Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
For the exposition see the notes at Mark 14:1-2; Mark 14:10-11, with the corresponding Remarks at the close of that section.
We have now arrived, in the progress of the Redeemer's earthly history, at the fifth day of His last week-the Thursday-on which the preparations now to described were made. Here arises a question of extreme difficulty, a question very early discussed in the Church, a question which has divided and to this day divides, the ablest critics: 'Did our Lord eat the Passover with His disciples at all? and if He did, was it on the same day on which it was eaten by the rest of the Jews, or was it a day earlier? Had we only the testimony of the first three Evangelists, there could be no doubt both that He ate the Passover, and that He ate it on the usual statutory evening-on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan; for their testimony to this effect is concurrent and decisive (Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7; with which the whole of Matthew 26:17, etc., though less explicit, accords). But, on the other hand, if we had only the testimony of the Fourth Evangelist, we should not be perfectly sure that our Lord ate the paschal supper at all; or if it should seem clear enough, though not explicitly stated that the "super" of John 13:1-38 was no other than the Passover, one would certainly have been apt to conclude, from some expressions in that Gospel, that up to the morning of the Friday-when our Lord was before the ecclesiastical and civil tribunals for judgments-the Jews had not eaten their Passover, and consequently, that Jesus and His disciples, if they ate it at all, must have eaten it a day before the proper time.
One, general remark on this question may here be made: That from the nature of the case, a mistake on such a point by all the three first Evangelists, whose accounts coincide and yet evince themselves to be independent narratives, was hardly possible; and as to the Fourth Evangelist-who was himself so largely concerned in the whole transaction, and whose Gospel, written after the other three had been long in circulation, bears evidence of having been drawn up to supplement the others-it is not conceivable that there should have been any error on his part. And as there is not a trace in his Gospel of any design to correct an error on this subject in the other three, one is forced to conclude-apart altogether from the divine authority of the Gospels-that the first three Evangelists and the fourth must be at one on this important point. Now since the testimony of the first three is explicit and cannot be set aside, while that of the fourth is but general and presumptive, the conclusion to which we feel ourselves shut up is, that the Passover was eaten by our Lord and His apostles on the usual evening. The expressions in the Fourth Gospel, which seem to imply the reverse, but which may all, as we think, be interpreted consistently with the view we have stated, will be taken up at the places where they occur.