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| date | Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:16:17 +0000 |
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| 4 <body style=text-align:justify><blockquote> | |
| 5 <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 60pt">18</span> | |
| 6 <p align=center><B>LECTURE I | |
| 7 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with | |
| 8 his disciples across the Kidron valley [brook], where there was a garden, which | |
| 9 he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the | |
| 10 place; for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas, procuring a | |
| 11 band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, | |
| 12 went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all | |
| 13 that was to befall him, came forward and said to them, "Whom do you seek?" 5 | |
| 14 They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth. "Jesus said to them, I am he." Judas, | |
| 15 who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When he said to them, "I am he," | |
| 16 they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Again he asked them, "Whom do you | |
| 17 seek?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." 8 Jesus answered, "I told you that I | |
| 18 am he; so, if you seek me, let these men go." 9 This was to fulfill the word | |
| 19 which he had spoken, "Of those whom you gave me I lost not one."<a href="#_ftn1" | |
| 20 name="_ftnref1">[1]</a></b></BLOCKQUOTE> | |
| 21 | |
| 22 <p>2271 Before his passion, as we saw above, our Lord prepared | |
| 23 his disciples in many ways: teaching them by his example, comforting them with | |
| 24 his words, and aiding them by his prayers. Now the Evangelist begins the | |
| 25 history of the passion: first, he sets forth the mystery of the passion; secondly, | |
| 26 the glory of the resurrection (20:1). | |
| 27 | |
| 28 <pIndent>Christ's passion was effected partly by the Jews, | |
| 29 and partly by the Gentiles. Thus, he first describes what Christ suffered from | |
| 30 the Jews; secondly, what he suffered from the Gentiles (19:1). He does three things | |
| 31 regarding the first: he shows how our Lord was betrayed by a disciple; | |
| 32 secondly, how he was brought before the high priests (v 13); and thirdly, how | |
| 33 he was accused before Pilate (v 28). | |
| 34 | |
| 35 <p>In regard to Christ's betrayal, the | |
| 36 Evangelist mentions three things: first, the place; secondly, the procedure; | |
| 37 and thirdly, the willingness of Christ to submit to the betrayal (v 4). The | |
| 38 place of the betrayal was shown to be appropriate in three ways: because it was | |
| 39 outside the city; it was private and enclosed; and it was known to the traitor. | |
| 40 | |
| 41 <p>2272 The place of the betrayal was some distance from the | |
| 42 city, and so Judas could more easily do what he intended. The Evangelist says, <b>When | |
| 43 Jesus had spoken these words, </b>the words we have read above. But since what | |
| 44 Christ said belonged to his prayer, it would seem more appropriate for the | |
| 45 Evangelist to say, "When Jesus had prayed." The Evangelist put it the way he | |
| 46 did to show that Christ did not pray because of any need of his own, since he | |
| 47 was the one who, as man, prayed, and who, as God, heard the prayer. Rather, | |
| 48 Christ prayed in order to teach us. Thus this prayer is described as "spoken | |
| 49 words." | |
| 50 | |
| 51 <p>2273 <b>He went forth with his disciples, </b>but not | |
| 52 immediately after this prayer, as Augustine notes.<a href="#_ftn2" | |
| 53 name="_ftnref2">[2]</a> | |
| 54 Other things happened, omitted by this Evangelist, but mentioned by the others. | |
| 55 For example, there was an argument among the disciples about who was to be | |
| 56 regarded as the greatest (Lk 22:24); before setting out he said to Peter: | |
| 57 "Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have | |
| 58 prayed for you that your faith may not fail" (Lk 22:31); again, the disciples | |
| 59 recited a hymn with the Lord, as Matthew (26:30) and Mark (14:26) report. And | |
| 60 so we should not think that they went out immediately after the words of the | |
| 61 previous chapter, but that Christ said these things before they went out. | |
| 62 | |
| 63 <p>2274 He went forth <b>across the Kidron brook. </b>Matthew | |
| 64 and Mark say that they went to the Mount of Olives, and then to a garden called | |
| 65 Gethsemane. There is no conflict here, because all of them are referring to | |
| 66 the same place, for the Kidron brook is at the foot of the Mount of Olives, | |
| 67 where there was a garden called Gethsemane. In Greek, Kidron is genitive | |
| 68 plural; and so in effect he is saying a brook "of cedars." Perhaps there were | |
| 69 many cedar trees planted there. | |
| 70 | |
| 71 <p>It is fitting for this mystery that | |
| 72 he cross a brook, because the brook indicates his passion: "He will drink from | |
| 73 the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head" (Ps 110:7). Again, it | |
| 74 is fitting that he cross the Kidron brook for Kidron is interpreted to mean an | |
| 75 overshadowing, and by his passion Christ removed the shadow of sin and of the | |
| 76 law, and stretching out his arms on the cross, he protected us under the shadow | |
| 77 of his arms: "Hide me in the shadow of your wings" (Ps 17:8). | |
| 78 | |
| 79 <p>2275 The place was especially suitable for the betrayal. He | |
| 80 says, <b>there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. </b>This was | |
| 81 especially suitable because Christ was satisfying for the sin of our first | |
| 82 parent which had been committed in a garden (for paradise means a garden of | |
| 83 delights). It was also suitable because by his passion he is leading us into | |
| 84 another garden and paradise to receive a crown: "Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Lk 23:43). | |
| 85 | |
| 86 <p>2276 It was also an appropriate place because it was known | |
| 87 to the traitor, <b>now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place; for Jesus | |
| 88 often met there with his disciples, </b>including Judas, who was like a wolf | |
| 89 among sheep: "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" | |
| 90 (6:71). This wolf in sheep's clothing, who had been tolerated among the sheep | |
| 91 according to the profound plan of the master, learned where he could scatter | |
| 92 the small flock when the time came. | |
| 93 | |
| 94 <p>2277 Since Judas had left the supper a while before the | |
| 95 others, how did he know that Christ would later be in the garden? Chrysostom | |
| 96 says that it was Christ's custom, especially at the major feasts, to bring his | |
| 97 disciples there after supper and teach them the deeper meaning of the feasts, | |
| 98 things that others were not ready to hear.<a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" | |
| 99 title="">[3]</a> | |
| 100 And so, because this was an important feast, Judas surmised that Christ would | |
| 101 be going there after supper. It was Christ's custom to teach his disciples | |
| 102 these sublime matters in the mountains or in private gardens, seeking places | |
| 103 free from disturbance so they would not be distracted: "I will allure her, and | |
| 104 bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her" (Hos 2:14). | |
| 105 | |
| 106 <p>2278 Now the Evangelist shows the procedure of the traitor. | |
| 107 Notice, as we see from Luke (22:4), that after Judas had agreed with the chief | |
| 108 priests to betray Christ, he looked for an opportunity to deliver him without | |
| 109 disturbing the people. Consequently, he wanted to come to him privately and at | |
| 110 night, because during the day Christ was always busy teaching the people. Yet | |
| 111 even at night it was possible that he be hindered by a quickly gathering crowd, | |
| 112 or by the darkness in which Christ could be spirited away or escape from their | |
| 113 hands. So against the crowd, he armed himself with weapons, and against the | |
| 114 darkness he brought lanterns and torches. And because some of the crowd might | |
| 115 resist, he took a band of soldiers, not from the Jews, but from the governor. | |
| 116 In this way, no one would dare to resist because they would see the marks of | |
| 117 legitimate authority. Further, some Jews might resist out of zeal for the law, | |
| 118 especially because Christ was being taken by Gentiles. For this reason Judas | |
| 119 took some servants or <b>officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees: </b>"He | |
| 120 has run against God with his head held high" [Job 15:26]; "Have you come out as | |
| 121 against a robber, with swords and clubs?" (Lk 22:52) | |
| 122 | |
| 123 <p>2279 Now the Evangelist shows the promptness of Christ to | |
| 124 willingly undergo betrayal: first, by voluntarily offering himself; secondly, | |
| 125 by stopping one of the disciples who was resisting (v 10). In regard to the | |
| 126 first, the Evangelist does two things: first, he tells how Christ identified | |
| 127 himself to show his power; secondly, to show his patience (v 7). In regard to | |
| 128 the first he does three things: first, he states the question Christ asked; | |
| 129 secondly, he shows Christ identifying himself, <b>I am he</b>; thirdly, we see | |
| 130 the effect this has (v 6). | |
| 131 | |
| 132 <p>2280 He does three things regarding the first. First, he | |
| 133 recalls Christ's knowledge: <b>Then Jesus, knowing all that was to befall him, | |
| 134 came forward</b>;<b> </b>"Jesus knew that his hour had come" (13:1). The | |
| 135 Evangelist mentions this for two reasons: first, so that it does not appear | |
| 136 that the question he is asking comes from his ignorance; and secondly, so that | |
| 137 it does not seem that he is offering himself unintentionally and without knowing | |
| 138 that they have come to kill him. He knew everything that would happen to him. | |
| 139 | |
| 140 <p>Secondly, he states Christ's | |
| 141 question, for although he knew all these things he <b>came forward and said to | |
| 142 them, Whom do you seek? </b>But this was not because of his ignorance, as we said. | |
| 143 Thirdly, he gives their answer, <b>Jesus of Nazareth</b>. They were seeking him | |
| 144 not to imitate him, but to slander and kill him: "You will seek me and die in | |
| 145 your sin" (8:21). | |
| 146 | |
| 147 <p>2281 Now we see Jesus identifying himself and offering | |
| 148 himself so that they can seize him. <b>I am he</b>, he says, that is, I am | |
| 149 Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are looking for. The Evangelist adds that Judas was | |
| 150 also there because he had mentioned before that Judas had left them (13:31). It | |
| 151 could be expected that they might not recognize the face of Christ because of | |
| 152 the darkness. But this darkness would not explain why they did not know Christ | |
| 153 from his voice, especially those who were quite familiar with him. By saying, <b>I | |
| 154 am he</b>, Christ shows that he was not recognized even by Judas who was with | |
| 155 them and on close terms with Christ. This in particular shows the power of | |
| 156 Christ's divinity. <b>Judas ... was standing with them</b>, that is, he | |
| 157 continued in his evil to the point of identifying him with a kiss. | |
| 158 | |
| 159 <p>2282 Now we see the effect of his revealing himself:<b> they | |
| 160 drew back and fell to the ground. </b>As Gregory says, sometimes we read that | |
| 161 the saints fall to the ground: "The king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and | |
| 162 did homage to Daniel" (Dan 2:46); "When I saw it, I fell upon my face" (Ez | |
| 163 1:28).<a href="#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4">[4]</a> | |
| 164 We also read that the evil fall: "Your men shall fall by the sword" (Is 3:25). | |
| 165 Yet there is a difference. It is said that the evil fall backward: "Eli fell | |
