Marco 14:24 Commento

In this chapter begins the account which this evangelist gives of the death and sufferings of our Lord Jesus, which we are all concerned to be acquainted, not only with the history of, but with the mystery of. Here is, I. The plot of the chief priests and scribes against Christ (Mar 14:1, Mar 14:2). II. The anointing of Christ's head at a supper in Bethany, two days before his death (Mar 14:3-9). III. The contract Judas made with the chief priests, to betray him (Mar 14:10, Mar 14:11). IV. Christ's eating the passover with his disciples, his instituting the Lord's supper, and his discourse with his disciples, at and after supper (v. 12-31). V. Christ's agony in the garden (Mar 14:32-42). VI. The betraying of him by Judas, and the apprehending of him by the chief priests' agents (Mar 14:43-52). VII. His arraignment before the high priest, his conviction, and the indignities done him at that bar (Mar 14:53-65). VIII. Peter's denying him (Mar 14:66-72). Most of which passages we had before, Mt. 26.

After two days was the feast of the passover,.... That is, two days after Christ had delivered the foregoing discourse concerning the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, was the feast of the passover; which was kept in commemoration of God's passing over the houses of the Israelites, when he destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, and made way for the deliverance of the children of Israel from thence: and which was kept by eating the passover lamb; and which, properly speaking, is the feast of the passover: and of unleavened bread; which was the same feast with the other, called so from the unleavened bread which was then eaten; though with this difference, the passover lamb was only eaten on the first night, but unleavened bread was eaten for seven days together. The Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions render it, "the passover of unleavened bread", leaving out the copulative "and". And the chief priests and Scribes sought how they might take him by craft; that is, Jesus, and put him to death: for which purpose they assembled together in Caiaphas the high priest's palace, and there took counsel together how to accomplish it; see Mat 26:2.

Verily I say unto you,.... This seems, to have been said after the eating of the passover, according to Luk 22:18, but was, in reality, not till after the Lord's supper was ended, and the last cup was drank, which was wont to be drank at the passover: I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine; that is, wine, until that day that I drink it new; in a figurative and mystical sense; by which are meant the joys of heaven: in the kingdom of God; Father, Son, and Spirit, upon the general resurrection of the dead, when the kingdom of the Mediator will be delivered up, and there will be no distinction of government; but God, Father, Son, and Spirit, will be all in all, and shall reign in the saints, and they with them, to all eternity; See Gill on Mat 26:29.

Now concerning the Thanksgiving (Eucharist), thus give thanks. First, concerning the cup: We thank thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which Thou madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. And concerning the broken bread: We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou modest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever. But let no one eat or drink of your Thanksgiving (Eucharist), but they who have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord hath said, Give not that which is holy to the dogs. But after ye are filled, thus give thanks: We thank Thee, holy Father, for Thy holy name which Thou didst cause to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which Thou modest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name's sake; Thou gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us Thou didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant. Before all things we thank Thee that Thou art mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever. Remember, Lord, Thy Church, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in Thy love, and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for Thy kingdom which Thou hast prepared for it; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever. Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God (Son) of David! If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is not so, let him repent. Maran atha. Amen. But permit the prophets to make Thanksgiving as much as they desire.

In what manner do you think the Lord drank when He became man for our sakes? As shamelessly as we? Was it not with decorum and propriety? Was it not deliberately? For rest assured, He Himself also partook of wine; for He, too, was man. And He blessed the wine, saying, "Take, drink: this is my blood"-the blood of the vine. He figuratively calls the Word "shed for many, for the remission of sins"-the holy stream of gladness. And that he who drinks ought to observe moderation, He clearly showed by what He taught at feasts.

For we now affirm: This is lawful to the Lord alone: may the power of His indulgence be operative at the present day! At those times, however, in which He lived on earth we lay this down definitively, that it is no prejudgment against us if pardon used to be conferred on sinners-even Jewish ones. For Christian discipline dates from the renewing of the Testament, and (as we have premised) from the redemption of flesh-that is, the Lord's passion.

Jesus himself speaks of his blood. Before the consecration it is mentioned as something else; after the consecration it is called blood. And you say “Amen,” that is, “It is true.” Let the mind within confess what the mouth speaks. Let the heart feel what the words utter.

(ubi sup.) For Christ offered His blood to him who betrayed Him, that he might have remission of his sins, if he had chosen to cease to be wicked.

