John, Chapter 13, verses 31-38
31 commandeth them to love one another, 36 and forewarneth Peter of his denialJohn, Chapter 14, verse 1
1 Christ comforteth his disciples with the hope of heaven14
14:1 Let not your heart be troubled - At my departure. Believe - This is the sum of all his discourse, which is urged till theydid believe, Joh 16:30. And then our Lord prays and departs.
John, Chapter 18
1 Judas betrayeth Jesus, 6 The officers fall to the ground, 10 Peter smiteth off Malchus' ear, 12 Jesus is taken and led unto Annas and Caiaphas, 15 Peter's denial, 19 Jesus examined before Caiaphas. His arraignment before Pilate, 36 His kingdom, 40 The Jews ask Barabbas to be let loose18
18:1 A garden - Probably belonging to one of his friends. He might retire to this private place, not only for the advantage of secret devotion, but also that the people might not be alarmed at his apprehension, nor attempt, in the first sallies of their zeal, to rescue him in a tumultuous manner. Kedron was (as the name signifies) a dark shady valley, on the east side of Jerusalem, between the city and the mount of Olives, through which a little brook ran, which took its name from it. It was this brook, which David, a type of Christ, went over with the people, weeping in his flight from Absalom. Mat 26:30; Mar 14:26; Luk 22:39.
18:3 A troop of soldiers - A cohort of Roman foot.
18:6 As soon as he said, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground - How amazing is it, that they should renew the assault, after so sensible an experience both of his power and mercy!But probably the priests among them might persuade themselves and their attendants, that this also was done by Beelzebub; and that it was through the providence of God, not the indulgence of Jesus, that they received no farther damage.
18:8 If ye seek me, let these (my disciples) go - It was an eminent instance of his power over the spirits of men, that they so far obeyed this word, as not to seize even Peter, when he had cut off the ear of Malchus.
18:9 Joh 17:12.
18:10 Then Simon Peter - No other evangelist names him. Nor could they safely. But St. John, writing after his death, might do it without any such inconvenience.
18:13 Annas had been high priest before his son - in - law Caiaphas.And though he had for some time resigned that office, yet they paid so much regard to his age and experience, that they brought Christ to Annas first. But we do not read of any thing remarkable which passed at the house of Annas; for, which reason, his being carried thither is omitted by the other evangelists. Mat 26:57; Mar 14:53; Luk 22:54.
18:17 Art thou also - As well as the others, one of this man's disciples - She does not appear to have asked with any design to hurt him.
18:20 I spake openly - As to the manner: continually - As to the time: in the synagogue and temple - As to the place. In secret have I said nothing - No point of doctrine which I have not taught in public.
18:21 Why askest thou me - Whom thou wilt not believe?
18:22 Answerest thou the high priest so? - With so little reverence?
18:24 Now Annas had sent him to Caiaphas - As is implied Joh 18:13.Bound - Being still bound, Joh 18:12.
18:28 They went not into the palace themselves, lest they should be defiled - By going into a house which was not purged from leaven, Deu 16:4. Mat 27:2; Mat 15:1; Luk 23:1.
18:31 It is not lawful for us to put any man to death - The power of inflicting capital punishment had been taken from them that very year. So the sceptre was departed from Judah, and transferred to the Romans.
18:32 Signifying what death he should die - For crucifixion was not a Jewish, but a Roman punishment. So that had he not been condemned by the Roman governor, he could not have been crucified. Joh 3:14.
18:36 My kingdom is not of this world - Is not an external, but a spiritual kingdom; that I might not be delivered to the Jews - Which Pilate had already attempted to do, Joh 18:31, andafterward actually did, Joh 19:16.
18:37 Thou sayest - The truth. To this end was I born - Speaking of his human origin: his Divine was above Pilate's comprehension.Yet it is intimated in the following words, I came into the world, that I might witness to the truth - Which was both declared to the Jews, and in the process of his passion to the princes of the Gentiles also. Every one that is of the truth - That is, a lover of it, heareth my voice - A universal maxim. Every sincere lover of truth will hear him, so as to understand and practise what he saith.
