Commentary on the Gospel of John

Book 11. 12 So the band, and tfie chief captain, and the officers of the j2_2^ ' 13 Jevjs^ seized Jesus and hound Him, and led Him away to

Annas first; for he was fatlier-in-law to Caiajyhas, which 14 was high yriest that year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jeios, that it ivas expedient that one man

Now that all obstacles had been overcome, and Peter had put away his sword, and Christ had, as it were, surrendered Himself to the hand of the Jews, though He need not have died, and it was easier for Him to escape, the soldiers and servants, together with their guide, give way to cruel rage, and are transported with the ardour of victory. They took the Lord, Who gave Himself up wholly to their will, and put fetters upon Him, though He came to us to release us from the bondage of the devil, and to loose us from the chains of sin. And they bring Him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, whence we may conclude that he was the prime mover and contriver of the iniquity against Christ, and that the traitor, when he received his hire, obtained from him the band to take Christ. He is, therefore, taken away to him first of all. For the Jews were bent on showing to us, that that was indeed truly spoken of them which the prophet put into their mouths: Is. iii. 10. Let tis bind the righteous Man, for He is useless unto us. Christ was, indeed, to the Jews useless, not because of His own Nature, but because, as they were prone to love sin and pleasure, He seemed to bring them no good thing, when He expounded to them a righteousness exceeding the Law, and set before them, without concealment, the knowledge of the pleasure of the God that loves virtue, when the Law pointed out no such way, but rather, in the darkness of allegory, feebly and indirectly indicated what might be of profit to its hearers. Just as, then, the sunlight is useless to those whose sight is injured, and brings them no profit, because the disease prevents it; and just as, to people in bad health, healthy food sometimes seems Chap. 12. the most useless, though it used to bring the health 15,^^"'" so much desired; so likewise to the Jews the Lord seemed useless, though He was the Prince of Salvation. For they refused to be saved.

They sent Him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Now Caia2:)has luas he ivhich gave counsel to the Jews, that it ivas expedient that one man should die for the people. The sacred and holy Victim, then, that is, Christ, was captured by the malice of Annas and the services of his hirelings; and, ensnared within the net, was led to him that compassed and instigated the slaughter of the innocent. This was Caiaphas, and he was adorned with the office of the priesthood. And by his questions he seems to have begun the shedding of blood, as he also is convicted of having originated the impious enterprise. He receives Jesus bound, and, as the fruit of his counsel and impious designs, the miserable man committed the most impious act that has ever been committed. For what can be more grievous than impiety against Christ?

1 5 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did the other discijjle.

While the other disciples, it seems, were panic-stricken, and fled from the present wrath of the murderers, Peter, who was always moved thereto by more fervent passion, clings to his love for Christ, and follows Him at the peril of his life, and watches the issue of events; the other disciple accompanying him, and, with like courage, sustaining a similar resolution. This was John, the truly pious writer of this Divine work. For he calls himself that other disciple, without giving himself a definite name, fearing to seem boastful, and abhorring the appearance of being better than the rest. For the crowning achievements of virtue, if manifested by any of the righteous, yet are never blazoned forth to the world by their own mouth. For it very ill beseems a man to win praise rather out of his own mouth than the conversation of ^ other men. In the Book of Proverbs it is written: Let xxvii. 2.

Book 11. another man praise thee, and not thine oiun mouth; a ib^ie"' stixinger, and not thine oiun lips.

15 I^ow tJiat chsciple was knovm unto the high ^;rzes<, and entered in tvith Jesus into the court of the high jmest.

The Apostle shows great forethought in condescending to mention this fact, and does not scruple to enter into detail where it is profitable for us. For, as he was about to set down in order in his book what was done and said in the palace of the high priest, he was, as it were, compelled to show us how he was able to enter there with Christ; for, he says, he was knoivn unto the high priest. He enters, therefore, without hindrance, his knowledge of the leader of the people — for he has not thought proper to say friendship — allowing him free entrance within the doors. In order, then, that he might convince us that he did not compile his account of what took place in the palace from information di^awn from others, but that he himself saw and heard what passed, he has given us this most useful explanation of his knowledge of the high priest.

16 But Peter vms standing at the door loithout. So the other disci2)le, which was known unto the high 2)riest, toent out, and spake unto her that kej)t the door, and brought in Peter.

Peter did not lag behind from any lack of fervour of heart, but only because the vigilance of the damsel at the gate made entrance perilous for those with whom she had no previous acquaintance. And though it might not have been difficult for a man to push a woman aside, yet it might have involved a charge of unruly behaviour. The disciple, therefore, though in great distress of mind, was compelled to stay without, till the other, seeing that he was much grieved thereat, brought him in with himself by speaking to the maiden presiding at the door, and asking as a favour that his companion in jealous fervour might accompany him.

1 7 The maid, therefore, that kept the door, saith unto Peter, Art Chap. 12. thou also one of this Man's disciples? He saith, I am not. %^V^'

As Christ had abeady foretold to Peter that he would thrice deny our Saviour Christ, and that before the cock crew his faith would fail, the inspired Evangelist relates in detail where, and how, the prophecy was fulfilled. The maid, seated at the door, then, inquires of him whether he was not one of the number of the disciples of Him Who was undergoing the unjust trial. Peter denies it, and parries the question as though it were a charge, saying, " I am not;" not fearing at all to be taken, or shrinking from proclaiming the truth, but disregarding and making light of enduring any kind of evil against his will in comparison with being with Christ. His transgression, then, proceeds from love, and his denial has its root in the love of God; not indeed proceeding from any just reasoning, but, at any rate, testifying to the fervour of his desire to be with Christ.

1 8 Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals; for it vms cold, and they were warming themselves: and Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

Peter, having passed inside the door, and finding himself encircled by the servants, affects to do what they do (though bowed down with grief and with an intolerable burden of agony at heart), that he might not be convicted by his despondent and sorrowful countenance of feeling sympathy with the Man Who was on trial, and be cast out from the doors which contained all he loved. For it is quite incredible that the disciple should have been so carnally minded as to seek out a means of appeasing the chill of winter, when he was thus heavy with grief. For if he might have enjoyed greater luxuries than this, he could not have borne to do so while Christ was thus afflicted. He intentionally models his behaviour on the apathy of the attendants, and, as though he had no inducement to despondency, shakes off the chill of winter,

Book 11. in order that he might create the belief that he was one jf,^^"*' of the inmates of the house, and might thus for the future escape answering any further questions with a denial.

1 9 The high jrriest therefore asked Jesus of His disci2)les, and of His teaching.

A teacher of the people, learned in the Law, one of those on whom the Divine bidding lays the duty, " Judge ye righteous judgment," after having taken the Lord, as though He had been a notorious robber, by a band of armed soldiers and a number of impious officers, asks Him of His disciples and of His doctrine, showing thereby that he was in want of charges to bring against Him. For the Man Who was now on trial knew no sin. He asks Him about His doctrine, to elicit from Him whether it accorded with the Mosaic Law, or coincided and concurred with the old dispensation; and what purpose His disciples had implanted in their hearts, whether to submit to be guided by ancient customs, or to practise any strange and novel kind of worship. He did this in malice, for he supposed that Christ would make an outspoken attack on the Law, and that, by pleading for the rejection of the Mosaic dispemsation. He would excite the Jews to embittered and furious revilings against Himself, so that He might in the future appear to be paying a just penalty for deliberately fighting against God. For to enter the lists against the Divine commandments, if any mere human being were convicted of any word or deed with that intent, were to declare oneself an open enemy of God. And they were treating Christ as a mere man, and thought that they were doing well to chastise the Lord of the Law for the transgression of the Law, not remembering him that said: Impious is he that salth unto a king, Thou art a laiu-hreaker.

It were fruitless labour, Christ says, to search out as obscure what is universally known; and how can it be seemly, where full knowledge is present, to set up a pretence of ignorance? This is what Christ seems to us to say, with the object of releasing Himself from the charges that had been fabricated and maliciously devised against Him by the malice of the leaders of the people.

But I think, also, that there is a suggestion of another meaning. For He says: / have spoken openly to the world; that is to say, the utterances given to you by the mediation of Moses come in types and shadows, and do not teach expressly the Will of God, but rather create a vision of the actual truth beyond themselves, and, wrapped up in the obscurity of the letter, do not completely reveal the knowledge of those things which are needful for us.

I have spoken openly to the world; and, apart from riddles, and the shadow, as it were, of the form of that which is good, I set before you the right, and pointed out the straight path of piety towards God without any tortuous turnings. I spake to the world — not. He says, to the one nation of the Israelites; for if the things that are of

Me are not yet known throughout the whole world, they will be so in due season. / ever taugM in synagogues.

