Arise, and go to meet him!" As the sound came nearer and nearer, the girls sprang up and began to trim their lamps, which were still just smoking and flickering. The five prudent ones soon trimmed their lamps and saw them burning with a clear, bright flame once more; but their companions were half distracted, for they could not for shame join the bridal procession without their lights. "Give us some of your oil," they cried in despair to the others, "for our lamps are going out!" But this was impossible, for none of them had brought any more than they required for themselves; so the others answered, "There would not be enough for all of Run back to the first shop that you can find and buy some for yourselves." The foolish girls now saw that there was not a moment to be lost, and hurried off as their friends had advised them. But meanwhile the bridegroom and his escort came, and the five prudent maidens who were ready joined him, and were soon at the bridal house. They entered, and the door was shut. It was not long before the others came too late. Their lamps burned clear, and they knocked at the door and cried, "Lord, Lord, open to us!" But he answered, "I know not who you are.' "Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

us.

This story teaches the beautiful and universal lesson that fitful energy in a good cause and the best of momentary intentions do not suffice to bring us to our goal; and that, if we are to hold our own in the press of life around us, we must gather up a treasure of faith and knowledge, and possess a fund of moral and religious life within ourselves from which as it were we can refresh at any moment our flagging earnestness and love, and renew our self-consecration to the ideal life. But, as we have it, the parable points with unmistakable distinctness to the circumstances of the apostolical community, when the return of Jesus was delayed beyond all expectation, so that the dangers of worldliness became more and more threatening, and the most earnest warnings were needed against them. The parable accordingly cannot be from Jesus. The bridegroom is no other than the Christ, who will come after long delay to his bride, the community on the earth. So too in the conception of the Evangelist,2 but not of course in the mouth of Jesus himself, the master who goes abroad in the parable of the talents (which follows directly after that of the ten virgins) is the Christ who has left the

1 See, for instance, Romans xiii. 11 ff. 8 See pp. 389, 390.

2 Compare p. 358.

earth for heaven, to return after a while. Finally Matthew, who gives these pictures of the future in far greater fulness than the other Evangelists, concludes them with a description of the last judgment, which we have taken an earlier opportunity of giving.1

It was but natural that during the gloom of these last remaining days the thoughts of Jesus, when among his friends, should have constantly wandered into the future and dwelt upon the judgment hanging over his nation, and the establishment of the kingdom of God after the short delay caused by Israel's hardness of heart. And it is equally natural that his warnings and his glances into the future should have been gradually transformed and elaborated as they passed from mouth to mouth. But, however much uncertainty this latter consideration may cause, one thing at least appears to rise above all reasonable doubt; namely, that, in spite of the gloomiest forebodings as to the fate of the great majority of his people, Jesus never for a moment lost faith in his own mission or the speedy triumph of his cause,

never ceased to expect the speedy coming of the kingdom of heaven, in which all mere external worship would be done away, and the crushing yoke of the letter would be broken."

Meanwhile he saw the crisis of his own fate drawing near with rapid strides. The first Gospel represents him, after giving expression to his expectations and uttering his threats in the series of discourses and parables just considered, as saying to his friends, "You know that in two days the Passover begins, and the Son of Man is given up to death," rather, as the words now stand, "to be crucified." If Jesus really said this, he did not mean to predict the exact moment of his death, but to emphasize the mournful contrast between the joyous festival to which all Israel looked forward and the bitter death that awaited him.

or

The evening of that same day, or the one that followed, showed how completely he was filled with thoughts of death. His host, Simon, had arranged a social meal in his honor; and, before it was over, a woman entered with an alabaster flask full of the costliest ointment in her hand. She stood behind Jesus, snapped the long, thin neck of the vase, and poured the contents over his head, filling the chamber with the glorious perfume. Her meaning was not doubtful. In the presence of the Twelve and all the other guests she 1 See pp. 167, 168. 2 Compare Acts vi. 14.

anointed Jesus king of Israel! It was an act of homage rendered in the enthusiasm of her faith to the future Messiah, as if to compensate for the delay in his recognition by the people; but at the same time it was an appeal to him no longer to defer the public assumption of his office. Little did the impatient disciple perceive how matters really stood! We may well believe that however acceptable to Jesus such a tribute of honor at such a moment must have been, yet a shadow crossed his face as he thought how widely different his fate would really be!