You hold the sacraments in their order. First, after the prayer, you are admonished to lift up your hearts; this befits the members of Christ. For if you have become members of Christ, where is your head? Members have a head. If the head had not gone before, the members would not follow. Where did our head go? What did you recite in the Creed? On the third day, He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father. Therefore, our head is in Heaven. Thus when it is said: Lift up your hearts, you answer: We have them with the Lord. And so that you do not attribute the fact that you have your hearts with the Lord to your own strengths, merits, or labors—for it is a gift of God to have your heart lifted up to Him—the bishop or the priest who offers the sacrifice continues and says—when the people respond: We have them with the Lord—: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God, because we have our hearts with the Lord. Let us give thanks because if he did not give it, we would have our hearts on earth. And you attest by saying: It is right and just, that we should give thanks to Him who made us have our hearts lifted up to our head. Then, after the sanctification of God's sacrifice, because he willed that we ourselves should be his sacrifice—this was shown when the first sacrifice of God was laid down and we—meaning the sign of the reality—which we are; behold where the sanctification has been accomplished, we say the Lord’s Prayer, which you have received and rendered. After it has been said: Peace be with you, and the Christians give each other a holy kiss. It is a sign of peace: as the lips show, let it be done in conscience, that is, just as your lips approach your brother’s lips, let your heart not depart from his heart. Great indeed are the sacraments and very great indeed. Do you wish to know how they are commended? The Apostle says: Whosoever shall eat of the body of Christ or drink of the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. What does it mean to receive unworthily? To receive it contemptuously, to receive it scoffingly. Do not make it seem cheap to you, because you see it. What you see passes away, but what is signified, the invisible, does not pass, but remains. Behold, it is received, eaten, consumed. Does the body of Christ perish? Does the Church of Christ perish? Do the members of Christ perish? By no means. Here they are cleansed, there they are crowned. Therefore, what is signified remains, even though that which signifies might seem to pass away.

Being mindful, therefore, of those things that He endured for our sakes, we give You thanks, O God Almighty, not in such a manner as we ought, but as we are able, and fulfil His constitution: "For in the same night that He was betrayed, He took bread" [1 Corinthians 11:23] in His holy and undefiled hands, and, looking up to You His God and Father, "He broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, This is the mystery of the new covenant: take of it, and eat. This is my body, which is broken for many, for the remission of sins." In like manner also "He took the cup," and mixed it of wine and water, and sanctified it, and delivered it to them, saying: "Drink all of this; for this is my blood which is shed for many, for the remission of sins: do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show forth my death until I come." Being mindful, therefore, of His passion, and death, and resurrection from the dead, and return into the heavens, and His future second appearing, wherein He is to come with glory and power to judge the quick and the dead, and to recompense to every one according to his works, we offer to You, our King and our God, according to His constitution, this bread and this cup, giving You thanks, through Him, that You have thought us worthy to stand before You, and to sacrifice to You; and we beseech You that You will mercifully look down upon these gifts which are here set before You, O God, who standest in need of none of our offerings. And accept them, to the honour of Your Christ, and send down upon this sacrifice Your Holy Spirit, the Witness of the Lord Jesus' sufferings, that He may show this bread to be the body of Your Christ, and the cup to be the blood of Your Christ, that those who are partakers thereof may be strengthened for piety, may obtain the remission of their sins, may be delivered from the devil and his deceit, may be filled with the Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of Your Christ, and may obtain eternal life upon Your reconciliation to them, O Lord Almighty.

Daniel the disciple of Arsenius used to talk also about a hermit in Scetis, saying that he was a great man but simple in the faith, and in his ignorance he thought and said that the bread which we receive is not in very truth the Body of Christ, but a symbol of His Body. Two of the monks heard what he said but because they knew of his sublime works and labours, they imagined that he had said it in innocence and simple-mindedness; and so they came to him and said unto him, ‘Abba, someone told us something that we do not believe; he said that this bread that we receive is not in very truth the Body of Christ, but a mere symbol.’ He said to them, ‘I said that.’ They begged him, saying, ‘You mustn’t say that, abba; according to what the Catholic Church has handed down to us, even so do we believe, that is to say, this bread is the Body of Christ in very truth, and is not a mere symbol. It is the same as when God took dust from the earth, and made man in His image; just as no one can say that he is not the image of God, so also with the bread of which He said, “This is My Body” is not to be regarded as a merely commemorative thing; we believe that it is indeed the Body of Christ.’ The hermit said, ‘Unless I can be convinced by the thing itself I will not listen to this.’ Then the monks said to him, ‘Let us pray to God all week about this mystery, and we believe that He will reveal the truth to us.’ The hermit agreed to this with great joy, and each went to his cell. Then the hermit prayed, saying, ‘O Lord, you know that it is not out of wickedness that I do not believe, so in order that I may not go astray through ignorance, reveal to me, Lord Jesus Christ, the truth of this mystery.’ The other two brothers prayed to God and said, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, give this hermit understanding about this mystery, and we believe that he will not be lost.’ God heard the prayer of the two monks. When the week was over they came to the church, and the three of them sat down by themselves on one seat, the hermit between the other two. The eyes of their understanding were opened, and when the time of the mysteries arrived, and the bread was laid upon the holy table, there appeared to the three of them as it were a child on the table. Then the priest stretched out his hand to break the bread, and behold the angel of the Lord came down from heaven with a knife in his hand, and he killed the child and pressed out his blood into the cup. When the priest broke off from the bread small pieces, the hermit went forward to receive communion and a piece of living flesh smeared and dripping with blood was given to him. Now when he saw this he was afraid and he cried out loudly, saying, ‘Lord, I believe that the bread is Your Body, and that the cup is Your Blood.’ At once the flesh that was in his hand became bread, and he took it and gave thanks to God. The brothers said to him, ‘God knows the nature of men, and that we are unable to eat living flesh, and so He turneth His Body into bread, and His Blood into wine for those who receive Him in faith.’ Then they gave thanks to God for the hermit, because He had not let Satan destroy him, and the three of them went back to their cells joyfully.