We can scarcely fail to see what He means here. He reminds those of the Jews who were in His Presence, methinks, however reluctant, of prophecy which thus spoke concerning Him. For what said the Divine Isaiah, putting the words in Christ's mouth? / have not spoken Is. xlv.

in secret, in a dark place of the earth; and again: I have j^jj spread out My hands aU the day unto a disobedient and ixv. 2.

rebellious people. For what else can " not speaking in secret, in a dark place " mean, but giving discourses openly, and speaking in places where there is no small concourse of hearers? Very well and appropriately He brings to

Book 11. their recollection the saying of the prophet, that they c.^xvni. j^jgij^ learn that they are judging impiously that Messiah, Who was the due fulfilment of their hopes, cf. Rom. For to the Jews belonged the promise, as Paul says.

21 Why askest thou Me? Ask tliem that have heard Me, ivlmt I spake unto them: behold, these know the things which I said.

He rebukes those learned in the Law, for that they themselves sinned against the Law in which they took pride. For before He had been condemned, they passed premature sentence upon Him, and yet busied themselves in seeking for errors on His part. Why, then. He says, dost thou question Me, and call on Me to answer, Who have already endured your attack, and had punishment allotted Me before conviction 1 Or you may put another construction on what He said: Those who already hate Me, and receive with such extreme dishonour whatever I tell them of the things that are Mine, would not, perhaps, shrink from proclaiming what is false. Learn, then, from the lips of others. The search for witnesses would not be at all difficult, for these heard My words. Someone may, perhaps, imagine that He That knoweth the hearts and reins indicated some of the bystanders as having chanced to hear His words. But it is not so. For He referred to certain of the officers who once marvelled at His doctrine; and perhaps, to make our meaning clear, we ought to explain the time and occasion when this occurred. This same inspired Evangelist has told us, that once, when our Saviour Christ was preaching, and unfolding the doctrine concerning the Kingdom of Heaven to the assembled Jews, the teachers of the Jewish ordinances were sore enraged, and full of bitter envy of Him, and strove to remove Him Supra from their midst. In the words of the Evangelist: And the ch ief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to tahe Him. But as our Saviour was continuing His long and full discourse, those which were sent by the Jews were convinced along with all the rest, and were more Chap. 12. amazed than any one else among the multitude of°.-,^^"^" His hearers. Thus speaks the Evangelist: The oj^cei-s, Supra vii. therefore, came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and ^^~^'^- they said unto them, Why did ye not bring Him? The officei-s ansivered, Never m,an so spake. The Pharisees, therefore, ansivered them, Are ye also led astray? Observe how distressed at heart the Pharisees were, when they found that the officers had been at length convinced and sore amazed. The Saviour, then, knowing this, says: Ask them thcd have heard Me: behold, these knoiv the things which I said. Either, then. He says, these know, looking at those who were then standing by, or else referring to the fact, that even they who ministered to the impiety of the chief priests themselves marvelled at the beauty of His teaching.

22 And ivhen He had said this, one of the oncers standing hy struck Jesus with his hand, saying unto Him, Answerest Thou the high priest so?

It had been foretold, by the mouth of the prophet, that with Christ this would come to pass: / gave My back to Is. l. 6. the scourge, and My cheeks to them that smite. "He was being led on in truth to the end long ago foretold, to the verdict of Jewish presumption, which was also the abolition and determination of our deserved dishonour, for that we sinned in Adam first, and trampled under foot the Divine commandment. For He was dishonoured for our sake, in that He took our sins upon Him, as the prophet says, and was afflicted on our account. For as He wrought out our deliverance from death, giving up His own Body to death, so likewise, I think, the blow with which Christ was smitten, in fulfilling the dishonour that He bore, carried with it our deliverance from the dishonour by which we were burthened through the transgression and original sin of our forefather. For He, being One, was yet a perfect Ransom for all men, and bore our dishonour.

Book 11. But I think the whole creation would have shuddered, 22. ' had it been suffered to be conscious of such presumption. For the Lord of glory was insulted by the impious hand of the smiter.

And I think that it would display a spirit of pious research to desire to learn why this insolent and presumptuous officer smites Jesus, Who had made no stubborn or angry reply at all, but had returned a very gentle answer to all the charges brought against Him. And it may be observed, that the leader of the Jewish nation had not bidden him smite Jesus, and assail Him with such extravagant impiety. Some may, perhaps, allege as a reason the ordinary and received custom among the officers, when they brought to the rulers men accused of some transgression to compel them to reply courteously, even against their will, and treat them at times with contumely when they returned a rude answer. But I do not think this ever occurred to excite his passion against Chi-ist; and, if we fix our attention on what has already been said, we shall find another reason for his insolence. For we said just now, that certain of the officers, who were bidden to take Jesus, came into collision with the rulers, and retui-ned so far initiated into the mysteries of Christ, and amazed at Him, that they openly declared: Supra Never man so spake. Whereat the Pharisees were greatly Supra ' em-aged, and said: Are ye also led astray? Hath any of 47-49. the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him? But this multitude, who know not the Latu, are accursed. As, then, the Saviour's words reminded the rulers of the indignation then stirred up in them against the officers (for He referred to them as witnesses of His teaching, say- Supra ing: Behold, these knoiu the things loJiich I said), the officer was charged before them with having been struck with admiration of Christ; and, wishing to repel the suspicion of being well-disposed towards Him, and to divert their thoughts elsewhere, smote Him on the mouth, not suffering Him to say anything that could injure the reckless band of officers.

23 Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, hear vntness 0/ Chap. 12. the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me 1 23^^"^

He proves the officer guilty of a gross wrong, even if He That was on His trial had been a man of obscure position. For he smote Him causelessly, contrary to his express duty; not urged thereto by legal commands, but rather incited to brutal ferocity of behaviour by his own inbred madness. Call in question, if it please thee, and refute My words, as not spoken aright; but if thou canst not do this, why smitest thou Me, with Whose speech thou canst find no fault?

This is, indeed, the ordinary and most usual interpretation of the passage; but I think the meaning of the passage is different from this. For it may be, that He convicts the officer as guilty of the greater sin; not because he smote Him merely, but because, after having been previously amazed at His teaching, and not having now found Him in any wise guilty, he yet endured to treat Him with contumely. For if. He says, thou hadst not once been struck by My words; if I had not then seemed to you to teach most noble doctrines, and thou hadst not been convinced that I expounded Holy Writ in a marvellous way; if thou hadst not thyself exclaimed: Never Supra man so spake, perhaps some plea might have been found ^"" ^^' for giving mercy to thy inexperience, and acquitting thee of this charge; but since thou hast known and hast marvelled at My teaching, and wouldst not, perhaps, Christ says, have borne witness against My words, if thou didst now think it right to bear in mind thine own words, how canst thou have any cloak for thy sin? You may understand the passage in this way; but also remark how the Saviour herein sketches for us the pattern of His great long-suflfering towards us, in all its incomparable excellence, and, as in a well-defined portrait, by the actions of His life, gives us a type of the nature of His exceeding great mercy. For He That, by one single word, might have brought utter ruin on the Jews, endures to be smitten as a slave. He offers no resistance, and does c. xvin. jjg -g ^^^ subject to our infirmities, nor under the dominion of passion, or resentment, or discomposed by their malicious insults; but He gently puts His adversary to shame, and tells him, that he did not right to strike

One Who answered courteously, and in the hour of His imminent peril forgets not the virtues He continually practised. For, by proper argument. He strives to induce the servant that ministered to the malice of the Jews to

Ps. XXXV. abandon his fit of passion. Himself receiving evil for

^^' good, according to the Scripture, but requiting those who were dishonouring Him with good instead of evil.

But our Lord Jesus Christ, even when He was smitten, endured it patiently, though He was truly God, the Lord of heaven and earth; and we poor miserable mortals, Gen. mean and insignificant as we are, mere dust and ashes, p^"'-..r • and likened to the green herb: For, as for man, his days 15. are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flour isheth, according to the Scripture, — when one of our brethren happens to have some words with us, and lets fall some vexatious expression, we think we do right to be enraged with the fury of dragons, and cease not to pelt him with a storm of words in return for one; not granting forgiveness to human littleness, nor considering the frailty of our common humanity, nor burying in brotherly love Heb. xii. the passions that thus arise, nor looking unto Jesus Himself, the Author and Peifecter of our faith; but eager to avenge ourselves, and that to the uttermost, though Prov. xi. Holy Writ declares in one place: He that pursueth vengeance, pui^sueth it to his oiun death; and in another: Zech. vii. Let none of you harbour resentment in your heart ^^' against your brother. But let Christ, the Lord of all,

Himself be unto us a Pattern of gentleness to one another, and exceeding great forbearance; for He, for this very reason, saith unto us: A disciple is not above his master, Qior a servant above his lord.

1. That the Son is by Nature God, even though we find Him calling the Father His God: on the words: — / go to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.

