The "sayings," "words," or discourses of Jesus here "finished," were begun on the Mount of Olives (see Matthew 24:1), and continued till he came to Bethany (see ver. 6). They were spoken, it would seem, publicly, while the sentence following was privately spoken "unto his disciples" (ver. 2). The matter of this sentence is intrinsically intensely interesting, and it is interesting also from its relation to the consultation of the Sanhedrin next mentioned (vers. 3-5). The subject remarkably illustrates two things, viz. -

I. THAT GOD'S PLANS ARE WISE AND BENEFICENT.

1. Here note the prescience of Jesus.

(1) He clearly and circumstantially foretells his death. Mark the contrast in his revelations: "The Son of man shall come in his glory" (ch. 25:31); "The Son of man is delivered up to be crucified." The literal fulfilment of the latter pledges the certainty of the former.

(2) He had already very particularly foretold his death (see Matthew 16:21; Matthew 20:17; Mark 10:32-34). Now he precisely indicates the time: "After two days," i.e. on the third day, or with one full day intervening (cf. Hosea 6:2). This was Wednesday; on Thursday night he was betrayed by Judas; Friday morning he was condemned by the Sanhedrin, and two hours later crucified by Pilate.

(3) The calmness with which Jesus anticipated the horrors so soon to be experienced is truly admirable. It is explained by the prescience which carried him further (cf. Matthew 25:31; Hebrews 12:2).

2. This prescience is clearly Divine.

(1) The chief priests and rulers had for some time meditated his death, and it was within the range of probability that they might accomplish their purpose. But what human forecast could have seen the circumstances and the time of the event?

(2) These particulars, as he anticipated them, were against human probability. The plot was to destroy Jesus secretly, and therefore the execution of the purpose was to be deferred until after the feast (ver. 5). Then the multitude would have dispersed, and the Galilaeans in particular would have returned to their homes.

(3) It was not until Judas made his overture that the plotters altered their plans, and resolved to risk the "tumult among the people." But the treachery of Iscariot was fully within the prescience of Jesus (see vers. 21-25).

3. It is the prescience of wisdom and beneficence.

(1) Jesus was sacrificed at the Feast of the Passover as the antitype of the Paschal lamb.

(a) This God distinguishes as especially his: "My sacrifice" (see Exodus 23:18), viz. because it was instituted by him to be a special type of "the LAMB OF GOD that beareth away the sin of the world" (see 1 Corinthians 5:7).

(b) The Paschal lamb was "a male of the first year," the symbol of excellence in its prime. So was Jesus, in the prime of his peerless manhood, when offered up.

(c) It was "without blemish." He was immaculate in his birth, and in his life and death he fulfilled all righteousness.

(2) Wisdom is also seen in the time.

(a) The word here construed "betrayed" is in the New Version rendered "delivered up," the reference being to the setting apart of the lamb rather than to the treachery of Judas. It refers to something accomplished. The lamb was taken on the tenth day of the first month (see Exodus 12:1-3); and on this day Jesus entered Jerusalem (see John 12:1, 12, 13).

(b) The lamb was then to be kept "until the fourteenth day of the same month" (see Exodus 12:6). On this day the true Paschal Lamb was sacrificed. There is reason to believe that in this case, two days were kept, and the right day was that upon which Jesus was offered up.

(c) The time of the day also was exact, viz. "between the two evenings" (see Exodus 12:6, margin), i.e. between the sun's declining west, at noon, and his setting, at about six in the afternoon. Jesus was crucified at noon, and expired three hours later, exactly between the evenings (see Matthew 27:46-50).

(3) The beneficence of this wisdom is seen in the purposes. As the blood of the Paschal lamb redeemed Israel from Egypt, and redeemed his firstborn from the sword of the destroyer, so are we redeemed from sin and death by the sacrificial blood of Christ.

II. THAT HE MAKES MAN'S PLOTS SUBSERVIENT TO THEM,

1. We see God's purposes in the assembly.

(1) Who are they? "The chief priests ... and the elders of the people." Little did they think that they were giving effect to the truth of prophecy; for it is written that "the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Christ" (see Psalm 2:2; Psalm 41:7). It is also specified that the Paschal lamb should be offered by the whole congregation: "The whole assembly of the congregation shall kill it" (Exodus 12:6). Here was the very Sanhedrin.

