(17) And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. (18) And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. (19) And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? (20) And he answered, and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. (21) The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed? good were it for that man if he had never been born. (22) And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. (23) And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to their; and they all drank of it. (24) And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. (25) Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. (26) And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives,
Some have thought that Judas did not partake of this Passover, but to me, I confess, there doth not seem the shadow of a doubt but that he did. This first verse is decidedly in confirmation. And in the evening JESUS cometh with the twelve; consequently Judas included: and as they sat and did eat JESUS said, etc. But having very largely dwelt upon this subject, in my Poor Man's Concordance, under the article Judas, I rather refer to what is there said, than enlarge upon it here.
Though I shall reserve the more striking circumstances concerning the traitor Judas, for one collected point of view, in what is said of him, John 13:18, etc. yet I cannot help remarking to the Reader in this place, the hardened state of this man's mind, which could so coolly and deliberately return and take his place among the disciples, as though equally loving of his LORD, when he had then entered into an engagement with the Chief Priests to betray him. And when, one by one, the disciples put the question to what JESUS had said, that one of them would betray him, though conscious of his infamy, he should dare to brave the question also, and say, is it I? Oh! the obduracy which sin occasions! Matthew, in his relation of this solemn scene hath observed, that while the other disciples every one of them, in putting the question to JESUS, called him LORD; Judas called him Rabbi. And certain it is, that in the original the words are different: the one is LORD, and the other Rabbi or Master. See Matthew 26:25; Matthew 26:25. And as Rabbi or Master implies a nearness and affection which the more distant name of LORD doth not convey, to what an unequalled degree of infamy was the traitor by this time arrived?
I refer to Matthew 26:26, etc. for observations there offered on the interesting view of the LORD JESUS and his disciples at this last supper. But in addition to those, I would just remark, that the institution of the holy supper seems to have been immediately made, as soon as the paschal feast was finished; as if to intimate the superseding of the one, in the establishment of the other. And it should be particularly remembered, that in the LORD's appointment of this ordinance, in the breaking of the bread, and administering of the wine, the LORD most expressly designed to convey the spiritual signification that his body being broken and his blood shed, the emblems shewed forth the twofold blessings intended, of pardon, mercy, and peace, in and through the offering of the body of JESUS CHRIST once for all.; and also all the blessings of the covenant set forth and sealed in his blood, and hence called the New Testament in his blood.
There is somewhat truly interesting in the hymn the LORD and his disciples sung at the table. JESUS knew what the events of that night would be. He had in contemplation Gethsemane, and all his sorrows. But these things stopped not the Hallel the Jews always used at the Passover. Some have thought that this Hallel was the 114th Psalm, which celebrates the night of the Passover, and the going forth from Egypt. Reader! Ought not our celebration of the LORD's Supper, in the contemplation of the LORD's love, be always accompanied with our Hallel; our song of Moses and the LAMB?