Book 12. xviii. 24 Annas therefore sent Him hound unto Caiaphas, c. xvni. 25 the high 2>riest. Now Simon Peter u-as standing warming himself. They said therefore unto him, Art thou also one of

26 His disciples? He denied, and said, I am not. One of the servants of the high jmest, being a kinsman of him tvhose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with

27 Him? Peter therefore denied again: and straightway the cock crew.

The inspired Evangelist, to our profit, checks the course of his narrative, like a horse at full speed, and turns it back again. And why? Because he was bound, before narrating what next ensued, to point out to us Peter's third denial; and this event is best and most appropriately described as it occurred. He therefore designedly refers to what took place at first, and says, that Jesus was sent by Annas to Caiaphas; and shows us that Peter was questioned by the servants who were warming themselves with him at the fire, and also by a kinsman of him whom he had smitten; and that this was the occasion of his third denial. Then He mentions the crowing of the cock, making it plain to us that no word of our Saviour ever falls to the ground; for He had foreknown and foretold the frailty of His own disciple in the midst of danger. Perhaps the divinely taught compiler of this book would have made no mention at all of this fact, had he not bethought himself of the captious spirit and ceaseless babbling of the adversaries of God. c. xviii. For some of those who seek to make bitter war on the " ~" ' glory of the Saviour would straightway have said: " Show us the denial of Peter, and how, and where, that came to pass which was foretold by Christ, Who, you say, cannot lie. For you maintain that He is Truth, and that He proceedeth from a Father Who is true." It was very essential, therefore, that the inspired Evangelist should narrate to us this occurrence, and show that Christ at all times said what was true.

But perhaps some opponent, abstaining from bringing any such attack against us, will bring a grievous charge against Peter, and accuse the well-beloved disciple of incomparable cowardice, and say that he was so ready to make this verbal repudiation of his Lord, as thrice to fall away and deny Him, when he had not so much as had any actual experience of danger, and when peril was not, indeed, nigh at hand. Talk of this sort may be suitable to those who are not yet initiated in the faith; but I will at once dismiss it, and, bidding farewell to such nonsense, will attempt to make some excuse for the Apostle's conduct, setting forth my argument for the benefit of those who are already accustomed to reflect upon the mysteries contained in the mysterious working of Divine Providence. For it was the bounden duty of the wise Evangelist to make mention of such things, that his hearers might know what even the teachers of the world were in themselves before Christ's Resurrection, and before the Holy Spirit descended upon them; and what they were thereafter, when they had received the grace of the Spirit, Which Christ called power from on high. S. Luke For any one may see how very jealous they were in as- ^^^^' suming virtue; how readily they girded up their loins to follow Christ, and to overcome perils of every sort which they so frequently encountered. But when our Saviour Christ had not yet subdued the power of death, the fear thereof was still stubborn, and altogether invincible; and they who had not yet received the Spirit, nor had their

Book 12. hearts steeled by grace from above, showed that their 2g^^"^' minds were not yet wholly free from human frailty, and they were not altogether unshaken by the terrors of death. For just as iron, though naturally strong, cannot encounter without injury the harder kinds of stone, if it be not strengthened in the forge; so the soul of man may be buoyed up with unslacking enthusiasm for every thing that is good, but can never be triumphant in the conflicts that so arise, except it be first perfected by the grace of the Spirit of God. Even the disciples, therefore, themselves were frail at first; but, when they had received the Spirit of Almighty God, cast aside their native weakness, and, by communion with Him, attained to exceeding boldness.

It was expedient, then, that the frailty of the Saints should be recorded to the praise and glory of God, Who changed their weakness into power, and raised up, like a strong tower, their spirits, which were easily daunted even by slight dangers, and at times broken down by the mere apprehension of suffering. And that which befell a single one, or some few of the Saints, may afford us at the same time a lesson and a consolation. For we are taught thereby, not, through dwelling on our own infirmities inconsiderately, to slacken in God's service, but rather to trust in Him Who is able to make us all strong, and to boast ourselves in His miraculous works and favour shown to us beyond hope.

28 They lead Jesus therefore froin Caiaphas into the palace: and it was early; and they themselves entered not into the j)alace, that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the j^dssover.

Zech. vii. Judge righteous judgment, and Thou shalt not slay

7- of the Law and the Word of God. These miserable men could not help being ashamed of their lack of charges against Him; but, finding their fury against Christ to be without excuse, and being prevented from killing Him with their own hands by the approach of the atoning c. xviii. sacrifice (for they were about to sacrifice the Paschal lamb, according to the Law, which yet with them had lost its power), they bring Him to Pilate; trusting, in their gross folly, that they would not be quite implicated in the charge of shedding blood unjustly if they did not slay Him themselves, but only brought Him to suffer death at the hands of another; though what was in their hearts was altogether at variance with the Mosaic Law. And we must convict them, besides, of the greatest folly in acting as follows. For, while sentencing the sinless One to the doom of death, and bringing down upon their own heads the guilt of so frightful an impiety, they yet shun the threshold of the judgment hall, as though it would cause them to be defiled, and anxiously shrink from haviner intercourse with men who were still unclean. For they believed, I suppose, that stones, and the bodies of men who were their brethren, could defile the soul of man; but deemed that the worst of all crimes, the most unjust shedding of blood, stained them not a whit. And, marvel of marvels, the most absurd and irrational idea of all, they think themselves purified by the slaughter of a lamb, which typified for us nothing but the shadow of the mystery that is in Christ; and, while honouring the type of what is coming to pass, they scorji the reality itself. For while they were performing that which was but the semblance of His Atonement, they were defiled by the shedding of the Blood of Christ. Christ, then, said well when He called them whited seindchres, outwardly adorned with the S. Matt. superficial embellishments of art, but imuardly full of^^"^"""'' evil odours and detestable impurity; and when, in another place, He said that they strained out the gnat and Ibid. ver. swallowed the camel. For while they were often exact " ' about matters that were, so to say, wholly unimportant and insignificant, or, rather, about a mere nothing (for what is the gnatl), they made of no account the most weighty of all the charges against themselves, and made

Book 12. clean the outside of the cup and platter, while they rec. xvni. ga^i.(je(j j2ot at all the uncleanness within. For see how, J er. iv. though the prophet Jeremiah said plainly: Wash thy ^^' heart fror)i tulckedness, 0 Jerusalem, that thou niayest be saved, they were thoroughly convinced that the inward impiety of the soul mattered not a whit; and, when they brought Christ to Pilate, they shrank from places as accursed, and from the bodies of uncircumcised men; and if they did not commit the lawless act with their own hands, they yet made Pilate, as it were, minister to their cruelty, and in their stupidity imagined that they remained free from all blame. It may well excite our wonder to find that the holy prophets were well aware even of this impiety of theirs; for Is. iii. 11. the blessed Isaiah said concerning them: Woe unto the tvicked! for the reivard of his hands shall be given him. Obad And Ezekiel also: As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine oiun Ps. head. Moreover, the inspired Psalmist exclaims: i2ew(ier xxvu;.. ^^ f}^(,yjr^i their desert; give them according to the work of their hands. For as they led Christ, the Saviour of all, captive to the Roman officers, so they received in their turn their reward, and were abandoned to the dominion of Rome, and were spoiled by the hand of their conquerors. For so fearful was the war that was kindled against them, and so frightful the extremities in which they were involved, that, if it had been possible, some, nay many, among them would rather have chosen to go into the mountains and rocks, and die there, before they saw the war — a choice which Christ foretold that they would s. Luke make, when He said: When ye see Jerusalem cor^ipassed Ibid. with armies, then shall ye say to the mountains, Cover xxiii. 30.,^^g. ^^^(-i Iq fj^Q hills, Fall on us.

29 Pilate therefore went out unto them, and saith, WJiat accusation bring ye against this Man.'

They shrank from the pollution, as they deemed it, of stones and walls, but Pilate went forth and inquired of them the reason of their coming to him, and required o. xviii. them to tell him the charges against the Captive they had brought unto him, judging the leaders of the Jews on the other hand. For, though he was a foreigner, he held in respect the ordinances of the Jews, and treated with consideration their prevailing customs. For he hastened out of the judgment hall, as was not his habit, expressing to the Jews by this significant action that their Law ought to be observed. They, being contrariwise minded to the Divine commandments, and paying very little heed to the Mosaic dispensation, were bringing about an unrighteous blood-shedding; while Pilate, who was outside the pale of the Law, inquired the charges, and investigated the accusations, they brought against Him, and pointed out to them, that it was absurd to chastise or exact a penalty from a Man Who had done no sin. And they, though they had nothing to say against Him, brought Him to Pilate, like a fierce robber. Well, then, was it said to the Synagogue of the Jews: Sodomi has been Cf. Ezek. justified by thee; and Christ Himself cries out, accusing ^^^' ^^" the madness that the children of Israel here showed: Thou Ezek. v. hast not done according to the judgments of the nations round about. And the saying is true; for the Greeks would not with defiled and unwashed hands have brought the usual sacrifices to the stones and blocks of wood they conceived to be gods, nor would they have destroyed one, unless it was in the most evil plight; but the Jews, though about to sacrifice the Passover to the true God, had their souls stained with the guilt of innocent blood, and were hastening to put to death unjustly Him Who was a stranger to all sin.

