270 Judas comes to them, and agrees to betray him. XIV. 2. LUKE XXII. SECT. and not to attempt to seize him at the feast, while (LUKE, for they feared dering how popular he is, there should be a tu- Luke For then, just at that very juncture of time, LUKE XXII. 3. Then entered Satan into Judas, sirnamed who was also called Iscariot, and was (as we ob- Iscariot, being [one] served before) one of the number of the twelve of the number of the [MAT. 4 And he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them: [MAT. XXVI. apostles who were chosen by our Lord from the twelve: XXVI. 14-MARK rest of his disciples to the most honourable XIV. 10.-] trust as well as the most endearing intimacyb and as this malignant spirit had before suggested to him the horrid design of betraying his Master, he now strongly impressed his mind that during his retirement he might easily find a convenient time for executing it, and might be sure of being well rewarded for it by the rulers of 4 the Jews. And, under this impression, he immediately went away from Christ and his company to the house of Caiaphas, whom he knew to be a most inveterate enemy to his Master; and having found means of introducing himself, 14. MARK XIV.➡ and communicating his general design, he conversed with the chief priests and captains of the temple, who were not yet gone away, and deliberated how he might with the greatest convenience and security betray him unto them. Mat. And as the sordid wretch proposed it with a XXVI. covetous view, before he would come to any agreement with them, he said, without the least appearance of shame or remorse, What are you willing to give me, and I will undertake to deliver him to you at a time and place in which you may effectually secure him without the danger of giving any alarm to the people? 15 bOne of the number of the twelve, &c.] This was a circumstance of such high aggravation, that it is observable, each of the And 1 10.] MAT. XXVI. 15. -And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? Reflections on the zeal of Christ and the treachery of Judas. MARK XIV. 11.— And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. [And they cothirty pieces of silver. [MAT. XXVI.-15. LUKE XXII. 5.] venanted with him for LUKE XXII. 6. And be promised, and [from that time] sought op 271 clxvii. And when they heard his proposal, they thought SECT. [it] very practicable; and they were glad of so unexpected an offer from one of his own disci- Mark ples to facilitate their measures; and therefore XIV.11. readily promised in general to give him a sum of money as a reward for that service; and at last they expressly agreed with him for thirty pieces of silver, which was the price to be paid for a slave who had been slain (see Exod. xxi. 32): and as they proposed it to express their contempt of Jesus, so God permitted Judas, covetous as he was, to acquiesce in that mean and trifling sun (though he might easily have raised it higher), that thus the prophecy might be fulfilled in which it had been particularly specified. (See Zech. xi. 12, 13.) And he promised to take a punctual care in the Luke affair: and accordingly from that time he dili- XXII. 6 gently sought a proper opportunity to betray him unto them, that they might come upon him privately, and apprehend him in the absence of the MARK XIV.-11.] multitude: nor was it long before this happened, as we shall quickly relate in its place. portunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. [MAT. XXVI. 16. IMPROVEMENT. xxi. 37 WE see with what unremitting vigour the great Author and Luke Finisher of our faith pressed forward towards the mark, and how he quickened his pace, as he saw the day approaching; spending in devotion the greatest part of the night, which succeeded to his most laborious days, and resuming his work early in the morning! How 38 much happier were his disciples in these early lectures than the slumbers of the morning could have made them on their beds! Let us not scruple to deny ourselves the indulgence of unnecessary sleep, that we may come morning after morning to place ourselves at his feet, and lose no opportunity of receiving the instructions of his word, and seeking those of his Spirit. xxvi. 3, 4 But while his gracious heart was thus intent on doing good, the Mat. chief priests and rulers of the people were no less intent on mischief, and murder. They took counsel together how they might put him to death: They set upon his head the price of a slave, and find an 14, 15 apostle base enough to accept it. Blush, O ye heavens, to have c Thirty pieces of silver.] A slave was rated by the law at thirty shekels of silver, which, if we reckon them at half a crown (which is supposed to have been about their been real value), amounted to no more than a The 272 clxvii. Jesus sends two of his disciples to prepare the passover. SECT. been witness to this; and be ashamed, O earth, to have supported so infamous a creature! Yet this was the man who but a few days before was the foremost to appear as an advocate for the poor, and to censure the pious zeal of Mary, which our Lord vindicated and applauded (John xii. 4-8. p. 151, 152). Let the fatal fruits of Luke his covetous disposition, instigated by Satan, be marked with ab3, 4, 6 horrence and terror; and if we see this base principle harboured in the breasts of those who call themselves the disciples and ministers of Christ, let us not wonder if by God's righteous judgment they are given up to those excesses of it which bring upon them last ing infamy and endless perdition. xxii. SECT. Luke SECT. CLXVIII. Christ, having directed his disciples where to prepare the passover for him, comes to Jerusalem for the last time before his death, and sits down with them to the celebration of it. Mat. XXVI. 17-20. Mark XIV. 12-17. Luke XXII. 7-18. John XIII. 1. LUKE XXII. 7. NOW after this infamous bargain which Juclxviii. das made with the chief priests to betray into their hands his innocent and Divine Master, XXII. 7. on the fifth day of the week, before the evening when the first day of unleavened bread came, in which, according to the precept of the law, which had expressly limited the time of it, the passover must be killed, or the pascal lamb be slain, in commemoration of the Israelites being preserved from the destroying angel, and delivered out of Egypt, Jesus determined to keep the passover with his disciples. And, that he might in a due manner celebrate it with them, he sent two of his disciples, Peter and John, from the place where he had spent the night before in retirement with them, and said, Go to Jerusalem, and prepare the passover for us, that we may once more eat [it] together. a The first day of unleavened bread came.] There is no room to question that the time when Christ sent his disciples to prepare the passover was on the Thursday of the week in which he suffered; and though the first day of unleavened bread, most strictly so called, was the fifteenth day of Nisan, and began with the evening that the passover was eaten, yet it is not improba And LUKE XXII. 7. THEN came the [first] bread, when the passday of unleavened over must be killed. [MAT. XXVI. 17. MARK XIV. 12.