1 Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the pasch, was at hand.
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VERS. 1.-- *It drew near,* etc. *Which is called the Pasch,* etc. The Pasch is named not from the passion, but from the passing over, because on that day the destroyer passed through Egypt, or the Lord, delivering his people; by which name it was signified that the Lamb was on this day to pass out of the world to the Father. But between the Pasch and the unleavened bread this is the difference, that the Pasch is called that day alone on which the lamb was slain at evening, that is, the fourteenth moon of the first month. The days of the unleavened bread were from the fifteenth moon to the twenty-first day of the same month. But the evangelists set them down indifferently, both the day of the Unleavened Bread for the Pasch, and the Pasch for the days of the Unleavened Bread; whence Luke here: *The feast day of the Unleavened Bread, which is called the Pasch*, because the days of the Pasch also were commanded to be celebrated with unleavened loaves. And we too, as it were keeping a perpetual Pasch, are bidden always to pass out of this world: the lamb having been immolated at evening on one day, there follow the seven days of the Unleavened Bread, because Christ, having suffered once for us in the fulness of times, commanded that throughout the whole time of the world (which is run in seven days) men should live in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put Jesus to death: but they feared the people.
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VERS. 2.-- *And they sought,* etc. Matthew witnesses that these things were done two days before the Pasch, when the chief priests and scribes were gathered into the hall of Caiphas.
3 And Satan entered into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, one of the twelve.
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VERS. 3.-- *He entered.* John says that after the morsel had been given by the Lord, Satan entered into Judas. But Satan had assailed him before the morsel also; and him whom he had first entered that he might deceive him, he afterwards entered that he might more fully possess one now delivered over to him.
4 And he went and discoursed with the chief priests and the magistrates, how he might betray him to them.
5 And they were glad and covenanted to give him money.
6 And he promised. And he sought opportunity to betray him in the absence of the multitude.
7 And the day of the unleavened bread came, on which it was necessary that the pasch should be killed.
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VERS. 7.-- *And the day came.* Although he was crucified on the following day, that is, on the fifteenth moon, yet on this night on which the Lamb was immolated he both delivered to his disciples the sacraments of flesh and blood to be celebrated, and, held and bound by the Jews, hallowed the beginning of that same immolation, that is, of his passion.
8 And he sent Peter and John, saying: Go, and prepare for us the pasch, that we may eat.
9 But they said: Where wilt thou that we prepare?
10 And he said to them: Behold, as you go into the city, there shall meet you a man carrying a pitcher of water: follow him into the house where he entereth in.
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VERS. 10.-- *Behold, as you go in.* As God, foreknowing all things, he speaks with his disciples of the things that are done elsewhere. And well does a man carrying a pitcher of water meet those who are to prepare the Pasch, that it may be shown that the mystery of this Pasch is to be celebrated for the washing of the world through the water of baptism, where for the worshippers of the true Pasch the typical heat is taken away from the threshold, and the baptism of the life-giving font is consecrated for the taking away of sins. The pitcher signifies the perfect measure of the fulfilled time in which it was fitting that these things be done. *A man a pitcher.* He is designated without a name, that he who is chosen by the Lord may be reckoned poor and ignoble. Whose holiness appears in this, that in his chamber the Lord with his disciples rests, with the delight of sublime virtues. *Follow him.* The names are of set purpose passed over, both of the water-bearer and of the master of the house, that it may be signified that leave is to be given to all who wish to be steeped in the sacraments of Christ (which is to celebrate the Pasch), and who seek to receive Christ into the lodging of their own mind.
11 And you shall say to the goodman of the house: The master saith to thee: Where is the guest chamber, where I may eat the pasch with my disciples?
12 And he will shew you a large dining room, furnished. And there prepare.
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VERS. 12.-- *A large dining room.* Spiritual is the law, which, going forth out of the straits of the earth, receives the Saviour in a lofty place. He who remains in the letter keeps the Pasch in the innermost places; but he who follows the water-bearer, that is, the herald of grace, into the house of the Church, passing beyond the surface of the letter, prepares a refreshment for Christ on the throne of the mind, while he understands that all the sacraments of the Pasch, and the other decrees of the law, were written of him.
