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John Wesley’s own Explanatory Notes Upon the Old and New Testament on the day’s readings — his verse-by-verse commentary, not a summary of it. Read the full edition ↗

first Isaiah 50:4-9a

v.4Given me — This and the following passages may be in some sort understood of the prophet Isaiah, but they are far more evidently and eminently verified in Christ, and indeed seem to be meant directly of him. The tongue - All ability of speaking plainly, and convincingly, and persuasively. Weary - Burdened with the sense of his, deplorable condition. Wakeneth - Me, from time to time, and continually. To hear - He by his Divine power assists me to the practice of all his commands and my duties, with all attention and diligence.
v.6I gave — I patiently yielded up myself to those who smote me.
v.8Justifieth — God will clear up my righteousness, and shew by many and mighty signs and wonders, that I lived and died his faithful servant. Let him come - l am conscious of mine own innocency, and I know that God will give sentence for me.
v.9They — Mine accusers and enemies. The moth - Shall be cut off and consumed by a secret curse.

psalm Psalm 31:9-16

v.9Grief — With continual weeping.
v.10Iniquity — For the punishment of mine iniquity. Consumed - The juice and marrow of them bring almost dried up with grief.
v.11A fear — They were afraid to give me any countenance or assistance. Fled - To prevent their own danger and ruin.
v.12A broken vessel — Which is irreparable, and useless, and therefore despised by all.
v.13Fear — Just cause of fear.
v.15My times — All the affairs and events of my life, are wholly in thy power.

second Philippians 2:5-11

v.6Who being in the essential form — The incommunicable nature. Of God - From eternity, as he was afterward in the form of man; real God, as real man. Counted it no act of robbery - That is the precise meaning of the words, - no invasion of another's prerogative, but his own strict and unquestionable right. To be equal with God - the word here translated equal, occurs in the adjective form five or six times in the New Testament, Matt. xx, 12; Luke vi, 34; John v, 18; Acts xi, 17; Rev. xxi, 16. In all which places it expresses not a bare resemblance, but a real and proper equalitg. It here implies both the fulness and the supreme height of the Godhead; to which are opposed, he emptied and he humbled himself.
v.7Yet — He was so far from tenaciously insisting upon, that he willingly relinquished, his claim. He was content to forego the glories of the Creator, and to appear in the form of a creature; nay, to be made in the likeness of the fallen creatures; and not only to share the disgrace, but to suffer the punishment, due to the meanest and vilest among them all. He emptied himself - Of that divine fulness, which he received again at his exaltation. Though he remained full, John i, 14, yet he appeared as if he had been empty; for he veiled his fulness from the sight of men and angels. Yea, he not only veiled, but, in some sense, renounced, the glory which he had before the world began. Taking - And by that very act emptying himself. The form of a servant - The form, the likeness, the fashion, though not exactly the same, are yet nearly related to each other. The form expresses something absolute; the likeness refers to other things of the same kind; the fashion respects what appears to sight and sense. Being made in the likeness of men - A real man, like other men. Hereby he took the form of a servant.
v.8And being found in fashion as a man — A common man, without any peculiar excellence or comeliness. He humbled himself - To a still greater depth. Becoming obedient - To God, though equal with him. Even unto death - The greatest instance both of humiliation and obedience. Yea, the death of the cross - Inflicted on few but servants or slaves.
v.9Wherefore — Because of his voluntary humiliation and obedience. He humbled himself; but God hath exalted him - So recompensing his humiliation. And hath given him - So recompensing his emptying himself. A name which is above every name - Dignity and majesty superior to every creature.
v.10That every knee — That divine honour might be paid in every possible manner by every creature. Might bow - Either with love or trembling. Of those in heaven, earth, under the earth - That is, through the whole universe.
v.11And every tongue — Even of his enemies. Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord - Jehovah; not now "in the form of a servant," but enthroned in the glory of God the Father.

