at down to the last meal of which the Lord
would partake before His death. Under strain of profound emotion, "He
said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you
before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof,
until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and
gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: for I
say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the
kingdom of God shall come." The pronouncing of a blessing by the host
upon a cup of wine, which was afterward passed round the table to each
participant in turn, was the customary manner of beginning the Passover
supper. At this solemn meal Jesus appears to have observed the
essentials of the Passover procedure; but we have no record of His
compliance with the many supernumerary requirements with which the
divinely established memorial of Israel's deliverance from bondage had
been invested by traditional custom and rabbinical prescription. As we
shall see, the evening's proceedings in that upper room comprized much
beside the ordinary observance of an annual festival.

The supper proceeded under conditions of tense sadness. As they ate, the
Lord sorrowfully remarked: "Verily I say unto you, One of you which
eateth with me shall betray me." Most of the apostles fell into a state
of introspection; and one after another exclaimed: "Is it I?" "Lord, is
it I?" It is pleasing to note that each of those who so inquired was
more concerned with the dread thought that possibly he was an offender,
however inadvertently so, than as to whether his brother was about to
prove himself a traitor. Jesus answered that it was one of the Twelve,
then and there eating with Him from the common dish, and continued with
the terrifying pronouncement: "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." Then Judas
Iscariot, who had already covenanted to sell his Master for money, and
who at this moment probably feared that silence might arouse suspicion
against himself, asked with a brazen audacity that was veritably
devilish: "Master, is it I?" With cutting promptness the Lord replied:
"Thou hast said."[1190]

There was further cause of sorrow to Jesus at the supper. Some of the
Twelve had fallen into muttering dispute among themselves over the
matter of individual precedence,[1