Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where will you that we prepare for you to eat the passover?
All Commentaries on Matthew 26:17 Go To Matthew 26
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
On the first day of unleavened bread, &c. The Passover was to be eaten with unleavened, that Isaiah , pure unfermented bread, according to the Law. This abstinence from leaven lasted seven days, and the first day of unleavened bread was the first day of the Passover. The Pasch or Passover was celebrated on the14th day of the first month, at even; that is to say, on the full moon of the month called Nisan, which was that in which fell the full moon of the vernal equinox. Wherefore, Nisan answers partly to our March and partly to April.
The following is the chronology of the last eight days of the life of Christ. On the Friday, which was the8th day of Nisan, He came from Ephrem to Bethany. The next day, being the Sabbath, He sups in the house of Simon the leper. The day following was the10th of Nisan, and Palm Sunday. On the11th of Nisan, He taught in the Temple, and cursed the barren fig-tree. On the12th, He foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, and spake the parables recorded in S. Matthew xxiv. and xxv. On the13th of Nisan, or Wednesday, the rulers held their council, when Judas sold Him to them. On the14th of Nisan, He instituted the Eucharist. On the15th, He was crucified. The16th of Nisan was Saturday, when He lay in the tomb. The17th of Nisan was Easter Sunday.
On the first day of unleavened bread, that Isaiah , the14th day of Nisan, or the full moon, Christ about mid-day sent two of His disciples from Bethany to Jerusalem to prepare and roast the paschal lamb, that He might eat it with them in the evening. Here observe, that the first day of unleavened bread is sometimes called the14th of Nisan and sometimes the15th. For that evening in which the Jews celebrated the Pasch, with which the days and the eating of unleavened bread commenced, according to the natural computation of time, pertained to the fourteenth day, but according to the computation observed with respect to festivals, it pertained to the following day, or the15th of Nisan.
You will ask, What was the precise day on which Christ ate the Passover and instituted the Eucharist? Was it the same day on which the Jews kept the Pasch, or was it another? I take it for granted that, according to the belief of the whole Church, Christ was crucified on Friday, and therefore that He ate the paschal lamb at supper the day before, or on Thursday evening.
1st Euthymius and the Greeks say that Christ celebrated the Pasch on the13th of Nisan; that He anticipated the time fixed by the Law for the Passover, on account of His Passion, which was about to be on the next day, on which the Jews celebrated the Passover. And because the use of azyms, or unleavened bread, began with the Passover on the following day, they think that Christ instituted the Eucharist before the azyms, and in leavened bread. Therefore they celebrate in leavened bread; and they say that this is a command. Whence they condemn the Latins for celebrating in unleavened bread, and call them Azymites and heretics. And they wash their altars before they will celebrate upon them, as deeming them polluted with unleavened bread. They cite in favour of their view S. John 13:1-2, who says, before the feast of the Passover (that Isaiah , before the fourteenth day of the moon, when they began to eat unleavened bread) Christ made His supper.
2d Rupertus, Jansen, Maldonatus, and Salmeron, who enters at length into the subject (tract9 , tom4), say that Christ celebrated the Pasch according to the Law on the14th of Nisan, but that the Jews deferred it until the15th, an opinion thought to be supported by S. John. For there was a tradition, says Burgensis (ex Seder Olam), that if the Passover fell on the Friday, or the preparation for the Sabbath, it was transferred to the following day, which was the Sabbath, or Saturday, lest two solemn festivals, the Passover and the Sabbath, should concur.1 But this tradition is later than the time of Christ, as may be proved from the Talmud and Aben Ezra.
With these I say that both Christ and the Jews celebrated the Passover on the same day prescribed by the Law, namely, on the14th day of Nisan, in the evening. That this was Song of Solomon , appears from Matthew ,, Mark , and Luke , who say that Christ celebrated the Passover on the first day of unleavened bread, on which the Passover must (by the Law) be killed. And on which day they (ie, the Jews) killed the Passover. Had it been otherwise, the Jews would have proved and condemned Christ to be a transgressor of the Law.
You may object, 1st If Christ celebrated the Passover on the14th of Nisan, why do Matthew ,, Mark , and Luke say that He celebrated it on the first day of unleavened bread, which fell upon the fifteenth day? The answer Isaiah , as I have already said, that the first day of the azyms was partly the14th and partly the15th of Nisan. For that evening on which the Jews celebrated the Passover, with which began the days and the use of unleavened bread, pertained, according to the natural reckoning of time, to the day which preceded the evening, that Isaiah , to the14th of Nisan. But the same evening pertained, according to the festal reckoning, to the day following, which was the15th of Nisan. And in this sense John says that Christ supped upon the paschal lamb before the feast of the Passover, which was the15th of Nisan, according to the festal reckoning.
