Matthew 26
RileyMatthew 26:1-75
THE LAST SPEECH. THE LAST SUPPER AND THE IN discussing this twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, I propose to centralize your attention upon the Last Supper, the central theme of this Scripture, but I must be permitted some words on the last speech and the surrender. The phrase, “When Jesus had finished all these sayings”, is significant, to say the least. Christ is presented in the Scripture as Prophet, Priest, and King. His prophetic work is terminating. The tragic incident here related looked to His priestly functions, for in the crucifixion, He is more than the lamb, He is also the priest. In the act of offering, His life was not taken from Him; He laid it down of Himself. In that priestly office, He continues until now. The atonement was made 2,000 years ago, but the intercession is not over; at the right hand of the Father He pleads for us. But as the whole subject of prophet, priest, and king is discussed elsewhere in this series, we pass toTHE LAST SUPPER. The third greatest painting in the world is, according to the judgment of competents, Leonardo de Vinci’s “Last Supper”. The two that have rivaled and perhaps surpassed it are “The Sistine Madonna” by Raphael, and “The Last Judgment” by Michael Angelo.This great painting was finished more than four hundred years since, and yet the wear of time and the work of Vandals, destructive as both have been, have not so far detracted from its glory as to drag it to any common level. As there are only a few mountains in the world that approach or surpass the height of twenty thousand feet, so there are two or three pictures that dwarf all others, and this text was made the basis of one of them.The most interesting part of Leonardo’s great painting is the variety of countenance and the individuality of expression found in his conception of the faces of the twelve Apostles. They run all the way from the gentle John, whose features are those of a woman, to the rigid determination depicted in every line of Peter’s rugged face, involving also the cunning depravity seen in the sinister look of Judas Iscariot.The moment of the Last Supper accentuates each of these individualities, and the declaration of Jesus that He was to be betrayed by one of them, has thrown the last man into an animated, questioning attitude, alarmed at the thought that Jesus could suspect him, and yet shadowed by the certainty that some one of them was to be guilty of innocent blood.One is compelled to feel that this prophecy of betrayal occurred near the close of the meal. The glasses are all empty; the provisions are fairly well consumed; the tense in which Jesus speaks is a past tense—“he that dipped his hand with Me in the dish”. In one short second the whole scene is transformed from that of a silent, reflective, conversational company into an excited, questioning, and intensely alarmed fraternity; and one can imagine the awful pall that fell upon them all, when in answer to Judas’ question, “Is it I”? the Master answered, “Thou hast said”.“And He took bread, and blessed it, and brake it; and gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body. “And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it” (Matthew 26:26-27). And then He solemnly added,“But I say unto you, 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” (Matthew 26:29). It was too oppressive to be continued, and solemnly they sang a hymn and walked out, each man to muse upon the meaning of the Master’s words, and to wait with bated breath the possibilities of the coming hours.If there were time, it would be a pleasure to speak of “the good man” who threw his house open to Jesus, appointed to Him a commodious room that He might sit for the last time with the little circle; enter into the sacred fellowship ripened by the intimacy of three and a half years, and know that they, by sympathy, entered with Him into the fast approaching shadows.In this chapter, I want to speak to you on The Social Life of Christianity; The Sorrows of Christianity, and The Songs of Christianity.THE SOCIAL LIFE OF . There is a conception of Christianity ancient and ecclesiastical, that makes it seclusive and emphasizes the nunnery and the monastery—a conception that would take a man out of the fellowship of his brothers, and either set him to meditation or brooding, according to his personal disposition—a conception that finds little support in the New Testament Scriptures.Christ was a social Man! One indictment that they brought against Him was that “the Son of Man came eating and drinking”; one of the most serious charges that they ever hurled at Him was that “He had gone to be the guest of a man that was a sinner”; one of the surprises that came to His own disciples was that “He sat at the table in a Pharisee’s house”.The social life of Christianity as expressed in this text involves two or three things.It centers about the supper table. Hospitality is rapidly perishing from the earth; the guest-chamber is not to be found in many houses. But the one social center that survives is the dining table. By it men meet more often than ever. When the age was an intellectual one, the dining table was the center of mental tournaments.