gospel Matthew 26:14-27:66

v.14Mark xiv, 10; Luke xxii, 3.
v.15They bargained with him for thirty pieces of silver — (About three pounds fifteen shillings sterling; or sixteen dollars sixty- seven cents) the price of a slave, Exod. xxi, 32.
v.17On the first day of unleavened bread — Being Thursday, the fourteenth day of the first month, Exod. xii, 6, 15. Mark xiv, 12 Luke xxii, 7
v.18The Master saith, My time is at hand — That is, the time of my suffering.
v.20Mark xiv, 17; Luke xxii, 14.
v.23He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish — Which it seems Judas was doing at that very time. This dish was a vessel full of vinegar, wherein they dipped their bitter herbs.
v.24The Son of man goeth through sufferings to glory, as it is written of him — Yet this is no excuse for him that betrayeth him: miserable will that man be: it had been good for that man if he had not been born - May not the same be said of every man that finally perishes? But who can reconcile this, if it were true of Judas alone, with the doctrine of universal salvation?
v.25Thou hast said — That is, it is as thou hast said.
v.26Jesus took the bread — the bread or cake, which the master of the family used to divide among them, after they had eaten the passover. The custom our Lord now transferred to a nobler use. This bread is, that is, signifies or represents my body, according to the style of the sacred writers. Thus Gen. xl, 12, The three branches are three days. Thus Gal. iv, 24, St. Paul speaking of Sarah and Hagar, says, These are the two covenants. Thus in the grand type of our Lord, Exod. xii, 11, God says of the paschal lamb, This is the Lord's passover. Now Christ substituting the holy communion for the passover, follows the style of the Old Testament, and uses the same expressions the Jews were wont to use in celebrating the passover.
v.27And he took the cup — Called by the Jews the cup of thanksgiving; which the master of the family used likewise to give to each after supper.
v.28This is the sign of my blood, whereby the new testament or covenant is confirmed. Which is shed for many — As many as spring from Adam.
v.29I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, till I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom — That is, I shall taste no more wine, till I drink wine of quite another kind in the glorious kingdom of my Father. And of this you shall also partake with me.
v.30And when they had sung the hymn — Which was constantly sung at the close of the passover. It consisteth of six psalms, from the 113th to the 118th. The Mount of Olives - Was over against the temple, about two miles from Jerusalem. Mark xiv, 26; Luke xxii, 39; John xviii, 1.
v.31All ye will be offended at me — Something will happen to me, which will occasion your falling into sin by forsaking me. Zech. xiii, 7.
v.32But notwithstanding this, after I am risen I will go before you (as a shepherd before his sheep) into Galilee. Though you forsake me, I will not for this forsake you.
v.34Before cock crowing thou wilt deny me thrice — That is, before three in the morning, the usual time of cock crowing: although one cock was heard to crow once, after Peter's first denial of his Lord.
v.35In like manner also said all the disciples — But such was the tenderness of our Lord, that he would not aggravate their sin by making any reply.
v.36Then cometh Jesus to a place called Gethsemane — That is, the valley of fatness. The garden probably had its name from its soil and situation, laying in some little valley between two of those many hills, the range of which constitutes the Mount of Olives. Mark xiv, 32; Luke xxii, 40.
v.37And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee — To be witnesses of all; he began to be sorrowful and in deep anguish - Probably from feeling the arrows of the Almighty stick fast in his soul, while God laid on him the iniquities of us all. Who can tell what painful and dreadful sensations were then impressed on him by the immediate hand of God? The former word in the original properly signifies, to be penetrated with the most exquisite sorrow; the latter to be quite depressed, and almost overwhelmed with the load.
v.39And going a little farther — About a stone's cast, Luke xxii, 41 - So that the apostles could both see and hear him still. If it be possible, let this cup pass from me - And it did pass from him quickly. When he cried unto God with strong cries and tears, he was heard in that which he feared. God did take away the terror and severity of that inward conflict.
v.41The spirit — Your spirit: ye yourselves. The flesh - Your nature. How gentle a rebuke was this, and how kind an apology! especially at a time when our Lord's own mind was so weighed down with sorrow.