18:38 What is truth? - Said Pilate, a courtier; perhaps meaning what signifies truth? Is that a thing worth hazarding your life for?So he left him presently, to plead with the Jews for him, looking upon him as an innocent but weak man.
Matthew, Chapter 26, verses 57-75
57 is carried to Caiaphas, 69 and denied of Peter26
26:57 They led him away to Caiaphas - From the house of Annas, the father - in - law of Caiaphas, to whom they had carried him first. Mar 14:53; Luk 22:54; Joh 18:12.
26:58 But Peter followed him afar off - Variously agitated by conflicting passions; love constrained him to follow his Master; fear made him follow afar off. And going in, sat with the servants - Unfit companions as the event showed.
26:60 Yet found they none - On whose evidence they could condemn him to die. At last came two false witnesses - Such they were, although part of what they said was true; because our Lord did not speak some of those words at all; nor any of them in this sense.
26:64 Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man - He speaks in the third person, modestly, and yet plainly; Sitting on the right hand of power - That is, the right hand of God: And coming upon the clouds of heaven - As he is represented by Daniel, Dan 7:13-14. Our Lord looked very unlike that person now!But nothing could be more awful, more majestic and becoming, than such an admonition in such circumstances!
26:65 Then the high priest rent his clothes - Though the high priest was forbidden to rend his clothes (that is, his upper garment) in some cases where others were allowed to do it, Lev 21:10; yet in case of blasphemy or any public calamity, it was thought allowable. Caiaphas hereby expressed, in the most artful manner, his horror at hearing such grievous blasphemy.
26:67 Then - After he had declared he was the Son of God, the sanhedrim doubtless ordered him to be carried out, while they were consulting what to do. And then it was that the soldiers who kept him began these insults upon him.
26:72 He denied with an oath - To which possibly he was not unaccustomed, before our Lord called him.
26:73 Surely thou art also one of them, for thy speech discovereth thee - Malchus might have brought a stronger proof than this. But such is the overruling providence of God, that the world, in the height of their zeal, commonly catch hold of the very weakest of all arguments against the children of God.
26:74 Then began he to curse and to swear - Having now quite lost the reins, the government of himself.
John, Chapter 19, verses 1-16, 25-42
1 Christ is scourged, crowned with thorns and beaten, 4 Pilate is desirous to release him, but being overcome with the outrage of the Jews, he delivered him to be crucified, 23 They cast lots for his garments, 26 He commendeth his mother to John, 28 He dieth, 31 His side is pierced, 38 He is buried by Joseph and Nicodemus19
19:7 By our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God - Which they understood in the highest sense, and therefore accounted blasphemy.
19:8 He was the more afraid - He seems to have been afraid before of shedding innocent blood.
19:9 Whence art thou? - That is, whose son art thou?
19:11 Thou couldst have no power over me - For I have done nothing to expose me to the power of any magistrate. Therefore he that delivered me to thee, namely, Caiaphas, knowing this, is more blamable than thou.
19:13 Pilate sat down on the judgment seat - Which was then without the palace, in a place called, in Greek, the pavement, on account of a beautiful piece of Mosaic work, with which the floor was adorned: but in Hebrew, Gabbatha - Or the high place, because it stood on an eminence, so that the judge sitting on his throne might be seen and heard by a considerable number of people.
19:14 It was the preparation of the passover - For this reason both the Jews and Pilate were desirous to bring the matter to a conclusion.Every Friday was called the preparation, (namely, for the Sabbath.) And as often as the passover fell on a Friday, that day was called the preparation of the passover.
Matthew, Chapter 27, verses 3-66
3 Judas hangeth himself, 19 Pilate, admonished of his wife, 24 washeth his hands, 26 and looseth Barabbas. Christ is crowned with thorns, 34 crucified, 40 reviled, 50 dieth and is buried, 66 his sepulchre is sealed and watched27
27:3 Then Judas seeing that he was condemned - Which probably he thought Christ would have prevented by a miracle.
27:4 They said, what is that to us? - How easily could they digest innocent blood! And yet they had a conscience! It is not lawful (say they) to put it into the treasury - But very lawful to slay the innocent!
