—The anxiety of the disciples a joy to Jesus.—The saints are always troubled lest sin should be lying hidden in their hearts.—The fact that all questioned, shows that they did not suspect Judas; they were deserved in him.—It was not with Judas as Terence says, erubuit, salvus est.—Where shame Isaiah, there is not yet full perdition.—The earthly supper a type and pledge of the heavenly.—Heaven an eternal feast of love and friendship.—Christ sang with his disciples: thus He sanctified Church psalmody.

F. W. Krummacher (The Suffering Saviour):—The institution of the Lord’s Supper.—The doctrine of the Lord’s Supper.—Judas Iscariot the New Testament Achitophel.—Ahlfeld: The Lord’s Supper the means of grace, through which Jesus makes His abode in His Church and in us. Maunday Thursday.—Harless: The true guests at the Lord’s table.—Kern: The holy Supper a Supper of the New Covenant.—A. Knapp: The Lord’s Supper the holy of holies in the new dispensation.

[Quesnel:—(on Matthew 26:11.) See here the extreme poverty of Christ, who had no house of His own on earth! He who would fain settle himself here, as in his native country, is not His disciple.—( Matthew 26:20.) The Son of God, in this last assembly, which contains an abridgment, as it were, of the whole church, shows us the mixture of the good, the weak, and the wicked, who are all united in the participation of the same sacraments [? this depends upon the unsettled question of the presence of Judas at the institution of the Lord’s Supper].—( Matthew 26:21.) Prudence and charity require that we should use the greatest sinners tenderly to the last; admonishing without discovering them.—When a heart is once hardened, it has no longer any ears to hearken to admonitions. It is the property of hardness of heart to make us, like Judas, deaf, obdurate, and insensible, without perceiving that we are so.—( Matthew 26:26) Holy and adorable words! which contain the establishment of the Christian worship, the institution of the new law, the contract of the true covenant, the testament of a dying Father, a commandment of the greatest importance, the foundation of a true religion, the substitution of reality in the room of shadows, and the end of all types and figures.—( Matthew 26:30) A communion-day is a day entirely set apart for thanksgiving, adoration, and hymns of joy, which are to be the beginning of the hymns and anthems of eternity.—Burkitt:—On Judas: 1. His character: a professor of religion, a preacher, an apostle, one of the twelve; 2. his crime: he betrayed Jesus, a Prayer of Manasseh, his master, his maker; 3. the cause and occasion: covetousness, the root sin, [add4. his sad repentance (the worldly sorrow leading to death, contrasted with the godly sorrow of Peter unto life); 5. his terrible end].—( Matthew 26:23.) Eternal misery is much worse than non-entity. Better to have no being, than not to have a being in Christ.—The Lord’s Supper: 1. The author: Jesus took bread; 2. the time of the institution: the night before He was betrayed; 3. the sacramental elements: bread and wine; 4. the ministerial action: the breaking of the bread and the blessing of the cup; 5. the object: Do this in remembrance of Me, etc.; 6. Thanksgiving after communion.—Comp. similar reflections and suggestions in Matthew Henry, Thomas Scott, Ph. Doddridge, and other practical commentators.—P. S.]

Footnotes:

FN#29 - Matthew 26:20.—[Ἀνέκειτο. Dr. Lange renders ἀνάκειμαι and ἀνακλίνομαι: uniformly and correctly: sich zu Tischelagern, to recline at table, i.e, according to the oriental fashion of eating, upon a couch or triclinium, which was usually higher than the low table itself. Hence John could learn at the last supper on Jesus’ bosom, John 13:23. See Crit. Note 4 on p150, and the Commentators on Luke 7:36.—P. S.]

FN#30 - Matthew 26:20.—Lachmann adds μαθητῶν according to A, L, M, etc [Also Cod. Sinait.]

FN#31 - Matthew 26:22.—[The text. rec. reads: ἕκαστος αὐτῶν. But Dr. Lange, with Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, and the majority of witnesses prefers: εἷς ἕκαστος, each one, without αὐτῶν.—P. S.]

FN#32 - Matthew 26:24—[Καλὸν ἦν αὐτῷ, εἰ οὐκ ἐγεννήθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος. Lange: Für ihn wäre es besser, wenn er nicht geboren wäre, für jenen Menschen; it were better for him, if that man had not been born. The English Versions, except Wiclif’s, take the liberty of transposing the pronoun and the noun.—P. S.]

FN#33 - Matthew 26:26.—The art. τόν before ἄρτον is omitted by Lachmann [and Tregelles] on the authority of B, C, D, L, etc. Meyer favors the article, [so also Tischendorf and Alford], and explains the omission from liturgical usage. [Cod. Sinait. mits the article both before ἄρτον and before ποτήριον, Matthew 26:27. It is not found in the parallel texts: Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19.—P. S.]

