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CHAPTER II.

The Traitor.

UITTING the city, Jesus went up the slope of the Mount of Olives, and sat down there over against the temple, looking across upon its marble walls and golden pinnacles. It was evening, and the setting sun touched it with level rays, whilst the valley beneath lay in deep shadow and gloom. It scems as if he could not turn away from it, though he had left it forever. It was now a den of thieves, the house of hypocrisy, not his Father's house. The disciples sat apart from him, distressed and discouraged. It had been altogether an agitating day. Their Master had had opportunities again and again of proclaiming his Messiahship, and had neglected or avoided them. His last vehement denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees had probably given as much offence to the people of Judæa as his answer about the tribute money had done to the Galileans. He seemed bent upon alienating his followers, and upon thrusting back the greatness offered to him.

At length Peter and Andrew, with James and John, came to him privately to ask when these things that he had spoken of should come to pass. He spoke to them in terms so clear of the immediate future that they could no longer hope to see him ascend an earthly throne, such as they had been dreaming of. He foretold sorrows such as had not been from the beginning of the creation. But he distinctly declared himself to be that Judge and King before whom all nations should be finally gathered for judgment and for separation. As he finished his long and sorrowful discourse, he said to these four favorite disciples, "Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."

This was probably the first word they had heard of treachery, and it could not but have shocked and troubled them greatly. Who among his friends, those who were trusted with the secret of his hiding-places, could be base enough to turn traitor? It was a terrible thought. A spy was among them who was about to betray their Lord. Who could it be? Hastily they would run over the list of his nearest and most trusted followers, but they could not fix upon any one. Yet from that moment there was no rest for them from suspicion and dread of the unknown betrayer, from whom their Master could not be secured.

The next day, Wednesday, and most of Thursday, seems to have been a time of rest and peaceful retirement for Jesus. Probably he passed the hours chiefly with his disciples and his mother, in quiet conversation, or in silent thought, concerning all he had done and taught, and all they were to do when he was gone. Somewhere on the Mount of Olives, perhaps in. the house of Lazarus, the solemn hours glided by, neither wholly sorrowful, nor wholly glad. Their Lord was still with them, and it was hard to believe that days of mourning were about to dawn. They could not see the coming sorrow, whilst their eyes still caught the light of his tender smile. They could not hear the murmur of the gathering storm, whilst they were listening to his gracious words. A happy, sorrowful, solemn time, such as never was so spent on earth, before or since. His loved ones were around him, those whom his Father had given to him, and none of them were lost, save one.

That lost one was not with them the whole of the day. Judas, the pursebearer, had business to do in Jerusalem; so he left the friends and the Master, with whom he had ate and drunk, and wandered to and fro for twelve months, knowing them more intimately than many a man knows his brothers. He was weary of it all, and yesterday he had seen every vision of wealth fade away into a too certain prospect of persecution as a follower of the Prophet of Nazareth. The purse at his side felt empty; it would always be empty, unless he took care to fill it for himself. Probably, on his way to the city, he had to pass by a field he had set his mind on, and which he had perhaps partly purchased. It was not his yet, and it did not seem likely it would ever become his whilst he served his present Master. He entered Jerusalem with his mind made up. He knew one way by which he could get money to buy that field.

A council of the Great Sanhedrim was being held in the palace of the high-priest. The important question laid before the seventy-one chief men of the nation was how Jesus might be taken by craft and killed. Not on the feast day, lest there should be an uproar among the people; it must be done by subtlety, in the absence of the multitude. But when was Jesus. alone? Where did he conceal himself when he left the city at nightfall? There were thousands of tents and booths erected round the city by the pilgrims, who could find no lodging-place within the walls; and it would be impossible to find him. They needed some one to betray him.

This need was met in Judas. They had not even to seek him, for he eame voluntarily to bargain with them how much they should give him

for delivering his Master to them. They were glad, and promised to give him thirty pieces of silver, to be paid when they had their prey in their hands. Possibly Judas felt in a measure justified by his knowledge of the miraculous powers of Christ, if he only chose to use them for escaping from his enemies, or even for destroying them? He, who could call Lazarus from the dead, had but to speak the word, and no foe could stand before him. And if Jesus were bent upon death, it was but prudent to secure himself, and make some provision for the dreary future, in place of that which he had forsaken to follow him.

Did Judas go back in the fall of the evening to the tranquil company on Olivet, and take his place among them, with a smile upon his face, and news from the city on his lips? Did he sit down with them to their simple, homely supper, listening to catch up what arrangements had been made for the night; where his Master should sleep, and who would be nearest to him within hearing? Did he see the worn, anxious face of Mary, smiling only when she met the eyes of her Son, who had lived with her so many peaceful years under their lowly roof at Nazareth? Did he join in the evening hymn sung before they separated for the night, the last they would thus spend together? We must suppose that he did something like this; that he was still their comrade and fellow-apostle, Judas; and that none guessed the business that had taken him to Jerusalem, nor the bargain he had made there.