30 Thei/ answered and said unto him, If this Man were not an evil-doer, we should not have delivered Him up unto thee.

They were perplexed for a specious plea against Him, but cloak the baseness of their impiety, and their apparent resolution to put Him to death unjustly, by the sophistical reply, that they would never have brought

Book 12. Jesus to suffer justice, if they had not taken Him in a 31^32" criminal act. For they still affected to observe the Law, which bade them execute righteous judgment in all things; and, marvellous to relate, they use their respect for the Law as a weapon against the Lawgiver. They, who did not shrink from bringing an accusation against the Lawgiver, claimed credit as keepers of the Law. They declared that He That had come to take away sin had done evil, that the truth of the words that Christ spake, by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, might be seen: Hos. vii. Woe unto them! for they have fled from Me: their doovi is misery, because they have transgressed against Me. Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me.

31 Pilate thei'efore said unto them, Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your Law.

I should not do justice, he says, if I were to subject to legal penalties a Man Who has been convicted of no wrong, and Whose doom you left undecided; but judge Him, rather, according to your Law, if, indeed, he says, it has ordained that the Man Who is wholly without guilt deserves chastisement. It is not a little absurd, or, I should rather say, it is a subject for perpetual regret, that, while the Law of the Gentiles justified our Lord, so that even Pilate shrank from punishing Him That was brought to him on so vague a charge, they, who made it their boast that they were instructed in the. Law of God, declared that He ought to be put to death.

32 us to 2)ut any man to death: that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He S2)ake, signifying by what manner of death He should die.

They answer, that their purification, accomplished by the slaughter of the Paschal lamb (if any purification at all were possible for such murderers), stood in their way, and was, as it were, an overpowering obstacle to their shedding His innocent Blood, For, surely, they would c xviii. have been very ready to commit the imj^ious crime, and would not have needed the co-operation of any other^ The Jewish mind was very prone to work every kind of evil deed, and to shrink from no atrocity; and to feel no shame at doing anything displeasing to God. They deemed it right for Pilate to lend them the service of his own cruelty, and to imitate the fury of the Jews, and to minister to them on this occasion, and to be by them overruled, so as to partake of their madness. And this also they say, that Christ might be proved to speak truth, and to have foreknown what manner of death He would die, and to have foretold it to His holy disciples. For what spake He unto them? Behold, tve go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man is S. Matt. betrayed unto the hands of sinners; and they shall ^^'^-^^^ crucify Him, and kill Him, and the third day He shall &xvii.23. he raised up. It is requisite to make mention of this. For it was necessary that He should have this foreknowledge, that none might suppose that He, in Whose sight all things are naked and laid open, encountered His Heb. iv. death involuntarily; but that men should believe that, of His own Will, He underwent the Cross on our behalf, and for our sakes.

33 niate therefore entered again into the palace, and called Jesus, and said unto Him. Art Thou the King of the Jews?

Having nothing at all to accuse Him of, and none of those crimes to allege against Him, which seem to bring in their train just punishment on the doers of them, and Pilate persisting in inquiring why they had brought Him, they assert that Jesus had sinned against Caesar, in assuming on Himself the dominion which Caesar had acquired over the Jews, and in changing the glory of his kingdom to suit His personal pretensions. Great was the malice which suggested this device, and caused the false accusation to assume this shape; for they knew that Pilate, however reluctant he might be, would take

^.^xMu. precipitately punish the man against whom any such outcry was raised. For, as the inhabitants of Judaea ever were continually moved to tumults and civil strife, and were easily provoked to revolt, Caesar's officers were the more vigilant in this respect, and were more careful guardians of order, and inflicted the most summary penalties on men who had this charge brought against them, sometimes groundlessly. The Jews, therefore, make it a charge against Christ, that He reigned over Israel. Therefore justly were they cast out, and the Gentiles brought in, and made subject to the yoke, and

Ps. ii. 8., put into the Kingdom of Christ. Ask of Me, He says, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. For when the one nation of the Jews provoked Him to wrath, all the nations of the world are given to Christ; and instead of one country, I mean Judaea, the uttermost

Eom. xi. parts of the earth. For, as Paul saith: Their fall is the riches of the ivorld, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles. Pilate, then, speaks out plainly what he heard the Jews muttering, and bids Jesus answer him, whether He was in truth the King of the Jews, He was full of anxiety, it would appear, and thought Caesar's rule was menaced, and was, therefore, very desirous to learn the truth, in order to visit what had been done with appropriate retribution, and acquit of blame the office entrusted to him by the Romans.

34 Jesus answered, Say est thou this of thyself or did others tell it thee concerning Me?

As no one. He says, has openly brought this charge against Me, whence proceeds your question? There can be no doubt that this trick proceeds from the malice of the Jews, and that they devised this cruel stratagem; for else you would not be. He says, at once judge and accuser. And Christ said this, wishing to bring it to the knowledge of Pilate that nothing; that was unseen.

and devised, and said in secret, could escape Him; and c. xviii. that, seeing that He was more than man, he might ' be more reluctant to minister to the cruelty of those who brought Him; and at the same time to teach him that he did very wrong in forcing Him, Who had been convicted of no crime, on the mere word of others to pay the penalty.

35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered Thee unto me: What hast Thou done?

He now exposes the villainy of the Jews, and almost publishes the multitude of His accusers. It is as though he said: " It does not concern me to know about Thee, for I am not a Jew; but rather befits Thine own nation and kindred, who, it may be, have this knowledge, and so bring Thee to suffer death." He then accuses himself. For to say. What hast Thou done, implies nothing else but this. The holy Evangelist was very zealous to narrate every detail about the trial of Christ, and among them he tells us the fact that Pilate asked Jesus the. question: What hast Thou done? And hereby we may best observe the total absence of charges against Him, and that, as none were brought forward, and Christ our Saviour was convicted of no crime, the sentence of death that went forth against Him was impious and most unjust.

36 Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world: if My Kingdom, were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My Kingdom not from hence.

He dispelled the fear Pilate felt as the appointed guardian of Csesar's kingdom, for he supposed that Christ was meditating insurrection against temporal rule, as the Jews had vainly talked. For they hinted at this when they said: If this Man ivere not an evil- Supra doer, ive should not have delivered Him up unto thee;^^^'"" '

Book 12. meaning insurrection by the evil they said He was c. xviii. ^iQ^jjg YoY they affected to be so well-disposed to the Romans, as not even to be able to utter the word revolt. For this cause, then, they said they had brought Him to Pilate, to suffer judgment. Christ, in His reply, denied not that He was a King, for He could not but speak truth; but He clearly proved that He was no enemy to Caesar's rule, signifying that His Kingdom was not an earthly kingdom, but that He reigned, as God, over heaven and earth, and yet greater things than these.

What proof, then, did He give? and how did He remove this suspicion? He says, that He had never employed any spearmen or warriors, and had never had with Him any men at all resolved on resistance; not merely in order to prevent His losing His Kingdom, but not even, that He might escape from the imminent danger cast upon Him by the hand of the Jews; for it did not proceed from their ruler himself, namely, Ca?sar. When, then. He had shown the groundlessness of this outcry by so clear a proof, Pilate perceived that the presumptuous attempt against Christ was without excuse. Yet, without any compulsion, and w^hen there was nothing to incite him to that consequence, he complied with the pleasure of the Jews, to the perdition of his own soul, and shared with them the guilt of having put' Christ to death. Christ, indeed, when He said that His Kingdom was a supernatural kingdom, not only freed Pilate from all alarm, and dispelled his suspicions about an insurrection, but induced him also to have an exalted opinion of Him, and by His reply in some sort commenced to instruct him.

^^^' not from hence, he was indeed quit of his fear of an insurrection; but he still compels Him to openly profess this thing, and defines as a charge His mere assertion

37 Jesus answered Mtn, Thoxi sayest that I am a King. To this end have I been horn, and to this end am I come into the tvorld, that I shoidd hear witness unto the truth. Every

38 one that is of the truth heareth My voice. Filate saith unto Ilim, What is truth?