13 And they going, found as he had said to them and made ready the pasch.
14 And when the hour was come, he sat down: and the twelve apostles with him.
15 And he said to them: With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer.
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VERS. 15.-- *With desire I have desired,* etc. He desires first to eat the typical Pasch, and so to declare to the world the mysteries of his passion, that he may both stand forth as the approver of the ancient Pasch, and, showing that this had belonged to the figure of his own dispensation, the shadow should now cease at the coming of the truth. In figure of which thing the manna failed after the children of Israel had eaten of the fruits of the land, nor did they use that food any more.
16 For I say to you that from this time I will not eat it, till it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
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VERS. 16.-- *I will not eat.* I will no longer celebrate the Mosaic Pasch, until it be fulfilled, spiritually understood, in the Church, which is the kingdom of God. In this kingdom Christ eats to this day, when he exercises spiritually in his own members those things which Moses commanded the untaught people to observe carnally.
17 And having taken the chalice, he gave thanks and said: Take and divide it among you.
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VERS. 17.-- *And having taken the chalice.* This chalice belongs to the old Pasch, to which he was setting an end. Having taken which, he gives thanks, namely for this reason, because the old things had passed away and all new things were to come. *He gave thanks.* He shows what each man ought to do under the scourge of his own fault, since he himself bore with equanimity the scourges of another's.
18 For I say to you that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, till the kingdom of God come.
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VERS. 18.-- *For I say to you.* As the typical eating of the lamb, so also he denies that he will drink the typical drink of the Pasch, until, the glory of the resurrection being shown, the kingdom of God, that is, the faith of the world, shall come; that by the changing of these two sacraments he may teach that the other sacraments or commands of the law are to be transferred to a spiritual observance. Yet it can be taken simply, that from the hour of the supper until the time of the resurrection, at which he was to come in the kingdom of God, he was not to drink wine. For after the resurrection he ate and drank with his disciples.
19 And taking bread, he gave thanks and brake and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me.
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VERS. 19.-- *And having taken.* The solemnities of the old Pasch being finished, he passes over to the new, which he desires to be frequented in the Church in memory of his own redemption, that in place of the flesh and blood of the lamb he may substitute the sacrament of his own flesh and blood under the figure of bread and wine. He breaks it and reaches it out, to show that the breaking of his own body would not be without his own will. He gives thanks for the old things ended and for the new to be begun. *Bread,* etc. Because bread strengthens the body, wine produces blood.
20 In like manner, the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you.
21 But yet behold: the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.
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VERS. 21.-- *But yet,* etc. As he foretold of the passion, so he foretold also of the betrayer, that, seeing he could not lie hid, he might repent of the deed. Nor does he mark him out by name, lest, being openly corrected, he should become the more shameless. He casts the fault therefore into the number, that he who is conscious of it may do penance he foretold the penalty also, that whom shame had not convicted, the punishments denounced might restrain. *The hand of him that betrayeth me.* After the example of Judas he betrays the Son of man who presumes to violate that inviolable sacrament of the Lord's body. He sells him who, having neglected the fear and the love of him, is convicted of loving things fallen and criminal
22 And the Son of man indeed goeth, according to that which is determined: but yet, woe to that man by whom he shall be betrayed.
23 And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.
24 And there was also a strife amongst them, which of them should seem to be the greater.
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VERS. 24.-- *And there was,* etc. The cause of the strife is unknown to us, but it is not incredible, etc., *as far as* let us see what the spiritual master has commanded. Let us therefore beware exceedingly, etc., *as far as* that there be no boasting about preferment, but a contention about humility.
25 And he said to them: The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that have power over them are called beneficent.
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VERS. 25.-- *And he said to them.* The kindly master does not accuse them of the strife begun, but describes the form of humility which they should follow; as if he said: You, after the manner of worldly men, wish to arrive at the possession of the kingdom through preferment; but the summit of the virtues is reached not by power, but by humility. But it is needful that the subject show correction, and mercy a mother, and discipline a father, or lest strictness be rigid, or mercy be remiss.
26 But you not so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger: and he that is the leader, as he that serveth.
27 For which is greater, he that sitteth at table or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at table? But I am in the midst of you, as he that serveth.
