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The Eighth Lesson: The End of the Life Work.1035
to the orthodox members of the church. Jesus answered them by asking
questions that they feared to answer. Then they began to question Him,
hoping to involve Him in ecclesiastical heresies which would give them
their excuse to arrest Him. But He evaded them skilfully. They sought also
to compel Him to state opinions contrary to the Roman authority, but He
likewise escaped this net.
Finally, however, they drew from Him a savage attack upon authority, and
He cried out in indignation: “Woe unto you, ye generation of vipers! Ye
serpents! Ye hypocrites! Ye oppressors of the poor! Ye professed shepherds,
who are but as wolves in disguise, seeking but to devour the sheep whom
ye have in charge! Woe unto you, ye Scribes, Hypocrites, Pharisees!” Then
He left the Temple and returned to Bethany to spend the night, after
foretelling the destruction of the Temple, when there should not be left
one of its stones upon another.
That night he had a heart-to-heart talk with the Twelve. He told them that
the end was in sight—that He was to die before many hours had passed—
that they, the Twelve, were to become wanderers on the face of the earth—
hunted and persecuted in His name and for His sake. A terrible revelation to
some among them who had dreamt of earthly grandeur and high positions
for themselves! And then Judas felt that the time to act had come, and he
stole away to meet the High-priest and to close the frightful bargain with
him which was to make his name the synonym for treachery throughout the
ages.
The next day, Wednesday, He rested in Bethany the whole twenty-four
hours, evidently gathering together his reserve forces to meet the ordeal
which He now knew was before Him. He kept apart from even His disciples
and spent the time in meditation. And likewise was passed the early part of
the following day, Thursday. But when the even time had come, He sent for
the Twelve and gathered them around Him for the Paschal Supper, one of
the rites of the Passover time.