CHAPTER 18 I have commented on the Passion (Matthew 27 and 28.), I shall therefore only briefly touch on those points which are related by S. John only. Ver. 1. _When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over she brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which He entered a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him_ (the word "knowing" is added, that no one should suppose that He had fallen without knowing it, and unwillingly, into the hands of the Jews, but that He knowingly and willingly gave Himself up to them, and also went forward to meet them... [ Continue Reading ]
_They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth._ They said not, "We seek Thee," but they say, "We seek Jesus." And therefore they did not recognise Him, though pointed out by the traitor's kiss (because Jesus had smitten them with blindness), and though the officers of the chief Priests had often seen and he... [ Continue Reading ]
_If therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way._ Why was this? (1.) That He might by His own death alone redeem the world. "He removed His disciples out of danger," says S. Cyril, "as knowing that the contest and the work of our salvation pertained to Him alone, as being the work of a ruler and no... [ Continue Reading ]
_That the saying might be fulfilled, which He spake, 0f them which Thou gavest Me have I lost none, i.e._, of the eleven Apostles which Thou gavest Me: for Judas, as the son of perdition, was not given Him absolutely of the Father. But of what loss and death does Christ here speak: of the soul or of... [ Continue Reading ]
_But there was a servant named Malchus._ He mentions the name of the servant to signify the mystery. For Malchus is the same as "king." But as the servant of the High Priest he signifies the Jewish people, which was formerly a kingly and free power, but afterwards became subject to the Priesthood, w... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the High Priest that same year._ But why did Judas and the Jews lead Him first to Annas, and not to Caiaphas, when He had to be judged by Caiaphas (as High Priest), and not by Annas? I answer (1.) To pay honour to... [ Continue Reading ]
_One of the servants struck Jesus._ S. Augustine (_in loc_.) having enumerated many punishments which a slave deserved, says, "But which of these could He not have commanded by His power (since the world was made by Him), unless He preferred to teach us patience by which the world is overcome?" See... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now Annas sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the High Priest._ The Syriac and Arabic versions, as also S. Cyril, read " _had_ sent Him," and so too English version. But it seems as if S. John had forgotten to mention the sending of Jesus from Annas to Caiaphas, and here inserted it out of place, whereas... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the prætorium._ To the house and hall of Pilate; for he was Prætor, that is, both civil and criminal judge of Judæa. S. Augustine reads (inaccurately) _unto Caiaphas into the Prætorium_, and therefore was obliged to say either that Caiaphas came to the house o... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is not lawful for us to put any one to death._ For the Romans, it appears, had deprived the Jews, as a conquered people, of the power of capital punishment and claimed it for themselves. This is the meaning of the words. See Rupertus, S. Thomas, Jansen, Suarez, and others. You will say the Jews... [ Continue Reading ]
_That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spake signifying by what death He should die_, viz. that He was to be delivered up to the Gentiles, and to be crucified by them. See Joh 12:32 and Matthew 20:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then Pilate entered into the judgment-hall gain_. He had gone out, to hear the charges which the Jews brought against Jesus, and then came back again to examine Him. _And said unto Him, Art Thou the King of the Jews?_ It appears from Luke 23:2, that when the Chief Priests saw that they could not m... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pilate saith unto Him, What is truth?_ Pilate supposed Christ to be a philosopher or prophet, who speculated about truth. And therefore he asked Him what that truth was to which He was born to bear witness. But this was not much to the point which he was aiming at, viz., the deliverance of Jesus, w... [ Continue Reading ]