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VERS. 27.-- *For which is greater,* etc. To the words of the exhortation to be fulfilled he sets forth an example from himself. Hence John writes: *If I have washed your feet, I your Lord and master,* etc. And in the word of ministering there can also be all the things which the Lord did in the flesh, not only by preaching or by bringing miracles to bear, but also by laying down the soul which he took for us, that we too may learn to lay down our lives for one another.
28 And you are they who have continued with me in my temptations:
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VERS. 28.-- *You have continued with me.* My weakness did not trouble you, but you persevered in the good you had begun. As therefore to me persevering unto death the Father gave *a name which is above every name*, so I also will lead you persevering with me to the eternal kingdom. It is to be understood that Judas had already withdrawn, and that many others had already gone back, when the words of the incomprehensible sacrament had been heard, at the time when the Lord was speaking these things.
29 And I dispose to you, as my Father hath disposed to me, a kingdom;
30 That you may eat and drink at my table, in my kingdom: and may sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
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VERS. 30.-- *And may sit upon thrones.* This is the change of the right hand of the Most High: that they who, being humble, now rejoice to minister to their fellow servants, may then, being exalted, be fed at the table of the Lord with perpetual banquets; and that they who in temptations, being unjustly judged, remain with the Lord, may there come with him as just judges over their own tempters. For by how much they are the more despised here, by so much shall they rise there to a greater height of power. *Judging the twelve.* By the twelve, not twelve persons, but the multitude of those judging is signified, on account of the two parts of the sevenfold number, by which universality is signified, that is, three and four, by which twelve is multiplied.
31 And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
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VERS. 31.-- *And the Lord said.* Lest the twelve should glory that they alone out of so many thousands were said to have continued with the Lord in temptations, he warns them that they could have been crushed by the same storm, had they not been protected by divine grace. But when Satan desires to tempt, and to shake them as one who cleanses wheat by winnowing, we are taught that no one is tempted by the devil except by God's permitting it. *Behold, Satan,* etc. Satan asks for the good that he may sift them, when he pants with the heats of malice for their affliction. For wherein, envying, he seeks their temptation, therein, entreating, he asks as it were their proving.
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.
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VERS. 32.-- *But I have prayed.* Not that thou shouldst be tempted, but that thy faith fail not, that after the fall of denial thou mayest rise again by penance to thy former state. For it is profitable for the saints to be tried by temptations also, that either it may appear, when they are tempted, how strong they were, or that, their own weakness being known through temptation, they may learn to become stronger, and so, when they have been proved, may receive the crown of life.
33 Who said to him: Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death.
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VERS. 33.-- *Who said to him,* etc. Because the Lord had said that he had prayed for Peter, Peter, conscious of his present affection and of his fervent faith, but ignorant of the fall to come, does not believe that he can fall away from him. But he who knows what is in man, lest anyone should incautiously trust in his own state, or the more incautiously distrust because of a fall, as God foretells the manner, the time and the number of his denial, and as merciful promises the help of his own defence.
34 And he said: I say to thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, till thou thrice deniest that thou knowest me. And he said to them:
35 When I sent you without purse and scrip and shoes, did you want anything?
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VERS. 35.-- *When I sent you.* He does not instruct the disciples by the same rule of living in the time of persecution as in the time of peace. For when the disciples were sent to preach, he commanded that they should take nothing on the way, ordaining namely that he who *announces the Gospel should live by the Gospel.* But when the moment of death was at hand, and that whole nation was persecuting both the shepherd and the flock together, he decrees a rule suited to the time, permitting the necessaries of living, until, the madness of the persecutors being lulled, the time of evangelizing should return.
36 But they said: Nothing. Then said he unto them: But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a scrip: and he that hath not, let him sell his coat and buy a sword.
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VERS. 36.-- *But now,* etc. In this an example is given to us also, that sometimes, when a cause presses, we may without fault leave off certain things from the strictness of our purpose. For example: if we journey through inhospitable regions, it is lawful to carry more for provision than we should have at home. *And he that hath not.* He bids them either to take the sword they have, or, not having it, to buy it; that readers may know that the power of resisting was not wanting to the disciples, but that rather the love of suffering was in the master; where, even if there were no other cause for drawing the sword, this one can suffice, that, the servant's ear having been cut off, it should be healed by the Lord's touch. In which we are warned that we, being struck, should not maintain anger, but rising again should take up faith.
