12. And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said to him Where will you that we go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?
13. And he sent forth two of his disciples, and said to them, Go you into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.
14. And wherever he shall go in, say you to the good man of the house, The Master said; Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples?
15. And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.
16. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said to them: and they made ready the Passover.
CHRYS. Whilst Judas was plotting how to betray Him, the rest of the disciples were taking care of the preparation of the Passover: wherefore it is said, And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said to him, Where will you that we go and prepare where you may eat the Passover.
BEDE; He means by the first day of the Passover the fourteenth day of the first month, when they threw aside leaven, and were wont to sacrifice, that is, to kill the lamb at even. The Apostle explaining this says, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. For although He was crucified on the next day, that is, on the fifteenth moon, yet on the night when the lamb was offered up, He committed to His disciples the mysteries of His Body and Blood, which they were to celebrate, and was seized upon and bound by the Jews; thus He consecrated the beginning of His sacrifice, that is, of His Passion.
PSEUDO-JEROME; But the unleavened bread which was eaten with bitterness, that is with bitter herbs, is our redemption, and the bitterness is the Passion of our Lord.
THEOPHYL. From the words of the disciples, Where will you that we go? it seems evident that Christ had no dwelling-place, and that the disciples had no houses of their own; for if so, they would have taken Him thither.
PSEUDO-JEROME; For they say, Where will you that we go? to show us that we should direct our steps according to the will of God. But the Lord points out with whom He would eat the Passover, and after l His custom He sends two disciples, which we have explained above; wherefore it goes on, And he sent forth two of his disciples, and he said to them, Go you into the city.
THEOPHYL. He sends two of His disciples, that is, Peter and John, as Luke says, to a man unknown to Him, implying by this that He might, if He had pleased, have avoided His Passion. For what could not He work in other men, who influenced the mind of a person unknown to Him, so that he received them? He also gives them a sign how they were to know the house, when He adds, And there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water.
AUG. Mark says a pitcher, Luke a two-handled vessel; one points out the kind of vessel, the other the mode of carrying it; both however mean the same truth.
BEDE; And it is a proof of the presence of His divinity, that in speaking with His disciples,
He knows what is to take place elsewhere; wherefore it follows, And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said to them; and they made ready the Passover.
CHRYS. Not our Passover, but in the meanwhile that of the Jews; but He did not only appoint ours, but Himself became our Passover. Why too did He eat it? Because He was made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, and Himself give rest to the Law. And lest any one should say that He did away with it, because He could not fulfill its hard and difficult obedience, He first Himself fulfilled it, and then set it to rest.
PSEUDO-JEROME. And in a mystical sense the city is the Church, surrounded by the wall of faith, the man who meets them is the primitive people, the pitcher of water is the law of the letter.
BEDE; Or else, the water is the layer of grace, the pitcher points out the weakness of those who were to show that grace to the world.
THEOPHYL. He who is baptized carries the pitcher of water, and he who bears baptism upon him comes to his rest, if he lives according to his reason; and he obtains rest, as being in the house. Wherefore it is added, Follow him.
PSEUDO-JEROME; That is, him who leads to the lofty place, where is the refreshment prepared by Christ. The lord of the house is the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord has entrusted His house; that there may be one faith under one Shepherd. The large upper-room is the wide-spread Church, in which the name of the Lord is spoken of, prepared by a variety of powers and tongues.
BEDE; Or else, the large upper-room is spiritually the Law, which comes forth from the narrowness of the letter, and in a lofty place, that is, in the lofty chamber of the soul, receives the Savior. But it is designedly that the names both of the bearer of the water, and of the lord of the house, are omitted, to imply that power is given to all who wish to celebrate the true Passover, that is, to be embued with the sacraments of Christ, and to receive Him in the dwelling-place of their mind.
THEOPHYL. Or else, the lord of the house is the intellect, which points out the large upper room, that is, the loftiness of intelligences, and which, though it be high, yet has nothing of vain glory, or of pride, but is prepared and made level by humility. But there, that is, in such a mind Christ's Passover is prepared by Peter and John, that is by action and contemplation.
17. And in the evening he comes with the twelve.
18. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say to you, One of you which eats with me shall betray me.
19. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?
20. And he answered and said to them, It is one of the twelve, that dips with me in the dish.
21. The Son of man indeed goes, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.
BEDE; The Lord who had foretold His Passion, prophesied also of the traitor, in order to give him room for repentance, that understanding that his thoughts were known, he might repent. Wherefore it is said, And in the evening he comes with the twelve.
And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say to you, One of you which eats with me shall betray me.
CHRYS. Where it is evident that He did not proclaim him openly to all, lest He should make him the more shameless; at the same time He did not altogether keep it silent, lest thinking that he was not discovered, he should boldly hasten to betray Him.