| 166 over backward from his seat" (1 Sam 4:18); while the saints fall on their face. | |
| 167 The reason for this is given in Proverbs (4:18): "The path of the righteous is | |
| 168 like the light of dawn.... The path of the wicked is like deep darkness; they | |
| 169 do not know over what they stumble." Now those who fall backward do not see | |
| 170 where they fall. And so those who are evil are said to fall backward because | |
| 171 they fall over things that are invisible. Those who fall forward see where they | |
| 172 are falling. Thus the saints, who willingly cast themselves down with respect | |
| 173 to visible things, so they can be raised up to invisible things, are said to | |
| 174 fall on their face because they humble themselves. | |
| 175 | |
| 176 <p>Mystically understood, we can say | |
| 177 that by this falling backward we can understand that the Jewish people, who | |
| 178 were a special people, because they did not listen to the voice of Christ in | |
| 179 his preaching, fell backward, excluded from the kingdom. | |
| 180 | |
| 181 <p>2283 Now we see Christ questioning them a second time. First | |
| 182 we see his question; secondly, he identifies himself; thirdly, he offers | |
| 183 himself to them. | |
| 184 | |
| 185 <p>According to Chrysostom, there are | |
| 186 two reasons why Christ asks them a second time whom they were seeking.<a | |
| 187 href="#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5">[5]</a> | |
| 188 First, to teach the faithful that he was captured because he willed it: "He was | |
| 189 offered because it was his own will" [Is 53:7]; he had already shown his power | |
| 190 because when his enemies came against him, they fell backward to the ground | |
| 191 before him. Secondly, he wanted, as far as he could, to give the Jews a reason | |
| 192 to be converted, having seen this miracle of his power: "What more was there to | |
| 193 do for my vineyard, that I have not done it?" (Is 5:4). And when they were not | |
| 194 converted by the revelation of his power, he voluntarily offered himself to be | |
| 195 taken by them. When <b>Again he asked them, Whom do you seek? And they said, | |
| 196 Jesus of Nazareth, </b>he again identified himself and answered, <b>I told you | |
| 197 that I am he</b>. It is obvious from this that they were so blind that they | |
| 198 could not recognize him. | |
| 199 | |
| 200 <p>He offers himself when he says, <b>if | |
| 201 you seek me</b>, to arrest me, then do what you want, but <b>let these men go</b>, | |
| 202 my disciples, for it is not yet their time to be taken from the world by suffering: | |
| 203 "I do not pray that you should take them out of the world" (17:15). It is clear | |
| 204 from this that Christ gave them the power to capture him, for just as he saved | |
| 205 his disciples by his own power, so, much more clearly, he could have saved | |
| 206 himself: "No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own | |
| 207 accord" (10:18). | |
| 208 | |
| 209 <p>2284 The Evangelist shows that the officers allowed the | |
| 210 apostles to leave not because Christ persuaded them to do so, but because of | |
| 211 his power, when he says, <b>This was to fulfill the word which he had spoken. </b>The | |
| 212 officers let the apostles go because they were not able to hold them, since | |
| 213 Christ had said that <b>of those whom you gave me I lost not one</b>. | |
| 214 | |
| 215 <p>2285 On the contrary. When our Lord said that none was lost, | |
| 216 he was referring to the soul. How can the Evangelist adapt this to refer to the | |
| 217 loss of the body? We may answer, according to Chrysostom, that our Lord was | |
| 218 speaking (17:12) of the loss of both the soul and the body.<a href="#_ftn6" | |
| 219 name="_ftnref6">[6]</a> | |
| 220 And if he spoke only of the soul we could say that here the Evangelist extends | |
| 221 it to the loss of the body. Or, we could say, with Augustine, that we must | |
| 222 understand these words to refer here also to the loss of the soul.<a | |
| 223 href="#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7">[7]</a> | |
| 224 The reason being that the apostles did not yet believe in the way that those | |
| 225 who do not perish believe. And so, if they had left the world then, some would | |
| 226 have perished. | |
| 227 | |
| 228 <BR><BR><BR> | |
| 229 <p align=center><b>LECTURE 2 | |
| 230 | |
| 231 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck | |
| 232 the high priest's slave and cut off his right ear. The slave's name was | |
| 233 Malchus. 11 Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not | |
| 234 drink the cup which the Father has given me?"</BLOCKQUOTE></b> | |
| 235 | |
| 236 <p>2286 The Evangelist has shown how ready Christ was to suffer | |
| 237 his betrayal since he willingly offered himself. He now shows this same | |
| 238 readiness because Christ forbade a disciple to resist. First, he mentions the | |
| 239 resistance of the disciple; secondly, his being restrained (v 11). In regard to | |
| 240 the first he does two things: first, he shows the zeal of the disciple in | |
| 241 striking the servant; secondly, we see the name of the servant. | |
| 242 | |
| 243 <p>2287 He says that the officers arrested Jesus, but that <b>then | |
| 244 Simon Peter, </b>more volatile than that the other disciples, <b>having a | |
| 245 sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave, </b>who was among the | |
| 246 officers, <b>and cut off his right ear</b>. This was not his intention; rather, | |
| 247 he wanted to kill him, but the strike to the servant's head missed and struck | |
| 248 the ear. Peter aimed for the head so that he could more easily show that he was | |
| 249 doing it out of zeal for his Lord: "I have been very jealous for the Lord" (1 Kgs | |
| 250 19:10). | |
| 251 | |
| 252 <p>2288 Two questions can be asked about this. Since the Lord | |
| 253 had commanded his disciples not to have even two tunics (Mt 10:10), why was it | |
| 254 that Peter had a sword? I answer that Christ gave them this command when he | |
| 255 sent them out to preach, and it was to be in effect until his passion. But when | |
| 256 his passion drew near, Christ revoked it: "When I sent you out with no purse or | |
| 257 bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" (Lk 22:35). And then (in v 36): "But | |
| 258 now, let him who has a purse take it, and likewise a bag. And let him who has | |
| 259 no sword sell his mantle and buy one." Because of this permission Peter | |
| 260 understood that he was allowed to carry a sword. | |
| 261 | |
| 262 <p>How could he get a sword so | |
| 263 quickly, since our Lord had spoken these words such a short time before? According | |
| 264 to Chrysostom, Peter obtained the sword earlier, when he heard that the Jews | |
| 265 were planning to deliver Christ over to the chief priests to be crucified.<a | |
| 266 href="#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8">[8]</a> | |
| 267 Or, we could say, with the Interlinear, that "sword" is used here for a knife, | |
| 268 which he probably had at the paschal meal, and which he took along when they | |
| 269 left.<a href="#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9">[9]</a> | |
| 270 | |
| 271 <p>2289 The second question is why Peter struck the servant of | |
| 272 the high priest, since our Lord had told them not to resist evil (Mt 5:39). One | |
| 273 could answer that they were forbidden to resist someone in order to defend | |
| 274 themselves, but this did not apply to defending the Lord. Or, one could say | |
| 275 that they had not yet been strengthened by a power coming from above: "Stay in | |
| 276 the city, until you are clothed with power from on high" (Lk 24:49). And for | |
| 277 this reason they were not yet so perfect that they could not resist evil | |
| 278 entirely. | |
| 279 | |
| 280 <p>2290 Now the name of the servant is given. Only John | |
| 281 mentions this name because, as stated below (v 15), John himself was known by | |
| 282 the high priest, and so he also knew some of the priest's servants. Since John | |
| 283 was certain of this servant's name, he gives it. | |
| 284 | |
| 285 <p>It is Luke (22:51) who adds that | |
| 286 our Lord healed the ear. This is appropriate for a mystery: for the servant | |
| 287 stands for the Jewish people, who were oppressed by the chief priests: "You eat | |
| 288 the fat" (Ez 34:3). Peter, the head of the apostles, takes away this servant's | |
| 289 sense of hearing, because he heard the words of the law in a defective way, in | |
| 290 a carnal way. But our Lord gave him back a new sense of hearing: "As soon as | |
| 291 they heard of me they obeyed me" (Ps 18:44). With this in mind the servant is | |
| 292 fittingly named Malchus, which means "king," because through Christ we have | |
| 293 become kings by having a new life: "You ... have made them a kingdom and | |
| 294 priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth" (Rev 5:10). | |
| 295 | |
| 296 <p>2291 Now we see the zeal of Peter being restrained. First, | |
| 297 we see Peter's zeal; secondly, the reason it was restrained (11b). | |
| 298 | |
| 299 <p>2292 The Evangelist says that Peter drew his sword, and our | |
| 300 Lord said to him, <b>Put your sword into its sheath. </b>It was like saying | |
| 301 that it was not defense that was needed, but patience, and that he was not | |
| 302 allowed to use a material sword: "Ah, sword of the Lord! How long till you are | |
| 303 quiet?" (Jer 47:6). The mystical interpretation is that this signifies that the | |
| 304 sword of God's word was to be put into its sheath, that is, into the faith of | |
| 305 the Gentiles. | |
| 306 | |
| 307 <p>2293 The reason Christ restrained Peter is given when he | |
| 308 says, <b>Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me? </b>For one | |
| 309 should not resist what has been arranged by divine providence: "Who has | |
| 310 resisted him and has had peace?" [Job 9:4]. The passion is called a cup, a | |
| 311 drinking vessel, because the charity of the one suffering gave it a certain | |
| 312 sweetness, but in its own nature it was bitter. It was like a healing medicine | |
| 313 which, because it gives hope of being cured, acquires a certain sweetness, | |
| 314 although it has a bitter taste: "I will lift up the cup of salvation and call | |
| 315 on the name of the Lord" (Ps 116:13). | |
| 316 | |
| 317 <p>The Father gave Christ this cup | |
| 318 because Christ willingly underwent the passion by his own will and by the will | |
| 319 of the Father: "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you | |
| 320 from above" (19:11). | |
| 321 <BR><BR><BR> | |
| 322 <p align=center><b>LECTURE 3 | |
| 323 | |
| 324 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the | |
| 325 officers of the Jews seized Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to | |
| 326 Annas; for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high | |
| 327 priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had given counsel to the Jews that it | |
| 328 was expedient that one man should die for the people. 15 Simon Peter followed | |
| 329 Jesus, and so did another disciple. As this disciple was known to the high | |
| 330 priest, he entered the court of the high priest along with Jesus, 16 while | |
| 331 Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the | |
| 332 high priest, went out and spoke to the maid who kept the door, and brought | |
| 333 Peter in. 17 The maid who kept the door said to Peter, "Are not you also one of | |
| 334 this man's disciples?" He said, "I am not." 18 Now the servants and officers | |
| 335 had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and | |
| 336 warming themselves; Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. 19 | |
| 337 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 | |
| 338 Jesus answered him, "I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in | |
| 339 synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together, I have said nothing | |
| 340 secretly. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me, what I said to | |