-] 8 And he sent [two of his disciples], Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. [MARK XIV. 13.-] They find a room by his direction, and make ready there. 9 And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we [MARK, 273 clxviii. And they said unto him, Lord, we are ready to SECT. perform the charge, and that we may be under go and] prepare [for no uncertainty as to the place, only desire thou Luke thee to eat the passo- wouldst particularly tell us, Where, or at what XXII. 9. ver?] [MAT. XXVI. house wilt thou have us go and prepare for thy eating the passover with us. 17. MARK XIV. 12.] 10 And he said un city to such a man, meet you, bearing a MARK XIV.-13.] to the good man of the And he said unto them, I will give you a sign, 10 to them, [Go into the which shall put the matter out of doubt: Go diand] behold, when ye rectly into the city to such a one as I will point are entered into the out to you: [and behold, as soon as ever you are city, there shall a man entered into the city, a man will meet you in the pitcher of water; fol- street carrying a pitcher of water in his hand; low him into the house follow him immediately into the house where he where he entereth in. enters; for I know it will be a place very fit for [MAT. XXVI. 18.our accommodation ". And wheresoever he 11 11 And [MARK, goes in, you shall say to the master of the family, wheresoever he shall We are come to thee with a message from Jesus go in ye shall say unthe Teacher; and he says to thee by us, my time house, TheMaster saith is now very near, and before I make my last reunto thee, [My time is move I will celebrate the passover at thy house: at hand, I will keep the where then is the dining-room? or what convewhere is the guest- nient chamber hast thou to spare, where I may chamber, where I shall come and eat the passover with my disciples, and eat the passover with be secure from the interruption of any other my disciples? [MAT. XXVI.-18. MARK Company? And upon this he will take you up 12 stairs, and shew you a large upper room, which 12 And he shall will conveniently hold us all; and you will find furnished it furnished with all proper utensils, and prepared [and prepared: there by all necessary circumstances of purification of make ready [for us]. every kind, so as to be, on the whole, in very [MARK XIV. 15.] good order: there provide the unleavened bread, the lamb, and the bitter herbs, and make all things ready for us against the time of our coming; for we shall be able to find the house without any direction from you. passover at thy house,] XIV. 14] shew you a large up Jer room BA man will meet you, &c.] As Samuel, having anointed Saul, for the confirmation of his faith gave him several predictions relating to some very contingent occurrences he was to meet with in his journey (see 1 Sam. x. 2-7), so our Lord seems by these predictions to have intended the same with regard to his disciples, and also to give them a most important hint that he foresaw all the particular circumstances which were to befal him at Jerusalem when he went up thither for the next and last time before his sufferings.-The sending them to Jerusalem in this manner seems to intimate, that he did not go thither himself that morning so that it is very probable he spent most of the day in retirement for meditation and prayer. And c My time is near.] Every body knew that the time for eating the passover was near; for that these words must be supposed to have a further view. And I am therefore ready to believe that the owner of this house, to whom our Lord sent this message by the name of the teacher, might be a person who (though unknown to Peter and John) was in his heart at least a disciple of Christ; and our Lord might give this intimation, that it was to be a time of more than ordinary importance to him, that it might be some secret support to this man's faith under that violent shock it was soon to receive by his approaching sufferings. d We shall be able to find the house, &c.] The same prophetic gift which ena bled 274 SECT. clxviii. He comes in the evening, and sits down with the twelve. And after he had given these particular in- MARK XIV. 16. structions to his two disciples, they went out from And his disciples went forth, and came into Mat. thence, and came into the city, and found the man the city, and found as XIV. 16 carrying the water, whom they followed into a he had said unto them : house, where there was, just as he had said to and they [did as Jesus had appointed them, them, a commodious dining-room at liberty, and] made ready the and well furnished: and as the master of the passover. [MATT. XXVI. 19. LUKE house was free to let them have it, they did as XXII. 13.] Jesus had appointed them, and made the passover ready against the time when he should come to eat it. 17 And in the evening [LUKE, when the hour was come], he cometh, [and sat down] with the twelve LURE, apostles.] of 17 And in the evening, when the proper hour for John XIII. 1 [MATI. XXVI. 20. LUKE JOHN XIII. 1. Now before the feast of the knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world passover, when Jesus unto the Father, hav Now it is here to be observed, that before he began to eat the feast of the passover, as Jesus knew that his hour was come when he should depart from this calamitous world, in which he had sojourned for a while, to return to the bosom of the Father in which he originally dwelt, he was ing loved his own, solicitous to order every circumstance of his con- which were in the duct in this last intercourse with his disciples, so world, he loved them as might most effectually promote their edifica- unto the end. tion and comfort, and make it clearly manifest that having always tenderly loved his own that were in the world, he loved them in the most per bled Christ to predict these circumstances e To taste the unleavened bread, &c.] I fect bread and bitter herbs, which, when the |