A PLAIN COMMENTARY ON THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER OF St. Mark's Gospel. 1 A conspiracy against CHRIST. 3 Precious ointment is poured on His head by a woman. 10 Judas selleth his Master for money. 12 CHRIST Himself foretelleth how He shall be betrayed of one of His Disciples: 22 after the Passover prepared, and eaten, instituteth His Supper: 26 declareth aforehand the flight of all His Disciples, and Peter's denial. 43 Judas betrayeth Him with a kiss. 46 He is apprehended in the garden, 53 falsely accused, and impiously condemned of the Jews' council: 65 shamefully abused by them: 66 and thrice denied of Peter. It will be remembered that the preceding chapter contained our SAVIOUR'S wondrous prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the World,-a transaction which it is reasonable to refer to the evening of Tuesday in Passover week. A day has elapsed since then. It is now Wednesday; and in conformity with the Hebrew mode of expression, it is added, XIV. AFTER two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might take Him by craft, and put Him to death. But they said, Not on the Feast 2 day, lest there be an uproar of the people. Enough has already been offered in illustration of these verses in the Commentary on St. Matthew xxvi. 2 and 5. It has been there pointed out that the beautiful incident which follows, is not introduced in strict historical order; and the reason has been assigned why the mention of it has been reserved for this place. 3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on His head. 4 Her impatient Love could not wait till the precious ointment should slowly distil itself, drop by drop, on the Head of the Holy One. She therefore brake the box, whereby, as St. John declares, "the house was filled with the odour of the ointment"." And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this 5 waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. A few words on these three verses will be found in the notes on St. Matthew xxvi. 6, 7 and 9; but • St. John xii. 3. concerning the entire transaction, the Reader is referred to the Commentary on St. John's Gospel". And JESUS said, Let her alone; why trouble 6 ye her? she hath wrought a good work on Me. For ye have the poor with you always, 7 and whensoever ye will ye may do them good but Me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint My Body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this 9 gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. It has been well observed that not only in respect of its striking fulfilment, is this a most remarkable saying; "but also as expressing, in the strongest manner, the very opposite views taken by our LORD and by His Disciples, of this Woman's action." See more, in the Commentary on St. John, who relates this beautiful incident in its actual historical place. As already remarked elsewhere, the Supper at Bethany has been reserved by St. Mark till now, in consequence of its connexion with the event which follows, and in order to explain to the Reader what was the immediate occasion of that event. And Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, b St. John xii. 1 to 8. Bp. Lonsdale and Archd. Hale. d St. John xii. 1 to 8. went unto the chief Priests, to betray Him 11 unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray Him. It is observable that heinous offences committed against the Son of Man, cast their shadows far back into the Old Testament; and are either typically alluded to, or find distinct and unexpected mention there. The piercing of the side is one such incident: the spitting is another. Just so, the sin of Judas is found to have been on the lips of two of the ancient prophets: for Zechariah says, 'They weighed for My price thirty pieces of silver;' and St. Matthew declares that those words had been uttered by Jeremy the prophet h who lived a hundred years earlier. Nor does the event even then for the first time shine out from the darkness. When Joseph was let down into the pit, and sold into Egypt by his brethren at the instigation of another Judas, (and such coincidences of name are not accidental,)-sold for twenty pieces of silver,-who so blind as not to perceive that a greater than Joseph was there? that the crime committed against the Only Begotten Son was but receiving a first faint portraiture in the transaction of the twelve patriarchs? that it • Consider Zech. xii. 10: (B. c. 487.) Numb. xx. 11, (B. C. 21, 22 (B. c. 4004.) Zech. xi. 12. 1 Gen. xxxvii. 28. was the sin of Judas flinging its shadow back, as one may say, to the very beginning of Time? And the first day of unleavened bread, 12 when they killed the Passover, his Disciples said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we go and prepare that Thou mayest eat the Passover? And He sendeth forth two of His 13 Disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the City, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to 14 the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with My Disciples? And 15 he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. And His Disciples went forth, and came 16 into the City, and found as He had said unto them and they made ready the Passover. : A few remarks on what precedes will be found in the notes on St. Matthew xxvi. 17 and 19. The sign which guided St. John and St. Peter to the House where the last Paschal Supper, the first LORD's Supper' was to be eaten, will be found. remarked on in the note on St. Luke xxii. 10. And in the evening He cometh with the 17 Twelve. See more in the note on St. Matthew xxvi. 15. |