| 341 them; they know what I said."<a href="#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10">[10]</b></a></BLOCKQUOTE> | |
| 342 | |
| 343 <p>2294 Now the Evangelist describes how our Lord was taken by | |
| 344 the officers and led before the leaders. First, he is led to one of the | |
| 345 leaders, Annas; secondly, to another, Caiaphas (v 24). In regard to the first | |
| 346 he does two things: first, he mentions how he was presented before Annas; | |
| 347 secondly, how he was questioned by Annas (v 19). In regard to the first he does | |
| 348 two things: he mentions that he is led to Annas' house; secondly, that Christ's | |
| 349 disciples followed him (v 15). In regard to the first he does two things: he | |
| 350 mentions what was done to Jesus; secondly, he describes the high priest before | |
| 351 whom Jesus was brought (v 13b). | |
| 352 | |
| 353 <p>2295 Three things were done to Christ. First, he was seized; | |
| 354 for he says, <b>the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the | |
| 355 Jews seized Jesus, </b>who is not apprehensible: "great in counsel, | |
| 356 incomprehensible in thought" [Jer 32:19]. Perhaps they were thinking of the | |
| 357 Psalm (71:11): "God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none | |
| 358 to deliver him." Again, "The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in | |
| 359 our sins," that is, on account of our sins, in order to free us: "Even the | |
| 360 captives of the mighty shall be taken" (Is 49:25). | |
| 361 | |
| 362 <p>Secondly, Christ was bound, <b>and | |
| 363 bound him, </b>who came to untie their bonds and break their chains: "You have | |
| 364 loosed my bonds" (Ps 116:16). | |
| 365 | |
| 366 <p>Thirdly, he was led away, <b>they | |
| 367 led him to Annas, </b>so that they might destroy him who came to lead all to | |
| 368 the way of salvation: "You have led me, because you became my hope" [Ps 61:4]. | |
| 369 | |
| 370 <p>2296 Two reasons can be given why Jesus was first brought to | |
| 371 Annas. This could have been done by the order of Caiaphas, the high priest that | |
| 372 year. Caiaphas did this because he would have had more of an excuse for | |
| 373 condemning Jesus if Annas had already condemned him. The other reason was that | |
| 374 they were nearer to the house of Annas, which was on their way. They were | |
| 375 fearful that if the people became aroused Jesus might be taken away from them, | |
| 376 and so they made straight for the house of Annas. | |
| 377 | |
| 378 <p>2297 Here the high priest is described by his relationship | |
| 379 to Caiaphas, <b>he was the father‑in‑law of Caiaphas. </b>Then | |
| 380 Caiaphas is described as <b>high priest that year. </b>We should remember that | |
| 381 according to the law the high priest was to hold his office for life, and when | |
| 382 he died to be succeeded by his son. But as the envy and the ambition of the leaders | |
| 383 increased, not only did the son not succeed the father, but the office itself | |
| 384 was not held for more than a year; and even then it was bought with money, as | |
| 385 Josephus says. And so it is not out of character that in the year of that high | |
| 386 priesthood, so wickedly obtained, that the high priest acted so despicably. | |
| 387 | |
| 388 <p>2298 He is described by the advice he gave: <b>It was | |
| 389 Caiaphas who had given counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man | |
| 390 should die for the people </b>(in 11:50). The Evangelist recalls this to | |
| 391 prevent the hearts of the faithful from faltering. He shows that even by the | |
| 392 prophecy of the enemy Christ was captured<i> </i>and killed, not because he was | |
| 393 weak and lacked power, but for the salvation of the people, that is, so the | |
| 394 entire nation would not perish. For the testimony of one's adversary is very | |
| 395 effective; and truth is of such a nature that even its enemy is unable not to | |
| 396 speak it. | |
| 397 | |
| 398 <p>2299 Now we see how the disciples joined Christ. First, how | |
| 399 Peter and another disciple followed him; secondly, we see how they entered the | |
| 400 place where Christ was; thirdly, how one denied him. | |
| 401 | |
| 402 <p>2300 In regard to the first he says, <b>Simon Peter followed | |
| 403 Jesus</b>, because of his devotedness, but at a distance because of his fear, <b>and | |
| 404 so did another disciple, </b>John, who out of humility does not mention | |
| 405 himself. We can understand from this that the other disciples fled and | |
| 406 abandoned Jesus, as Matthew says (26:56). | |
| 407 | |
| 408 <p>2301 In the mystical interpretation, these two disciples | |
| 409 indicate the two ways of life in which Christ is followed: the active life, | |
| 410 which is signified by Peter, and the contemplative life, signified by John. | |
| 411 Those in the active life follow Christ by obedience, "My sheep hear my voice" | |
| 412 (10:27). Those in the contemplative life follow Christ by knowledge and | |
| 413 contemplation, "We will know and follow you" [Ps 4:3]. | |
| 414 | |
| 415 <p>2302 These two disciples followed Christ because they loved | |
| 416 him more than the others did; and so they were the first to come to the tomb | |
| 417 (20:2). And it was these two who came because they were united to each other by | |
| 418 a stronger bond of love; and so they are frequently mentioned together in the | |
| 419 Gospel and in the Acts, where we read that "They sent to them Peter and John" | |
| 420 (Acts 8:14), and again that "Peter and John were going up to the temple at the | |
| 421 hour of prayer" (Acts 3:1). | |
| 422 | |
| 423 <p>2303 Now the order in which they entered is given: John | |
| 424 entered first and then he brought in Peter (v 16). | |
| 425 | |
| 426 <p>2304 It was John who entered first, with Jesus, <b>as this | |
| 427 disciple was known to the high priest ... while Peter stood outside at the door. | |
| 428 </b>Although John had been a fisherman and had been called as a young man by | |
| 429 Christ, he was still known by the high priest, either because John's father was | |
| 430 a servant of the high priest, or a relative. John did not mention that the high | |
| 431 priest knew him because he was proud, but because of his humility, so that the | |
| 432 fact that he was the first to enter, with Jesus, into the court of the high | |
| 433 priest, ahead of Peter, would not be ascribed to his virtue and superiority | |
| 434 rather than to his acquaintance with the high priest. Thus he says, <b>as this | |
| 435 disciple</b>, John himself, <b>was known to the high priest</b>. Consequently, | |
| 436 he was able to enter with Jesus into the high priest's court, where Christ had | |
| 437 been led. <b>While Peter stood outside</b>;<b> </b>this was like a foreboding | |
| 438 of his future denial: "Those who saw me, fled outside from me" [Ps 31:11]. | |
| 439 | |
| 440 <p>2305 Mystically understood, John enters with Jesus because | |
| 441 the contemplative life is one of familiarity with Jesus: "When I enter my | |
| 442 house, I shall find rest with her [wisdom]" (Wis 8:16). Peter stands outside | |
| 443 because the active life is busy with exterior things: "Mary sat at the Lord's | |
| 444 feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving" | |
| 445 (Lk 10:39). | |
| 446 | |
| 447 <p>2306 Here we see how Peter was let in due to John's | |
| 448 intervention, because <b>the other disciple, John who was known to the high | |
| 449 priest, went out and spoke to the maid who kept the door, </b>with the | |
| 450 intention of bringing Peter in, and then he brought Peter in. The mystical | |
| 451 interpretation of this is that the active life is brought to Christ by the | |
| 452 contemplative life: for just as the lower reason is directed by the higher | |
| 453 reason, so the active life is directed by the contemplative life: "Oh send out | |
| 454 your light and your truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy | |
| 455 hill and to your dwelling" (Ps 43:3). | |
| 456 | |
| 457 <p>2307 Now we see the denial of Peter: first, the | |
| 458 circumstances or the incitement of his denial; secondly the denial itself (v | |
| 459 17b); thirdly, Peter strengthens his denial (v 18). | |
| 460 | |
| 461 <p>2308 The circumstances and incitement of his denial was the | |
| 462 question of the maid who kept the door: <b>The maid who kept the door said to | |
| 463 Peter, Are not you also one of this man's disciples?</b> She says <b>you also</b> | |
| 464 because she knew that John was a disciple of Christ, but she did not mention | |
| 465 this to him because of their friendliness. This incident shows how weak Peter | |
| 466 was at that time, for he was incited to deny Christ under feeble circumstances. | |
| 467 How weak these circumstances were is shown, first of all, from the person who | |
| 468 asked him: for it was not an armed soldier or an imposing high priest, but a | |
| 469 woman, and a door keeper at that. Secondly, from the very form of the question: | |
| 470 she did not say, "Are you a disciple of that traitor?" but rather, <b>Are not | |
| 471 you also one of this man's disciples?</b> This seemed to indicate a certain | |
| 472 sympathy. We can learn from this that "By the word of the Lord the heavens were | |
| 473 made, and all their power by the breath of his mouth" [Ps 33:6], because this | |
| 474 same person who denied Christ at the questioning of a maid servant afterwards | |
| 475 professed and preached the name of Christ before the chief priests (Acts 4:8). | |
| 476 | |
| 477 <p>2309 Now comes Peter's denial, when he says, <b>He said, I | |
| 478 am not</b>. We should note, according to Augustine, that Christ is denied not | |
| 479 only by those who say that he is not the Christ, but also by those who deny | |
| 480 that they are Christians.<a href="#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11">[11]</a> | |
| 481 For Peter at this time did nothing other than deny that he was a Christian. Our | |
| 482 Lord permitted Peter to deny him because he wanted the very one who was to be | |
| 483 the head of the entire Church to be all the more compassionate to the weak and | |
| 484 sinners, having experienced in himself his own weakness in the face of sin: | |
| 485 "For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, | |
| 486 but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning" (Heb | |
| 487 4:15). This is true of Christ, and it can also be said of Peter, with his sins. | |
| 488 | |
| 489 <p>Some say that Peter's denial did | |
| 490 not come from fear, but from love: for he wanted to always be with Christ and | |
| 491 to follow him all the time. But he knew that if he admitted he was a disciple | |
| 492 of Christ, he would have been separated from him and expelled. But this does | |
| 493 not agree with our Lord's words: for Peter did not deny Christ because he | |
| 494 feared to be separated from him, but because he was not willing to lay down his | |
| 495 life for Christ. Before, when Peter said, "I will lay down my life for you," | |
| 496 Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to | |
| 497 you, the cock will not crow, till you have denied me three times" (13:37). | |
| 498 | |
| 499 <p>2310 We see Peter strengthen his denial when we read, <b>Now | |
| 500 the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire ... Peter also was with | |
| 501 them, standing and warming himself, </b>so he would not seem to be one of | |
| 502 Christ's disciples. Trying not to seem a disciple, he mixed with the servants | |
| 503 and officers standing by the fire because of the cold, which sometimes occurs | |
| 504 in March during the early spring. Peter was not attentive to the Psalm: "Be | |
| 505 holy with the holy, persevere with those who persevere" [Ps 18:26]. Even the | |
| 506 very time of the year corresponded to his heart, in which charity had grown | |
| 507 cold: "Most men's love will grow cold" (Mt 24: 12). | |
| 508 | |
| 509 <p>2311 <b>The high priest then questioned Jesus. </b>First we | |