27:5 In that part of the temple where the sanhedrim met.
27:7 They bought with them the potter's field - Well known, it seems, by that name. This was a small price for a field so near Jerusalem. But the earth had probably been digged for potters' vessels, so that it was now neither fit for tillage nor pasture, and consequently of small value. Foreigners - Heathens especially, of whom there were then great numbersin Jerusalem.
27:9 Then was fulfilled - What was figuratively represented of old, was now really accomplished. What was spoken by the prophet - The word Jeremy, which was added to the text in latter copies, and thence received into many translations, is evidently a mistake: for he who spoke what St. Matthew here cites (or rather paraphrases) was not Jeremy, but Zechariah. Zec 11:12.
27:10 As the Lord commanded me - To write, to record.
27:11 Art thou the king of the Jews? - Jesus before Caiaphas avows himself to be the Christ, before Pilate to be a king; clearly showing thereby, that his answering no more, was not owing to any fear.
27:15 At every feast - Every year, at the feast of the passover. Mar 15:6; Luk 23:17; Joh 18:39.
27:18 He knew that for envy they had delivered him - As well as from malice and revenge; they envied him, because the people magnified him.
27:22 They all say, Let him be crucified - The punishment which Barabbas had deserved: and this probably made them think of it.But in their malice they forgot with how dangerous a precedent they furnished the Roman governor. And indeed within the compass of a few years it turned dreadfully upon themselves.
27:24 Then Pilate took water and washed his hands - This was a custom frequently used among the heathens as well as among the Jews, in token of innocency.
27:25 His blood be on us and on our children - As this imprecation was dread. fully answered in the ruin so quickly brought on the Jewish nation, and the calamities which have ever since pursued that wretched people, so it was peculiarly fulfilled by Titus the Roman general, on the Jews whom he took during the siege of Jerusalem. So many, after having been scourged in a terrible manner, were crucified all round the city, that in a while there was not room near the wall for the crosses to stand by each other.Probably this befell some of those who now joined in this cry, as it certainly did many of their children: the very finger of God thus pointing out their crime in crucifying his Son.
27:26 He delivered him to be crucified - The person crucified was nailed to the cross as it lay on the ground, through each hand extended to the utmost stretch, and through both the feet together. Then the cross was raised up, and the foot of it thrust with a violent shock into a hole in the ground prepared for it. This shock disjointed the body, whose whole weight hung upon the nails, till the persons expired through mere dint of pain. This kind of death was used only by the Romans, and by them inflicted only on slaves and the vilest criminals.
27:27 The whole troop - or cohort. This was a body of foot commanded by the governor, which was appointed to prevent disorders and tumults, especially on solemn occasions. Mar 15:16 Joh 19:2, .
27:28 They put on him a scarlet robe - Such as kings and generals wore; probably an old tattered one.
27:32 Him they compelled to bear his cross - He bore it himself, till he sunk under it, Joh 19:17.
Mark, Chapter 15, verses 16-32, 43-47
15 Upon the clamour of the common people, the murderer Barabbas is loosed, and Jesus delivered up to be crucified, 17 he is crowned with thorns, 19 spit on and mocked, 21 fainteth in bearing his cross, 27 hangeth between two thieves, 29 suffereth the triumphing reproach of the Jews, 39 but confessed of the centurion to be the Son of God, 43 and is honourably buried by Joseph15
15:16 Praetorium - The inner hall, where the praetor, a Roman magistrate, used to give judgment. But St. John calls the whole palace by this name. Mat 27:27; Joh 19:2.
15:17 Purple - As royal robes were usually purple and scarlet, St. Mark and John term this a purple robe, St. Matthew a scarlet one. The Tyrian purple is said not to have been very different from scarlet.
15:21 The father of Alexander and Rufus - These were afterward two eminent Christians, and must have been well known when St. Mark wrote.
15:22 Mat 27:33; Luk 23:33; Joh 19:17.
15:24 St. Mark seems to intimate, that they first nailed him to the cross, then parted his garments, and afterward reared up the cross.
15:25 See note Mar 15:24
15:28 Isa 53:12.
15:29 Mat 27:39.
