“Had anyone else heard what Jesus had said to you?”

“No one. Then he spoke to Judas in a voice that all could hear and said, ‘Whatever you must do, do it quickly,’ and soon Judas had gone out into the night.”

“Did anyone else connect the departure of Judas with the betrayal that Jesus had mentioned?”

“I do not believe so. Judas was always having to run off on errands for Jesus or one of us since he was the keeper of the common purse. We continued with our meal but with little enjoyment, since each was now looking at the other with dark suspicions.”

“What other memories do you have of that supper?”

John’s face brightened again. “As you know, Matthias, we Jews have Ten Commandments which our forefather, Moses, received directly from God. Jesus, that night, gave us another, one far more difficult to obey than all the other ten together and yet one so powerful that if we all could live by it none of the others would be necessary.”

I knew what was coming, but I still had to hear it from the best source any writer would ever have until the end of time.

“Jesus warned us that he would only be with us a little while, and where he was going we could not come. Then he said, ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, and by this shall all men know that you are my disciples.’ Then Peter asked our Lord where he was going, and Jesus repeated that where he was going we could not follow him now but later we could. Peter could not accept that He asked why he could not follow Jesus now and insisted, ‘I will even lay down my life for your sake!’ I shall never forget our Lord’s response. Neither will Peter. Jesus challenged him, saying, ‘Will you lay down your life for my sake? Verily, I say unto you that the cock shall not crow, this night, until you have denied me three times.’ Peter confided in me later that Jesus repeated those words to him, after the supper, on our walk out of the city.”

“And that prophecy came true, did it not?”