| 510 see Christ's interrogation; secondly, his reply (v 20); thirdly, he is abused | |
| 511 for his reply (v 22). | |
| 512 | |
| 513 <p>2312 Two charges were brought against Christ by the Jews: he | |
| 514 had false and novel teachings: "What is this? A new teaching!" (Mk 1:27); and | |
| 515 he was inciting civil discord, gathering his own followers: "He stirs up the | |
| 516 people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place" (Lk | |
| 517 23:5). Consequently, he is interrogated on these two points: first, about his | |
| 518 followers, <b>about his disciples</b>, whom were thought to be misled; | |
| 519 secondly, about <b>his teaching</b>, regarded as false. | |
| 520 | |
| 521 <p>2213 Now our Lord's answer is given: first, we see his | |
| 522 manner of teaching; secondly, he asks for the testimony of others (v 21). Two | |
| 523 things are done about the first: we see how Christ taught his doctrine; | |
| 524 secondly, this is further described. | |
| 525 | |
| 526 <p>2314 He says, <b>I have spoken openly to the world. </b>This | |
| 527 seems to conflict with "The hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you | |
| 528 in figures but tell you plainly of the Father" (16:25). So, if he had not yet | |
| 529 spoken openly to his disciples, how could he have spoken openly to the world? I | |
| 530 answer that he had not yet spoken openly to his disciples in the sense that he | |
| 531 had set forth for them his most profound thoughts. But he did speak openly to | |
| 532 the world in the sense that he spoke to many, publicly. | |
| 533 | |
| 534 <p>2315 This is described more fully as he says, <b>I have always | |
| 535 taught in the synagogues and in the temple</b>.<b> </b>On the contrary, Matthew | |
| 536 (c 16) shows that Christ taught his disciples when alone with them many things | |
| 537 without using figures. This can be answered in three ways. First, what Christ | |
| 538 said to the twelve disciples was not considered to be spoken in secret. | |
| 539 Secondly, he did not teach these things to them with the intention that they be | |
| 540 kept hidden. Thirdly, our Lord is speaking here of the teaching he gave to the | |
| 541 people, which was not given to them secretly but in public places: "I have told | |
| 542 the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation" (Ps 40:9); "I did not | |
| 543 speak in secret, in a land of darkness" (Is 45:19). | |
| 544 | |
| 545 <p>2316 To support him he asks for the testimony of others, | |
| 546 saying, <b>Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me, what I said to them. | |
| 547 </b>First, he sends them to the testimony of others; secondly, he shows whose | |
| 548 testimony he wants; thirdly, he gives the reason for this. | |
| 549 | |
| 550 <p>As to the first he says, <b>Why do | |
| 551 you ask me?</b> He is saying in effect: You can find this out from others. And | |
| 552 then he adds, referring to the second point, <b>Ask those who have heard me</b>: | |
| 553 "Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk" (Mt | |
| 554 22:15). Nevertheless, they could not find anything against him. Then he gives | |
| 555 the reason for his request saying, <b>they know what I said, </b>and they can | |
| 556 testify to this. | |
| 557 <BR><BR><BR> | |
| 558 <p align=center><b>LECTURE 4 | |
| 559 | |
| 560 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>22 When he had said this, one of the officers standing by | |
| 561 struck Jesus with his hand, saying, "Is that how you answer the high priest?" | |
| 562 23 Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness to the wrong; | |
| 563 but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?" 24 Annas then sent him | |
| 564 bound to Caiaphas the high priest. 25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming | |
| 565 himself. They said to him, "Are not you also one of his disciples?" He denied | |
| 566 it and said, "I am not." 26 One of the servants of the high priest, a kinsman | |
| 567 of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, "Did I not see you in the garden | |
| 568 with him?" 27 Peter again denied it; and at once the cock crowed.<a | |
| 569 href="#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12">[12]</b></a></BLOCKQUOTE> | |
| 570 | |
| 571 <p>2317 After telling us of our Lord's answer, the Evangelist | |
| 572 now shows how it was rebuked: first, we see the rebuke given by an officer; | |
| 573 secondly, our Lord's defense of his answer (v 23). | |
| 574 | |
| 575 <p>2318 An officer reproached our Lord's answer, first of all, | |
| 576 by an action. He delivered a reproving blow; for the Evangelist says, <b>When | |
| 577 he</b>, that is, Jesus, <b>had said this, one of the officers</b>, of the high | |
| 578 priest, <b>standing by struck Jesus with his hand</b>. This did not happen by | |
| 579 chance; it had been predicted long before and many times: "I gave my back to | |
| 580 the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard" (Is 50:6); "Let | |
| 581 him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults" (Lam 3:30); "With | |
| 582 a rod they strike upon the cheek the ruler of Israel" (Mic 5:1). | |
| 583 | |
| 584 <p>Secondly, the officer reproached | |
| 585 Christ with words, saying, <b>Is that how your answer the high priest? </b>We | |
| 586 can see from this that Annas was a high priest, and that Jesus had not yet been | |
| 587 sent to Caiaphas. This is why Luke mentions two high priests: "in the high‑priesthood | |
| 588 of Annas and Caiaphas" (Lk 3:2). Two high priests are mentioned because they | |
| 589 alternated as high priests, but that year Annas [really Caiaphas] was the high | |
| 590 priest. | |
| 591 | |
| 592 <p>2319 Earlier, when the testimony of those who had heard | |
| 593 Jesus was being sought, and the chief priests had sent their officers to arrest | |
| 594 him (7:32), they themselves were captivated by the words of Jesus and returned | |
| 595 saying, "No man ever spoke like this man" (7:46). The officer who now struck | |
| 596 Christ was incited to do so in order to show that he had not been one of those | |
| 597 in the prior group. He thought that Christ had shown a lack of respect because | |
| 598 in saying, <b>Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me</b>, he seemed to | |
| 599 be finding fault with the high priest for asking a thoughtless question, and it | |
| 600 is written: "You will not speak evil of a ruler of your people" [Ex 23:28]. | |
| 601 | |
| 602 <p>2320 Jesus justified himself, saying, <b>If I have spoken | |
| 603 wrongly</b>, in my answer to the high priest, <b>bear witness to the wrong. </b>That | |
| 604 is, if your have reason to reproach me for what I have just said, show that I | |
| 605 have spoken badly, because "Only on the evidence of two witnesses, or of three | |
| 606 witnesses, shall a charge be sustained" (Deut 19:18). <b>But if I have spoken | |
| 607 rightly</b>, if you cannot show I have spoken badly, <b>why do you strike me?</b> | |
| 608 Why flare up against me? | |
| 609 | |
| 610 <p>Or, this reply of Christ could be | |
| 611 referred to what he had said before this time: "Ask those who have heard me, | |
| 612 what I said to them" (v 21). Then the meaning is: <b>If I have spoken badly</b>, | |
| 613 in the synagogue and in the temple, which I should not have done, <b>bear | |
| 614 witness to the wrong</b>, report what I have said to the high priest. But the | |
| 615 officer was unable to do his. <b>But if I have spoken rightly</b>, that is, | |
| 616 taught rightly, <b>Why do you strike me?</b> In other words: This is unjust: | |
| 617 "Is evil a recompense for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my life" (Jer | |
| 618 18:20). | |
| 619 | |
| 620 <p>2321 A difficulty arises here for in Matthew our Lord | |
| 621 commanded his disciples, "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him | |
| 622 the other also" (Mt 5:39). And we also read about Christ that "Jesus began to | |
| 623 do and teach" (Acts 1:1). So, Christ ought to have done himself what he had | |
| 624 taught others to do. But he did not do this. Indeed, he did the contrary and | |
| 625 defended himself. | |
| 626 | |
| 627 <p>I say to this, with Augustine, that | |
| 628 the statements and commands found in sacred scripture can be interpreted and | |
| 629 understood from the actions of the saints, since it is the same Holy Spirit who | |
| 630 inspired the prophets and the other sacred authors and who inspires the actions | |
| 631 of the saints. As we read: "Moved by the Holy Spirit holy men of God spoke" (2 | |
| 632 Pet 1:21); and "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God" (Rom | |
| 633 8:14). Thus, sacred scripture should be understood according to the way Christ | |
| 634 and other holy persons followed it. Now, Christ did not turn his other cheek | |
| 635 here; and Paul did not do so either (Acts 16:22). Accordingly, we should not | |
| 636 think that Christ has commanded us to actually turn our physical cheek to one | |
| 637 who has struck the other. We should understand it to mean that we should be | |
| 638 ready to do this if it turned out to be necessary to do so. That is, our | |
| 639 attitude should be such that we would not be inwardly stirred up against the | |
| 640 one striking us, but be ready or disposed to endure the same or even more. This | |
| 641 is how out Lord observed it, for he offered his body to be killed.<a | |
| 642 href="#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13">[13]</a> | |
| 643 So, our Lord's defense is useful for our instruction. | |
| 644 | |
| 645 <p>2322 Now there is mention that he was sent from one high | |
| 646 priest to the other. First, it is mentioned that Jesus was sent to the other | |
| 647 high priest; secondly, the narration of Peter's denial is completed (v 25). | |
| 648 | |
| 649 <p>2323 He says, <b>Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the | |
| 650 high priest, </b>to whom he was originally being led. We saw before why he had | |
| 651 been first brought to Annas. Note the wickedness of Annas: although he ought to | |
| 652 have released Christ, since he was without fault, he yet sent him tied to | |
| 653 Caiaphas. | |
| 654 | |
| 655 <p>2324 Now the second and third denials of Peter are | |
| 656 presented: first, the circumstances of the denials; secondly, the two denials; | |
| 657 and thirdly, the fulfillment of Christ's prediction (v 27). | |
| 658 | |
| 659 <p>2325 The circumstance of Peter's second denial was his | |
| 660 staying with the officers of the high priest who were standing near the fire. | |
| 661 Chrysostom says that although Christ was on his way to Caiaphas, Peter still | |
| 662 remained with the officers [by the fire]. Peter had become so preoccupied with | |
| 663 his sin after his denial that he, who before was so ardent, now seemed not to | |
| 664 care what happened to Christ: "No man repents of his wickedness, saying, 'What | |
| 665 have I done?'" (Jer 8:6). For Chrysostom, <b>Simon Peter was still standing and | |
| 666 warming himself, </b>although Christ had already left, unmindful of the saying: | |
| 667 "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked" (Ps 1:1).<a | |
| 668 href="#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14">[14]</a> | |
| 669 | |
| 670 <p>But this interpretation is not | |
| 671 acceptable because it would follow that Peter's second and third denials were | |
| 672 made in the absence of Christ. This is contrary to Luke (22:61), who says that | |
| 673 after the third denial of Peter, our Lord turned and looked at him. For this | |
| 674 reason Augustine explains it another way and says that the Evangelist is giving | |
| 675 a general view in his own way to show the connection and order of the denials. | |
| 676 The Evangelist had said above that "the servants and officers had made a | |
| 677 charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming | |
| 678 themselves; Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself" (v 18). The | |
