095. Dipping the Sop

Dipping the Sop

(Matthew 26:23) "He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish."

Orientals sit on the deewan around a small circular table or a tray made of heavy metal. The food is all placed in this tray or dish, and all dip into it in common. They break off a small piece of bread, fold it up to act as a spoon, and with this and their fingers they convey the food to the mouth. To eat with a person in the East implies a much closer bond of friendship than it ever does in our country. To break such a bond is almost unthinkable. The greatest mark of esteem a host can pay his guest is to select a choice morsel out of the common dish and place it in his guest’s mouth. The sop which our Lord gave to Judas was the greatest expression of love that He could show him, and no doubt, a last attempt to call Judas to a sense of the awful sin he was soon to commit.