The Last Hours

The last hours were at hand. No one knew it better than Jesus. The elements of power were arrayed against him: on the one side the priestly party, or Sadducees, whom his deed at the temple had angered; on the other the Pharisees, with their leaders, the scribes, who had opposed him from the beginning. The two parties were usually bitterly opposed to each other; now they were ready to join hands (Mark 14:1, 2; Matt 26:1-5). For the present they feared the people, the crowds of the pilgrims who were present for the passover and who favored Jesus; but they were waiting their chance. Jesus had been spending his days during this last week in the city, teaching in the courts of the temple where the people gathered. The first night he had gone to his friends in Bethany, after that apparently to some house upon the Mount of Olives (Mark 11:11; Luke 21:37, 38). The circumstances gave Judas his opportunity. A double motive probably prevailed with this disciple in the deed which has made his memory a shame. Like many others, he had been moved at first by the preaching of Jesus. But while the others of the twelve stood loyal, he could not meet the test when Jesus began to declare that his kingdom was not to mean earthly power and that suffering and death impended. It is likely that a certain angry resentment at Jesus' course made his natural avarice more ready to respond when the temptation came to gain a reward by taking Jesus' foes to this place of his retirement. And so he bargained with them for his thirty pieces of silver (Mark 14:10, 11).

Mark and Matthew both give the incident of the anointing at this place (Mark 14:3-9). It may have occurred that first day of Jesus' entry after he had returned to Bethany. John tells us that it was Mary of Bethany who brought the costly ointment and poured it over his head, breaking the bottle as though she would not have it subject after this to any common use. To the prosaic disciples it seemed a foolish, wasteful deed. Here, as so often, Jesus shows his appreciation of the finer aspects and deeper meanings of life as he rebukes them. For him it was a deed worthy to be told wherever his gospel was proclaimed. In this hour when he faced his great trial, such an act of tender and gracious love moved his heart. "She hath anointed my body beforehand for the burying."

The last crowded days must have left Jesus little time for his disciples. With the end drawing near he felt the need of such time both for fellowship and for instruction. "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer," Luke reports him saying (22:15). All the Gospels report in detail the last supper which they ate together. It was held in the upper room of the house of some friend in the city (Matt 26:17-19). Whether this supper was the passover, scholars are not agreed. The synoptic Gospels state this definitely, but there are strong reasons to the contrary. Had this been the night of the passover, the Jewish leaders would not have been abroad, but would all have been at their homes, according to strict custom. Neither could any trial have been held on the following day, for the day was holy like a Sabbath day. In this case the right tradition seems to be that of the fourth Gospel, which definitely fixes on the following day as the passover (John 13:1, 20; 18:28). In the symbolism of the early church the Lord's Supper was looked upon as the Christian passover, and that is the probable ground for the tradition as to date which the synoptic Gospels follow.

There was one element of discord in the company that gathered about the table. No doubt Jesus had made more than one attempt to stem the change which he had seen taking place in Judas in these last days. Now he saw that it had been in vain. Perhaps he wished to make a last appeal; possibly, failing of that, to remove Judas from the company that he might have these hours in unmarred fellowship. The fourth Gospel states that Judas left during the evening. In any case, Jesus warns his disciples once more of the approaching danger by telling them that one of their own company should betray him, one that was taking food with him from the same dish.

Then followed another lesson, a parable which was to be acted again and again in the long years to come (Mark 14:22-25; Matt 26:26-29; Luke 22:15-20). As so often in the past, Jesus used a picture to set forth the truth, this time, however, putting it in action. Taking a piece of bread during the supper, he broke it and said, "This is my body." And giving them in turn the cup of wine, he said, "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many." The act and the simple words were full of meaning. Here was another word of warning to prepare his disciples for his coming death. Here, again, was an interpretation of that death. Though the hatred and evil of men might bring it about, Jesus knew that his death was the will of the Father and for the saving of men. To the words, "poured out for many," Matthew adds "unto remission of sins." Though the action of Jesus came so simply, there was evident deep solemnity and consciousness of what this meant. He spoke of a new covenant that he was establishing. Long years before Jeremiah had spoken of such a day, when Jehovah was to write his law not upon tablets of stone but in the hearts of men. Jesus knew that this new day for men had come. The oldest record of these events comes not from the Gospels but from the apostle Paul, writing some twenty years after this time (1 Cor 11:23-25).

From the upper room the little company started out for the, Mount of Olives where they had been spending the last few nights. Jesus' thought was still with his disciples. One had already deserted him. Despite all efforts to prepare them, he foresaw how it would be with the others. You shall all be offended in me, he told them. Peter, ready as ever, insisted that he at least would be loyal. Jesus knew that the end was at hand. Before cock crow, he says to Peter, that is, before early morning, "Thou shalt deny me thrice" (Mark 14:26-31).

They had reached the Mount of Olives now and the place called Gethsemane. Jesus knew upon what errand Judas had gone. Flight would have been easy. His enemies did not care so much for his life as simply to be rid of him. But Jesus had settled long since where his path lay. Though there was no hesitation, there was, however, a shrinking and a deep anguish of spirit. It was not simply the horror of a terrible death. There was the deep concern for his disciples that had been weighing upon him, and for his people. For this hour he had prepared in the temptation. To this he had looked forward in that night of prayer on the mount of transfiguration. To these two great hours of struggle the third and hardest was now added. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death," he told the three disciples whom he had asked to watch with him. Prone on his face he prays. The passion of his soul trembles through his prayer: "If it be possible, let this cup pass away from me." Yet the deep undercurrent is the same as in that prayer which he taught his disciples. There is perfect confidence, and there is utter surrender to the will of God: "Abba, Father,... not what I will, but what thou wilt" (Mark 14:32-42; Matt 26:36-46; Luke 22:39-46).

In the distance Jesus heard his enemies approaching. Worn out with the strain of the week, the disciples had slept while he prayed. While he was yet calling them, Judas came leading a band of soldiers and servants from the Pharisees and the priests. What Jesus foresaw took place; the disciples were panic-stricken. "They all left him and fled" (Mark 14:43-52). Mark adds the curious incident of the young man who followed with only a linen cloth flung about him, and who fled naked when they tried to seize him. It is an interesting possibility that this was Mark himself, that the disciples had taken the Last Supper at his mother's home (see Acts 12:12), and that the young man, awakening from sleep, had followed them. If so, then the suggestion is correct that we have in this anonymous reference "the monogram of the artist in a dark corner of the painting." Peter, a little braver than the rest, followed to the house of the high priest, where Jesus was first taken. Luke tells the story of his denial simply but vividly. Sitting in the light of the fire that had been kindled in the court, one after another of the servants, seeing Peter, charged him with being a follower of Jesus the Galilæn. Three times Peter uttered this denial. "And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said unto him, Before the cock crow this day thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:54-62).

Directions for Reading and Study

The plot: Mark 14:1, 2, 10, 11; read also Matt 27:3-10.

The anointing: Mark 14:3-9.

The Last Supper: Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:15-20; compare 1 Cor 11:23-25.

Warnings: Mark 14:26-31; Luke 22:35-38.

At Gethsemane: Mark 14:32-52.

The denial: Mark 14:66-72.

Write down the instances found in these passages of Jesus' attempt to prepare his disciples for the end.