He does not deny the glory of His Kingdom, nor leave it to the voice of Pilate only to affirm it, for as God He is King, whether man so will, or no; but He once more showed the power of the truth which impelled Pilate, though reluctant, to declare the glory of Him Who was on His trial; for. He says: Thou hast said, that I am a King. For this cause was I born, He says, and came into this world when I became Man, that I shoidd hear witness unto the truth; that is, that He might take lying out of the world, and, having subdued the devil, who gained his way by guile, He might show truth triumphant over the universe; truth — that is, that nature that is truly sovereign by nature, which has not by craft acquired the ability to hold rule and dominion over heaven and earth, and, in a word, everything that is brought into being; nor has this been added unto it from without, but it is seen to be essentially and naturally inherent. In order, too, that He might show that Pilate's dulness of apprehension arose from his stubborn heart, and his reluctance to admit the truth, Christ fitly adds the word: Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice. For the word of truth gains a ready acceptance from those who have already learnt and love it; but with others it is not so. Yea, the Prophet Isaiah said to some: If ye ivill not believe, is. vii. neither shall ye understand. Pilate showed at once the truth of this, when he said: What is truth? For, just as those whose sight is injured, and who have wholly

Book 12. lost the use of their eyes, have their sense of colour 88^39" entirely annihilated, so as not to note when gold is brought before them, or a shining and precious stone shown them, nay, even the very light of the sun's rays excites in them no wonder, as they have no perception thereof, and can gain no profit from any such thing; so to men whose minds are warped, truth seems a foul and ugly thing, although it instils into the minds of those who behold it its spiritual and Divine radiancy.

39 Jews, and saith unto them, I find no crime in Him. But ye have a custom, that I shoidd release unto you one 2)risoner at the Passover: ivill ye therefore that I release unto you tJie King of the Jews?

For a condemnation at once of the want of piety, and of the cruelty of the Jews, he excels them in the knowledge of what was just and right, though he could not boast of Divine instruction, but was merely the guardian of human ordinances, and reverenced most of all the enactments of those from whom he had his office as a gift. If the teachers of the Jewish Law had so done, and chosen to be thus minded, they might very likely have escaped the net of the devil, and shunned the most abominable of all crimes, I mean the shedding of the Blood of Christ. Pilate, then, hesitates to condemn Christ, Who had been taken in and convicted of no criminal act, and says that He That was far removed from all guilt ought not to pay a penalty, and strongly maintains that it is wholly at variance with the laws he observed; putting to shame the frightful frenzy of the Jews in contradiction to their own Law. For he thought that, as they professed to reverence the doctrine of impartial justice, they ought at once to yield to the statement of what was just and right that he put before them. But, perceiving that to acquit Him That they had brought to him of all blame would imply no small condemnation of the precipitancy of the Jews, that they might not on this account insist the more vehemently, and stir up a strange commotion, c. xviii. he paved the way, as it were, and put the best com- ' plexion upon the matter, by saying: Ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one prisoner at the Passover: ivill ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews f When he called Jesus King of the Jews, he spoke in jest, and tried to abate by ridicule the anger of the furious mob, and hereby also clearly showed that this particular accusation was brought in vain; for a Roman officer would never have thought a man condemned of plotting for a kingdom and revolution against Rome, ^Yorthy to be released. He bore witness, then, to His utter guiltlessness by the very reasons he gave for His release.

I think these words explain the drift of the passage. And as I was considering and meditating in my mind how the custom arose for the Jews to ask for one man to be released to them (a robber, it might be, or a murderer), the idea occurred to me that they no longer regulated their actions altogether according to the Law, but, choosing rather to use their own customs, they fell into a decayed state of manners not altogether in accordance with the Mosaic dispensation. But while I was searching the Divine Scriptures, and hunting everywhere for the origin of this custom, I came upon one of the Divine dictates, which caused me to suspect that when the Jews sought the release of a malefactor, they were, in fact, in however mistaken a way, fulfilling one of the customs of the Law. At the end of the book called Numbers we find recorded the law concerning voluntary and involuntary homicide; and when the penalty in the case of premeditated murder has been clearly laid down, the book goes on to speak of involuntary homicide, and, after other remarks, makes the following declaration: But if 'Num. he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast 25^^' upon him anything luithout laying of ivait, or tuith any stone ivherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him that he die, and was not his enemy,

Book 12. neither sought his harm: then the congregation shall 40^^"^ j^'^^9^ hetiueen the slayer and the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refxige, whither he vx(s fled. Such, then, being the wi'itten commandment, when any, as it chanced, were involved in such a calamity, the Jews, when they were congregated together, that they might not appear altogether to neglect this enactment, sought the release of one of them. For the Law laid down that it was to be the act of the entire assembly. As, then, they were permitted by the Law to ask for the release of a prisoner, they make this request of Pilate. For after they had once accepted the Roman yoke they were henceforth, for the most part, in the administration of their affairs ruled by their laws. Nay, further, though it was lawful for them to put to death any one convicted of a crime, they Supra brought Jesus to Pilate as a criminal, saying: It is not ^^^' ' lawfid for us to |n?i any man to death. For though they alleged as a plea their purification by the sacrifice of the Passover, yet they showed themselves flatterers of Rome, in entrusting to the laws of the Romans the duty which the Divine commandment from heaven laid upon themselves.

40 Thei/ cried out therefore again, saijing. Not this Man, hut Barahhas. Now Barahhas was a rohher.

Herein also the Jews show themselves indeed lawbreakers, and more inclined to give way to their own inclinations than to honour their ancient commandments; for though the Mosaic Law ordered that a man who had committed involuntary homicide should be released, and not a man like Barabbas (for how could such a thing be?), they prefer to ask for a notorious robber. And that the man here named was, in fact, a dangerous and brutal criminal, and not free from bloodguiltiness, the words of the inspired Peter to the people Acts iii. of the Jews will make clear to us: But ye denied the ^^' Holy and Righteous One, and ashed for a murderer to and rage against Christ. 605 he granted unto you. For they preferred a robber to c. xviil. Him Who regarded not His equality with God the Father, and took our poverty upon Him for this very end, that He might deliver us from the true murderer, that is, Satan; and they were men adorned with the priesthood of the Law, and who greatly vaunted themselves thereon. Yet they passed by and utterly rejected the commandment. Judge righteous judgment, and justi- Zech. vii. tied the murderer, condemning Christ, and cried with one accord: Not this Man, but Barahhas. The Jews, however, will pay the penalty of their impious act; but we may well admire the Holy Scripture, examining it in the light of Christ's Person, and this desperate outcry; for thus saith the Prophet Jeremiah: / have forsaken jer. xii. mine house, I have left mine heritage, I have given my '' ^' beloved soul into the hand of her enemies. Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me. It may be well to explain this simile of the lion in the forest. He says it is with his heritage as when this great and frightful beast desires to seize some prey in the forest, it goes up to a high peak, and gives forth a great and fearful roar, and strikes such terror into those who hear, that man or beast at once fall prostrate, not able to endure the awful sound of his threatening voice, and the beast, as it were, makes them fall by the breath of his mouth. And God confirms this saying also by the prophet, when he thus speaks: The Amos iii. lion roareth; who luill not fear? The assembly of the ^' Jews, therefore, was as a lion in the forest to our Saviour Christ, so far, at least, as their presumptuous clamour against Him went; for the Nature of God endureth not panic or fear at all. For the assembly, by its clamour, put Him to death, though Pilate invited them to choose His release; so that even those who had not yet learnt the Divine Law might be proved better than men instructed in the Law.

Book 12. xix. 1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Ilim. c.xix.l-d.^ 2 ^nd the soldiers 2)laited a croivn of thorns, and 2)ut it on

His /lead, and arrayed Him in a ][>ur2)le garment; and they 3 came unto Him, and said. Hail, King of the Jews! And they struck Him luith their hands.

He scourges Him unjustly, and suffers the crowd of soldiers to insult Him, and put a crown of thorns about His Head, and throw a purple robe upon Him, and buffet Him with the palms of their hands, and otherwise dishonour Him. For he thought he could easily put to shame the people of the Jews, if they saw the Man Who was altogether free from guilt suffering this punishment, only without a cause. He was scourged unjustly, that He might deliver us from merited chastisement; He was buffeted and smitten, that we might buffet Satan, who had buffeted us, and that we might escape from the sin that cleaves to us through the original transgression. For if we think aright, we shall believe that all Chiist's sufferings were for us and on our behalf, and have power to release and deliver us from all those calamities we have deserved for our revolt from God. For as Christ, Who knew not death, when He gave up His own Body for our salvation, was able to loose the bonds of death for all mankind, for He, being One, died for all; so we must understand that Christ's suffering all these things for us sufficed also to release us all from scourging and

Is. liii. 5. dishonour. Then in what way hy His stripes are %ve

Ibid. 6. healed, according to the Scripture 1 Because we have all gone astray, every man after his oivn tvay, as says the blessed Prophet Isaiah; and the Lord hath given Him-

Ibid. 1. 6. For He was bruised for our iniquities, and has given His own hack to the scourge, and His cheeks to the smiters, as he also says. The soldiers indeed take Jesus as a pretender to the throne, and insult Him soldierlike. And for this cause was a crown of thorns brought and put upon His brow, being the symbol of earthly so- vereignty; and the purple robe was, as it were, an image c. xix. 4. and type of royal apparel; and ridicule also was thereby heaped upon Him, for they came near unto Him, and cried, as the Evangelist says: Hail, King of the Jeivs!

