This passage holds together two accounts of two different events in two different times and places.

Despite the usual practice of dividing passages where there is a shift of time or place, this one is held together despite shifts in both. And that forces our attention upon the hinge, the one sentence that holds together the two accounts: “When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (verse 26).

This is the day that the Lord has made

At first glance, this sentence seems unremarkable. It is preceded by Jesus’ last supper and his institution of the Lord’s Supper. It is followed by his betrayal by one disciple and the desertion by all the rest. And what did they do in between? They sang the hymn.

And we know what that hymn was. Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the Passover. The Passover meal begins with singing Psalms 113 and 114. It ends with singing Psalms 115, 116, 117, and 118. So the closing hymn was Psalm 118. And deep within that is verse 24, familiar to us all: “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and ...