(2) What a lesson of human depravity is here! "The chief priests," and probably Caiaphas the high priest at the head of them. Sacredness of office is no security against rascality. "The rulers," who were members of the great Sanhedrin because of their influence, whether of wealth, or birth, or abilities. Men the most reputable as seen by their fellows, may be the most odious as seen by God.

2. We see God's purposes in their measures.

(1) Their policy is to have Jesus secretly killed. This was manifestly from the devil, who would give sceptics the pretext to say, "This thing was done in a corner." The Sanhedrin feared the uproar of the people.

(2) But the devil outwits himself. Iscariot appears upon the scene, and his proposals induce them to hazard the bolder policy. It was customary at festivals to execute malefactors publicly, "that all Israel might see and fear" (see Deuteronomy 17:13; Acts 12:4).

(3) Thus, then, the Passion of Christ became a matter of the utmost celebrity. He suffers openly amidst thousands of witnesses. His death was notorious, which gave emphasis to the notoriety of the subsequent event of the glorious resurrection from the dead.

(4) Thoughts of the suffering Christ sustain the suffering Christian, suffering for him and with him. And "if we suffer with him, we shall be also glorified together." - J.A.M.

The bread and cup are His body and blood, because they are causes instrumental, upon the receipt whereof the participation of His body and blood ensueth. Every cause is in the effect which groweth from it. Our souls and bodies quickened to eternal life are effects, the cause. whereof is the person of Christ; His body and blood are the true well-spring out of which this life floweth What merit, force, or virtue soever there is in His sacrificed body and blood we freely, fully, and wholly have by this sacrament; and because the sacrament itself, being but a corruptible and earthly creature, must needs be thought an unlikely instrument to work so admirable effects in men, we are therefore to rest ourselves altogether upon the strength of His glorious power, who is able and will bring to pass that the bread and cup which He giveth us shall be truly the thing He promiseth.

(R. Hooker, D. D.)

I. A true feast — for the nourishment of the spiritual life.

II. A sacred feast — sanctifying from all carnal enjoyment.

III. A covenant feast-sealing redemption.

IV. A love feast — uniting the redeemed.

V. A supper feastforefestival of death, of the end of all things, of the coming of Christ.

(J. P. Lange, D. D.)

Supper: — This rite shows us what Christ thought, and would have us think, of His death. By it He points out the moment of His whole career which He desires that men should remember. Not His words of tenderness and wisdom; not His miracles, amazing and gracious as these were; not the flawless beauty of His character, though it touches all hearts, and wins the most rugged to love and the most degraded to hope; but the moment in which He gave His life is that which He would imprint for ever on the memory of the world. And not only so, but in the rite He distinctly tells us in what aspect He would have that death remembered. Not as the tragic end of a noble career which might be hallowed by tears such as are shed over a martyr's ashes; not as the crowning proof of love; not as the supreme act of patient forgiveness; but as a death for us, in which, as by the blood of the sacrifice, is secured the remission of sins. And not only so, but the double symbol in the Lord's Supper — whilst in some respects the bread and wine speak the same truths, and certainly point to the same cross — has in each of its parts special lessons entrusted to it, and special truths to proclaim. The bread and the wine both say, "Remember Me and My death." Taken in conjunction they point to the death as violent; taken separately they each suggest various aspects of it, and of the blessings that will flow to us therefrom.

