194.  Several hints in the records seem to connect the meal in various details with what is known of ancient custom in the celebration of the Passover.  The hymn with which according to Mark and Matthew the supper closed is easily identified with the last part (Psalms cxv. to cxviii.) of the so called Hallel, which was sung at the close of the Passover meal.  The mention of two cups in the familiar text of Luke (xxii. 17-20) agrees with the repeated cups of the Passover ritual; so also do the sop and the dipping of it with which Jesus indicated to John who the traitor was (John xiii. 23-26; Mark xiv. 20).  If it could be proved that the customs recorded in the Talmud correctly represent the usage in Jesus’ time it would be of extreme interest to seek to connect what is told us of the last supper with that Passover ritual as Dr. Edersheim has done (LJM ii. 490-512).  The antiquity of the rabbinic record is so uncertain, however, that it is only useful as showing what possibly may have been the case.  All that can be asserted is that the rabbinic ritual probably originated long before it was recorded, and that as the last supper was a meal which Jesus and his disciples celebrated as a Passover, it is probable that some such ritual was more or less closely followed.

195.  Luke and John give the fullest reports of what was said at the table.  All the gospels tell of Peter’s declaration of superior loyalty and the prediction of his threefold denial; Luke, however, adds that in connection with it Jesus assured Peter of his restoration, and charged him to strengthen his brethren (Luke xxii. 31-34).  John alone gives the long and full discourse of admonition and comfort, followed by Jesus’ prayer for his disciples (xiii. 31 to xvii. 26).  It is evident from the words of Jesus as he entered the garden of Gethsemane (Mark xiv. 33, 34), as from those which had escaped him when the Greeks sought him the last day in the temple (John xii. 27), that his own heart was greatly troubled during the supper by the apparent defeat which was now close at hand.  His quietness and self-possession during the supper, particularly when tenderly reproving his disciples for petty ambition, or when solemnly dismissing the traitor, or warning Peter of his denials, must not blind us to the depth of the emotion which was stirring his own soul.  It is only as we remember his trouble of heart that it is possible justly to value the ministry which in varied ways he rendered to his disciples that night.  In the discourses reported by John he showed that he realized that the approaching separation would sorely try the faith of his followers, and he sought to strengthen them by showing his own calmness in view of it, and by promising them another who should abide with them spiritually as his representative, and continue for them the work which he had begun.  He therefore urged them to maintain their devotion to him, still to seek and find the source of their life and secret