Luke, Chapter 23, verses 32-49
27 He telleth the women that lament him the destruction of Jerusalem, 34 prayeth for his enemies, 39 Two evildoers are crucified with him, 46 His death23
23:34 Then said Jesus - Our Lord passed most of the time on the cross in silence: yet seven sentences which he spoke thereon are recorded by the four evangelists, though no one evangelist has recorded them all. Hence it appears that the four Gospels are, as it were, four parts, which, joined together, make one symphony. Sometimes one of these only, sometimes two or three, sometimes all sound together. Father - So he speaks both in the beginning and at the end of his sufferings on the cross: Forgive them - How striking is this passage! While they are actually nailing him to the cross, he seems to feel the injury they did to their own souls more than the wounds they gave him; and as it were to forget his own anguish out of a concern for their own salvation. And how eminently was his prayer heard! It procured forgivenessfor all that were penitent, and a suspension of vengeance even for the impenitent.
23:35 If thou be the Christ; Luk 23:37.If thou be the king - The priests deride the name of Messiah: the soldiers the name of king.
23:38 Mat 27:37; Mar 15:26; Joh 19:19.
23:39 And one of the malefactors reviled him - St. Matthew says, the robbers: St. Mark, they that were crucified with him, reviled him.Either therefore St. Matthew and Mark put the plural for the singular (as the best authors sometimes do) or both reviled him at the first, till one of them felt "the overwhelming power of saving grace."
23:40 The other rebuked him - What a surprising degree was here of repentance, faith, and other graces! And what abundance of good works, in his public confession of his sin, reproof of his fellow criminal, his honourable testimony to Christ, and profession of faith in him, while he was in so disgraceful circumstances as were stumbling even to his disciples! This shows the power of Divine grace. But it encourages none to put off their repentance to the last hour; since, as far as appears, this was the first time this criminal had an opportunity of knowing any thing of Christ, and his conversion was designed to put a peculiar glory on our Saviour in his lowest state, while his enemies derided him, and his own disciples either denied or forsook him.
23:42 Remember me when thou comest - From heaven, in thy kingdom - He acknowledges him a king, and such a king, as after he is dead, can profit the dead. The apostles themselves had not then so clear conceptions of the kingdom of Christ.
23:43 In paradise - The place where the souls of the righteous remain from death till the resurrection. As if he had said, I will not only remember thee then, but this very day.
23:44 There was darkness over all the earth - The noon - tide darkness, covering the sun, obscured all the upper hemisphere. And the lower was equally darkened, the moon being in opposition to the sun, and so receiving no light from it. Mat 27:45.
23:45 Mar 15:38.
23:46 Father, into thy hands - The Father receives the Spirit of Jesus: Jesus himself the spirits of the faithful.
23:47 Certainly this was a righteous man - Which implies an approbation of all he had done and taught.
23:48 All the people - Who had not been actors therein, returned smiting their breasts - In testimony of sorrow.
13
13:31 Jesus saith - Namely, the next day; on Thursday, in the morning.Here the scene, as it were, is opened, for the discourse which is continued in the following chapters. Now - While I speak this, the Son of man is glorified - Being fully entered into his glorious work of redemption. This evidently relates to the glory which belongs to his suffering in so holy and victorious a manner.
13:33 Ye cannot come - Not yet; being not yet ripe for it. Joh 7:34.
13:34 A new commandment - Not new in itself; but new in the school of Christ: for he had never before taught it them expressly.Likewise new, as to the degree of it, as I have loved you.
13:36 Peter saith, Lord, whither goest thou? - St. Peter seems to have thought, that Christ, being rejected by the Jews, would go to some other part of the earth to erect his throne, where he might reign without disturbance, according to the gross notions he had of Christ's kingdom. Thou canst not follow me now - But Peter would not believe him. And he did follow him, Joh 18:15.But it was afar off. And not without great loss.
13:38 The cock shall not have crowed - That is, cock crowing shall not be over, till thou hast denied me thrice - His three - fold denial was thrice foretold; first, at the time mentioned here; secondly, at that mentioned by St. Luke; lastly, at that recorded by St. Matthew and Mark.