I. A Divine treaty or covenant.

II. The forgiveness of sins.

III. A life infused.

IV. A festal gladness.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

God's covenants with His people: — Ancient Israel had lived for nearly 2000 years under the charter of their national existence, which was given on Sinai amidst thunderings and lightnings (Exodus 19:5, etc.). And that covenant, or agreement, or treaty, on the part of God was ratified by a solemn act, in which the blood of the sacrifice, divided into two portions, was sprinkled, half upon the altar, and the other half, after their acceptance of the conditions and obligations of the covenant, on the people who had pledged themselves to obedience. And now here is a Galilean peasant, in a borrowed upper room, within four-and-twenty hours of His ignominious death, which might seem to blast all His work, who steps forward and says, "I put away that ancient covenant which knits this nation to God. It is antiquated. I am the true offering and sacrifice, by the blood of which, sprinkled on altar and on people, a new covenant, built upon better promises, shall henceforth be." What a tremendous piece of audacity, except on the one hypothesis that He who spake was indeed the Word of God, and that He was making that which Himself had established of old to give way to that which He establishes now. The new covenant, which Christ seals in His blood, is the charter, the better charter, under the conditions of which the whole world may find a salvation which dwarfs all the deliverances of the past. Between us and the infinite Divine nature there is established a firm and unmoveable agreement. He has limited Himself by the utterance of a faithful word, and we can now come to Him with His own promise, and cast it down before Him, and say, "Thou hast spoken, and Thou art bound to fulfil it." We have a covenant; God has shown us what He is going to do, and has thereby pledged Himself to the performance.

(Ibid.)

I. The NATURE of the institution. It is a supper — strictly and essentially in its own particular nature it is nothing else. Was apparently in connection with another supper, and it seemed to be almost a part of that other supper. The supper was significant and emblematic-a representation of something else.

II. The OBJECT and design. The death of Christ is brought before us. The death of Christ as an offering for sin is brought before us. The death of Christ as the seal of the everlasting covenant between the Father and the Son is brought before us.

III. The OBSERVANCE of the rite. Just as simple as its nature and object. The frequency of reception is left open. The posture may he considered indifferent. The positive directions and the actual practice of our Lord.

(C. Molyneux.)

I. The TIME OF THE INSTITUTION.

1. During the feast of the Passover. Christ the true Passover (Exodus 12:3, 6, 7, and others; with John 1:29; Revelation 5:6).

2. On the eve of His being offered. The meaning and purpose of the Passover lamb transferred to Jesus, and the sense widened. That for the Jews only, this for the true Israel of God, etc.

II. THE METHOD OF THE INSTITUTION.

1. With thanksgiving.

2. The bread-broken, distributed, eaten. Christ the bread of life. Received by faith.

3. The wine. All were to drink it. The blood of Christ shed for the remission of sin.

4. They sung a hymn — left the table with joy and thankfulness.

III. THE PURPOSE OF THE INSTITUTION.

1. TO supersede the Jewish Passover.

2. A memorial feast. No less binding upon Christians than any other law of Christ. A dying command. Sacredness of last words.

3. A bond of union among Christians, and public acknowledgment of indebtedness to and faith in Christ.

(J. C. Gray.)

Relate the history of this feast.

I. THE PASSOVER FEAST COMMEMORATED A GREAT DELIVERANCE.

1. A deliverance from what? From Egyptian bondage — the destroying angel — God's judgment upon sin.

2. How was this deliverance effected?

3. Why was this deliverance commemorated every year?

II. THE PASSOVER FEAST POINTED TO A GREATER DELIVERANCE.

1. A deliverance from what? From a worse bondage than that of Egypt, etc. (John 8:34; Peter 2:19). And from a judgment more terrible than came upon the first-born (Romans if. 3, 5, 8; Matthew 25:41).

2. How was this greater deliverance to be effected? Also by the blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 1:18, 19; Revelation 5:8, 9). Who is this Lamb? (John 1:29; Colossians 1:13, 14; Hebrews 9:12, 14). We must come to Christ and have heart sprinkled (Hebrews 10:19, 22; 1 Peter 1:2). Each must have his own sin put away, etc.

3. How did the yearly feast point to this greater deliverance? Would show how deliverance from death could only be by death of another (1 Corinthians 5:7).

III. CHRIST INSTITUTED THE LORD'S SUPPER TO COMMEMORATE THIS GREATER DELIVERANCE. In the Lord's Supper two things done —

1. We commemorate Christ's death for us.

2. We feed upon Him by faith.

(E. Stock.)

Nature and design.