And I have heard some say, and to some the conceit is well-pleasing, that the crown of thorns further signifies the multitude of idol- worshippers who will be taken up by Christ, as it were, into a diadem, through faith in Him; and they liken the Gentiles to barren and useless thorns, through their bearing no fruit of piety, and being rather fit to feed consuming fire — ^just like rubbish in the fields, just as wild thicket, which grows up without any cultui-e; and the royal apparel, I mean the purple robe, they say, means Christ's Kingdom, which will be extended over all the world. We may well receive any interpretation which is not alien to the truth, and which it is not unprofitable to believe in. We need not therefore reject such a construction of the passage, indicative as it is of careful ingenuity.

4 And Pilate went out again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring Him out to you, that ye rnay know that I find no crime in Him.

He confesses the wrong he had done, and is not ashamed. For he admitted that he had scourged Him without a cause, and declares that he will show Him unto them, supposing that he would glut their savage passion by so pitiable a spectacle, and well-nigh accuses them henceforth, and that publicly, of putting Him to death unjustly, and of compelling him openly to be a law-breaker, who, if he transgressed his own laws, could not escape scot free. The saying was fulfilled in Christ, and shown to be true, that the prince of this ivorld com- Supra eth, and he tuill find nothing in Me. For observe how ^^^' Satan, after throwing everything into confusion, finds nothing at all cast out from God, and ranked under the power of sin, which he might, perhaps, if it had been referred to the Saviour Christ, have caused to be rightly

Book 12. condemned and implicated in his accusations. Just as, c. XIX., ^jjgj^^ -j^ Adam he subdued the whole human race, showing it to be subject unto sin, so now was he vanquished by Humanity. For He That was truly God, and had no sin in Him, was yet Man; and just as the sentence of condemnation for transgression went forth over all mankind, through one man, the first Adam, so likewise, also, the blessing of justification by Christ is extended to all through One Man, the Second Adam. Paul is our wit- Rom. V. ness, who says: As through one the judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through One the free gift came unto cdl men to justification of life. We therefore are diseased through the disobedience of the first Adam and its curse, but are enriched through the obedience of the Second and its blessing. For He that was Lord of the Law as God came among us, and kept the Cf. supra Law as Man. Yea, we find Him saying unto us: He that love.th Me ivill keep My commandments: even as I have XV. 10. kejJt My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. Note how He, as Lawgiver and God, has enjoined upon us the keeping of His commandments; and how, as keeping the Law while a Man among men, He declares that He Himself also kept the commandment of His Father,

5 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns, and the 2'>urj)le garment. And Pilate saith unto them. Behold

6 the Man! Wheri therefore the chief priests anil the officers saw Him, they cried out, saying. Crucify Him, Crucify

He showed, then, the Lord of all impiously outraged, and mocked by the intolerable insults of the soldiers, trusting that the furious wrath of the Jews would be sated, and now, at last, abate, and rest content with that most pitiable and dishonourable spectacle. But they were so far from showing any mercy in word or deed towards Him, and from entertaining any kind of good intentions, as even to surpass the ferocity of beasts, and to hurry onward to greater evil still, and make a still more furious outcry, condemning Him to the worst of c. xix. 5, deaths, and compelling Him to undergo the extremity of suffering. For what punishment can be as severe as the Cross? And it is to the leaders of the Jews alone, it appears, that the wise Evangelist ascribed the origin of this impious doom. For see how, as it were, carefully guarding his words, he says: When, therefore, the chief priests and the officers saiv Him, they cried out, saying. Crucify Him,, crucify Hmi. For, when the multitude of the vulgar were, it may be, somewhat ashamed by the sight of Christ's sufferings, for perhaps they called to mind the wonderful miracles wrought by Him, the rulers first start the clamour, and kindle into strange fury the passions of the people subject unto them. That which was said of God in the prophets, concerning them, is true: For the pastors have become brutish, and have not sought Jer.x.2i. tJie Lord; therefore all their fioch perceived Him not, and were scattered abroad. And the saying is true. For as those in the pasture, that is, the multitude of the vulgar, did not enjoy the direction of their rulers to the knowledge of Christ, they perished, and relapsed into ruinous heedlessness of Christ. For let any man that likes probe the origin of the impious crime, and he will ascribe it to the rulers. For it was in the outset their most unholy design; they it was who induced the traitor to make a bargain with them, and bought Him over with the money of the Sanctuary; they joined the band of soldiers to the officers, bade them bind Him like the meanest of robbers, and brought Him to Pilate; and now, when they saw Him scourged, and well-nigh beside Himself with insults from every quarter, are but exasperated the more, and utter the dictates of their unmeasured hatred. For they purposed to put the Lord of the Vineyard to death, and thought they would securely enjoy His heritage, and, if Christ were removed, that they would again rule and enjoy all honour. But, as the Psalmist says: He that 'Pa. Hi. sitteth in the heavens, shall laugh therti to scorn; the Lo7xl shall hold them in derision. For nothing happened VOL. II. R r

Book 12. according to their expectation, but, on the contrary, the ^' ^^^" ■ course of events was completely reversed.

0 Pilate saith unto them, Take Him yourselves, and crucify Him; for I find no crime in Him.

Pilate is in consternation, that the people of the Jews and the inhuman crowd of the chief priests should attain to such a pitch of presumption, as not even to shrink from subjecting Christ to so frightful a death, though no fault was found in Him to bring Him to such a doom. And, therefore, he says, almost like one annoyed at an insult offered to himself: "Make you me a judge of this unjust shedding of blood? Am I, contrary to all Roman Law, become the murderer of the Innocent? and shall I, at your beck and call, fling to the winds all thought of myself? and shall I not, if I minister at my own peril to your requests, live in expectation of paying the penalty? If you do not think that you are doing an unholy deed; if you think the work presents no difficulty; do you yourselves, he says — you, who boast of Divine instruction, you, who vaunt so highly your knowledge of your Law — do you fix the cross, dare the murder, do of yourselves the unholy deed, bringing down on your own heads the charge of this great impiety; let the presumptuous act be the act of Jews, and upon them let the blood-guiltiness rest. If you have a Law that subjects the Sinless to so fearful a penalty, that chastises the Guiltless, execute it with your own hands; I will not endure to be a party to it." We may imagine this to be what Pilate says, for his words are pregnant with some such meaning. And the shamelessness of the Jews may here also well excite our amazement, for they are not even put to shame by the just judgment of a foreigner, though the Divine Law Mai. ii.7. said concerning this people: For the priest's lips should keep judgment, and they should seek the Laiu from his mouth.

7 The Jeivs answered him, We have a law, and by our law c- xix. 7. He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.

When their false accusation that they had at first contrived proved fruitless, and they established against Him no attempt at revolution or revolt against Csesar's rule (for the Lord parried these charges, saying; My Supra Kingdom is not of this world; if my Kingdom were o/^^"^' this world, then tuould My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews), and when Pilate thereupon gave a just and impartial verdict, and did not as yet comply with their will, but said openly that He found no fault in Him, the audacious Jews completely changed their tactics, and asserted that they had a law, which condemned the Saviour to death. What law was that? That which fixes the punishment for blasphemers; for in the book called Leviticus it is recorded, that certain men, who were counted among Jews, strove together, according to the Scripture, in the camp, and that one of them made mention of the Name of God, and blessed Him, for thus saith the Scripture euphemistically, meaning that he cursed and blasphemed Him, and was then doomed to die, and to pay a bitter penalty for his impious tongue, God plainly declaring: Whosoever curseth his God Lev.xxiv. shall bear his sin, and he that taketh the JVame of the ' Lord in vain, shall be put to death, and all the congregation of Israel shall stone him: as tvell the stranger as he that is born in the land, when he taketh the Name of the Lord in vain, shall be put to death.

But, perhaps, someone may be in doubt, and ask this question: " What, then, does the Law say, and what does it intend to signify hereby 1 " For that a man who is convicted of blasphemy against God should die is, indeed, just, and he very rightly meets his doom. But suppose a man treat a false god with contumely, is he then not free from guilt? For the words of the Law are. If any man curse Go d, he shallbear his sin. What do we reply? The Lawgiver is infallible, for to

Book 12. love to hurl scorn upon false gods is, as it were, a course c. XIX. /. ^£ preparation which makes us ready to utter blasphemies against the true God. Therefore also, in

Ex. xxii. another passage, He dissuades us from it, saying: Gods thou shalt not revile; for He thought it meet to give unto the name of Godhead, though it be sometimes misplaced, the honour that is its due. The Law, however, did not certainly bid us ascribe any honour to gods erroneously so called, but teaches us to regard as holy the name of Godhead, though it be stolen by some.