THEOPHYL. But how could they eat reclining, when the law ordered that standing and upright they should eat the Passover? It is probable that they had first fulfilled the legal Passover, and had reclined, when He began to give them His own Passover.
PSEUDO-JEROME; The evening of the day points out the evening of the world; for the last, who are the first to receive the penny of eternal life, come about the eleventh hour. All the disciples then are touched by the Lord; so that there is amongst them the harmony of the harp, all the well attuned strings answer with accordant tone; for it goes on: And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to him one by one, Is it I? One of them however, unstrung, and steeped in the love of money, said, Is it I, Lord? as Matthew testifies.
THEOPHYL. But the other disciples began to be saddened on account of the word of the Lord; for although they were free from this passion, yet they trust Him who knows all hearts, rather than themselves. It goes on: And he answered and said to them, It is one of the twelve, that dips with me in the dish.
BEDE; That is, Judas, who when the others were sad and held back their hands, puts forth his hand with his Master into the dish. And because He had before said, One of you shall betray me, and yet the traitor perseveres in his evil, He accuses him more openly, without however pointing out his name.
PSEUDO-JEROME; Again, He says, One out of the twelve, as it were separate from them, for the wolf carries away from the flock the sheep which he has taken, and the sheep which quits the fold lies open to the bite of the wolf.
But Judas does not withdraw his foot from his traitorous design though once and again pointed at, wherefore his punishment is foretold, that the death denounced upon him might correct him, whom shame could not overcame; wherefore it goes on: The Son of man indeed goes, as it is written of him.
THEOPHYL. The word here used, goes, shows that the death of Christ was not forced but voluntary.
PSEUDO-JEROME; But because many do good, in the way that Judas did, without its profiting them, there follows: Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.
BEDE; Woe too to that man, today and for ever, who comes to the Lord's table with an evil intent. For he, after the example of Judas, betrays the Lord, not indeed to Jewish sinners, but to his own sinning members. It goes on: Good were it for that man if he had never been born.
PSEUDO-JEROME; That is, hidden in his mother's inmost womb, for it is better for a man not to exist than to exist for torments.
THEOPHYL. For as respects the end for which he was designed, it would have been better for him to have been born, if he had not been the betrayer, for God created him for good works; but after he had fallen into such dreadful wickedness, it would have been better for him never to have been born.
22. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
23. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
24. And he said to them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
25. Verily I say to you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
BEDE; When the rites of the old Passover were finished, He passed to the new, in order, that is, to substitute the Sacrament of His own Body and Blood, for the flesh and blood of the lamb. Wherefore there follows: And as they did eat, Jesus took bread; that is, in order to show that He Himself is that person to whom the Lord swore, You are a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec. There follows: And blessed, and broke it.
THEOPHYL. That is, giving thanks, He broke it, which we also do, with the addition of some prayers.
BEDE; He Himself also breaks the bread, which He gives to His disciples, to show that the breaking of His Body was to take place, not against His will, nor without His intervention; He also blessed it, because He with the Father and the Holy Spirit filled His human nature, which He took upon Him in order to suffer, with the grace of Divine power. He blessed bread and brake it, because He deigned to subject to death His manhood, which He had taken upon Him, in such a way as to show that there was within it the power of Divine immortality, and to teach them that therefore He would the more quickly raise it from the dead. There follows: And gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
THEOPHYL. That, namely, which I now give and which you take. But the bread is not a mere figure of the Body of Christ, but is changed into the very Body of Christ. For the Lord said, The bread which I give you is my flesh. But the flesh of Christ is veiled from our eyes on account of our weakness, for bread and wine are things to which we are accustomed, if however we saw flesh and blood we could not bear to take them. For this reason the Lord bending Himself to our weakness keeps the forms of bread and wine, but changes the bread and wine into the reality of His Body and Blood.
CHRYS. Even now also that Christ is close to us; He who prepared that table, Himself also consecrates it. For it is not man who makes the offerings to be the Body and Blood of Christ, but Christ who was crucified for us. The words are spoken by the mouth of the Priest, and are consecrated by the power and the grace of God. By this word which He spoke, This is my body, the offerings are consecrated; and as that word which says, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, was sent forth but once, yet has its effect throughout all time, when nature does the work of generation; so also that voice was spoken once, yet gives confirmation to the sacrifice through all the tables of the Church even to this day, even to His advent.
PSEUDO-JEROME; 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 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.
GREG. When His Passion was approaching, He is said to have taken bread and given thanks. He therefore gave thanks, who took upon Him the stripes of other men's wickedness; He who did nothing worthy of smiting, humbly gives a blessing in His Passion, to show us, what each should do when beaten for his own sins, since He Himself bore calmly the stripes due to the sin of others; furthermore to show us, what we who are the subjects of the Father should do under correction, when He who is His equal gave thanks under the lash.