Luther’s “Table Talks”; the gay circle that gathered round the board in the days of Madam de Maintenon’s first husband, with herself as the matchless hostess, and the courtiers that came later when she was married to Louis XIV; the days of Voltaire and Frederick the Great, and Chesterfield and Dr. Johnson; the more modern “Autocrat of the Breakfast Table”—these all remind us that one of the potent social centers of the past has been the festal board.Today we live the strenuous life; yet most every subject of civil concern, every committee, meeting in the Name of Christ and in the interest of the church, every great commercial enterprise, planned and pushed, finds its interests stated and discussed over the dining table.
In other words, the men who are not of the world are yet in it, and they cannot help it by leaving it, but by laying hands upon it and lifting. And, perhaps, eating has no other significance comparable to that of taking on new strength that one might maintain new interest, exercise new devotion, and be spent in service.The family circle is seen in its completeness; its spirit is unified, its interests are made to appear one, as the members gather to the three meals a day, more perhaps, than by any other act entering into the home; and the Church of God is a family, and the Lord’s Supper is intended not only to provide for it a social center, but to declare its unity of spirit, its oneness of purpose, and its solidarity of interest. After all that may be spoken, therefore, with reference to the ordinance, Jesus meant that this table should never pass away, at least not “until He should come”.This social life expressed itself in conversation. They talked of things of common interest, Jesus Himself the chief spokesman. There are some men who think that the Church of God can go on without Jesus. Rationalistic thinkers inform us that the Deity of the Man from Nazareth has little to do with the further history of the institution that wears His Name.
But is it not a fact that He was the center of the original company? Is it not equally true that He is the only center of the Church of God now, and that if He is taken out the institution would go down in a heap?
The occasion of its interest would have come to an end, and the theme of religious conversation would be past, and the commissions of the church would have become meaningless. It does make a difference what we talk about, and it makes a big difference who is the leader of the conversation—all the difference between interest and ennui. To be a good conversationalist is to be an attractive member of society; and to know the language of the Kingdom of God is to be an effective servant of Jesus Christ; and to keep a conversation on the Christian basis is the finest art of the twentieth century. We have come upon days when women engage in chit-chat, and when many men spend their time either in political phrases on the one side, or salacious slang on the other. What is more refreshing than to fall in with one and find him informed; thinking in many directions, and yet thinking accurately; studying many subjects, and yet escaping superficiality; dispensing wisdom with every movement of the lips, and yet retaining utter modesty both in spirit and speech. One can easily imagine that a company such as gathered with Christ must have made marked mental progress, and that conversation in which He appeared as chief, must have meant the solution of their problems of life, and the inspiration of every spirit engaged.Social life finds its climax in instruction.
The table presents a good opportunity for questions and for answers, and if it were rightly conducted, the father and mother would not make it a time for criticism of conduct of the children; not an occasion of settling disputes between members of the family, nor the hour of voicing complaints. When the body is being fed, the mind and spirit ought to be forgotten.
I have often wondered what it must have meant to be a member of Gladstone’s house, and questioned whether he made the time of the meals mean for his family what his appearance in the House of Parliament, for instance, meant for the public? There is a story told to the effect that on one occasion some women gathered in one of the great houses of England and engaged in debating a disputed point, about which one finally remarked, “Well, if we cannot settle it, there is One above who knows all things,” and Mrs. Gladstone immediately remarked, “Yes, and I think William will be down in a minute,” for just then William happened to be in a gallery over them.Dr. Watson said, “It happened once that a family had a father who was a benefactor to the state and did such service that after his death a statue was erected in a public place to his memory, and on the pedestal his virtues were engraven that all might read his name and revere his memory. His children mingled with the people as they stood in that square and listened to their father’s praise with pride. But their eyes were dry.
This figure with civic robes, cut in stone, was not the man they knew and loved. Within the home were other memorials, more intimate and more dear, more living—a portrait, a packet of letters, a Bible.