As the Law, then, orders that the man who is convicted of blasphemy should be rewarded with death, they say that Christ is subject to the penalty, for that He made Himself the Son of God. We ought to bear in mind where, and in what sense, this was said by Christ. At the pool that was called after the sheep-gate, He healed the impotent man of his long and grievous infirmity on the Sabbath-day. And the Jews, when they ought to have marvelled at the wonders that He wrought, were, on the contrary, ofiended at His breaking the Sabbath, and for that reason only railed against

Supra Him. Then Christ answered, and said: 3Iy Father tuorketh even urdil noiu, and I work; and thereupon

Supra says the Evangelist: For this cause therefore the Jetvs persecuted Jesus, because He not only brake the Sabbath, but also ccdled God His oivn Father, making Himself equal with God. The Jews, then, were offended when Christ called the Lord of all His Father; and then He made this most mild reply to them, saying:

Supra Jt is ivritten in your Law, I said, Ye are gods, and are all sons of the Most High. If he ccdled themi gods unto ivhom the Word of God cartie {and the Scripture cannot be broken), say ye of Him Whom the FcUher sanctified and sent into the ivorld, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? But the people of the Jews, remembering none of these things, make the truth a charge against the truth; and because Christ said what was in fact the truth, they assert that He is worthy ofc. xix. 7. death. Here I will make use of the Prophet's words: How do ye say, We are ivise, and the Laiu of the Lord is Jer. viii. witli us? For would it not have been right, either first to ascertain by the strictest scrutiny Who Christ was, and whence He came; and if He had been convicted of falsehood, then, very justly, to pass sentence upon Him, or if He spoke the truth, to worship Him? Why, then, did you Jews give up searching and satisfying yourselves by Holy Writ, and betake yourselves to making a mere outcry against Him? and why made you what was in fact the truth, the ground for accusation 1 You ought, when you said unto Pilate: He rtiade Himself the Son of God, to have charged Him also with the works of Godhead, and to have made His mighty wonder-working power a count in the indictment; you ought to have cried out thereafter, that a man who had been three days dead, rose again, and came back to life at the mere bidding of the Saviour; you ought to have brought forward the only child of the widow, and the daughter of the leader of the synagogue; you ought to have called to mind that Divine saying, spoken unto the son of the widow: Young man, I say unto thee, Arise; and to S. Luke the damsel: Maiden, Arise. You ought, besides, to j^V^ ^jjj have told Pilate, that He gave sight to the blind, and 54. cleansed the lepers of their leprosy; and also, that by a single word of command He calmed the storm of the angry sea, and the onslaught of the raging billows; and whatever else Christ did. All this, however, they bury in the silence of ingratitude, and passing over those miracles whereby Christ was seen to be God, in malice they proceed to basely state the paradox; and, miserable wretches that they were, they cried out to a foreigner, who had no knowledge of the Divine Scripture, and saw that Jesus was a Man: He made Hir)iself the Son of God; though the inspired Scripture declared that the Word of God should visit the world in human form.-,,

Book 12. forth a Son, and they shall call His Name Eononanuel;

' • which is, being interpreted, God ivith us. And what could that which was born of a virgin be but a man, like unto us in bodily appearance and nature? But, besides being Man, He was also truly God,

9 afraid; and he entered into the ixilace again, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art Thou? But Jesus gave him no ansicer.

The malicious design of the Jews had a result they little expected. For they wished to pile up the indictment against Christ, by saying that He had ventured to sin against the Person of God Himself. But the weighty character of the accusation itself increased Pilate's caution, and he was the more oppressed with alarm, and more careful concerning Christ than before, and questioned Him the more particularly, what He was, and whence He came; not disbelieving, as I think, that though He was a Man, He might be also the Son of God. This idea and belief of his, was not derived from Holy Writ, but the mistaken notions of the Greeks; for Greek fables call many men demi-gods, and sons of gods. The Romans, too, who in such matters were still more superstitious, gave the name of god to the more distinguished of their own monarchs, and set up altars to them, and allotted them shrines, and put them on pedestals. Therefore Pilate was more earnest and anxious than before, in his inquiry Who Chi'ist was, and whence He came. But He, the Scripture saith, answered him not a word, remembering, I suppose, what He Him- Supra self had said unto him: Every one that is of the truth, xvin. 3/. }^QgyQiJi^ j\fy qjoice. Aud how could Pilate, a worshipper of idols, have hearkened to the voice of the Saviour, when He said that He was Truth, and the Child of truth? And how could he at all have received and honoured the name of truth, who at once ridiculed it, Ibid. 38. and said, What is truth? because he still worshipped

10 Pilate therefore saith unto Him, Sj)eakest Thou not unto me? Knowest Thou not that I have 2J0tver to crucify Thee, and have power to release Thee?

Pilate thought this silence the silence of a madman. Therefore, he stretches over Him, as it were, the wand of his official power, and thought that he could induce Him by fear, against His Will, to return a fruitless answer. For he says that nothing could hinder his inclining whichever way he chose, either to punish Him, or to take compassion upon Him; and that there was nothing to turn him aside, to give a verdict against his will, with whom alone rested the fate of the accused. He rebukes Him, therefore, as though he felt himself insulted by untimely silence, and, so far as that went, his indignation were whetted against Him. For he perceived not at all the hidden meaning of Christ's silence. Observe here the accurate fulfilment of that which was foretold by the voice of the Prophet: He was Is. liii. brought as a lartib to the slaughter; and as a sheep ' before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. Thus saith the blessed Isaiah, and the Psalmist also, assuming the Person of Christ, saith in the Spirit: / have kept My movih with a bridle, wliile the ivicked Ps.xxxix. congregated themselves before Me. I tuas dumb, and ' humbled Myself, and kept silence from good words. By good words, curses must be understood. For it is usual with Holy Scripture to speak euphemistically on such occasions, when reference is made to the Person of God Himself.

1 1 Jesus answered him. Thou wouldest have no ^lower against Me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivereth Me unto thee hath greater sin.

Book 12. whence He came, or Who was His Father. Nor, indeed, c. xix.ii. ^^gg He suffer us to waste the word of revelation, by S. Matt, giving it to ears that are estranged, saying: Give not ""'■ ^' that v:liicJi is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your 'pearls before the swine. When, then, Pilate was parading before Him his official power, and, in his folly, alleging that he could wholly determine His fate according to his mere will and pleasure, He very appropriately meets him with a declaration of His own power and might, and stops him short, as it were, as he was vaunting himself with vain and empty boasting against the glory of God. For, in truth, it were no smaU calamity that any should suppose that Christ could be dragged, against His Will, to suffer insult; and that the malice of the Jews vanquished Him, Who was truly God, and proclaimed Sovereign of the universe by the holy and inspired writings. He has, therefore, removed this stumblingblock from our path, and cuts up, as it were, such an error by the roots, b}' the words: Except it were given thee from above. And when He says, that power was given to Pilate from above. He does not mean that God the Father inflicted crucifixion upon His own Son, against His Will; but that the Onlybegotten Himself gave Himself to suffer for us, and that the Father suffered the fulfilment of the mystery in Him. It is, then, plainly the consent and approval of the Father that is here said to have been given, and the pleasure of the Son is also clearly signified. For, no doubt the force of numbers could never have overcome the power of the Saviour; but we may easily see this from the numerous plots they laid against Him, which resulted in nothing but their being com-icted of ha\'ing made an insolent attempt. They, indeed, desired to seize Supra Him, as the Evangelist says; but He, going through the viii. 59. ^niclstofthem, went His way, and so passed by. He says, so passed by, meaning, not cautiously, or with bated breath, or practising the manoeuvres that men do who wish to escape: but with his usual step, free from all alarm. For inasmuch as Christ suffered willingly. 617

He hid Himself by His Divine and ineffable might, and c. xix. 12, then eluded the sight of His would-be murderers; for He did not wish as yet to die nor did He suffer the passions of His persecutors to determine, as it were, without His consent the hour of His peril. Therefore He says, that by His own command, and the consent of God the Father, power was given unto Pilate, so that he was enabled to accomplish the deeds which he did, in fact, venture to perform. For the nature of the Most High God is wholly invincible, and cannot be subdued by anything that exists; for in Him the power of universal dominion of necessity exists. He accuses of the greater sin — that is, of greater sin against Himself — the traitor that brought Him to Pilate; and with great reason. For he was, as it were, the source from which the impious crime against Him sprang, and also the gate through which it passed; while the judge was but the minister to the crimes of others, and so showed himself, by his ill-timed cowardice, a partaker in the iniquity of the Jews. Who, then, is the traitor, and to whom is the prime authorship of the charges to be referred? Surely, to that most venal disciple, or rather traitor and destroyer of his own soul; and besides him, the crowd of the rulers and the people of the Jews; and though Christ attributes to them the greater part of the blame. He does not acquit Pilate wholly of complicity in guilt.

