True, even among them are such as have kept an open eye. The scribe who put to him the question about the great commandment and welcomed his reply is commended as “having understanding” and therefore “not far from the Kingdom of God,”—for he shall belong to it when it appears. But the mass of the Pharisees and scribes understand him so little that they decree his death. They had no effective charge to bring against his behaviour. A disrespectful word about the Temple—that was all. [pg 271] _Then Judas betrayed to them the secret._ Now he was condemned. In the neighbourhood of death Jesus draws himself up to the same triumphant stature as in the days by the seaside,—for with death comes the Kingdom. On that occasion he had celebrated with the believers a mystic feast as an anticipation of the messianic banquet; so now he rises at the end of the last earthly supper and distributes to the Disciples hallowed food and drink, intimating to them with a solemn voice that this is the last earthly meal, for they are soon to be united at the banquet in the Father’s Kingdom. Two corresponding parables suggest the secret of the Passion. For him, the bread and wine which he hands them at the Supper are his body and his blood, for by the sacrifice of himself unto death he ushers in the messianic feast. The parabolic saying remained obscure to the Disciples. It was also not intended for them, its purpose was not to explain anything to them,—_for it was an enigma-parable._ Now, as the great hour approaches, he seeks again, as after the Supper by the seashore, a lonely spot where he may pray. He bears the Affliction for others. Therefore he can say to the Disciples beforehand that in the [pg 272] night they shall all be offended in him—and he does not need to condemn them, for the Scripture had so determined it. What endless peace lies in this word! Indeed, he comforts _them:_ after the Resurrection he will gather them about him and go before them in messianic glory unto Galilee, retracing the same road along which they had followed him on his way to death.