FN#34 - Matthew 26:26.—For εὐλογήσας: B, D, Z, and a number of later MSS, Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford]. For εὐχαριστήσας: Scholz with A, E, F, H, etc, consequently a larger number of witnesses. Mark has the former reading, Luke and also Paul, 1 Corinthians 11:24, the latter, and it is supposed that the liturgical expression of the Church influenced our text. [Cod. Sinait. reads εὐλογήσας, like B, D, L, Z, the Syriac, and Vulgate Versions (benedixit). Comp. Mark 14:22—P. S.]

FN#35 - Matthew 26:26.—[Dr. Lange translates: sprach den Segen, i.e, pronounced the blessing, or gave thanks, blessed, without it, which is omitted in the Greek, as in the following clauses and in the next verse.—P. S.]

FN#36 - Matthew 26:27.—The article before cup is omitted by the best critical authorities. Lachmann has it according to A, D, and Recepta. Meyer thinks that it was inserted from liturgical language. [Cod. Sinait. and the editions of Tischendorf and Alford, omit τό. The genius both of the English and German languages, however, requires here the article, definite or indefinite, while it may be omitted in both before bread.—P. S.]

FN#37 - Matthew 26:28.—καινῆς is omitted by B, L, Z, etc, [Cod. Sinait.], and given up by Tischendorf and Meyer (who regard it as an insertion from the ancient liturgies); while A, D, etc, Irenæus, and Cyprian favor it, and Lachmann retains it. [So also Alford, but in brackets.] The adjective is omitted also in Mark, Codd. B, C, D. The Pauline tradition which had it, prevailed, the more so as it corresponds with the nature of the case.

FN#38 - Matthew 26:28.—[Dr. Lange translates διαθήκη Bund, covenant. So also Castalio, Beza, Doddridge, Campbell, Norton, de Wette, Ewald (mein Bundesblut), Meyer, Crosby, Conant. The new covenant refers by contrast to the old covenant, that of Moses, which was consecrated by the blood of calves and goats. See the Exeg. Notes. The English Version renders διαθήκη by testament in thirteen passages, and by covenant in nineteen passages of the N. T.—P. S.]

FN#39 - Matthew 26:29.—[In Greek: οὐ μή, which Dr. Lange translates more emphatically: mit nichten, by no means, in no wise; Meyer: gewisslich nicht. The Bishops’ Bible translates the double negation here: in no wise; in Matthew 26:35 still stronger: by no manner of means. Other Engl. and Germ. Verss, (also Lange in Matthew 26:35) overlook the emphasis.—P. S.]

FN#40 - Augustine: “Peter and Judas received of the same bread, but Peter to life, Judas to death.”—P. S.]

FN#41 - Calvin is not positive on this point, Compare his remarks on Luke 22:21 (in Tholuck’s edition of Calvin’s Com. on the Harmony of the Gospels, i. p307): “Ideo apud Lucam poscitur adversaria particula, veruntamen ecce manus prodentis me mecum est in mensa. Etsi autem peracta demum cœna hoc Christi dictum Lucas subiicit, Non Potest tamen inde certa colligi temporis series, quam scimus Sæpe ab Evangelistis negligi. Probabile tamen esse non nego, Judam affuisse, quum corporis et sanguinis sui symbola Christus suis distribueret.”—P. S.]

FN#42 - Hilary: “The passover was concluded … without Judas, for he was unworthy of the communion of eternal sacraments.”—P. S.]

FN#43 - Similarly Alford: “The form of expression is important, not being οὗτος ὁ ἄρτος, or οὗτος ὁ οἶνος, but τοῦ. το, in both cases, or τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον, not the bread or wine itself, but the thing itself in each case; precluding ιἄ idea of a substantial change.”—P. S.]

FN#44 - The Edinb. trsl. reads: “Meyer thinks this excludes the fourth cup;” and thus attributes to him the very opposite opinion. Comp. note on Matthew 26:27, and Meyer’s Com. on Matt. p500 (4th ed.): “ὅτι οὐ μὴ πίω dass ich Gewisslich nicht trinken werde Diess setzt...voraus, dass es der letzte [the fourth], nicht der vorletzte [the third] Becher des Mahles war, welchen er V. 27 f. gegeben hatte....Es war der Schluss becher, bei dessen Genuss its weites Theil des Hallel gesungen wurde”—P. S.]

FN#45 - Comp. also the able work of Dr. I. W. Nevin: The Mystical Presence, Philadelphia, 1846 (a defence of the Calvinistic theory with some modification), together with Dr. Ch. Hodge’s review of it in the Princeton Review for1848 (from the Zwinglian stand-point), and Dr. Nevin’s defence In the Mercersburg Review for1849.—P. S.]