12 Ujycni this Pilate sought to release Him: but tJie Jews cried out, saying, If thou release this Man, thou art not Ccesar's friend: everyone that maketh himself a king speaketh against Ccesar.

The exclamation of the Jews afflicts Pilate with panic, and sharpens the keenness of his caution, and makes him pause before putting Him to death. For they shouted out, that that very prisoner had 'made Himself Supra tJie Son of God, Whom Pilate had been most anxious ^^^' ' ' to release from all danger, and to acquit of every false

BofiK 12. accusation, having this fear at heart. The Israelites c. xix. 12. g^^ ^]^^g^ ^^^ returned to their original falsehood, saying, that Jesus had courted the people, and transgressed against Caesar's power, and, so far as His power went, had waged war against the rule of Rome, for He had made Himself a king. See how laborious and passionate was the attempt of His accusers against Him! For, first of all, they cried out with one accord, miserable wretches that they were, and asserted that He had ventured to assail Caesar's power. But when they did not meet with much success, Christ declaring that His Kingdom was not an earthly kingdom, they alleged, even unto Pilate, who sat in a Roman tribunal, Supra His offence against God Himself, saying: He made Himself the Son of God. For the villains thought that they could thereby spur Pilate to heedless wrath, and lend him courage to doom the Saviour to death, making His action a mark of His piety towards God; but when their malicious attempt proved unavailing, they once more recurred to the charge they had presumed to make at first, declaring that He had ventured to assail the rule of Caesar, and violently accusing the judge of taking up arms against Caesar's majesty, if he did not consent to pass the sentence of fitting condemnation upon Him Who, as they alleged, had spoken against Csesar, by daring to take upon Himself, in any shape, the title of King; though Csesar did not claim an empire in the heavens, such as that of which Christ was, indeed, the Lord, but an earthly and inferior empire, which itself had its root in the power of Christ. For through Him kings reign, according to the Scripture, and monarchs rule over the earth. Therefore these most impious men bridled not their tongues, but, in their excessive enmity to God, attacked the glory of the Saviour. Them did the Ts.ivii.3, blessed Prophet Isaiah justly rebuke, saying: But draiv ^- near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against Whom do ye siwrt yourselves f against Whom make ye a wide mouth, c. xix. 13, a7id d,raw out the tongue? Are ye not children of ' 'perdition, a laivless seed? For it was not against anymere man that they made their outcry, a,nd spoke out with unbridled tongues, and practised every sort of calumny; but against their own Lord Himself, Who ruleth over all with the Father. Therefore rightly did they become, and are in truth, children of perdition, and a lawless seed.

13 When Pilate there/ore heard this saying, he brought Jestis out, and sat doion on the judgment-seat, at a place called the

14 Pavement, hut in Hehretv, Gahhatha. Noiv it was the 2)rej)aration of the Passover: it was about the sixth hour. And he saith imto the Jews, Behold your King!

The Evangelist, when he thus speaks, throws the whole burden, as it were, of the charge of shedding Christ's blood upon the Jews. For he now clearly says, that Pilate was well-nigh overcome against his will by their opposition, so that he put away the thought of justice, and paid little heed to the consequence; and, therefore, he was dragged down to do the will of Christ's murderers, though he had often expressly told them, that Jesus had been found guilty of no fault at all, and it is this which will make Him subject to the worst of penalties. For, by preferring the pleasure of a mob to honouring the Just, and giving over a guiltless Man to the frenzy of the Jews, he will be convicted out of his own mouth of impiety. He ascends, therefore, to his usual judgment-seat, as about to pronounce sentence of death against Christ. The inspired Evangelist is induced to signify to our profit the day and hour, because of the resurrection itself, and His three days' sojourn among the departed, that the truth of our Lord's saying to the Jews might appear: For as Jonah luas three days and three nights in the S. Matt. belly of the luhale, so also shall the Son of Man he three ''"" ^^' days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The Roman ruler on his judgment-seat, pointing to

Book 12. Jesus, says: Behold your King! Either he was jesting c. XIX. lo..^j^]^ ^jjg multitude, and was granting, with a scornful smile, the innocent blood to those who thirsted for it without a cause, or, perhaps, he was casting in the teeth of the savage Jews the reproach that they endured to see in such evil plight Him Whom they themselves named and asserted to be King of Israel.

15 They therefore cried out, Away with Him, away vnth Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King 1

They reiterate their old cry with the same fury, and desisted not from their lust for blood, and were not softened at all by the insults He had endured, nor inclined to clemency by the outrages inflicted upon Him; but were rather goaded to a greater pitch of fury, and intreat that He Who had raised the dead in their midst, and shown Himself the worker of such marvels, should be crucified; at which Pilate was sore amazed, seeing that they declared with such vehemence, that He, Who had acquired such eminence among them as to be deemed the Son of God, and King, was not merely worthy of death, but that He deserved so cruel a fate, for crucifixion is the worst of deaths. The judge, therefore, makes their outcry a charge and reproach against them, that they should be desirous that He should be crucified. Who had excited so great admiration by deeds which were so pre-eminent as to transcend anything on earth. For what is there that is equal to what does not fall short of the Son of God, and King?

15 The chief priests answered. We have no king but Ccesar.

Hereupon the well-beloved Israel spurned his God, and started aside from his allegiance, and, as Moses said,

3 ev.ui.z. refused to he ashamed, disowned his own glory, and denied his Lord. Of this very charge God accused Is- c. xix. 15. rael of old, speaking by the mouth of Jeremiah: For jer. ii. pass over the isles of Chittim, and send unto Kedar, and ^^~^^- see luhether the nations change their gods, tvho are yet no gods; hut My people have changed their glory. And again: The heavens were astonished thereat, and were horribly afraid, saith the Lord; for My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water. For while other nations throughout the whole world clung fast to the deceitfulness of their idols, and steadfastly adhered to the gods whom they so deemed, and did not readily undergo a change of faith, nor easily alter their form of worship, the Israelites started aside, and joined themselves to the empire of Caesar, and cast off the rule of God. Therefore, very justly, were they given over into Csesar's hands, and, having at first welcomed his rule, afterwards brought themselves to grievous ruin, and underwent expulsion from their country, and the sufferings of war, and those irremediable calamities that befell them.

Observe, too, here the minuteness of the writer. For he does not say that the people started the impious cry, but rather their rulers. For he says: the chief priests cried out, everywhere pointing out, that it was through their submissively following their leaders that the multitude was carried down the precipice, and fell into the abyss of perdition. The chief priests incur the penalty, not merely as losing their own souls, but also as having been leaders and responsible guides of the people subject unto them, in the fatal shedding of blood; just as also the prophet rebuked them, saying: Because ye have been Hos. v. i, a snare unto the watclt-tower, and as a net stretched out ' uijon Tabor, which they luho catch the prey have sp)read. The Prophet here means by the tuatch-toiver the multitude, who were subject unto them, who were arrayed, as it were, to observe the conduct of their rulers, and to conform their own to it. And, therefore, the leading men of the people are

Book 12. called watchmen in Holy Writ. The chief priests them- ^' ^^^' ' selves, then, were a snare and a net unto the watch-tower; for they both started this denial, and also induced all the rest to cry: We have no king but Ccvsar. These miserable men presumed so to say, though God the Father, by the mouth of the Prophet, predicted the coming of the Saviour, Zech. ix. and cried out: Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion; shotU, 0 dauglder of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and u])on a colt, the foal of an ass. These men, who had once brought Jesus into Jerusalem riding upon an ass, and honoured Him as a God with blind s. Matt, praises, with one accord, for they cried: Blessed is He ^^'' ^' that cometh in the Name of the Lord! now make an outcry against Him, accusing Him only of attacking the Roman rule, and shaking off, as it were, the yoke of the Kingdom of God from their necks. For this was the plain meaning of the cry: We have no king hut Ccesar. But we shall find that then, too, it was the people that raised the shout for the Saviour Christ, and that it was the chief priests who presumed in their madness to make this exclamation, just as the others had proceeded from them.

Pilate henceforward permits the Jews, in their unbridled resentment, to run to all lengths in lawlessness; and, divesting himself of the power due unto a judge, suffers their uncontrolled passions at length to take their course unreproved, in allowing them to crucify One Who was wholly guiltless, and Who received this monstrous condemnation merely because He said Supra He ivas the Son of God. One must lay the whole guilt of the impious crime at the door of the Jews; and rightly and justly, I think, accuse them of being the prime movers in the act, for with them originated this impiety against Christ. Yet we cannot acquit Pilate of complicity in their iniquity; for he shared their responsibility, inasmuch as when he might have