| 679 Evangelist then interposes the examination of Christ by the high priest (v 19‑23), | |
| 680 and immediately returns to continue the series of Peter's denials, using | |
| 681 practically the same words as before, "Now Simon Peter was standing and warming | |
| 682 himself" (v 25), that is, referring to the time before Christ was sent to | |
| 683 Caiaphas. | |
| 684 | |
| 685 <p>2326 Then the Evangelist mentions the next two denials of | |
| 686 Peter (v 25). Two things are stated about each: the circumstance of the denial, | |
| 687 that is, the question, and the denial itself. There are two questions about the | |
| 688 literal meaning. When Matthew speaks of the second denial, he says, "And when | |
| 689 he went out to the porch, another maid saw him, and she said to the bystanders, | |
| 690 'This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.' And again he denied it with an oath" (Mt | |
| 691 26:71‑2). There seems to be two disagreements here. John says that Peter | |
| 692 denied Christ by the fire (v 25), and Matthew says this happened as Peter was | |
| 693 going out to the porch. Again, in Matthew, Peter is questioned by another maid, | |
| 694 but John has him questioned by others, that is, a number of others, for he | |
| 695 says, <b>They said to him, Are not you also one of his disciples? </b>(v 25). | |
| 696 Luke also says that Christ was questioned by one person, "And after an interval | |
| 697 of about an hour still another insisted, saying, 'Certainly this man also was | |
| 698 with him'" (Lk 22:59). [This is the third denial in Luke, and his second denial | |
| 699 is also instigated by one person, Lk 22:58]. | |
| 700 | |
| 701 <p>We should say to these points that | |
| 702 after Peter first denied Christ, he then got up and as he was going out to the | |
| 703 porch another maid questioned him. Or, this maid told others that Peter was one | |
| 704 of them, as Matthew says (Mt 26:71). Thus Peter denied Christ a second time. | |
| 705 After this Peter returned so as to avoid seeming to be a follower of Christ and | |
| 706 sat with the others. As he was sitting there, bystanders, who had heard it from | |
| 707 the maid, questioned him again, as Matthew says (Mt 26:73). Or, one of the | |
| 708 servants asked first, as John has here (v 26) and then other bystanders joined | |
| 709 in. This was Peter's third denial. | |
| 710 | |
| 711 <p>About this third denial, John says, | |
| 712 <b>One of the servants of the high priest, a kinsman of the man whose ear Peter | |
| 713 had cut off</b>. This person testified to what he had seen, <b>Did I not see you | |
| 714 in the garden with him? </b>And so after an interval of an hour Peter again | |
| 715 denied it, the third time. | |
| 716 | |
| 717 <p>It is not important if other | |
| 718 Evangelists say that the third question was asked by several persons, while | |
| 719 John has it asked by one. For it is possible that this man, being more certain, | |
| 720 asked first, and that incited the others to ask also. Those who were standing | |
| 721 about said many things about this matter, and one Evangelist speaks of one of | |
| 722 these, and another of something else. This happened because their main | |
| 723 intention was not to note these details, but to show the statement Peter made | |
| 724 and to show that what our Lord had said to Peter came true. Accordingly, all | |
| 725 agree on what Peter said: "What the Lord speaks, that will I speak" (Num | |
| 726 24:13). | |
| 727 | |
| 728 <p>2327 Now he mentions the sign given by Christ which Peter | |
| 729 recalled. <b>And at once the cock crowed, </b>moved by God's power, so that the | |
| 730 prediction of the physician would be fulfilled and to demonstrate the | |
| 731 presumption of the one who was sick. | |
| 732 <BR><BR><BR> | |
| 733 <p align=center><b>LECTURE 5 | |
| 734 | |
| 735 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the | |
| 736 praetorium [to Caiaphas, to the praetorium]. It was early. They themselves did | |
| 737 not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the | |
| 738 passover. 29 So Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring | |
| 739 against this man?" 30 They answered him, "If this man were not an evildoer, we | |
| 740 would not have handed him over." 31 Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves | |
| 741 and judge him by your own law." The Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us | |
| 742 to put any man to death." 32 This was to fulfill the word which Jesus had | |
| 743 spoken to show by what death he was to die.</BLOCKQUOTE></b> | |
| 744 | |
| 745 <p>2328 Now the Evangelist tells about Christ's being handed | |
| 746 over to the Gentiles: first, we see him delivered to the governor; secondly, | |
| 747 Christ is examined by him (v 29); thirdly, the governor declares that Christ is | |
| 748 innocent (v 38b). He does three things about the first: the place where Christ | |
| 749 was delivered is stated; secondly, the time; thirdly, the way he was handed | |
| 750 over. | |
| 751 | |
| 752 <p>2329 The place was the praetorium, for he says, <b>They led | |
| 753 Jesus to Caiaphas, to the praetorium. </b>This is the place where judgment is | |
| 754 given. In the army the commander's tent was known as the praetorium; and so | |
| 755 this residence of the governor was also called a praetorium. | |
| 756 | |
| 757 <p>But how can Christ be led to | |
| 758 Caiaphas, to the praetorium? One could say that Caiaphas had come ahead to the | |
| 759 residence of Pilate to tell him that Jesus would be handed over to him. And so | |
| 760 Jesus was led to Caiaphas when he was in the praetorium with Pilate. Or, one | |
| 761 could say that since Caiaphas was the high priest, he had a large dwelling, so | |
| 762 large that the governor lived there and made it his residence. Then the meaning | |
| 763 is: <b>they led Jesus to Caiaphas</b>, to his residence, and so <b>to the | |
| 764 praetorium.</b> | |
| 765 | |
| 766 <p>Or, one could say that the Greek | |
| 767 text is better, which says, <b>Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the | |
| 768 praetorium. </b>This takes away the problem. | |
| 769 | |
| 770 <p>2330 The time is mentioned, <b>It was early</b>, for their | |
| 771 villainy was so great that they could hardly wait to turn him over to Pilate to | |
| 772 be killed: "Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil upon their beds! | |
| 773 When the morning dawns, they perform it" (Mic 2:1); "The murderer rises at the | |
| 774 light" (Job 24:14). | |
| 775 | |
| 776 <p>Here we find a difficult problem. | |
| 777 The other three Evangelists say that early in the evening Christ was struck at | |
| 778 the residence of Caiaphas, and questioned by him: "If you are the Christ, tell | |
| 779 us" (Luke 22:67), and in the morning Christ was led to Pilate. But John says | |
| 780 that he was led to Caiaphas. If we want to keep to the letter of the text, we | |
| 781 could say that Caiaphas first saw Jesus when he was at the house of Annas, | |
| 782 during the night, and at that time Christ could be examined by him. | |
| 783 | |
| 784 <p>But there still remains the | |
| 785 difficulty that they say that Christ was struck at the residence of Caiaphas. | |
| 786 This is solved by the Greek text which says that "they led Jesus from Caiaphas | |
| 787 to the praetorium," because then during the night he was led from the residence | |
| 788 of Annas to the residence of Caiaphas, where he was struck and examined by him, | |
| 789 and in the morning he was led from Caiaphas to the praetorium. | |
| 790 | |
| 791 <p>2331 <b>They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so | |
| 792 that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover. </b>Here we see, | |
| 793 first, their useless superstition, because they would not go into the praetorium. | |
| 794 Secondly, we see the deference Pilate paid them, since he went out to meet | |
| 795 them. A problem arises about the first point: that they would not enter the | |
| 796 praetorium so as not to be defiled. The other Evangelists say that Christ was | |
| 797 seized in the evening, on the day of the supper; and this would be the passover | |
| 798 meal: "I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you" (Lk 22:15). And | |
| 799 then in the morning of the next day he was brought to the praetorium. Why then | |
| 800 do we read <b>so that they might eat the passover</b>,<b> </b>since it was the | |
| 801 day after the passover? Some of the modem Greeks say that we are now on the | |
| 802 fourteenth lunar day of the month, and that Christ was crucified on the day the | |
| 803 Jews celebrated the passover, but that Christ anticipated the passover by one | |
| 804 day, since he knew he would be killed on the day of the Jewish passover. Thus, | |
| 805 he celebrated the passover on the thirteenth lunar day, in the evening. And | |
| 806 since the law commanded that the Jews should not have leavened bread from the | |
| 807 fourteenth day of the first month to the twenty‑first day, they say that | |
| 808 Christ consecrated leavened bread. | |
| 809 | |
| 810 <p>2332 This is not acceptable for two reasons. First, the Old | |
| 811 Testament has no instance where anyone was permitted to anticipate the | |
| 812 celebration of the passover. But if one was prevented, he could postpone it to | |
| 813 the next month: "If any man of you or of your descendants is unclean ... he | |
| 814 shall still keep the passover to the Lord. In the second month on the | |
| 815 fourteenth day in the evening they shall keep it "(Num 9:10). And since Christ | |
| 816 never omitted any observance of the law, it is not true to say that he | |
| 817 anticipated the passover. Secondly, Mark (14:12) states explicitly that Christ | |
| 818 came on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the passover | |
| 819 lamb; and Matthew says that "on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples | |
| 820 came to Jesus saying, 'Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the | |
| 821 passover?'" (Mt 26:17). So, we should not say that Christ anticipated the | |
| 822 passover. | |
| 823 | |
| 824 <p>2333 Accordingly, Chrysostom explains this another way.<a | |
| 825 href="#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15">[15]</a> | |
| 826 He said that Christ fulfilled the law in all matters and did observe the | |
| 827 passover on the proper day, that is, the fourteenth day, in the evening. But | |
| 828 the Jews were so intent on killing Christ that they did not observe it on the | |
| 829 proper day, but on the day following, the fifteenth. Thus the sense is: <b>so | |
| 830 that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover </b>which they had | |
| 831 neglected the day before. | |
| 832 | |
| 833 <p>This is not acceptable either, for | |
| 834 in Numbers (9:10) it is said that if anyone is prevented from eating the | |
| 835 passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, he is to eat it, not on the | |
| 836 following day, but on the fourteenth day of the second month. | |
| 837 | |
| 838 <p>2334 Therefore we should say with Jerome, Augustine and | |
| 839 other Latin Fathers, that the fourteenth day is the beginning of the feast; but | |
| 840 the passover refers not just to that evening, but to the entire time of the | |
| 841 seven days during which they ate unleavened bread, which was to be eaten by | |
| 842 those who were clean.<a href="#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16">[16]</a> | |
| 843 And because the Jews would have contracted uncleanness by entering the | |
| 844 residence of a foreign judge, they did not enter so that <b>they might not be | |
| 845 defiled, but might eat the passover, </b>that is, the unleavened bread. | |
| 846 | |
| 847 <p>See their wicked blindness, for | |
| 848 they feared becoming defiled from a gentile man, but did not fear to shed the | |
| 849 blood of a God and a man, "Those who laid you waste go forth from you" (Is | |
| 850 49:17). | |
| 851 | |
| 852 <p>2335 Now we see the deference Pilate showed them when he | |