I. A COMMEMORATION. Includes —(1) Adoration. Adoration due to God in fashion of a man. It is this that makes Him the central point of the universe, to whom all eyes are turned.(2) Gratitude. The benefits — deliverance from hell, power of Satan, and sin; restoration to the favour and fellowship of God; fellowship with Christ, including participation with His life and glory. The cost at which these benefits were secured — Christ's humiliation and suffering.

II. A COMMUNION.

1. An act and means of participation. We participate in His body and blood, i.e., of their sacrificial virtue.

2. The effect of this makes us one with Him; one body. Illustration from the Jewish rites. In this ordinance our union with Christ and with each other is far more intimate.

III. CONSECRATION. We cannot commemorate Christ as our Saviour without thereby acknowledging ourselves to be His — the purchase of His blood, and devoted to His service.

(C. Hodge, D. D.)

I. A REMEMBRANCE of the atonement of Christ.

1. How much He suffered.

2. How well He suffered.

3. How patiently -He suffered.

II. A PROCLAMATION of the atonement of Christ.

III. A PARTICIPATION in the atonement of Christ.

1. Great facilities granted.

2. A direct communication from Christ to His people.

(B. Noel, M. A.)

I. THE WORDS OF THE SAVIOUR AS THEY REGARD THE ACT IN WHICH HIMSELF AND HIS FOLLOWERS WERE THEN ENGAGED. They were drinking of "the fruit," or, more properly, "the product" of the vine. Not a mere ordinary social communion, but in direct connection with the Passover. Christ did not design to honour a Jewish rite as commemorating a national deliverance, but as typical, holding a relationship to Him and the economy of which He was the head.

1. That the Lord Jesus led His followers to regard the Passover as being representative of His mediatorial sufferings and death.

2. The Saviour led His followers to consider the Passover as originating an ordinance to be perpetuated for important purposes throughout all the ages of the Christian Church.

II. The words of the Saviour as they regard THE EVENTS HE TAUGHT HIS FOLLOWERS TO ANTICIPATE,

1. An event of approaching" separation — "I will not henceforth drink of the fruit of the vine until" a certain period afterwards-named; He and His disciples were bound to part.

2. An event of ultimate re-union — "When I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

3. All the followers of the Saviour shall be brought to " the Father's kingdom."

4. The mediation of Jesus Christ, of which the Paschal rite is to be regarded as a:permanent and symbolical pledge, is of such a nature as to secure that all those who have possessed a personal interest in that mediatorial work shall be brought into a state of glorious redemption in the bright worlds which lie beyond the grave.

5. The followers of the Saviour shall possess unspeakable and everlasting joy. The drinking of wine indicates the fruition of all delight.

6. The pleasures which are to be enjoyed by the followers of the Saviour in the Father's kingdom are especially to be regarded as associated with His presence. How pre-eminently in the New Testament is the presence of Christ set forth as constituting the happiness of the celestial world (John 12:26). Learn

(1)How vast and wonderful is the love of Christ to man.

(2)The vast importance of being numbered amongst the followers of Christ ourselves.

(J. Parsons.)

I. The new covenant of forgiveness and life. On God's side is pledged forgiveness, remission of sins, sustained acceptance. On man's side is pledged the obedience of faith. Christ, as mediator for man, receives God's pledge; and, as mediator for God, He receives man's pledge. As representative for man, He offers to God the perfect obedience, and pledges us to a like obedience; as representative for God, He brings and gives to us forgiveness and life, pledging God therein.

II. The blood which seals the covenant. The blood represents the yielding or taking of life.

1. In surrendering His life, Christ sealed our pledge that we will give our life to God in all holy obedience.

2. In giving His blood, His life, for us, as it were, to eat, He gives us the strength to keep our pledge.

III. The wine that recalls to mind and renews the covenant. God does not need to be reminded of His pledge, but frail, forgetful, busy-minded man does.

(Selected.)

I. WHOSE BLOOD WAS THIS? " My blood." It is a man, who sits at that table with others, not an angel. But He is also the living God.

II. BY WHOM WAS THIS BLOOD SHED?

1. Himself, to speak with deepest reverence. Jesus shed His own blood — was the offerer as well as the sacrifice. He freely laid down His life.

