Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 26:17-19

"Now on the first [day] of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where wilt thou that we make ready for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Teacher saith, My time is at hand; I keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus appointed them; and they made ready the passover." — Matthew 26:17-19 (ASV)

Glossa Ordinaria: After covering the events leading up to the Passion—namely, the announcement of the Chief Priests' counsel and the agreement for His betrayal—the Evangelist continues the account in the order of events, saying, "On the first day of unleavened bread." ¹

St. Jerome: The first day of unleavened bread is the fourteenth day of the first month, when the lamb is killed, the moon is full, and leaven is removed.

Remigius of Auxerre: Note that among the Jews, the Passover is celebrated on the first day, and the following seven are called the days of unleavened bread. Here, however, "the first day of unleavened bread" means the day of the Passover itself.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, by "the first day," he means the day before the festival of unleavened bread began. For the Jews always counted their day from the evening, and the day he refers to was the one on which the Passover was to be killed in the evening—namely, Thursday.^{i 2}

Remigius of Auxerre: But someone might ask: If that symbolic lamb prefigured the true Lamb, why did Christ not suffer on the same night the lamb was always killed? It should be noted that on this night, He entrusted to His disciples the mysteries of His flesh and blood to be celebrated. Then, when He was seized and bound by the Jews, He consecrated the beginning of His sacrifice, that is, His Passion. The disciples came to Him, and the traitor Judas was no doubt among them.

St. John Chrysostom: From this it is clear that He had neither a house nor a place to stay. Nor, I conclude, did the disciples have one, for they surely would have invited Him there.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Regarding the words, "Go into the city to such a man," this refers to the one whom Mark and Luke call "the good-man of the house" or "the master of the house." When Matthew says, "to such a man," he should be understood as using his own words for the sake of brevity, since everyone knows that no one actually speaks that way. Matthew adds this phrase not because the Lord used those exact words, but to show us that the disciples were not sent to just anyone in the city, but to a specific person. ³

St. John Chrysostom: Or, we could say that the phrase "to such a man" shows that He sent them to someone they did not know, thereby teaching them that He was able to avoid His Passion. For if He could persuade this man to host Him, how could He not have prevailed over those who crucified Him, if He had chosen not to suffer? Indeed, I am amazed not only that the man hosted Him, though He was a stranger, but that he did so in defiance of the hatred of the crowd.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Alternatively, Matthew does not name the man in whose house Christ would celebrate the Passover because the name "Christian" was not yet held in honor among the believers.

Rabanus Maurus: Or, he omits the name so that all who wish to celebrate the true Passover and receive Christ into the dwelling place of their own minds might understand that the opportunity is offered to them.

St. Jerome: In this, the New Testament also follows the practice of the Old, in which we often read phrases like, "He said to him," and "In this or that place," without naming the person or place.

St. John Chrysostom: He said, "My time is at hand," both to strengthen His disciples for the event through His many announcements of the Passion, and at the same time to show that He undertook it voluntarily.

In the words, "I will keep the Passover at your house," we see that to the very last day He was not disobedient to the Law. He adds, "with my disciples," so that sufficient preparation could be made and so that the one to whom He sent them would not think He wished to be hidden.

Origen of Alexandria: Someone may argueⁱ that because Jesus kept the Passover with Jewish observances, we as followers of Christ should do the same. They forget that Jesus was "made under the Law" (Galatians 4:4), not so that He would leave those under the Law to remain there, but so that He might lead them out of it. How much less fitting is it, then, for those who were previously without the Law to enter into it now?

We celebrate spiritually the things that were celebrated physically under the Law, keeping the Passover "in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:8). We do this according to the will of the Lamb, who said, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life in you" (John 6:53).

1. non occ.
2. Hom. lxxxi
3. de Cons. Ev., ii, 80