As the family looked on such sacred possessions, they remembered him who had labored for them, had trained them from first years, had counselled, comforted, protected them. All he had done for the big world was as nothing to what he had done for his own. When they gathered around the hearth he built, on certain occasions they spoke of him with gentler voices, with softened eyes, while the strangers passed on the street.” And then Watson applies this principle to the church, saying, “Such a Father is Jesus, and we are His children whom He has loved unto death.” Sweet is the social life when the Son of God is the center!THE SORROWS OF . Christianity has its sorrows! Right into the midst of social joy, sorrow is flung on this occasion, for as they were eating, He said, “Verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me. And they were exceedingly sorrowful”. That sorrow is expressed again when “He took the bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, Take, eat; this is My body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto the remission of sins”.Why should sorrow intrude itself upon social life? There are two or three possible answers.Sin has intruded itself! The explanation of Jesus’ sorrow is in Judas’ sin. The explanation of the world’s sorrow is in the world’s sin.
Cain was a sinner and Cain was a sorrowful man. David sinned and the record of his child’s death is his sorrow, and the fifty-first Psalm is his sob. It is an awful state of mind when a man is willing to take away his own life, and yet, recently, a man seventy years of age, living in outward opulence, surrounded by wife and children, sought to drown his sorrows in San Pedro surf. Why this sorrow? Because many months ago in the city of Minneapolis, there was sin!Yet “no man liveth unto himself”!The sin that brings one man to sorrow involves many others. The sorrow of Jesus—victim of Judas’ sin—flung a shadow over the whole table; eleven men passed into it and were oppressed by it. You regret that Christianity makes this not only possible, but a necessity? I do not; I rejoice in it!
I would not want to live in a land where sympathy is unknown. I should not want to accept a religion that opposed its experience or expression. In India, where the tenets of Christian Science under other names have made marked progress, where the actuality of the body is denied and sufferings are declared to be unreal, no sympathy is known. Starvation stalks the streets and leaves its ten thousand dead, but the prospered pass by the starving and the expression of sympathy is not to be expected! The religion of India, like the religion of Mrs. Eddy, smiles sympathy out of court.It is a long way from the religion of Jesus, who said to those who had caught His Spirit, “I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink.
I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: naked and ye clothed Me. I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me”.
And when they shall ask Him, “When saw we Thee an hungred and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? sick and visited thee; in prison and came unto Thee?” The King shall answer, “Verily, I say unto thee, inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me”. And when that great, hard, unsympathetic crowd, driven from His presence and cursed with an everlasting curse, shall hear the occasion of their indictment in the words, “I was an hungred and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; * * sick, and ye visited Me not; in prison, and ye came not unto Me”, and they shall ask Him, “When saw we thee hungry, and thirsty, and a stranger, and sick and in prison, and came not unto thee”? To them He will reply, “Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it not unto Me”.The parable of the Good Samaritan in the New Testament Scriptures is the proof of Christ’s position on the matter of sympathy and the exemplification of Christianity.It may be a relief to feel that one need not suffer with others; but it is a relief from which I should never ask, or covet, or, under any circumstances, be willing to accept. To me there is a beauty akin to that which marks the Christ Himself in the statement that a Belgian woman felt the sufferings of her child so keenly that a mark like a scar appeared on her person in the very spot where her child was afflicted. St.
Francis of Assisi saw a vision of the sufferings of Christ, his Lord, and when he awoke he found the marks of the Christ in his hands and feet; and the stigma was the sign of his saintship. There has never been an unsympathetic religion in the world which has not debased the people who accepted it; and the man who remains unmoved by the sorrows of others is a long way removed from the side of Christ; and the religion that denies the reality of sorrow and restrains men from the expression of sympathy is not Christianity.There is an old legend concerning three girls who disputed as to which had the most beautiful hands.