And he said to them: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many. Because bread strengthens the body, but wine works blood in the flesh: this is mystically related to the body of Christ, that refers to the blood. But because it is necessary that both we remain in Christ, and Christ in us, water is mixed with the wine of the Lord's cup. For according to John, the waters are the peoples. And neither water alone, nor wine alone, just as neither grain of wheat alone without the mixture and preparation of water, is permitted to be offered to anyone as bread, lest this offering be understood as signifying a separation of the head from the members, and that either Christ could have suffered without love for our redemption, or we could be saved and offered to the Father without his passion. But what he says: This is my blood of the new testament (Matthew 26), relates to the distinction of the old testament, which was dedicated with the blood of goats and calves, the legislator saying while sprinkling: This is the blood of the testament, which God has commanded unto you (Hebrews 9). For it is necessary indeed that the copies of the true are cleansed by these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these; according to what the Apostle through the whole epistle to the Hebrews, distinguishing between the law and the Gospel, declares with a most beautiful explanation and comprehensive reasoning.

(ubi sup.) This refers to the different circumstances of the Old Testament, which was consecrated by the blood of calves and of goats; and the lawgiver said in sprinkling it, This is the blood of the Testament which God hath injoined unto you. (Heb. 9:20. vide Ex. 24:8) It goes on: Which is shed for many.

He called His Blood the Blood of the "New Testament," in distinction from the Old Testament, for the Old Testament also had blood, with which both the people and the books of the Law were sprinkled.

But in a mystical sense, the Lord transfigures into bread His body, which is the present Church, which is received in faith, is blessed in its number, is broken in its sufferings, is given in its examples, is taken in its doctrines; and He forms His Blood (formans sanguinem suum ap. Pseudo-Hier.) in the chalice of water and wine mingled together, that by one we may be purged from our sins, by the other redeemed from their punishment. For by the blood of the lamb our houses are preserved from the smiting of the Angel, and our enemies perish in the waters of the Red sea, which are the sacraments of the Church of Christ. Wherefore it goes on: And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them. For we are saved by the grace of the Lord, not by our own deserts. Happy intoxication, saving fulness, which the more we drink gives the greater sobriety of mind! Judas therefore drinks and is not satisfied, nor can he quench the thirst of the everlasting fire, because he unworthily partakes of the mysteries of Christ. There are some in the Church whom the sacrifice does not cleanse, but their foolish thought draws them on to sin, for they have plunged themselves in the stinking slough of cruelty.

The Jews conspire against Christ, Mar 14:1, Mar 14:2. He is anointed in the house of Simon the Leper, Mar 14:3-9. Judas Iscariot sells him to the chief priests for thirty pieces of money, Mar 14:10, Mar 14:11. He orders his disciples to prepare the passover, Mar 14:12-16. Predicts his approaching death, Mar 14:17-21. Institutes the holy eucharist, Mar 14:22-26. Foretells the unfaithfulness of his disciples in general, Mar 14:27, Mar 14:28, and Peter's denial, Mar 14:29-31. His agony in the garden, Mar 14:32-36. The disciples overcome by sleep, Mar 14:37-42. Judas comes with a mob from the chief priests, and betrays him with a kiss; they seize him, Mar 14:43-49. The disciples flee, Mar 14:50. A young man following, and about to be apprehended, makes his escape, Mar 14:51, Mar 14:52. Jesus is brought before the chief priests, and Peter follows at a distance, Mar 14:53, Mar 14:54. He is examined, insulted, and abused, and condemned on false evidence, Mar 14:55-65. Peter thrice denies him, reflects on his wickedness, and repents of his sin, Mar 14:66-72.

ANGELIC ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE WOMEN ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, THAT CHRIST IS RISEN--HIS APPEARANCES AFTER HIS RESURRECTION--HIS ASCENSION--TRIUMPHANT PROCLAMATION OF HIS GOSPEL. ( = Mat 28:1-10, Mat 28:16-20; Luke 24:1-51; Joh 20:1-2, John 20:11-29). (Mark 16:1-20) when the sabbath was past--that is, at sunset of our Saturday. Mary Magdalene--(See on Luk 8:2). Mary the mother of James--James the Less (see Mar 15:40). and Salome--the mother of Zebedee's sons (compare Mar 15:40 with Mat 27:56). had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him--The word is simply "bought." But our translators are perhaps right in rendering it here "had bought," since it would appear, from Luk 23:56, that they had purchased them immediately after the Crucifixion, on the Friday evening, during the short interval that remained to them before sunset, when the sabbath rest began; and that they had only deferred using them to anoint the body till the sabbath rest should be over. On this "anointing," see on Joh 19:40.