FN#46 - In the third edition of his Commentary, to which Dr. Lange always refers. In the fourth edition of1858 it is p499.—P. S.]

FN#47 - The Edinb. trsl. omits the greater part of the original, sub No4.—P. S.]

FN#48 - See his Lehre vom Abendmahle, Leipzig, 1851, p472. —P. S.]

FN#49 - In an elaborate History of the Dogma of the Lord’s Supper, in 2 vols, Frankf1845–’46, also in his Dogmatics, and in a review of Dr. Nevin’s Mystical Presence in Ullmann’s Studien und Kritiken, but I do not remember for which year, probably1850.—P. S.]

FN#50 - Lutherische Dogmatik vol. i. Leipzig, 1861, p618 sqq.—P. S.]

Verses 31-46

FOURTH SECTION

PROMISES TO THE DISCIPLES; AND CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE

26:31–46

( Mark 14:27-42; Luke 22:31-46; John 13:36 to John 18:1)

31Then [in going out to the Mount of Olives] saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall [will] be offended because of me [at me] this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad ( Zechariah 13:7). 32But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee 33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee [at thee],^[FN51] yet will I never be offended 34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the [a] cock crow35[crows], thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not [in no wise, οὐ μή] deny thee.^[FN52] [But]^[FN53] Likewise also said all the disciples.

36Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder 37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy [full of, or, overwhelmed with, sorrow and anguish, λυπεῖσθαι καὶ ἀδημονεῖν]^[FN54]. 38Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me 39 And he went a little farther,^[FN55] 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. 40And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What,^[FN56] could ye not [then, οὕτως] watch with me one hour? 41Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak 42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup^[FN57] may not pass away from me,^[FN58] except I drink it, thy will be done 43 And he came and44[again] found them asleep again:^[FN59] for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time,^[FN60] saying the same words 45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, 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 46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Matthew 26:31. Then saith Jesus unto them, τότε—For a time Jesus remained in the room of the Passover, as is evident from John 14:31. At this point comes the departure from the house. The prediction of the flight of the disciples and of Peter’s denial took place, according to John 13:37, in the Passover-room itself. Hereupon followed the farewell discourses, John 13-17 spoken partly within the room, and partly on the way to Gethsemane.

Will be offended at Me, σκανδαλισθήσεσθε ἐν ἐμοί—That Isaiah, My sufferings ye will make an offence and snare to yourselves.

For it is written.—What the Lord knew by immediate prevision, He nevertheless connects with a prophetic word: partly for the sake of the disciples, partly on account of His relation to the law; and further to prove that the course of His suffering was not contrary to Old Testament predictions, but that the carnal notions of the Jews as to a Messiah exempt from suffering were in direct contradiction to the Old Testament. The passage, Zechariah 13:1 : “Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow [My equal], saith the Lord of hosts: smile the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones’—is indeed quoted freely,^[FN61] yet not inconsistently with the connection of the text. In the original, Jehovah commands the sword to smite His Shepherd; but here He appears to lift up the sword Himself. The Messianic import of the passage is without reason resolved by Meyer (after Hitzig) into a merely typical significance. For the passage is closely connected with Zechariah’s previous reference to a future time, when prophecy should be silenced, and when he who should arise as a prophet would be exposed to the most bitter sufferings. That prediction stretched forward beyond the prophetless period after Malachi to the period of the new prophets, John the Baptist and Christ. But if we recognize the prophetical spirit in this passage at all, we cannot refer it to John the Baptist. It foretold, however, the universal dispersion of the people in consequence of their rejection of Christ. “The Shepherd indicated by the prophet is the same who, in Matthew 11:4, feeds the miser; able sheep, the Jewish people; His death is the sign for the scattering of the flock, yet the Lord immediately stretches out His hand to save the little ones, the faithful, His disciples. Hence the profound meaning of the passage is this: When the Jewish people had rejected their last Deliverer and Saviour, they underwent the punishment of dispersion. This was preparatorily typified in the actual scattering of the disciples on the death of Jesus; just as their eternal salvation in their bodily deliverance when Jesus was taken” ( John 18:9). Gerlach.^[FN62]

Matthew 26:32. Go before you into Galilee.—Meyer denies the genuineness of this declaration, for the groundless reason, that Jesus could not so definitely predict His own resurrection. The announcement of a particular meeting in Galilee, does not exclude the previous appearances of Jesus to the disciples in Jerusalem. He says this to those who had come with Him from Galilee to the feast: “Before ye shall have returned to your homes, I will rise again.” In Galilee He collected together again all the scattered disciples: Matthew 28:16; John 21; 1 Corinthians 15:6. Gerlach. [The Lord seems to allude in this comforting prediction to the remaining words of the prophecy of Zechariah 13:7 : “And I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones.” To go before, προάγειν is a verbum pastorale, as Bengel remarks, comp. John 10:4.—P. S.]