One dipped hers into a pure spring; another picked berries until her fingers were pink; and the third gathered roses until her hands were fragrant. An aged woman came leaning upon her staff and asked a gift, but they all alike refused her. A fourth girl, who could make no pretentions to beauty, saw her sad plight and ministered to the mother’s needs. Whereupon the aged woman said, “It is not the hand dipped in the spring, nor made beautiful by contact with berries, nor perfumed by touch of the rose that is the most beautiful, but the hand that giveth to the needy, which gives expression to what the heart has felt.” As thus she spoke, her mask fell off, her staff was cast aside, her wrinkles vanished, and she stood before them, an angel of God. No one will ever know what the sympathies of Christianity have meant as saving features in the lives of men.“The summer rose the sun has flushed With crimson glory, may be sweet— ’Tis sweeter when its leaves are crushed Beneath the wind’s and tempest’s feet. “The rose, that waves upon its tree, In life, sheds perfume all around— More sweet the perfume floats to me Of roses trampled on the ground. “It is a truth beyond our ken— And yet a truth that all may read— It is with roses as with men, The sweetest hearts are those that bleed. “The flower which Bethlehem saw bloom Out of a heart all full of grace, Gave never forth its full perfume Until the cross became its vase.” THE SONGS OF . “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:30). Guiltless sorrow can sing! Guilty sorrow cannot! Judas didn’t join in that song; the other disciples did. They were guiltless! The stocks of Paul and Silas in the prison, and the blood that trickled to their knees, did not suffice to stop their songs. It is a suggestive fact that the very men of whom Paul writes as having been tortured; as having had trials of mockings and scourgings, bonds and imprisonments; as having been stoned, tempted, slain with the sword; as having been compelled to go about with sheep and goat skins, destitute, afflicted, wandering in deserts, and mountains and caves and holes in the earth, were yet accustomed to regale their souls with psalms, spiritual songs, and hymns, and for the simple reason that they all had the witness borne to them that God designed them for better things.
Not every Christian has been blessed with a flute-like voice and consequently fitted for the choirs of earth; but every man that has been with Jesus has a song in his heart that no change of experience can hush to an everlasting silence—the song that will one day find expression when “Moses and the Lamb” are the subjects of universal praise!Singing is an antidote to sorrow. What one of you ever went to work in the morning with a heart leadened and a spirit well-nigh broken, but found himself at song while he mused?
Henry Ward Beecher said, “We can sing away our cares much better than we can reason them away. The birds sing early in the morning, and the birds are more without care than anything else I know of.” “Sing in the evening,” is also his advice. “Singing is the last thing the robins do. When they have taken their last flight, picked up their last morsel of food, and wiped their bills on a napkin of a bough, then on the top of a twig they sing one song of praise. I know they sleep the better for it. They dream music, and sometimes in the night they break forth into singing, and stop, startled by their own voices. Oh, that we might sing evening and morning, and let song touch song all the way through!
Oh, that we could put songs under our burden, and extract the sense of sorrow by song! Then sad things would not poison so much.
Sing in the house and teach your children to sing, and when troubles come, go at them with song; when griefs arise, sing them down. Lift the voice of praise against cares and you yourself will be lifted.”“Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” Singing is the evidence of salvation. These eleven men could never have sung this night had they not known Jesus as Saviour; had they been merely friends of the world, an attempt at song would have stuck in their throats. The man who knows Christ and whose salvation is secure can sing in the deepest shadows. No one will ever accuse me of having any soft words for Unitarianism, or setting forth any hope for the people that believe and propagate the doctrine of the denial of the Deity of Jesus Christ, and yet there is one Unitarian I expect to meet in Heaven, and that is Sir John Bowring, born in 1792, died in the year of his four score, or in 1872—the man who wrote:“In the Cross of Christ I glory, Towering o’er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime. “When the woes of life o’ertake me, Hopes deceive and fears annoy, Never shall the Cross forsake me: Lo! it glows with peace and joy. “When the sun of bliss is beaming Light and love upon my way, From the Cross the radiance streaming, Adds new luster to the day. “Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure, By the Cross are sanctified; Peace is there, that knows no measure, Joys that through all time abide.” His faith was better than his creed; and the man who can sing that song is a saved man, and the woman who can sing it and mean it, is forever secure.THE OF CHRIST, The surrender was prophesied, “Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall he offended because of Me this night; for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. “But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee” (Matthew 26:31-32) There is scarcely an incident recorded in the life of Christ that does not provide a positive proof of his conscious Deity, and of both His temporal and eternal destiny. He knew that in Him prophecy was destined shortly to find another definite fulfillment. Hence His quotation from Zechariah 13:7,“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones” (Zechariah 13:7). and the future was so perfectly within His power that He dared to promise the place of meeting when once His resurrection was accomplished. “I will go before you into Galilee”. These are marvellous sidelights! Yea, they amount even to a scientific demonstration of His Deity claim.His surrender is protested.