v.45Sleep on now, if you can, and take your rest — For any farther service you can be of to me.
v.47Mark xiv, 43; Luke xxii, 47; John xviii, 2.
v.50The heroic behaviour of the blessed Jesus, in the whole period of his sufferings, will be observed by every attentive eye, and felt by every pious heart: although the sacred historians, according to their usual but wonderful simplicity, make no encomiums upon it. With what composure does he go forth to meet the traitor! With what calmness receive that malignant kiss! With what dignity does he deliver himself into the hands of his enemies! Yet plainly showing his superiority over them, and even then leading as it were captivity captive!
v.51And one of them striking the servant of the high priest — Probably the person that seized Jesus first; Cut off his ear - Aiming, it seems, to cleave his head, but that by a secret providence interposing, he declined the blow. Mark xiv, 47; Luke xxii, 49; John xviii, 10.
v.52All they that take the sword — Without God's giving it them: without sufficient authority.
v.53He will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels — The least of whom, it is probable, could overturn the earth and destroy all the inhabitants of it.
v.55Mark xiv, 48; Luke xxii, 52
v.57They led him away to Caiaphas — From the house of Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, to whom they had carried him first. Mark xiv, 53; Luke xxii, 54; John xviii, 12.
v.58But Peter followed him afar off — Variously agitated by conflicting passions; love constrained him to follow his Master; fear made him follow afar off. And going in, sat with the servants - Unfit companions as the event showed.
v.60Yet found they none — On whose evidence they could condemn him to die. At last came two false witnesses - Such they were, although part of what they said was true; because our Lord did not speak some of those words at all; nor any of them in this sense.
v.64Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man — He speaks in the third person, modestly, and yet plainly; Sitting on the right hand of power - That is, the right hand of God: And coming upon the clouds of heaven - As he is represented by Daniel, Dan. vii, 13, 14. Our Lord looked very unlike that person now! But nothing could be more awful, more majestic and becoming, than such an admonition in such circumstances!
v.65Then the high priest rent his clothes — Though the high priest was forbidden to rend his clothes (that is, his upper garment) in some cases where others were allowed to do it, Lev. xxi, 10; yet in case of blasphemy or any public calamity, it was thought allowable. Caiaphas hereby expressed, in the most artful manner, his horror at hearing such grievous blasphemy.
v.67Then — After he had declared he was the Son of God, the sanhedrim doubtless ordered him to be carried out, while they were consulting what to do. And then it was that the soldiers who kept him began these insults upon him.
v.72He denied with an oath — To which possibly he was not unaccustomed, before our Lord called him.
v.73Surely thou art also one of them, for thy speech discovereth thee — Malchus might have brought a stronger proof than this. But such is the overruling providence of God, that the world, in the height of their zeal, commonly catch hold of the very weakest of all arguments against the children of God.
v.74Then began he to curse and to swear — Having now quite lost the reins, the government of himself.
v.1In the morning — As the sanhedrim used to meet in one of the courts of the temple, which was never opened in the night, they were forced to stay till the morning before they could proceed regularly, in the resolution they had taken to put him to death. Mark xv, 1; Luke xxii, 66; xxiii, 1; John xviii, 28.
v.2Having bound him — They had bound him when he was first apprehended. But they did it now afresh, to secure him from any danger of an escape, as he passed through the streets of Jerusalem.
v.3Then Judas seeing that he was condemned — Which probably he thought Christ would have prevented by a miracle.
v.4They said, what is that to us? — How easily could they digest innocent blood! And yet they had a conscience! It is not lawful (say they) to put it into the treasury - But very lawful to slay the innocent!
v.5In that part of the temple where the sanhedrim met.
v.7They bought with them the potter's field — Well known, it seems, by that name. This was a small price for a field so near Jerusalem. But the earth had probably been digged for potters' vessels, so that it was now neither fit for tillage nor pasture, and consequently of small value. Foreigners - Heathens especially, of whom there were then great numbers in Jerusalem.