| 853 says, <b>So Pilate went out to them, </b>to take Christ, whom they were | |
| 854 offering, and said, <b>What accusation do you bring against this man? </b>In | |
| 855 this examination of Christ, we see first, how Christ is examined before his | |
| 856 accusers by Pilate; secondly, how Christ is examined by Pilate in private (v | |
| 857 33). Concerning the first he does two things: first, we have Pilate's | |
| 858 questioning; secondly, his generous concession to the Jews, <b>Take him | |
| 859 yourselves</b>. | |
| 860 | |
| 861 <p>2336 Concerning the first, we have the examination by | |
| 862 Pilate, and then the malicious reply of the Jews. When Pilate saw Jesus bound | |
| 863 and brought by so may seeking his condemnation, he said, <b>What accusation do | |
| 864 you bring against this man? </b>Their reply was, <b>If this man were not an | |
| 865 evildoer, we would not have handed him over. </b>They are saying here: We have | |
| 866 already examined and condemned him, and are now handing him over to you to be | |
| 867 punished. They were regarding their own judgment as sufficient for Pilate. Yet | |
| 868 they were not speaking truly when they said he was an evildoer, for "He went | |
| 869 about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil" (Acts 10:38). | |
| 870 They were acting like the Psalm says, "They requite me evil for good" (Ps | |
| 871 35:12). | |
| 872 | |
| 873 <p>2337 Luke is different, for he says that the Jews accused | |
| 874 Christ of many crimes: "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, | |
| 875 from Galilee even to this place" (Lk 23:5). I reply that, as Augustine says, | |
| 876 the Jews said many things to Pilate at that time, and it could be that they | |
| 877 first said what John reports, and then said what Luke tells us.<a href="#_ftn17" | |
| 878 name="_ftnref17">[17]</a> | |
| 879 | |
| 880 <p>2338 The Evangelist now mentions Pilate's generous | |
| 881 concession (v 31): first, we see this concession; secondly, the Jews refuse it; | |
| 882 and thirdly, we see the reason for their refusal (v 32). | |
| 883 | |
| 884 <p>2339 Pilate said, <b>Take him yourselves, </b>intending to | |
| 885 do them a favor. Festus did the same to Paul: "But Festus, wishing to do the | |
| 886 Jews a favor, said to Paul, 'Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem, and there be | |
| 887 tried on these charges before me?'" (Acts 25:9). Or, this could be said as a | |
| 888 taunting remark: for they had already examined and condemned Christ, and Pilate | |
| 889 wanted those who had condemned Christ as an evildoer to pass the sentence, | |
| 890 because "It was not the custom of the Romans to give up any one before the | |
| 891 accused met the accusers face to face, and had opportunity to make his defense | |
| 892 concerning the charge laid against him" (Acts 25:16). So the meaning is then: | |
| 893 You want my judgment, but <b>Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law</b>,<b> | |
| 894 </b>for I will never be that kind of a judge. | |
| 895 | |
| 896 <p>2340 The refusal of the Jews is mentioned when he says, <b>The | |
| 897 Jews said to him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. </b>This | |
| 898 seems not to agree with Exodus [22:18]: "You will not permit a sorcerer to | |
| 899 live." And they regarded Jesus as a sorcerer. | |
| 900 | |
| 901 <p>According to Augustine the meaning | |
| 902 is, <b>It is not lawful for us to put any man to death </b>on a feast day, but | |
| 903 it is lawful on other days.<a href="#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18">[18]</a> | |
| 904 Or, according to Chrysostom, the Jews had lost much of their power: for they | |
| 905 could not pass judgment on a crime against the state.<a href="#_ftn19" | |
| 906 name="_ftnref19">[19]</a> | |
| 907 But here they intended to condemn Christ especially for matters against the | |
| 908 state: "Everyone who makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar" (19:12). | |
| 909 This is why they said, <b>It is not lawful for us to put any man to death</b>,<b> | |
| 910 </b>for crimes against the state, although we can do this for some sins against | |
| 911 the law, for this kind of judgment was reserved to them. Or, it could be said | |
| 912 that some things are not lawful either because they are prohibited by divine | |
| 913 law ‑ and they were not prohibited from doing this by divine law ‑ | |
| 914 or because they are forbidden by human law ‑ and in this way it was not | |
| 915 lawful for them to put anyone to death, for such power was now in the hands of | |
| 916 the governor. | |
| 917 | |
| 918 <p>2341 There is another question: How then could they have | |
| 919 stoned Stephen (Acts 7:58)? Chrysostom answers this by saying that the Romans | |
| 920 allowed the Jews to make use of their own laws, and because the punishment of | |
| 921 stoning was part of their law, the Romans allowed them to do this.<a | |
| 922 href="#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20">[20]</a> | |
| 923 But in the law death on the cross was abhorred: "A hanged [on a tree] man is | |
| 924 accursed by God" (Deut 21:23). And so they did not use this kind of death. The | |
| 925 Jews, in their malice, were not satisfied just to stone Christ, they wanted to | |
| 926 condemn him to the most disgraceful of deaths, as we see from Wisdom (2:20). | |
| 927 Thus they now say, <b>It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, </b>meaning | |
| 928 the death on the cross. Or, one could say that Stephen was stoned during a | |
| 929 change of governors, when many laws were violated. | |
| 930 | |
| 931 <p>2342 The Evangelist gives the reason the Jews refused when | |
| 932 he says, <b>This was to fulfill the word which Jesus had spoken to show by what | |
| 933 death he was to die. </b>The words <b>this was to fulfill </b>do not indicate | |
| 934 the intention the Jews had, but the arrangement of God's providence. For Jesus | |
| 935 had said (Mt 20:19) that it was by the Gentiles that he would be crucified and | |
| 936 killed, but that he would be handed over to them by the Jews. So, in order that | |
| 937 this be accomplished, the Jews were unwilling to judge and kill him themselves. | |
| 938 | |
| 939 <BR><BR><BR> | |
| 940 <p align=center><b>LECTURE 6 | |
| 941 | |
| 942 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>33 Pilate entered the praetorium again and called Jesus, | |
| 943 and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered, "Do you say | |
| 944 this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?" 35 Pilate | |
| 945 answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you | |
| 946 over to me; what have you done?" 36 Jesus answered, "My kingship [kingdom] is | |
| 947 not of this world; if my kingship [kingdom] were of this world, my [ministers] | |
| 948 servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my | |
| 949 kingship [kingdom] is not from the world." 37 Pilate said to him, "So you are a | |
| 950 king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for | |
| 951 this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is | |
| 952 of the truth hears my voice." 38 Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" After he | |
| 953 had said this, he went out to the Jews again, and told them, "I find no crime | |
| 954 in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the | |
| 955 Passover; will you have me release for you the King of the Jews?" 40 They cried | |
| 956 out again, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber.<a | |
| 957 href="#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21">[21]</b></a></BLOCKQUOTE> | |
| 958 | |
| 959 <p>2343 Above, the Evangelist told how Pilate examined Christ | |
| 960 before those who accused him; here he describes how Pilate questioned him in | |
| 961 private. First, the Evangelist gives Pilate's question; then, the answer of | |
| 962 Jesus (v 34). In regard to the first he does two things: first, we have | |
| 963 Pilate's question; secondly, we see Christ asking the reason for the question, <b>Do | |
| 964 you say this of your own accord?</b> | |
| 965 | |
| 966 <p>2344 In regard to the first, note that Pilate, as a just | |
| 967 judge, and as one proceeding cautiously, did not immediately agree with the | |
| 968 accusation of the high priest, "You shall not follow a multitude to do evil; | |
| 969 nor shall you bear witness in a suit, turning aside after a multitude, so as to | |
| 970 pervert justice" (Ex 23:2). Rather, <b>Pilate entered the praetorium again and | |
| 971 called Jesus </b>aside, because he had serious doubts about him. So he called | |
| 972 Christ over to examine the case more closely and to allow Christ to answer in | |
| 973 more peace and away from the shouts of the Jews: "I searched out the cause of | |
| 974 him whom I did not know" (Job 29:16). | |
| 975 | |
| 976 <p>2345 Then Pilate said to him, <b>Are you the King of the | |
| 977 Jews?</b> This shows, as Luke says (Lk 23:2), that the Jews were accusing | |
| 978 Christ of this crime, although John says only that "If this man were not an | |
| 979 evildoer, we would not have handed him over" (18:30), and may other crimes were | |
| 980 laid on him. But the charge about his being a king touched the heart of Pilate | |
| 981 most, and that is why he questioned him only about this: "For out of the | |
| 982 abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Mt 12:34). | |
| 983 | |
| 984 <p>2346 Then (v 34), Jesus is seen questioning his examiner: | |
| 985 first, we have Christ's question; then Pilate's answer, <b>Am I a Jew?</b> | |
| 986 | |
| 987 <p>2347 The Evangelist says, <b>Jesus answered</b>, asking a | |
| 988 question in return, <b>Do you say this of your own accord or did others say it | |
| 989 to you about me?</b> There are two reasons why someone asks a question. | |
| 990 Sometimes it is to find out something that the questioner does not know; as | |
| 991 when a student questions his teacher. Sometimes one asks a question about | |
| 992 things he already knows in order to learn what answer will be given; as when a | |
| 993 teacher questions his student. Now our Lord knew both what he asked about, and | |
| 994 what answer would be given, and thus he was not asking out of ignorance, "All | |
| 995 are open and laid bear to the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Heb 4:13). | |
| 996 Rather, he asked so that we might know what the Jews and Gentiles thought, and | |
| 997 at the same time be taught about that kingdom. | |
| 998 | |
| 999 <p>2348 <b>Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?</b> Why did he answer | |
| 1000 this way? Because our Lord had asked him whether he said this on his own. | |
| 1001 Pilate showed by this that it was not his concern to inquire if Christ was the | |
| 1002 King of the Jews; it was rather the affair of the Jews, whose King he said he | |
| 1003 was. By giving this answer Pilate showed that it was others who had told him | |
| 1004 that Christ was the King of the Jews. Accordingly he says, <b>Your own nation | |
| 1005 and the chief priests have handed you over to me</b>, by bringing this charge | |
| 1006 against you. He says, <b>your own nation</b>, because, considering his human | |
| 1007 nature, Christ was born a Jew: "For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every | |
| 1008 side. 'Denounce him! Let us denounce him!' say all my familiar friends" (Jer | |
| 1009 20:10); "A man's enemies are the men of his own house" (Mic 7:6). And we read <b>chief | |
| 1010 priests</b>, because the greater their power the greater their crime: "And in | |
| 1011 this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost" | |
| 1012 (Ezra 9:2); "I will go to the great, and will speak to them; for they know the | |
| 1013 way of the Lord, the law of their God. But they all alike had broken the yoke, | |
| 1014 they had burst the bonds" (Jer 5:5). If they have handed you over to me, <b>What | |
| 1015 have you done?</b> It's unbelievable that they would have handed you over to me | |