BEDE; The wine of the Lord's cup is mixed with water, because we should remain in Christ and Christ in us. For on the testimony of John, the waters are the people, and it is not lawful for any one to offer either wine alone, or water alone, lest such an oblation should mean that the head may be severed from the members, and either that Christ could suffer without love for our redemption, and that we can be saved or be offered to the Father without His Passion. It goes on: And they all drank of it.
PSEUDO-JEROME; Happy intoxication, saving fullness, which the more we drink gives the greater sobriety of mind!
THEOPHYL. Some say that Judas did not partake in these mysteries, but that he went out before the Lord gave the Sacrament. Some again say that He gave him also of that Sacrament.
CHRYS. 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.
PSEUDO-JEROME; 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.
CHRYS. Let there not be therefore a Judas at the table of the Lord; this sacrifice is spiritual food, for as bodily food, working on a belly filled with humors which are opposed to it, is hurtful, so this spiritual food if taken by one polluted with wickedness, rather brings him to perdition, not by its own nature, but through the fault of the recipient. Let therefore our mind be pure in all things, and our thought pure, for that sacrifice is pure. There follows: And he said to them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many.
BEDE; 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 has enjoined to you. It goes on: Which is shed for many.
PSEUDO-JEROME; For it does not cleanse all. It goes on: Verily I say to you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
THEOPHYL. As if He had said, I will not drink wine until the resurrection; for He calls His resurrection the kingdom, as He then reigned over death. But after His resurrection He ate and drank with His disciples, showing that it was He Himself who had suffered. But He drank it new, that is, in a new and strange manner, for He had not a body subject to suffering, and requiring food, but immortal and incorruptible. We may also understand it in this way. The vine is the Lord Himself, by the offspring of the vine is meant mysteries, and the secret understanding, which He Himself begets, who teaches man knowledge. But in the kingdom of God, that is, in the world to come, He will drink with His disciples mysteries and knowledge, teaching us new things, and revealing what He now hides.
BEDE; Or else, Isaiah testifies that the synagogue is called the vine or the vineyard of the Lord, saying, The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. The Lord therefore when about to go to His Passion, says, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, as if He had said openly, I will no longer delight in the carnal rites of the synagogue, in which also these rites of the Paschal Lamb have held the chief place. For the time of my resurrection shall come, that day shall come, when in the kingdom of heaven, that is, raised on high with the glory of immortal life, I will be filled with a new joy, together with you, for the salvation of the same people born again of the fountain of spiritual grace.
PSEUDO-JEROME; But we must consider that here the Lord changes the sacrifice without changing the time; so that we never celebrate the Caena Domini before the fourteenth moon. He who celebrates the resurrection on the fourteenth moon, will celebrate the Caena Domini on the eleventh moon, which was never done in either Old or New Testament.
26. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
31. But he spoke the more vehemently, If I should die with you, I will not deny you in any wise. Likewise also said they all.
THEOPHYL. As they returned thanks, before they drank, so they return thanks after drinking; wherefore it is said, And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives, to teach us to return thanks both before and after our food.
PSEUDO-JEROME; For by a hymn he means the praise of the Lord, as is said in the Psalms, The poor shall eat and be satisfied; they that seek after the Lord shall praise him. And again, All such as be fat upon earth have eaten and worshipped.
THEOPHYL. He also shows by this that He was glad to die for us, because when about to be betrayed, He deigned to praise God. He also teaches us when we fall into troubles for the sake of the salvation of many, not to be sad, but to give thanks to God, who through our distress works the salvation of many.
BEDE; That hymn in the Gospel of John may also be meant, which the Lord sang, returning thanks to the Father, in which also He prayed, raising His eyes to heaven, for Himself and His disciples, and those who were to believe, through their word.
THEOPHYL. Again, He went out into a mountain, that they might come to Him in a lonely place, and take Him without tumult. For if they had come to Him, whilst He was abiding in the city, the multitude of the people would have been in an uproar, and then His enemies, who took occasion against Him, should seem to have slain Him justly, because He stirred up the people.
BEDE; Beautifully also does the Lord lead out His disciples, when they had tasted His Sacraments, into the mount of Olives, to show typically that we ought through the reception of the Sacraments to rise up to higher gifts of virtue, and graces of the Holy Ghost, that we may be anointed in heart.
PSEUDO-JEROME; Jesus also is held captive on the mount of Olives, whence He ascended to heaven, that we may know, that we ascend into heaven from that place in which we watch and pray; there we are bound and do not tend back again to earth.
Catena Aurea Mark 14