Part 34 (1/2)
[Footnote 6: John vi 65, xii 6]
[Footnote 7: John vi 65, 71, 72, xii 6; xiii 2, 27, and following]
Without denying that Judas of Kerioth may have contributed to the arrest of his Master, we still believe that the curses hich he is loaded are somewhat unjust There was, perhaps, in his deed more aardness than perversity The moral conscience of the man of the people is quick and correct, but unstable and inconsistent It is at the mercy of the impulse of the moment The secret societies of the republican party were characterized by much earnestness and sincerity, and yet their denouncers were very nu spite sufficed to convert a partisan into a traitor But if the foolish desire for a few pieces of silver turned the head of poor Judas, he does not seem to have lost the moral sentiment completely, since when he had seen the consequences of his fault he repented,[1] and, it is said, killed hi]
Each moment of this eventful period is solees in the history of humanity We have arrived at the Thursday, 13th of Nisan (2d April) The evening of the next day coun by the feast in which the Paschal la which unleavened bread was eaten The first and the last of these seven days were peculiarly solemn The disciples were already occupied with preparations for the feast[1] As to Jesus, we are led to believe that he knew of the treachery of Judas, and that he suspected the fate that awaited hi he took his last repast with his disciples It was not the ritual feast of the passover, as was afterward supposed, owing to an error of a day in reckoning,[2] but for the primitive church this supper of the Thursday was the true passover, the seal of the new covenant Each disciple connected with it histraits of the Master which each one preserved were associated with this repast, which beca-point of the most fruitful institutions
[Footnote 1: Matt xxvi 1, and following; Mark xiv 12; Luke xxii 7; John xiii 29]
[Footnote 2: This is the syste; Mark xiv 12, and following; Luke xxii 7, and following, 15) But John, whose narrative of this portion has a greater authority, expressly states that Jesus died the same day on which the Paschal lamb was eaten (xiii 1, 2, 29, xviii 28, xix 14, 31) The Talmud also makes Jesus to die ”on the eve of the Passover” (Talm of Bab, _Sanhedrim_, 43 _a_, 67 _a_)]
Doubtless the tender love which filled the heart of Jesus for the little church which surrounded hi and serene soul becaloomy preoccupations that beset hi them especially, John and Peter, were the objects of tenderto his own account) was reclining on the divan, by the side of Jesus, his head resting upon the breast of the Master Toward the end of the repast, the secret which weighed upon the heart of Jesus almost escaped him: he said, ”Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray uish; they looked at each other, and each questioned himself Judas was present; perhaps Jesus, who had for soht by this expression to draw from his looks or from his embarrassed manner the confession of his fault But the unfaithful disciple did not lose countenance; he even dared, it is said, to ask with the others: ”Master, is it I?”
[Footnote 1: John xiii 1, and following]
[Footnote 2: Matt xxvi 21, and following; Mark xiv 18, and following; Luke xx 21, and following; John xiii 21, and following, xxi 20]
Meanwhile, the good and upright soul of Peter was in torture He n to John to endeavor to ascertain of whom the Master spoke
John, who could converse with Jesus without being heard, asked hi only suspicions, did not wish to pronounce any na to offer a sop At the same time he soaked the bread and offered it to Judas John and Peter alone had cognizance of the fact Jesus addressed to Judas words which contained a bitter reproach, but which were not understood by those present; and he left the co him orders for the morrow's feast[1]
[Footnote 1: John xiii 21, and following, which shows the improbabilities of the narrative of the synoptics]
At the time, this repast struck no one; and apart from the apprehensions which the Master confided to his disciples, who only half understood the extraordinary took place But after the death of Jesus, they attached to this evening a singularly sole of sweet mysticism over it The last hours of a cherished friend are those we best remember By an inevitable illusion, we attribute to the conversations we have then had with hiives to them; we concentrate into a few hours the reater part of the disciples saw their Master no more after the supper of which we have just spoken It was the farewell banquet In this repast, as in many others, Jesus practised hisof bread As it was early believed that the repast in question took place on the day of the Passover, and was the Paschal feast, the idea naturally arose that the Eucharistic institution was established at this supre from the hypothesis that Jesus knew beforehand the precise moment of his death, the disciples were led to suppose that he reserved a number of important acts for his last hours As, moreover, one of the fundamental ideas of the first Christians was that the death of Jesus had been a sacrifice, replacing all those of the ancient Law, the ”Last Supper,” which was supposed to have taken place, once for all, on the eve of the Passion, became the supreme sacrifice--the act which constituted the new alliance--the sign of the blood shed for the salvation of all[1] The bread and wine, placed in connection with death itself, were thus the ie of the new testas--the commemoration of the sacrifice of Christ until his advent[2]
[Footnote 1: Luke xxii 20]
[Footnote 2: 1 _Cor_ xi 26]
Very early this mystery was embodied in a small sacramental narrative, which we possess under four forms,[1] very similar to one another
John, preoccupied with the Eucharistic ideas,[2] and who relates the Last Supper with sowith it so many circumstances and discourses[3]--and as the only one of the evangelists whose testimony on this point has the value of an eye-witness--does not ard the Eucharist as a peculiarity of the Lord's Supper
For hi of feet
It is probable that in certain primitive Christian families this latter rite obtained an importance which it has since lost[4] No doubt, Jesus, on soive his disciples an example of brotherly humility It was connected with the eve of his death, in consequence of the tendency to group around the Last Supper all the great moral and ritual recommendations of Jesus
[Footnote 1: Matt xxvi 26-28; Mark xiv 22-24; Luke xxii 19-21; 1 _Cor_ xi 23-25]
[Footnote 2: Chap vi]
[Footnote 3: Chaps xiii-xvii]
[Footnote 4: John xiii 14, 15 Cf Matt xx 26, and following; Luke xxii 26, and following]
A high sentiment of love, of concord, of charity, and of mutual deference, animated, moreover, the remembrances which were cherished of the last hours of Jesus[1] It is always the unity of his Church, constituted by him or by his Spirit, which is the soul of the symbols and of the discourses which Christian tradition referred to this sacred ive unto you,” said he, ”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 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 s I command you, that ye love one another”[2] At this last les for precedence[3] Jesus remarked, that if he, the Master, had been in the ht they to sub the wine, he said, ”I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it neith you into others, he promised them soon a celestial feast, where they would be seated on thrones at his side[5]
[Footnote 1: John xiii 1, and following The discourses placed by John after the narrative of the Last Supper cannot be taken as historical They are full of peculiarities and of expressions which are not in the style of the discourses of Jesus; and which, on the contrary, are very sie of John Thus the expression ”little children” in the vocative (John xiii 33) is very frequent in the First Epistle of John It does not appear to have been familiar to Jesus]