| 1016 except for some serious matter. | |
| 1017 | |
| 1018 <p>2349 Now Christ's answer is given: and first, the mistaken | |
| 1019 impression about his kingdom is corrected; secondly, the truth is established | |
| 1020 (37b). As to the first he does two things: the mistaken impression is | |
| 1021 corrected; and a sign is given as proof, <b>if my kingdom were of this | |
| 1022 world....</b> | |
| 1023 | |
| 1024 <p>2350 The false idea of Christ's kingdom is rejected by his | |
| 1025 saying, <b>My kingdom is not of this world. </b>The Manicheans misunderstood | |
| 1026 this, and said that there were two gods and two kingdoms; there was a good god, | |
| 1027 who had his kingdom in a region of light, and an evil god, who had his kingdom | |
| 1028 in a region of darkness, and this darkness was this world, because all material | |
| 1029 things, they said, were darkness. The meaning would then be, <b>My kingdom is | |
| 1030 not of this world, </b>that is, God, the Father, who is good, and I, do not | |
| 1031 have our kingdom in this region of darkness. | |
| 1032 | |
| 1033 <p>But this is contrary to, "God is | |
| 1034 the king of all the earth" (Ps 47:7); and again, "Whatever the Lord pleases he | |
| 1035 does, in heaven and on earth" (Ps 134:6). Thus we should say that Christ said | |
| 1036 this for the sake of Pilate, who believed that Christ was claiming an earthly | |
| 1037 kingdom in which he would reign in the physical way that those of earth do, and | |
| 1038 so should be punished by death for trying to reign unlawfully. | |
| 1039 | |
| 1040 <p>2351 Sometimes the word <b>kingdom </b>means the people who | |
| 1041 reign, and sometimes the authority to reign. Taking the word in its first | |
| 1042 sense, Augustine says, <b>My kingdom, </b>that is, my faithful ‑ you | |
| 1043 "have made them a kingdom ... to our Lord" (Rev 5:10) ‑ <b>is not of this | |
| 1044 world.<a href="#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22"><b>[22]</b></a> | |
| 1045 </b>He does not say they are not "in the world" (17:11), but that they are <b>not | |
| 1046 of this world, </b>because of what they love and imitate, since they have been | |
| 1047 wrested from it by grace. For this is how God has delivered us from the power | |
| 1048 of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his love. | |
| 1049 | |
| 1050 <p>Chrysostom explains this sentence | |
| 1051 by taking <b>kingdom</b> in the second sense, and says, <b>My kingdom</b>, that | |
| 1052 is, the power and authority which makes me a king, <b>is not of this world</b>, | |
| 1053 that is, does not have its origin in earthly causes and human choice, but from | |
| 1054 another source, from the Father: "His dominion is an everlasting dominion, | |
| 1055 which shall not pass away" (Dan 7:14).<a href="#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" | |
| 1056 title="">[23]</a> | |
| 1057 | |
| 1058 <p>2352 Here he shows by clear signs that his kingdom is not of | |
| 1059 this world: first, a sign is given; secondly, the conclusion is drawn (v 36). | |
| 1060 | |
| 1061 <p>2353 In regard to the first, note that one who has an | |
| 1062 earthly kingdom, whether by right or by force, needs associates and ministers | |
| 1063 to keep him in power: the reason being that he is powerful through his | |
| 1064 ministers, not all by himself: "There was a long war between the house of Saul | |
| 1065 and the house of David; and David grew stronger and stronger, while the house | |
| 1066 of Saul became weaker and weaker" (2 Sam 3:1). But the heavenly king, because | |
| 1067 he is powerful by himself, gives power to his servants; and consequently he | |
| 1068 does not need ministers for his kingdom. And thus Christ says that his kingdom | |
| 1069 is not of this world, because <b>if my kingdom were of this world, my ministers | |
| 1070 would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews. </b>When Peter | |
| 1071 started to fight for Christ (18:10), he forgot that he was not of this world. | |
| 1072 Still, our Lord did have some ministers, the angels, who could have rescued him | |
| 1073 from the hands of the Jews, but he chose not to be rescued: "Do you think that | |
| 1074 I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve | |
| 1075 legions of angels?" (Mt 26:53). | |
| 1076 | |
| 1077 <p>2354 <b>But my kingdom is not from the world</b>, that is, | |
| 1078 because Christ does not need such ministers, he concludes that his <b>kingdom | |
| 1079 is not from the world, </b>that is, does not have its source from this world. | |
| 1080 And yet it is here, because it is everywhere: "She [Wisdom] reaches mightily from | |
| 1081 one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well" (Wis 8:1); | |
| 1082 "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the | |
| 1083 earth your possession" (Ps 2:8); "And to him was given dominion and glory and | |
| 1084 kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him" (Dan 7:14). | |
| 1085 | |
| 1086 <p>2355 Now our Lord reveals the truth about his kingdom: | |
| 1087 first, we see the circumstances for this; secondly, the revelation itself; and | |
| 1088 thirdly, the effect this revelation had, <b>What is truth?</b> | |
| 1089 | |
| 1090 <p>2356 In respect to the first, note that Pilate understood | |
| 1091 our Lord's statements to mean that he did have a physical kingdom, but far | |
| 1092 away: "The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God ... | |
| 1093 and he is not able to understand them" (1 Cor 2:14). Accordingly he was in a | |
| 1094 hurry to know the truth, and so said, <b>So you are a king?</b>, you also? | |
| 1095 | |
| 1096 <p>2357 When he answers, <b>You say that I am a king</b>, | |
| 1097 Christ first says that he is a king; secondly, he shows the nature of his | |
| 1098 kingdom (v 37); thirdly, he mentions those over whom he reigns, <b>Every one | |
| 1099 who is of the truth</b>. | |
| 1100 | |
| 1101 <p>2358 With regard to the first, note that our Lord's answer | |
| 1102 about his kingship was so worded that he neither seemed to be clearly asserting | |
| 1103 that he was a king ‑ since he was not a king in the sense in which Pilate | |
| 1104 understood it ‑ nor denying it ‑ since spiritually he was the King | |
| 1105 of Kings. | |
| 1106 | |
| 1107 <p>He says, <b>You say that I am a | |
| 1108 king</b>, in the physical sense in which I am not a king; but in another way I | |
| 1109 am a king, "Behold a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in | |
| 1110 justice" (Is 32:1). | |
| 1111 | |
| 1112 <p>2359 He shows the character and nature of his kingdom when | |
| 1113 he says, <b>For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to | |
| 1114 bear witness to the truth. </b>This is explained in two ways. | |
| 1115 | |
| 1116 <p>In one way by Augustine, so that | |
| 1117 the kingdom of Christ is his faithful, as was said above. Thus, Christ reigns | |
| 1118 over his faithful; and he came into the world to gather his faithful to himself | |
| 1119 and establish a kingdom: "A nobleman went into a far country to receive a | |
| 1120 kingdom" [Lk 19:12]. The meaning then is this: <b>For this I was born</b>, that | |
| 1121 is, for this purpose I was born in the flesh. He explains this saying, <b>and | |
| 1122 for this I have come into the world, </b>by physical birth ‑ for this is | |
| 1123 the way he came into the world, "God sent his Son into the world" [Gal 4:4] ‑ | |
| 1124 <b>to bear witness to the truth, </b>that is, to myself, who am the truth, | |
| 1125 "Even if I do bear witness to myself, my testimony is true" (8:14). And to the | |
| 1126 extent that I manifest myself, the Truth, to that extent I establish my | |
| 1127 kingdom. For this cannot be done without manifesting the truth, which can only | |
| 1128 be done fittingly by me, who am the light: "The only Son, who is in the bosom | |
| 1129 of the Father, he has made him known" (1:18); "It was declared at first by the | |
| 1130 Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God also bore | |
| 1131 witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy | |
| 1132 Spirit" (Heb 2:3). | |
| 1133 | |
| 1134 <p>2360 Chrysostom explains it differently, this way.<a | |
| 1135 href="#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24">[24]</a> | |
| 1136 You ask if I am a king, and I say that I am: but I am a king by divine power, | |
| 1137 because <b>for this I was born</b>, that is, born from the Father, by an | |
| 1138 eternal birth; just as I am God from God, so I am king from king: "I was | |
| 1139 appointed king" [Ps 2:6], and then follows, "Today I have begotten you" [v 7]. | |
| 1140 Then when he adds <b>and for this I have come into the world, </b>it is not to | |
| 1141 explain the previous words, but to refer to his birth in time. It is like | |
| 1142 saying: Although I am an eternal king, yet I have come into the world for this, | |
| 1143 <b>to bear witness to the truth, </b>that is, to myself, that I am a king from | |
| 1144 God the Father. | |
| 1145 | |
| 1146 <p>2361 Now he shows over whom he reigns. Before (10:11), he | |
| 1147 said that he was a shepherd and those under him were sheep; that is the same as | |
| 1148 what he is saying here, that he is a king and his subjects are the kingdom. | |
| 1149 This is so because a king is to his subjects as a shepherd to his sheep; and | |
| 1150 just as a shepherd feeds his sheep ‑ "Should not shepherds feed the | |
| 1151 sheep?" (Ez 34:2) ‑ so a king supports his subjects. He said in | |
| 1152 particular, "My sheep hear my voice" (10:27); accordingly, he also says here, <b>every | |
| 1153 one who is of the truth hears my voice, </b>not just outwardly, but with an | |
| 1154 interior belief and love, and carrying this out in action: "Every one who has | |
| 1155 heard and learned from the Father comes to me" (6:45). But why does a person | |
| 1156 hear my voice? Because such a one is <b>of the truth, </b>which is God. | |
| 1157 | |
| 1158 <p>2362 But since all of us are from God, all are of the truth | |
| 1159 and hear his voice. We can answer this by saying that all are from God by | |
| 1160 creation, and this is one way we are of God. But besides this, some are said to | |
| 1161 be of God because they love and imitate him. We read before, "You are not of | |
| 1162 God" (8:47), that is, considering your affections, but you are of God by | |
| 1163 creation. <b>Every one hears my voice</b>, with belief and love, <b>who is of | |
| 1164 the truth, </b>that is, who has accepted the duty of loving the truth. | |
| 1165 | |
| 1166 <p>2363 He does not say, "Every one who hears my voice is of | |
| 1167 the truth," because it would follow that we are of the truth because we | |
| 1168 believed. But actually, we believe because we are of the truth, that is, | |
| 1169 because we have received the gift of God which enables us to believe and love | |
| 1170 the truth: "By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your | |
| 1171 own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8); "For it has been granted to you | |
| 1172 that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer | |
| 1173 for his sake" (Phil 1:29). | |
| 1174 | |
| 1175 <p>2364 Now the Evangelist tells us the effect of Christ's | |
| 1176 answer. We can see from this that Pilate abandoned his idea that Christ had an | |
| 1177 earthly kingdom, and now thought of Christ as a king in the sense of one who | |
| 1178 teaches the truth. He desired to learn this truth and to become a member of | |
| 1179 this kingdom and so he said, <b>What is truth? </b>He was not asking for a | |
| 1180 definition of truth, but wanted to know that truth by whose power he could | |
| 1181 become a member of this kingdom. This indicates that truth was not known by the | |
| 1182 world and had vanished from almost everyone, as long as they remained | |
| 1183 unbelievers: "Truth has fallen in the public squares, and uprightness cannot | |
| 1184 enter" (Is 59:14); "Truth has decayed in the children of men" [Ps 12:1]. But | |
| 1185 Pilate did not wait for Christ's answer. | |