“Peter answered and said unto Him, Though all men shall he offended because of Thee, yet will I never he offended. “Jesus said unto Him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. “Peter said unto Him, Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee. Likewise also said all the disciples” (Matthew 26:33-35) Poor Peter! His humanity was as clearly shown in the character of his speech as was the Divinity of Christ demonstrated in the preceding prophecy. On a previous occasion Matthew records (Matthew 16:21-23):“From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. “Then Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee. “But He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men”. It will be noted that Peter here changed his tone altogether. He tacitly admits now that the Cross is the destiny of the Christ, but falls into a second error, namely, a personal assurance of his own steadfastness, his fealty under any and all conditions.“Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended. “Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. “Peter said unto Him, Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee. Likewise also said all the disciples?” (Matthew 26:33-35) If we would know the faithlessness with which this disciple’s pledge was kept, and if in the record we would see an example of the weakness of believers, under circumstances of trial, then read Matthew 26:36-46 :“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. “And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. “Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me. “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 I will, but as Thou wilt. “And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, 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. “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done. “And He came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. “And He left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. “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. “Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray Me”. It was a great honor that Christ bestowed upon Peter and the two sons of Zebedee that He should have carried them with Him to the sacred precincts of His soul’s struggle. Their choice indicated that He regarded them as His best, and if humanity could be depended upon by Divinity at all, it would find support in these. But, alas, for the weakness of man at his best! The agony of Gethsemane had to be suffered alone by the Son of God. His best trusted, slept, while He tasted the bitterness of the cup alone. “The flesh is weak”! Disappointment awaits the man that puts confidence in it. Its failure continues to sorrow the Son of God. It could not give Him one solid hour of watchfulness and prayer—not even when stimulated by His injunction, “Tarry ye here, and watch with Me”.
How dare we, then, put any trust whatever in the flesh! That is why it is written, “There shall no flesh be justified in His sight” (Romans 3:20).But was the sin of Peter and the other disciples greater than is the sin of those churchmen of the present, who permit the Son of Man to be betrayed into the hands of sinners and speak not a word; who retain their official relations to the church, but soundly sleep at the very time when infidels seek a fresh crucifixion of the Son of God?This surrender is also presaged (Matthew 26:47-56). The part that Judas played in this betrayal will forever make his name anathema. The kiss that Judas bestowed in his pretended discipleship links up hypocrisy with the hiss of the serpent. While the blundering endeavor of Peter to defend his Lord with a sword, and the cowardice of the rest of the disciples as they speedily deserted Him in the critical hour, will remain a record destined to protest both the use of the sword in Christian conquest, and the exercise of cowardice on the part of Christian professors.Finally, the surrender of Christ was completed (Matthew 26:57-68). Does history know; any tragedy comparable to this—the arrest of an innocent man without occasion? (Matthew 26:57); the desertion of a leader by even the loudest of his professed followers? (Matthew 26:58); the employment of false witnesses to justify, if possible, a capital punishment? (Matthew 26:59-61); the professed indignation of a judge whose prejudices made equity impossible? (Matthew 26:62); the ominous silence of the Son of the Most High? (Matthew 26:65); the prophetic reference to His glorious Second Coming? (Matthew 26:64); the hot cry for crucifixion on the part of those who thirsted for blood? (Matthew 26:65-66); the contumely of the low and vile? (Matthew 26:67-68)—all climaxed at last by the cringing cowardice of a prominent Apostle? (Matthew 26:69-75).We will not pause to discuss Peter’s denial, nor yet the derision of His enemies, the falsehood of the witnesses against Him, the contorting prejudices of His judge. “The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him”, and the night approaches.
Its very blackness is a symbol of the darkness in which the world walks to the crucifixion of its own Lord. But repentance often comes in the night, and Peter, who is a weak, though a true disciple, will break his heart in penitence before the day itself shall break again.