Speaking about the poor, whom His disciples always had, and about Himself, whom they did not always have with them, Jesus draws attention to the system of priorities characteristic of normal Christian life. The main problem here is that...
Speaking about the poor, whom His disciples always had, and about Himself, whom they did not always have with them, Jesus draws attention to the system of priorities characteristic of normal Christian life. The main problem here is that Christians in every age have looked at Christianity, first, primarily as a religion, and second, as a practical religion, a religion of "good works."
This view was greatly encouraged by the fact that Jesus Himself places love at the center: love for God, for Him Himself, and for one another. In practice, people often forgot about love for God and for Christ, while love for neighbor was understood precisely as a religion of "good works." Of course, love for Christ too was formally remembered, but it was somehow taken for granted. Unlike the poor, He apparently needs no help, especially now, after the resurrection, after the ascension, after He already sits at the right hand of the Father, while neighbors remain in a much less favorable state and need that very practical help.
If in Christian history the emphasis was placed on love for Christ, it often poured itself out into something overly sweet and emotional, and at times even frankly sensual, so that people observing such religiosity from the outside reasonably thought it would be better to follow the path of practical service, the path of the religion of "good works," than to give oneself to such strange and sometimes unhealthy religious exaltation. Usually this was formulated in the sense that love for Christ and for God is taken for granted, and it is manifested in those same "good works" for the benefit of one's neighbor. Meanwhile, Jesus reminds His disciples that Christianity first of all presupposes intense relations with Him Himself, and only then everything else.
Love is not emotion and not exaltation; it is will and a spiritual state. Such a spiritual state, however, does not appear or sustain itself on its own. It must be cultivated, and here constant concentration on Christ and on relations with Him is necessary, concentration of the will, not intellectual or emotional-sensual concentration. Love as a spiritual state is born from these relations and is sustained by this effort of the will. Like every love, it presupposes purposeful spiritual effort and the spiritual work of two. Any good works, if they are to be good without quotation marks, must be derived from the love that binds the disciple to Jesus. They must be done and exist in the space of relations that bind the one doing them to Jesus. The poor will indeed always be found, but whether there will be relations depends on the person. That is why Jesus draws the disciples' attention to Himself: without Him, "good works" will remain good only in quotation marks, however hard the people doing them may try to do them "for Christ's sake."
14
14:1 Mat 26:1; Luk 22:1.
14:3 Mat 26:6.
14:4 Some had indignation - Being incited thereto by Judas: and said - Probably to the women.
14:10 Judas went to the chief priests - Immediately after this reproof, having anger now added to his covetousness. Mat 26:14; Luk 22:3.
14:12 Mat 26:17; Luk 22:7.
14:13 Go into the city, and there shall meet you a man - It was highly seasonable for our Lord to give them this additional proof both of his knowing all things, and of his influence over the minds of men.
14:15 Furnished - The word properly means, spread with carpets.
14:17 Mat 26:20; Luk 22:14.
14:24 This is my blood of the New Testament - That is, this I appoint to be a perpetual sign and memorial of my blood, as shed for establishing the new covenant, that all who shall believe in me may receive all its gracious promises.
14:25 I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, till I drink it new in the kingdom of God - That is, I shall drink no more before I die: the next wine I drink will not be earthly, but heavenly.
14:26 Mat 26:30; Luk 22:39; Joh 18:1.
14:27 This night - The Jews in reckoning their days began with the evening, according to the Mosaic computation, which called the evening and the morning the first day, Gen 1:5. And so that which after sunset is here called this night is, Mar 14:30, called to - day. The expression there is peculiarly significant.Verily I say to thee, that thou thyself, confident as thou art, to - day, even within four and twenty hours; yea, this night, or ever the sun be risen, nay, before the cock crow twice, before three in the morning, wilt deny me thrice. Our Lord doubtless spoke so determinately, as knowing a cock would crow once before the usual time of cock crowing. By Mar 13:35, it appears, that the third watch of the night, ending at three in the morning, was commonly styled the cock crowing. Zec 13:7.