apostles with
him."--_Luke_ xxii. 14.

"There was at the table reclining in Jesus' bosom one of His
disciples, whom Jesus loved."--_John_ xiii. 23.

Three Evangelists leave the door of the upper room standing ajar.
Through it we can see much that is passing, and hear much that is said.
John coming after them opens it wide, thus enlarging our view and
increasing our knowledge.

Luke says of Jesus, "He sat down and the apostles with Him." That is a
very simple statement. We might suppose all was done in quietness and
harmony. But he tells us of a sad incident which happened, probably in
connection with it. "There arose also a contention among them which of
them is accounted to be greatest." The question in dispute was possibly
the order in which they should sit at the table. They still had the
spirit of the Pharisees who claimed that such order should be according
to rank.

We wonder how John felt. Did he have any part in that contention; or had
he put away all such ambition since the Lord had reproved him and his
brother James for it? Or was his near relation to the Lord so well
understood that there was no question by anybody where John might
sit--next to the Master?

Let us notice the manner of sitting at meals. The table was surrounded
by a divan on which the guests reclined on their left side, with the
head nearest the table, and the feet extending outward.

"There was at the table reclining in Jesus' bosom one of His disciples,
whom Jesus loved." This is the first time John thus speaks of himself.
He never uses his own name. His place was at the right of the Lord.
There he reclined during the meal, once changing his position, as we
shall see. Judas was probably next to Jesus on His left. This allowed
them to talk together without others knowing what they said.

John begins his story of the upper room as a supplement to Luke's record
of the contention. He first tells two things about Jesus,--His knowledge
that His hour "was come that He should depart out of this world unto the
Father," and His great and constant love for His disciples. With these
two thoughts in mind, how grieved He must have been at the ambitious
spirit of the Apostles. He had once given them a lesson of humility,
using a little child for an object lesson. That lesson was not yet
learned; or if learned was not yet put into practice. So He gave them
another object lesson, having still more meaning than the first.

But befor