v.9Then was fulfilled — What was figuratively represented of old, was now really accomplished. What was spoken by the prophet - The word Jeremy, which was added to the text in latter copies, and thence received into many translations, is evidently a mistake: for he who spoke what St. Matthew here cites (or rather paraphrases) was not Jeremy, but Zechariah. Zech. xi, 12.
v.10As the Lord commanded me — To write, to record.
v.11Art thou the king of the Jews? — Jesus before Caiaphas avows himself to be the Christ, before Pilate to be a king; clearly showing thereby, that his answering no more, was not owing to any fear.
v.15At every feast — Every year, at the feast of the passover. Mark xv, 6; Luke xxiii, 17; John xviii, 39.
v.18He knew that for envy they had delivered him — As well as from malice and revenge; they envied him, because the people magnified him.
v.22They all say, Let him be crucified — The punishment which Barabbas had deserved: and this probably made them think of it. But in their malice they forgot with how dangerous a precedent they furnished the Roman governor. And indeed within the compass of a few years it turned dreadfully upon themselves.
v.24Then Pilate took water and washed his hands — This was a custom frequently used among the heathens as well as among the Jews, in token of innocency.
v.25His blood be on us and on our children — As this imprecation was dread. fully answered in the ruin so quickly brought on the Jewish nation, and the calamities which have ever since pursued that wretched people, so it was peculiarly fulfilled by Titus the Roman general, on the Jews whom he took during the siege of Jerusalem. So many, after having been scourged in a terrible manner, were crucified all round the city, that in a while there was not room near the wall for the crosses to stand by each other. Probably this befell some of those who now joined in this cry, as it certainly did many of their children: the very finger of God thus pointing out their crime in crucifying his Son.
v.26He delivered him to be crucified — The person crucified was nailed to the cross as it lay on the ground, through each hand extended to the utmost stretch, and through both the feet together. Then the cross was raised up, and the foot of it thrust with a violent shock into a hole in the ground prepared for it. This shock disjointed the body, whose whole weight hung upon the nails, till the persons expired through mere dint of pain. This kind of death was used only by the Romans, and by them inflicted only on slaves and the vilest criminals.
v.27The whole troop — or cohort. This was a body of foot commanded by the governor, which was appointed to prevent disorders and tumults, especially on solemn occasions. Mark xv, 16 John xix, 2.
v.28They put on him a scarlet robe — Such as kings and generals wore; probably an old tattered one.
v.32Him they compelled to bear his cross — He bore it himself, till he sunk under it, John xix, 17.
v.33A place called Golgotha, that is, the place of a skull — Golgotha in Syriac signifies a skull or head: it was probably called so from this time; being an eminence upon Mount Calvary, not far from the king's gardens. Mark xv, 22; Luke xxiii, 33; John xix, 17
v.34They gave him vinegar mingled with gall — Out of derision: which, however nauseous, he received and tasted of. St. Mark mentions also a different mixture which was given him, Wine mingled with myrrh: such as it was customary to give to dying criminals, to make them less sensible of their sufferings: but this our Lord refused to taste, determining to bear the full force of his pains.
v.35They parted his garments — This was the custom of the Romams. The soldiers performed the office of executioners, and divided among them the spoils of the criminals. My vesture - That is, my inner garment. Psalm xxii, 18.
v.38Mark xv, 27; Luke xxiii, 32.
v.44Mark xv, 32; Luke xxiii, 33.
v.45From the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the earth unto the ninth hour — Insomuch, that even a heathen philosopher seeing it, and knowing it could not be a natural eclipse, because it was at the time of the full moon, and continued three hours together, cried out, "Either the God of nature suffers, or the frame of the world is dissolved." By this darkness God testified his abhorrence of the wickedness which was then committing. It likewise intimated Christ's sore conflicts with the Divine justice, and with all the powers of darkness.
v.46About the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice — Our Lord's great agony probably continued these three whole hours, at the conclusion of which be thus cried out, while he suffered from God himself what was unutterable. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? - Our Lord hereby at once expresses his trust in God, and a most distressing sense of his letting loose the powers of darkness upon him, withdrawing the comfortable discoveries of his presence, and filling his soul with a terrible sense of the wrath due to the sins which he was bearing. Psalm xxii, 1.