2. In some respects the principal party in this mysterious blood-shedding, even the holy loving Father, as it is written, "God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; .... This commandment have I received of My Father;" "The cup which My Father hath given Me."

3. We, believers in Jesus. Our sins were the guilty cause.

III. TO WHAT END AND ISSUE WAS THIS BLOOD-SHEDDING? "For the remission of sins." Our Lord singles out from all the benefits of redemption the remission of sins, not only because it is that which stands most intimately related to His blood-shedding, but because it is the foundation of all, carrying the others along with it by necessary consequence (Jeremiah 31:33, 34). To what effect as well as design? A sure salvation for a great multitude whom no man can number.

(C. J. Brown, D. D.)

Let me mention here a circumstance in the last days of the distinguished Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst, who, at an extreme age, but in full possession of all his rare mental powers, was brought to know the Saviour. tie said, "I never used to be able to understand what these good people meant when they spoke of so much blood, the blood. But I understand it now; it's just substitution." Ay, that it is, in one word, "substitution;" "My blood shed for many for the remission of sins;" Christ's blood instead of ours; Christ's death for our eternal death; Christ "made a curse, that we might be redeemed from the curse of the law." Once, in conversation, my beloved friend, Dr. Duncan, expressed it thus in his terse way, "A religion of blood is God's appointed religion for a sinner, for the wages of sin is death."

(C. J. Brown, D. D.)

Caiaphas, Jesus, Judas, Peter, Simon, Zabdi, ZebedeeBethany, Galilee, Gethsemane, Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, NazarethAssembled, Caiaphas, Ca'iaphas, Chief, Court, Elders, Gathered, Named, Palace, Priest, Priests, Rulers, Scribes1. Jesus foretells his own death.
3. The rulers conspire against him.
6. The woman anoints his feet.
14. Judas bargains to betray him.
17. Jesus eats the Passover;
26. institutes his holy supper;
30. foretells the desertion of his disciples, and Peter's denial;
36. prays in the garden;
47. and being betrayed by a kiss,
57. is carried to Caiaphas,
69. and denied by Peter.

Matthew 26:3

     5514   scribes

Matthew 26:3-4

     2545   Christ, opposition to
     5437   palaces
     5817   conspiracies
     5828   danger
     5875   hatred
     5948   shrewdness
     6186   evil scheming

Matthew 26:3-5

     5936   riots
     7330   chief priests

January 9. "Not as I Will, but as Thou Wilt" (Matt. xxvi. 39).
"Not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matt. xxvi. 39). "To will and do of His good pleasure" (Phil. ii. 13). There are two attitudes in which our will should be given to God. First. We should have the surrendered will. This is where we must all begin, by yielding up to God our natural will, and having Him possess it. But next, He wants us to have the victorious will. As soon as He receives our will in honest surrender, He wants to put His will into it and make it stronger than ever for Him. It is henceforth …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 29. "Could Ye not Watch with Me one Hour?" (Matt. xxvi. 40. )
"Could ye not watch with Me one hour?" (Matt. xxvi. 40.) A young lady whose parents had died while she was an infant, had been kindly cared for by a dear friend of the family. Before she was old enough to know him, he went to Europe. Regularly he wrote to her through all his years of absence, and never failed to send her money for all her wants. Finally word came that during a certain week he would return and visit her. He did not fix the day or the hour. She received several invitations to take …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

January 3. "Watch and Pray" (Matt. xxvi. 41).
"Watch and pray" (Matt. xxvi. 41). We need to watch for prayers as well as for the answers to our prayers. It needs as much wisdom to pray rightly as it does faith to receive the answers to our prayers. We met a friend the other day, who had been in years of darkness because God had failed to answer certain prayers, and the result had been a state bordering on infidelity. A very few moments were sufficient to convince this friend that these prayers had been entirely unauthorized, and that God had …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

