Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2982
“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” Matthew 26:30.
The occasion on which these words were spoken was the last meal of which Jesus partook in company with His disciples before He went from them to His shameful trial and His ignominious death. It was His farewell supper before a bitter parting—and yet they must sing. He was on the brink of that great depth of misery into which He was about to plunge—and yet He would have them sing “a hymn.” It is amazing that HE sang and, in a second degree, it is remarkable that THEY sang. We will consider both these singular facts.
I. Let us dwell a while on THE FACT THAT JESUS SANG AT SUCH A TIME AS THIS. What does He teach us by this?
Does He not say to each of us, His followers, “My religion is one of happiness and joy. I, your Master, by My example, would instruct you to sing even when the last solemn hour is come and all the glooms of death are gathering around you. Here, at the table, I am your Singing-master and set you lessons in music, in which My dying voice shall lead you, notwithstanding all the griefs which overwhelm My heart! I will be to you the Chief Musician and the Sweet Singer of Israel.” There was a time when it would have been natural and consistent with the solemnities of the occasion for the Savior to have bowed His head upon the table, bursting into a flood of tears. Or, if ever theirs was a season when He might have fittingly retired from all company and have bewailed His coming conflict in sighs and groans, it was just then. But no, that brave heart will sing “a hymn.” Our glorious Jesus plays the man beyond all other men! Boldest of the sons of men, He quails not in the hour of battle, but tunes His voice to loftiest Psalmody. The genius of that Christianity of which Jesus is the Head and Founder, its object, spirit and design, are happiness and joy—and they who receive it are able to sing in the very jaws of death!
This remark, however, is quite a secondary one to the next. Our Lord’s complete fulfillment of the Law of God is even more worthy of our attention. It was customary, when the Passover was held, to sing, and this is the main reason why the Savior did so. During the Passover it was usual to sing the 113th and five following Psalms which were called the “Hallel.” The first commences, you will observe, in our version, with, “Praise you the Lord!” or, “Hallelujah!” The 115th and the three following, were usually sung as the closing song of the Passover. Now, our Savior would not diminish the splendor of the great Jewish rite although it was the last time that He would celebrate it. No, there shall be the holy beauty and delight of Psalmody—none of it shall be stinted—the “Hallel” shall be full and complete!
We may safely believe that the Savior sang through, or probably chanted, the whole of these six Psalms. And my heart tells me that there was no one at the table who sang more devoutly or more cheerfully than did our blessed Lord. There are some parts of the 118th Psalm, especially, which strike us as having sounded singularly grand as they flowed from His blessed lips. Note verses 22, 23, 24. Particularly observe those words near the end of the Psalm and imagine you hear the Lord, Himself, singing them—“God is the Lord, which has showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise You: You are my God, I will exalt You. O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good: for His mercy endures forever.”
Because, then, it was the settled custom of Israel to recite or sing these Psalms, our Lord Jesus Christ did the same, for He would leave nothing unfinished. Just as when He went down into the waters of Baptism, He said, “Thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness,” so He seemed to say, when sitting at the table, “Thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. Therefore let us sing unto the Lord, as God’s people in past ages have done.” Beloved, let us view with
holy wonder the strictness of the Savior’s obedience to His Father’s will! And let us endeavor to follow in His steps in all things, seeking to be obedient to the Lord’s Word in the little matters as well as in the great ones.
May we not venture to suggest another and deeper reason? Did not the singing of “a hymn” at the supper show the holy absorption of the Savior’s soul in His Father’s will If, Beloved, you knew that at, say, ten o’clock tonight, you would be led away to be mocked, despised and scourged—and that tomorrow’s sun would see you falsely accused, hanging, a convicted criminal, to die upon a cross—do you think that you could sing tonight, after your last meal? I am sure you could not unless with more than earth-born courage and resignation your soul could say, “bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.” You would sing if your spirit were like the Savior’s spirit—if, like He, you could exclaim, “Not as I will, but as You will.” But if there should remain in you any selfishness, any desire to be spared the bitterness of death, you would not be able to chant the “Hallel” with the Master! Blessed Jesus, how wholly were You given up! How perfectly consecrated! So that, whereas other men sing when they are marching to their joys, You sang on Your way to death! Whereas other men lift up their cheerful voices when honor awaits them, You had a brave and holy sonnet on Your lips when shame, spitting and death were to be Your portion!