'beckon unto him' when he wished in quiry to be made of the Lord. The disciples being

thus ranged, the Lord Jesus 'took the cup and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and

divide it among yourselves' (Luke 22:17). This was the first cup, over which the first

prayer in the service was spoken. Next, as in duty bound, all washed their hands, only

that the Lord here also gave meaning to the observance, when, expanding the service

into Christian fellowship over His broken body, He 'riseth from Supper,' 'and began to

wash the disciples' feet' (John 13:4,5). It is thus we explain how this ministry, though

calling forth Peter's resistance to the position which the Master took, did not evoke any

question as to its singularity. As the service proceeded, the Lord mingled teaching for

the present with the customary lessons of the past (John 13:12-20); for, as we have seen

considerable freedom was allowed, provided the instruction proper at the feast were

given. The first part of the 'Hallel' had been sung, and in due order He had taken the

'bread of poverty' and the 'bitter herbs,' commemorative of the sorrow and the bitterness

of Egypt, when 'He was troubled in spirit' about 'the root of bitterness' about to spring

up among, and to 'trouble' them, by which 'many would be defiled.' The general concern

of the disciples as to which of their number should betray Him, found expression in the

gesture of Peter. His friend John understood its meaning, and 'lying back on Jesus'

breast,' he put the whispered question, to which the Lord replied by giving 'the sop' of

unleavened bread with bitter herbs, 'when He had dipped' it, to Judas Iscariot.

'And after the sop Satan entered into him,' and he 'went out immediately.' It was an

unusual time to leave the Paschal table, for with 'the sop dipped' into the 'Charoseth' the

Paschal Supper itself had only just begun. But then 'some of them thought'--perhaps

without fully considering it in their excitement--that Judas, who 'had the bag,' and on

whom, therefore, the care of such things devolved, had only gone to see after 'those

things that they had need of against the feast,' or to 'give something to the poor'--

applying some of the common stock of money in helping to provide 'peace-offerings' for

the poor. This would have been quite in accordance with the spirit of the ordinance,

while neither supposition necessarily involved a breach of the law, since it was

permitted to prepare all needful provision for the feast, and of course also for the

Sabbath, which in this instance followed it. For, as we have seen, the fes tive observance

of the 15th of Nisan differed in this from the ordinary Sabbath-law, although there is

evidence that even the latter was at that time by no means so strict as later Jewish

tradition has made it. And then it was, after the regular Paschal meal, that the Lord

instituted His own Supper, for the first time using the Aphikomen 'when He had given

thanks' (after meat), to symbolise His body, and the third cup, or 'cup of blessing which

we bless' (1 Cor 10:16)--being 'the cup after supper' (Luke 22:20)--to symbolise His

blood. 'And when they had sung an hymn' (Psa 115-118) 'they went out into the mount

of Olives' (Matt 26:30).

Then it was that the Lord's great heaviness and loneliness came upon Him; when all

around seemed to give way, as if crushed under the terrible burden about to be lifted;

when His disciples could not watch with Him even one hour; when in the agony of His

soul 'His sweat was as it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground'; and

when He 'prayed, saying: O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me:

nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' But 'the cup which the Father' had given

Him, He drank to the bitter dregs; and 'when He had offered up prayers and

supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from

death, and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience

by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of

eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him' (Heb 5:7-9).