'Until that Day'
'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.'--MATT. xxvi. 29. This remarkable saying of our Lord's is recorded in all of the accounts of the institution of the Lord's Supper. The thought embodied in it ought to be present in the minds of all who partake of that rite. It converts what is primarily a memorial into a prophecy. It bids us hope as well as, and because we, remember. The light behind us is cast forward on to …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Last Pleading of Love
'And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come?'--MATT. xxvi. 50. We are accustomed to think of the betrayer of our Lord as a kind of monster, whose crime is so mysterious in its atrocity as to put him beyond the pale of human sympathy. The awful picture which the great Italian poet draws of him as alone in hell, shunned even there, as guilty beyond all others, expresses the general feeling about him. And even the attempts which have been made to diminish the greatness of his guilt, by …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Jesus Charged with Blasphemy
'Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses?'--MATT. xxvi. 65. Jesus was tried and condemned by two tribunals, the Jewish ecclesiastical and the Roman civil. In each case the charge corresponded to the Court. The Sanhedrin took no cognisance of, and had no concern with, rebellion against Caesar; though for the time they pretended loyalty. Pilate had still less concern about Jewish superstitions. And so the investigation in each …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The New Passover
'Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the passover? 18. And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with My disciples. 19. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. 20. Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve. 21. And as they did eat, He said, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'This Cup'
'And Jesus took the cup, and grave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28. For this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins'--MATT. xxvi. 27, 28. The comparative silence of our Lord as to the sacrificial character of His death has very often been urged as a reason for doubting that doctrine, and for regarding it as no part of the original Christian teaching. That silence may be accounted for by sufficient reasons. It has been very much …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Gethsemane, the Oil-Press
'Then 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. 38. Then 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, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Real High Priest and his Counterfeit
'And they that had laid hold on Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. 58. But Peter followed Him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end. 59. Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put Him to death; 60. But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, 61. And said, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Defence of Uncalculating Love
'Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 7. There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head, as He sat at meat. 8. But when His disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 9. For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 10. When Jesus understood it, He said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon Me. 11. For ye have the poor …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Power of Prayer in Relation to Outward Circumstances.
TEXT: MATT. xxvi. 36-46. TO be a religious man and to pray are really one and the same thing. To join the thought of God with every thought of any importance that occurs to us; in all our admiration of external nature, to regard it as the work of His wisdom; to take counsel with God about all our plans, that we may be able to carry them out in His name; and even in our most mirthful hours to remember His all-seeing eye; this is the prayer without ceasing to which we are called, and which is really …
Friedrich Schleiermacher—Selected Sermons of Schleiermacher

An Awful Contrast
"Then did they spit in his face."--Matthew 26:67. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away."--Revelation 20:11. GUIDED BY OUR TEXT in Matthew's Gospel, let us first go in thought to the palace of Caiaphas the high priest, and there let us, in deepest sorrow, realize the meaning of these terrible words: "Then did they spit in his face." There is more of deep and awful thunder in them than in the bolt that bursts overhead, there is …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 42: 1896

A Woman's Memorial
And now my prayer is that we may be endued this morning with the same spirit as that which prompted the woman, when she broke her alabaster box upon the head of Christ. There must be something wonderful about this story, or else Christ would not have linked it with his gospel, for so hath he done. So long as this gospel lives shall this story of the woman be told; and when this story of the woman ceaseth to exist, then the gospel must cease to exist also, for they are co-eternal. As long as this …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

Sunday Next Before Easter.
What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. These words, we cannot doubt, have an application to ourselves, and to all Christians, far beyond the particular occasion on which they were actually spoken. They are, in fact, the words which Christ addresses daily to all of us. Every day, when he sees how often we have gone astray from him, he repeats to us, Could ye not watch with me one hour? Every …
Thomas Arnold—The Christian Life

