ain at the
Temple, the feast prepared, and the hour was come, the Lord sat down
with the twelve. It was the last time that He would break the bread of
the Passover with them before He suffered, and it was to be the first
Holy Supper of the Christian Church. "With desire I have desired to
eat this Passover with you before I suffer;" He said, "for I say unto
you that I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the
Kingdom of God." Before Him were the cakes of unleavened bread, the
wine, the water and the herbs, while the Paschal Lamb was on a side
table. After the blessing and the thanks, the Lord filled a cup with
wine and water, and blessing and tasting it passed it to His disciples.
It was the custom for the master of the feast to wash his hands at this
point, and Jesus rose, and laid aside His tunic, and tying a long towel
around His waist, poured water into a large basin and going to His
disciples knelt down to wash their feet. They had been contending as
to who should sit nearest to the Lord, and so be accounted greatest,
and He thus taught them a lesson of humility. He told them that they
were not to be among those who hold authority. "But he that is
greatest among you let him be as the younger," He said, "and he that is
chief as he that doth serve." The disciples looked on astonished and
distressed, for their Master was doing the work that slaves were in the
habit of doing, and Peter cried, "Lord, dost thou wash my feet?" Jesus
said gently, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know
hereafter." "Thou shalt never wash my feet;" said the loving,
impulsive Peter, and Jesus answered, "If I wash thee not thou hast no
part with me." "Lord, not my feet only," the humbled disciple said,
"but also my hands and my head!" When He sat down with them again He
talked tenderly to them of serving each other as He had served them,
adding, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." With a
troubled spirit He said, "Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is
with me on the table." Then the disciples began to inquire sorrowfully
among themselves who it could be, and to ask the Lord in turn, "Is it
I?" Even Judas, close beside Him, asked the same question, but the
disciples did not hear the Lord's reply. Peter, beckoning to John,
signed to him to ask the Master, for John sat next the Lord, and leaned
upon His breast. When he asked, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus said, perhaps
in a whisper