| 1186 | |
| 1187 <p>2365 Apropos of this question, note that we find two kinds | |
| 1188 of truth in the gospel. One is uncreated and making: this is Christ: "I am the | |
| 1189 way, and the truth, and the life" (14:6); the other truth is made, "Grace and | |
| 1190 truth came [were made] through Jesus Christ" (1:17). | |
| 1191 | |
| 1192 <p>By its nature truth implies a | |
| 1193 conformity between a reality and the intellect. The intellect is related in two | |
| 1194 ways to reality. An intellect can be related to things as a measure of these | |
| 1195 things; that would be the intellect which is the cause of these things. Another | |
| 1196 intellect is measured by things, this would be an intellect whose knowledge is | |
| 1197 caused by these things. Now truth is not in the divine intellect because the | |
| 1198 intellect is conformed to things, but because things are conformed to the | |
| 1199 divine intellect. While truth is in our intellect because it understands | |
| 1200 things, conforms to them, as they are. And so uncreated truth and the divine | |
| 1201 intellect is a truth which is not measured or made, but a truth which measures | |
| 1202 and makes two kinds of truth: one is in the things themselves, insofar as it | |
| 1203 makes them so they are in conformity with what they are in the divine | |
| 1204 intellect; and it makes the other truth in our souls, and this is a measured | |
| 1205 truth, not a measuring truth. Therefore, the uncreated truth of the divine | |
| 1206 intellect is appropriated, especially referred, to the Son, who is the very | |
| 1207 concept of the divine intellect and the Word of God. For truth is a consequence | |
| 1208 of the intellect's concept.<a href="#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25">[25]</a> | |
| 1209 | |
| 1210 <p>2366 Now, (v 38) we see Pilate's finding in regard to | |
| 1211 Christ: first, Pilate states his innocence; secondly, we see his intention to | |
| 1212 show mercy (v 39). | |
| 1213 | |
| 1214 <p>2367 Concerning the first, note that Pilate, as Augustine | |
| 1215 says, was eager to free Christ.<a href="#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26">[26]</a> | |
| 1216 When he had asked Christ, <b>What is truth? </b>he suddenly realized how he | |
| 1217 could free Christ by means of a custom which allowed him to release a prisoner | |
| 1218 at the time of the passover. And so, not waiting for an answer to his question, | |
| 1219 he decided to make use of this custom to do this. This is why the Evangelist | |
| 1220 says about Pilate, <b>After he had said this.</b> | |
| 1221 | |
| 1222 <p>Pilate heard the cries of the Jews, | |
| 1223 and thinking that he could calm them and then listen to Christ's answer to this | |
| 1224 difficult question under more tranquil conditions, <b>went out to the Jews | |
| 1225 again, </b>and declared Christ's innocence, <b>I find no crime in him</b>, that | |
| 1226 is, nothing deserving death: "He committed no sin" (1 Pet 2:22). But even if he | |
| 1227 did commit a crime, I, who have authority in these matters, and especially the | |
| 1228 authority to judge of matters against the state, I wish to free and release | |
| 1229 him. | |
| 1230 | |
| 1231 <p>2368 Accordingly he says, <b>But you have a custom that I | |
| 1232 should release one man for you at the Passover. </b>First, he offers to release | |
| 1233 Christ; secondly, the Evangelist gives the reply of the Jews. | |
| 1234 | |
| 1235 <p>2369 This practice was started by Pilate or some other Roman | |
| 1236 governor as a favor to the people. Wishing to free Christ using this custom | |
| 1237 Pilate said, <b>Will you have me release for you the King of the Jews? </b>He | |
| 1238 did not call him this as if this were a crime, but to heighten their malice. It | |
| 1239 was like saying: Even if he is the king of the Jews, which is not your role to | |
| 1240 judge, but mine, still, if you want me to, I will release him for you. | |
| 1241 | |
| 1242 <p>2370 The Jews <b>cried out again, Not this man, but | |
| 1243 Barabbas! </b>Then to indicate the malice of the Jews, the Evangelist mentions | |
| 1244 the crime committed by the one they wanted released, saying, <b>Now Barabbas | |
| 1245 was a robber</b>:<b> </b>"Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves" | |
| 1246 (Is 1:23). This fulfills the words of Jeremiah (12:8): "My heritage has become | |
| 1247 to me like a lion in the forest." "But you denied the Holy and Righteous One | |
| 1248 and asked for a murderer to be granted to you" (Acts 3:14). | |
| 1249 | |
| 1250 </div> | |
| 1251 | |
| 1252 <div><br clear=all> | |
| 1253 | |
| 1254 <hr align=left size=1 width="33%"> | |
| 1255 | |
| 1256 <div id=ftn1> | |
| 1257 | |
| 1258 <p><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> | |
| 1259 St. Thomas refers to Jn 18:6 in the <i>Summa | |
| 1260 Theologiae:</i> III, q. 44, a. 3, ad 1. | |
| 1261 | |
| 1262 </div> | |
| 1263 | |
| 1264 <div id=ftn2> | |
| 1265 | |
| 1266 <p><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2">[2]</a> <i>Tract. | |
| 1267 in Io</i>., 112, ch., 1, col 1930; cf. <i>Catena | |
| 1268 Aurea</i>,<i> </i>18:1-2. | |
| 1269 | |
| 1270 </div> | |
| 1271 | |
| 1272 <div id=ftn3> | |
| 1273 | |
| 1274 <p><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3">[3]</a> <i>In Ioannem hom</i>., 82, ch. | |
| 1275 1; PG 59, col. 447; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:1-2. | |
| 1276 | |
| 1277 </div> | |
| 1278 | |
| 1279 <div id=ftn4> | |
| 1280 | |
| 1281 <p><a href="#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4">[4]</a> <i>Commentarium in Esaiam</i><i>, 9</i>; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:3-9. | |
| 1282 | |
| 1283 </div> | |
| 1284 | |
| 1285 <div id=ftn5> | |
| 1286 | |
| 1287 <p><a href="#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5">[5]</a> <i>In Ioannem hom</i>., 83, ch. 1; PG 59, col. 448; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, | |
| 1288 18:3-9. | |
| 1289 | |
| 1290 </div> | |
| 1291 | |
| 1292 <div id=ftn6> | |
| 1293 | |
| 1294 <p><a href="#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6">[6]</a> <i>In Ioannem hom</i>., 83, ch. | |
| 1295 1; PG 59, col. 448; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:3-9. | |
| 1296 | |
| 1297 </div> | |
| 1298 | |
| 1299 <div id=ftn7> | |
| 1300 | |
| 1301 <p><a href="#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7">[7]</a> <i>Tract. | |
| 1302 in Io</i>., 112, ch. 4, col 1931; cf. <i>Catena | |
| 1303 Aurea</i>,<i> </i>18:3-9. | |
| 1304 | |
| 1305 </div> | |
| 1306 | |
| 1307 <div id=ftn8> | |
| 1308 | |
| 1309 <p><a href="#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8">[8]</a> <i>In Ioannem hom</i>., 83, ch. 2; PG 59, col. 449; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:10-11. | |
| 1310 | |
| 1311 </div> | |
| 1312 | |
| 1313 <div id=ftn9> | |
| 1314 | |
| 1315 <p><a href="#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9">[9]</a> Interlinear (Theophyl); cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:10-11. | |
| 1316 | |
| 1317 </div> | |
| 1318 | |
| 1319 <div id=ftn10> | |
| 1320 | |
| 1321 <p><a href="#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10">[10]</a> | |
| 1322 St. Thomas refers to Jn 18:20 in the <i>Summa | |
| 1323 Theologiae:</i> III, q. 42, a. 3, s. c. | |
| 1324 | |
| 1325 </div> | |
| 1326 | |
| 1327 <div id=ftn11> | |
| 1328 | |
| 1329 <p><a href="#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11">[11]</a> | |
| 1330 <i>Tract. in Io</i>., | |
| 1331 113, ch. 2, col. 1933; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>,<i> | |
| 1332 </i>18:-17. | |
| 1333 | |
| 1334 </div> | |
| 1335 | |
| 1336 <div id=ftn12> | |
| 1337 | |
| 1338 <p><a href="#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12">[12]</a> | |
| 1339 St. Thomas refers to Jn 18:23 in the <i>Summa | |
| 1340 Theologiae</i>: II-II, q. 72, a. 3. | |
| 1341 | |
| 1342 </div> | |
| 1343 | |
| 1344 <div id=ftn13> | |
| 1345 | |
| 1346 <p><a href="#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13">[13]</a> <i>Tract. | |
| 1347 in Io</i>., 113, ch. 4, col. 1934-5; cf. <i>Catena | |
| 1348 Aurea</i>,<i> </i>18:22-24. | |
| 1349 | |
| 1350 </div> | |
| 1351 | |
| 1352 <div id=ftn14> | |
| 1353 | |
| 1354 <p><a href="#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14">[14]</a> <i>In Ioannem hom</i>., 83, ch. 3; PG 59, col. 451; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:25-27. | |
| 1355 | |
| 1356 </div> | |
| 1357 | |
| 1358 <div id=ftn15> | |
| 1359 | |
| 1360 <p><a href="#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15">[15]</a> | |
| 1361 Chrysostom-(This is NOT what Chrysostom says in In Ioannem hom, 83.3.452) | |
| 1362 Chrysostom says that the whole feast was called the Passover and that Christ | |
| 1363 died on the high day of the Feast, on which day the Passover was | |
| 1364 customarily/formerly celebrated.) This should probably be looked at by a better | |
| 1365 Latinist. | |
| 1366 | |
| 1367 </div> | |
| 1368 | |
| 1369 <div id=ftn16> | |
| 1370 | |
| 1371 <p><a href="#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16">[16]</a> | |
| 1372 Augustine, <i>Tract. in Io</i>., 114, ch. 1, col. 1936; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>,<i> </i>18:28-32. | |
| 1373 | |
| 1374 </div> | |
| 1375 | |
| 1376 <div id=ftn17> | |
| 1377 | |
| 1378 <p><a href="#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17">[17]</a> <i>De consensus evangelistarum</i>, 3, ch. 8; PL 34; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:28-32. | |
| 1379 | |
| 1380 </div> | |
| 1381 | |
| 1382 <div id=ftn18> | |
| 1383 | |
| 1384 <p><a href="#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18">[18]</a> <i>Tract. | |
| 1385 in Io</i>., 114, ch. 4, col. 1937; cf. <i>Catena | |
| 1386 Aurea</i>,<i> </i>18:28-32. | |
| 1387 | |
| 1388 </div> | |
| 1389 | |
| 1390 <div id=ftn19> | |
| 1391 | |
| 1392 <p><a href="#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19">[19]</a> <i>In Ioannem hom</i>., 83, ch. | |
| 1393 4; PG 59, col. 452; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:28-32. | |
| 1394 | |
| 1395 </div> | |
| 1396 | |
| 1397 <div id=ftn20> | |
| 1398 | |
| 1399 <p><a href="#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20">[20]</a> Ibid.; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>,<i> </i>18:28-32. | |
| 1400 | |
| 1401 </div> | |
| 1402 | |
| 1403 <div id=ftn21> | |
| 1404 | |
| 1405 <p><a href="#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21">[21]</a> | |
| 1406 St. Thomas refers to Jn 18:35 in the <i>Summa | |
| 1407 Theologiae</i>: III, q. 47, a. 3, obj. 3; q. 47, a. 6, ad 2; Jn 18:37: <i>ST </i>III, | |
| 1408 q. 3, a. 8, obj. 1; q. 12, a. 3; q. 35, a. 7, obj. 3; q. 40, a. 1. | |
| 1409 | |
| 1410 </div> | |
| 1411 | |
| 1412 <div id=ftn22> | |
| 1413 | |
| 1414 <p><a href="#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22">[22]</a> <i>Tract. | |
| 1415 in Io</i>., 115, ch. 1, col. 1938-9; cf. <i>Catena | |
| 1416 Aurea</i>,<i> </i>18:33-38. | |
| 1417 | |
| 1418 </div> | |
| 1419 | |
| 1420 <div id=ftn23> | |
| 1421 | |
| 1422 <p><a href="#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23">[23]</a> <i>In Ioannem hom</i>., 83, ch. 4; PG 59, col. 453; cf. <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:33-38. | |
| 1423 | |
| 1424 </div> | |
| 1425 | |
| 1426 <div id=ftn24> | |
| 1427 | |
| 1428 <p><a href="#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24">[24]</a> <i>In | |
| 1429 Ioannem hom</i>., 83, ch. 4; PG 59, col. 453; cf. | |
| 1430 <i>Catena Aurea</i>, 18:33-38. | |
| 1431 | |
| 1432 </div> | |
| 1433 | |
| 1434 <div id=ftn25> | |
| 1435 | |
| 1436 <p><a href="#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25">[25]</a> | |
| 1437 Summa-truth. | |
| 1438 | |
| 1439 </div> | |
| 1440 | |
| 1441 <div id=ftn26> | |
| 1442 | |
| 1443 <p><a href="#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26">[26]</a> <i>Tract. | |
| 1444 in Io</i>., 115, ch. 5, col. 1941; cf. <i>Catena | |
| 1445 Aurea</i>,<i> </i>18:38-40. | |
| 1446 </body></html> |