"For they that are after the Flesh do Mind the Things of the Flesh,",
Rom. viii. 5.--"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,", &c. Though sin hath taken up the principal and inmost cabinet of the heart of man--though it hath fixed its imperial throne in the spirit of man, and makes use of all the powers and faculties in the soul to accomplish its accursed desires and fulfil its boundless lusts, yet it is not without good reason expressed in scripture, ordinarily under the name of "flesh," and a "body of death," and men dead in sins, are …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Wyclif -- Christ's Real Body not in the Eucharist
John Wyclif, eminent as scholar, preacher, and translator, was born in 1324 in Spresswel, near Richmond, Yorkshire, England. Known as the "Morning Star of the Reformation" he was a vigorous and argumentative speaker, exemplifying his own definition of preaching as something which should be "apt, apparent, full of true feeling, fearless in rebuking sins, and so addrest to the heart as to enlighten the spirit and subdue the will." On these lines he organized a band of Bible preachers who worked largely …
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Volume I

That Man must not be Immersed in Business
"My Son, always commit thy cause to Me; I will dispose it aright in due time. Wait for My arrangement of it, and then thou shalt find it for thy profit." 2. O Lord, right freely I commit all things to Thee; for my planning can profit but little. Oh that I did not dwell so much on future events, but could offer myself altogether to Thy pleasures without delay. 3. "My Son, a man often striveth vehemently after somewhat which he desireth; but when he hath obtained it he beginneth to be of another …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Jesus Predicts, the Rulers Plot For, and Judas Bargains for his Death.
(Mount of Olives, Bethany, and Jerusalem. Tuesday After Sunset, Which Jews Regarded as the Beginning of Wednesday.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 1-5, 14-16; ^B Mark XIV. 1, 2, 10, 11; ^C Luke XXII. 1-6. ^c 1 Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. { ^b 1 Now after two days was the feast of the passover and the unleavened bread:} ^a 1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these words, he said unto his disciples, 2 Ye know that after two days the passover cometh, and …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Preparation for Passover. Disciples Contend for Precedence.
(Bethany to Jerusalem. Thursday Afternoon and, After Sunset, Beginning of Friday.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 17-20; ^B Mark XIV. 12-17; ^C Luke XXII. 7-18, 24-30. ^c 7 And the day of unleavened bread came, on which the passover must be sacrificed. [See p. 57. Leaven was to the Jew a symbol of corruption and impurity, because it causes bread to become stale. The feast of unleavened bread began properly on the fifteenth of Nisan, and lasted seven days, but this was the fourteenth Nisan, the day on which the paschal …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Judas' Betrayal and Peter's Denial Foretold.
(Jerusalem. Evening Before the Crucifixion.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 21-25, 31-35; ^B Mark XIV. 18-21, 27-31; ^C Luke XXII. 21-23, 31-38; ^D John XIII. 21-38. ^b 18 And ^d 21 When Jesus had thus said, ^b as they sat and were eating, ^d he was troubled in the spirit, and ^b Jesus ^d testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. ^b even he that eateth with me. ^c 21 But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. [The foreknowledge of Judas' crime …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Lord's Supper Instituted.
(Jerusalem. Evening Before the Crucifixion.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 26-29; ^B Mark XIV. 22-25; ^C Luke XXII. 19, 20; ^F I. Cor. XI. 23-26. ^a 26 And as they were eating, ^f the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; 24 and when he had given thanks, { ^b blessed,} ^f he brake it, ^a and he gave to the disciples, and said, ^b Take ye: ^a Take, eat; this is my body. ^f which is ^c given ^f for you: this do in remembrance of me. [As only unleavened bread was eaten during the paschal supper, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Jesus Betrayed, Arrested, and Forsaken.
(Gethsemane. Friday, Several Hours Before Dawn.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 47-56; ^B Mark XIV. 43-52; ^C Luke XXII. 47-53; ^D John XVIII. 2-11. ^d 2 Now Judas also, who betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. [See p. 583.] 3 Judas then, having received the band of soldiers, and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. ^b 43 And straightway, while he yet spake, ^a lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Second Stage of Jewish Trial. Jesus Condemned by Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.
(Palace of Caiaphas. Friday.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 57, 59-68; ^B Mark XIV. 53, 55-65; ^C Luke XXII. 54, 63-65; ^D John XVIII. 24. ^d 24 Annas therefore sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest. [Foiled in his attempted examination of Jesus, Annas sends him to trial.] ^b and there come together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. ^a 57 And they that had taken Jesus led him away to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, ^c and brought him into the high priest's house. ^a where …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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