Meanwhile the woman's deed was far from meeting with the approval of the disciples. Were they angry with her for seeking thus to anticipate them and all the others? Or did they think she ought to have rendered this solemn homage publicly in Jerusalem in the presence of all the people, instead of at this quiet, friendly meeting? At any rate, they were decidedly put out, and some one muttered half aloud, "What waste! The ointment might have been sold for as much as three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor!" and instead of the instantaneous and passionate assent she had expected her action to awake, the woman only met with sullen or resentful glances. As soon as Jesus noticed this he began to defend her. Why do you treat the woman thus? She has done a good deed to me. For you always have the poor with you, and can do good to them whenever you will; but you will not always have me with you. She has done what she could. In pouring this ointment on my body she has anointed me already for my burial."

66

The importance which the early Christians attached to this scene at the close of the Master's life appears from the words that are put into his mouth: "I tell you truly that wherever this Gospel [that is to say, the history of his life, or the writing itself that embodied it], wherever this Gospel shall be preached in all the world, this woman's noble deed shall be recorded in her praise." She deserves no less, for her deed brought comfort to Jesus in an hour of deepest suffering, and we may well be surprised that her name has perished.

As for us, we rejoice to find in the Master's condemnation of the judgment and behavior of the disciples a vigorous protest against that narrow, matter-of-fact conception of life, too common still, which always looks to the immediate utility of every thing as the first or only test of its value, and condemns as sinful and wretched all those sweet super

fluities and adornments of which, thank God! our earth and our life upon it are so full. Not only the useful, but the beautiful as well, and all the utterances of a beautiful soul, have a right of existence on their own account.

From a historical point of view the story is valuable as illustrating the tone of feeling among the disciples: while some of them longed impatiently for their Master to proceed to action, they were all of them more or less completely blind to what was immediately before them. But we are most impressed by the deep feeling of the words of Jesus, "She has embalmed my body for the grave." The perfume of the ointment called up the reflection, "Corpses are anointed so!" and the next moment Jesus thought with a shudder, "Soon I shall be a corpse myself." Under the influence of this idea he gave the gloomy interpretation we have seen to the woman's act. Of course he perfectly understood what she meant by it; but he could only accept it as a tribute to the dead, as the last honor shown to a venerated Master Before long there would You will not always

by the lavish hand of fervent love. be nothing they could do for him. have me with you."

His forebodings were not false !

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE LAST EVENING.

MARK XIV. 10-25.1

was Thursday, the fourteenth of Nisan. At six o'clock

begin. Jesus had looked forward in eager suspense to this. day and this hour. Would he live to see it? While every other family or band of friends was celebrating the joyful festival of Israel's great deliverance, would he too, with the Twelve, join in the commemorative meal in the City of the Lord? He longed for it with all his heart, but did not conceal from himself that it was far from certain. Meanwhile he had made the necessary arrangements, that all might at least be in readiness. On such an evening Jerusalem was so

1 Matthew xxvi. 14-29; Luke xxii. 3-30.

crowded that every available place was pressed into service, and it was absolutely necessary to bespeak a room at any rate some days beforehand. To do this safely, Jesus must select a friend upon whose fidelity and secrecy he could absolutely rely; and to prevent any chance of his arrangements becoming known he did not even tell the Twelve what he had done.

In the morning, therefore, they came to him at Bethany and asked him where he wished them to prepare the Passover, in order that they might make the necessary purchases and get every thing ready. They must buy a lamb, and slaughter and cook it; and must provide the wine and unleavened bread, with a dish of bitter herbs (lettuce, endive, parsley, cress, and radishes) and a mess of dried dates, almonds, grapes, nuts, and figs prepared with vinegar and cinnamon. Some of these viands were intended to remind the consumers of the slavery in Egypt, while others had some long-forgotten symbolical meaning in connection with the primitive significance of the feast. Of course the disciples would get every thing ready; but the great question was where they were to meet.

In answer to their inquiries on this point, Jesus commissioned two of the disciples — perhaps Peter and John - to go to the city to a certain man and say, "The Master says, 'The hour of my death draws near. I will keep the Passover with my disciples in your house.' Such is the account in Matthew; but the message is rather strange and incoherent, and Mark and Luke give it thus: "The Master says, 'Where is the room in which I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?' Then," continues Jesus, "he will show you a large room upstairs, with a table and couches and all that is needful. Make ready for us there." The same Evangelists, however, introduce the message in the following legendary form: "Go to the city, and at the gate a man will meet you with a jug of water on his shoulder; follow him, and whatever house he enters, say to the householder, 'The Master,'" and so on. This cannot refer to a preconcerted token, which would be unnecessary, since Peter and John must surely have been definitely told to whom they were to go; and if a token had been needed at all this would have been a very bad one, for on the morning of such a busy day water-carriers would be passing to and fro in every direction. Obviously, the Evangelists mean that Jesus had supernatural 1 See vol. i. pp.

278 ff.