Matthew 26:34. Before a cock crows.—De Wette: “If Jesus said these words, He meant merely (de Wette’s mere assertion) the division of the night called ἀλεκτοροφωνία קְרִיאַת הַגֶּבֶר; but the Evangelists referred it to a real cock-crowing.” Gerlach: “Before the cock-crowing between midnight and morning. But it came to pass literally, like so many other predictions.” It must be regarded as fixed, that the definite specification of that time of the night was the main point; but since, where cocks were found, their cry would not be wanting, we must hold fast the circumstance, that the cock-crowing was appointed to be the warning sound for Peter. Meyer seems to suppose that the first cock-crowing took place at midnight, and the second about three in the morning. It is not established that the ἀλεκτοροφωνία marked always the time from midnight till three; since the Talmudists reckoned only three divisions of the day, and regarded the fourth, πρωί̈ as the morning of the day following. Comp. Winer, sub Nachtwache.^[FN63]

Deny Me thrice.—De Wette: Deny knowing Me (!). Better Meyer: Deny that thou belongest to Me. But the denial of faith in Christ, the Son of God, is contained in it; and not merely the denial of a personal relation.

Matthew 26:36. Gethsemane.—Most probably גַּת שְׁמָנֵא oil-press. The most approved form is Γεθσημανεί: see de Wette. A piece of land at the foot of the Mount of Olives, which was provided with a press, and perhaps also with a dwelling-house, or at least the usual garden-tower. See Winer and Robinson. Through the Stephen Gate or the Gate of Mary (according to Schulz, identical with the ancient Fish Gate), there is a descent to the valley of Kedron, by which the traveller went over the bridge of the same name into the garden of Gethsemane. Kedron means Black brook; it flowed with perturbed waters, which were still more darkened by the blood of the temple-sacrifices, down through the valley toward the Dead Sea. Gethsemane lay on the right of the path to the Mount of Olives. It scarcely deserves now the name of a garden, as the place is covered with stones, and there are only eight old olive-trees remaining. The place is in possession of the Franciscans, who in1847 erected a new wall around it, in length two hundred paces, and in breadth one hundred and fifty. There is no ground for doubting the identity of the present and the ancient Gethsemane; yet it must be confessed that there is no reason why the place on the left of the road may not be preferred (Wolff). C. von Raumer: “The olives are not of the time of our Lord; for Titus, during the siege of Jerusalem, had all the trees of the district cut down; and, moreover, the tenth legion were encamped on the western declivity of the mountain. The great age of the eight trees is inferred from the fact, that each of them pays a particular tribute which goes up to the time of the capture of Jerusalem by the Saracens (A. D636).^[FN64]

And He saith to the disciples.—There were eight of them; the three selected ones, and Judas, being excluded. Only those three, who had seen His transfiguration on the Mount, might be witnesses of the conflict of His soul. But this appointment of Christ formed also a kind of watch against premature surprise on the part of the traitor. In the foreground of the garden sat the eight disciples; beyond them are the three confidential ones; into the Holiest Of His Passion He goes alone. These stations are not without symbolical significance.^[FN65]

Matthew 26:37. He began to be overwhelmed with sorrow and anguish (to mourn and to tremble); λυρεῖσθαι καὶ ἀδημονεῖν.—Suidas explains ἀδημονεῖν to be λίαν λυπεῖσθαι, ἀπορεῖν. But the latter expression is probably not an intensification of the for me; it is a kind of contrast to it. Λυπεῖσθαι is the passive: being troubled or afflicted. Thus it signifies, absolutely taken, the experience of an infinitely afflicting influence. All the woe of the world falls upon Him, and oppresses His heart. Mark has the stronger expression: ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι. The contradictory impressions^[FN66] which Christ experienced extended to horror and amazement. Ἀδημονεῖν, on the other hand, related to ἀπορεῖν—according to Buttmann from ἄδημος—expresses in the absolute sense the being forsaken of all the world and bereft of every consolation, the uttermost anxiety and experience of woe.

Matthew 26:38. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, or girt round with sorrow, περίλυπος.—Compare John 12:27. The soul is the intermediate in man between body and spirit. The spirit expresses the relation to God; the body, the relation to earth; the soul, the relation to the world at large, especially the world of spirits. Hence the soul is the specific organ of spiritual experiences and emotions of pleasure and sorrow (Beck, Bibl. Seelenlehre, 10).—Even unto death.—The extremest degree. Even unto death, so that sorrow might bring Me to death, Jonah 4:9. “Anguish even unto death, the woes of one struggling with death, I now experience. The words of Psalm 22:16; Psalm 40:13; seem to have been present to His thoughts.” Gerlach.