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CHAPTER III.

The Paschal Supper.

LL the next day Judas was seeking a convenient opportunity to betray Christ. He soon discovered that it was his Master's purpose to eat the Paschal supper in Jerusalem; for there, and there only, could it be eaten. No doubt Mary, with that band of timid and faithful women, now gathered about him, would urge him to forego his determination, so great was the danger of venturing into the city and passing a night there. But with a strong desire had he desired to eat that passover with his disciples; the first and only one they could celebrate with him. He called Peter and John to him, and bade them go and prepare the passover. At last, then, Judas was satisfied that he would be caught in the double snare of the city and the feast.

It was the day on which the passover must be killed. At noon all work was laid aside, and all leaven destroyed, unleavened bread alone being lawful food for the next eight days. In the temple the evening sacrifice was offered an hour earlier than on other days, for the number of passover lambs to be slain before nightfall was immense. During this week the whole company of the priests was on duty; and the courts of the temple were crowded with the multitudes of Jews who had come up to the city to keep the passover, and brought their lambs to slay for the Paschal supper, which had to be eaten that night; the first day of the passover beginning as soon as the stars became visible in the sky.

Peter and John, not Judas the purse-bearer, had been sent by Jesus to prepare the feast. They had to choose and buy a suitable lamb, carry it up to the temple, and see that it was roasted for supper. They had asked where. they were to prepare it. Their Master had friends in Jerusalem, but some prudence was needed in the choice of the house where he would celebrate the feast. He probably chose the house of some old friend, where, perhaps, he had in former times eaten many a joyous passover with his mother and cousins; for in solemn hours we choose rather to be in familiar places than strange ones. "The good man of the house," he said, "will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready."

On this day the evening sacrifice was offered about half-past two, immediately after which the slaying of the passover began. Probably the disciples were in the first division of those who brought their lambs; for at the fall of evening, as soon as the stars shone in the sky, the feast was ready. Christ had been lingering on Olivet, where the hymns and hallelujahs from the temple might reach his ear, with the blast of the silver trumpets which told that the Paschal lamb was slain. But as the evening drew on, he descended the mount with his disciples, and entered the city unobserved in the twilight. Most likely Judas did not know till then at what house the passover was to be eaten, and he had not yet found the convenient season he was seeking.

The preoccupation of the people freed the little group of men from observation, as well as the twilight which was darkening the streets. Every Jew must eat the passover that night, in his best and festive garments. Many of those who had been latest in the temple were hurrying homewards. with the lamb that had yet to be roasted for the supper. All of them were too much engrossed in the celebration of the feast to give more than a passing thought to the band of Galileans, but dimly seen, who were

following the prophet of Nazareth through the streets. None were with him save the twelve apostles. Lazarus, whom he had called from the dead, Mary, his mother; his kinsmen from Nazareth were not there. In some other guest-chamber, under another roof, they would keep the feast that night; they had seen him for the last time, until they saw him again next morning on the way to Calvary.

It was still early in the evening when they reached the large upper chamber, where the feast was prepared for them. It was enjoined that the Paschal supper should not be eaten standing, as slaves eat their food; but that all, even the poorest, must sit down leaning, as free men, who have time to feast. Again, four cups of wine must be drunk, though money must be had out of the poor-box for its purchase. No one was allowed to eat after the evening sacrifice until this meal was ready, that all might come to it with a hearty appetite. It was a festival for gladness; a solemn day of joy; and hymns of praises were to be sung.

Jesus was the head of this company, and he took the first cup of wine into his hand, and gave thanks over it; then passing it to his disciples, he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves; for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come." This was the beginning of the feast. After it, all were enjoined to wash their hands, before the Paschal meal of bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and the passover lamb was eaten. It was now that the Lord rose from the supper, and laid aside the white festive robe he was wearing, and pouring water into a basin, washed and wiped the feet of his disciples. There had been a strife amongst them again as to which should be the greatest; or, probably, which should have the chief places at the table. To see him rise, and thus minister to them, filled them with shame; but Peter alone ventured to protest against it. "Thou shalt never wash my feet!" he cried, impulsively. But when Christ said, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me," he prayed, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" "He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet," answered Jesus; "and ye are clean, but not all." It was the first word of heaviness at the thought of the traitor, whose feet he had washed with the rest. Sitting down again to the table, he bade them do as he had done to them, and remember that the servant is not greater than his Lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. "I speak not of you all," he added: "I know whom I have chosen. The scripture must be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me."