v.48One taking a sponge, filled it with vinegar — Vinegar and water was the usual drink of the Roman soldiers. It does not appear, that this was given him in derision, but rather with a friendly design, that he might not die before Elijah came. John xix, 28.
v.50After he had cried with a loud voice — To show that his life was still whole in him. He dismissed his spirit - So the original expression may be literally translated: an expression admirably suited to our Lord's words, John x, xviii, No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. He died by a voluntary act of his own, and in a way peculiar to himself. He alone of all men that ever were, could have continued alive even in the greatest tortures, as long as he pleased, or have retired from the body whenever he had thought fit. And how does it illustrate that love which he manifested in his death? Insomuch as he did not use his power to quit his body, as soon as it was fastened to the cross, leaving only an insensible corpse, to the cruelty of his murderers: but continued his abode in it, with a steady resolution, as long as it was proper. He then retired from it, with a majesty and dignity never known or to be known in any other death: dying, if one may so express it, like the Prince of life.
v.51Immediately upon his death, while the sun was still darkened, the veil of the temple, which separated the holy of holies from the court of the priests, though made of the richest and strongest tapestry, was rent in two from the top to the bottom: so that while the priest was ministering at the golden altar (it being the time of the sacrifice) the sacred oracle, by an invisible power was laid open to full view: God thereby signifying the speedy removal of the veil of the Jewish ceremonies the casting down the partition wall, so that the Jews and Gentiles were now admitted to equal privileges, and the opening a way through the veil of his flesh for all believers into the most holy place. And the earth was shaken — There was a general earthquake through the whole globe, though chiefly near Jerusalem: God testifying thereby his wrath against the Jewish nation, for the horrid impiety they were committing.
v.52Some of the tombs were shattered and laid open by the earthquake, and while they continued unclosed (and they must have stood open all the Sabbath, seeing the law would not allow any attempt to close them) many bodies of holy men were raised, (perhaps Simeon, Zacharias, John the Baptist, and others who had believed in Christ, and were known to many in Jerusalem, ) And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, went into the holy city (Jerusalem) and appeared to many — Who had probably known them before: God hereby signifying, that Christ had conquered death, and would raise all his saints in due season.
v.54The centurion — The officer who commanded the guard; and they that were with him feared, saying, Truly this was the Son of God - Referring to the words of the chief priests and scribes, chap. xxvii, xliii, He said, I am the Son of God.
v.56James — The less: he was so called, to distinguish him from the other James, the brother of John; probably because he was less in stature.
v.57When the evening was come — That is, after three o'clock; the time from three to six they termed the evening. Mark xv, 42; Luke xxiii, 50; John xix, 38.
v.62On the morrow, the day that followed the day of the preparation — The day of preparation was the day before the Sabbath, whereon they were to prepare for the celebration of it. The next day then was the Sabbath according to the Jews. But the evangelist seems to express it by this circumlocution, to show the Jewish Sabbath was then abolished.
v.63That impostor said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again — We do not find that he had ever said this to them, unless when he spoke of the temple of his body, John ii, 19, 21. And if they here refer to what he then said, how perverse and iniquitous was their construction on these words, when he was on his trial before the council? Chap. xxvi, 61. Then they seemed not to understand them!
v.65Ye have a guard — Of your own, in the tower of Antonia, which was stationed there for the service of the temple.
v.66They went and secured the sepulchre, sealing the stone, and setting a guard — They set Pilate's signet, or the public seal of the sanhedrim upon a fastening which they had put on the stone. And all this uncommon caution was overruled by the providence of God, to give the strongest proofs of Christ's ensuing resurrection; since there could be no room for the least suspicion of deceit, when it should be found, that his body was raised out of a new tomb, where there was no other corpse, and this tomb hewn out of a rock, the mouth of which was secured by a great stone, under a seal, and a guard of soldiers.