You will object, 2d That it is said, John 18:28, that the Jews did not enter the prtorium lest they should be defiled, but that they being pure, might eat a pure Pasch. I answer, Passover, in that place, does not signify the paschal lamb, for that had been already sacrificed and eaten the evening before, but the other paschal victims, which they were wont to immolate on the seven following days, but especially on the first day of the azyms, that Isaiah , on the morning of the15th day of Nisan, according to the Law.
You will object, 3d John 19:21 calls the15th of Nisan, on which Christ celebrated the paschal supper, the preparation of the Passover. I answer yes, of the Passover, that Isaiah , of the Paschal Sabbath, or the Sabbath which fell within the octave of the Paschal Feast, which was for that reason more thought of than other Sabbaths. As S. John adds by way of explanation, For that Sabbath-day was a high day. This appears also from Mark 15:32, who calls this preparation day the day before the Sabbath. For on the preparation day, that Isaiah , the Friday, they prepared food and other necessaries for the following day, which was the Sabbath. For on this Sabbath, as being most holy, they abstained from every kind of work, even from preparing food, which was allowable on other festivals.
You will object, 4th That the rulers say in Matthew 26:5, Let us put Christ to death, but not on the feast day. I reply that, after the treachery of Judas, they changed their counsel; and they did put Him to death on the feast day.
The disciples came,—two, says S. Mark; Peter and John , S. Luke. Where?—this is not to ask the city or town, but the house. They were certain from the Law ( Deuteronomy 16:5-7) that the Passover could not be offered anywhere save at Jerusalem. The paschal lamb, however, was not immolated in the temple by the priests, but at home, by each master of a household, who for this purpose retained the ancient right of the priesthood, which was originally given to each first-born son of a family. Philo shows this at length (lib. de Decalogo, sub finem): "Every one ordinarily sacrifices the Passover without waiting for the priest; for they in this case, by the permission of the Law, discharge the office of the priest." For the sacrifice of the paschal lamb consisted rather in the eating thereof, than in the immolation. Whence the disciples say, eat the Passover. Hence, also, it might be slain, immolated, flayed, and roasted, not indeed by common butchers, but either by a priest, or by that member of a family whom its head should appoint. Thus Peter and John , who were here sent by Christ, killed and made ready the lamb, and prepared the unleavened bread, and the wild herbs with which the lamb was to be eaten. The lamb was wont to be slain at the ninth hour, or three o"clock in the afternoon, as Josephus says (lib7 , de.Bell. c17).
Go into the city: Jerusalem. From this it is plain that Christ said these things in Bethany. To such a one, and say. Such a one; this is the Hebrew idiom, when any one is intended whose name is not mentioned. However, He indicates him by certain marks, as S. Mark signifies: "And He sendeth forth two of His disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the good man of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. And His disciples went forth, And came into the city, and found as He had said unto them; and they made ready the Passover."
Where observe, that it is plain from S. Mark"s words that this water-carrier, who guided them to the house, was not the master of the house. This latter appears to have been a wealthy Prayer of Manasseh , who possessed a spacious mansion, and who was probably a friend and disciple of Christ. The tradition Isaiah , that this house belonged to John , whose surname was Mark , the companion of Paul and Barnabas. This was the house in which the Apostles lay concealed after the death of Christ. In it Christ appeared to them in the evening of the day of His resurrection. And in the same house they received the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. Wherefore also Peter, when he was delivered by the angel out of the prison into which he had been cast by Herod, betook himself to the believers who were gathered together in this same house (see Acts 12:12). Wherefore, this house was converted into a church. For in it was Sion builded up, which is the greatest and the holiest of all churches. Alexander shows all these things in his Life of the Apostle S. Barnabas. He is followed by Baronius and many others. For where My refreshment Isaiah , as the Vulgate of S. Matt. (ver14) translates, the Greek has κατάλυμα, inn or lodging. The Greek for chamber is α̉νώγεων, an upper floor, or chamber, or flat, such as are inhabited at Rome by wealthy people. Wherefore it is a type of the Church, which is tending from earth to Heaven.
My time, i.e, the time of My death, and of finishing the work which My Father sent Me to do.