37 For I say to you that this that is written must yet be fulfilled in me. And with the wicked was he reckoned. For the things concerning me have an end.
38 But they said: Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said to them: It is enough.
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VERS. 38.-- *Behold two swords.* Two swords are brought forth, one of the New, the other of the Old Testament, wherewith we are fortified against the snares of the devil. And it is said: *It is enough.* Two swords suffice for a testimony that the Saviour suffered willingly. The one, which should teach both that boldness to contend for the Lord was in the apostles, and that, the ear having been torn off by the stroke of the sword, mercy and the power of healing were in the Lord even when he was about to die. The other, which, being by no means drawn from the scabbard, should show that they were not permitted to do all that they could for his defence.
39 And going out, he went, according to his custom, to the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him.
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VERS. 39.-- *And going out.* The Lord, about to be betrayed by a disciple, goes to the accustomed place, where he could easily be found, lest he should be thought to have feared death. And well does he lead out to the Mount of Olives the disciples steeped in the mysteries of his blood and of his body, that he might mark out all who are baptized in his death as to be confirmed by the highest charism of the Holy Spirit.
40 And when he was come to the place, he said to them: Pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
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VERS. 40.-- *Pray.* It is impossible for a man not to be tempted; nor does he say, that you be not tempted, but, *lest you enter into temptation. Pray,* that is, that temptation may not overcome you and hold you within its nets.
41 And he was withdrawn away from them a stone's cast. And kneeling down, he prayed.
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VERS. 41.-- *And he himself,* etc. The precept of praying having been given to the apostles, he himself also was drawn away from them. He alone prays for all who alone was about to suffer for all, intimating that his prayer stands as far from ours as his passion also does. *A stone's cast,* etc. In this he mystically intimates that they should direct the stone unto the selfsame point, that is, that they should carry as far as him the intention of the law, which had been written on stone: for as far as him can that stone reach, since *the end of the law is Christ to everyone that believeth unto justice*.
42 Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done.
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VERS. 42.-- *He prayed, saying.* He prays not so much from fear of suffering as from mercy toward the former people, that he might not drink from that people the cup proffered him. Whence he says also pointedly: *This one,* that is, the cup of the people of the Jews, who have no excuse of ignorance in the matter of my death, since I am daily announced to them in the law and the prophets. If therefore it can come to pass that the multitude of the Gentiles believe without the destruction of the Jews, I refuse the passion. But if they must be blinded that others may see, not my will but thine be done. *Father, if thou wilt,* etc. For me he grieved, when for himself he had nothing to grieve over. For he took upon him my sadness that he might lavish upon me his own gladness. Confidently therefore do I name sadness, I who preach the cross. *Nevertheless,* etc. As the Lord drew near to the passion, he took upon himself the voice and the fear of the weak, that he might draw them off: and again through obedience he showed the fortitude of the mind, so that when what we do not wish to be done presses upon us, we may so ask through weakness that it be not done, that yet through fortitude we may be ready to fulfil the Creator's will rather than our own.
43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer.
44 And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.
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VERS. 44.-- *And his sweat became.* With death drawing near he expressed in himself the struggle of our mind, we who deservedly suffer a certain force unto terror, when after a little while we are about to find what may last for ever. *Of blood running down to the ground.* By the earth watered with blood it is declared that he was already obtaining the effect of his prayer: namely, that he might cleanse by his own blood the faith of the disciples, which earthly frailty was still convicting; and that whatever of scandal that faith had endured from his death, all this he might himself blot out by dying; and moreover might raise up to life the whole world, dead in its sins.
45 And when he rose up from prayer and was come to the disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow.
46 And he said to them: Why sleep you? Arise: pray: lest you enter into temptation.
47 As he was yet speaking, behold a multitude; and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus, for to kiss him.
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VERS. 47.-- *That he might kiss him.* The Lord receives the kiss, not that he may teach us to dissemble, but that he might not seem to shun even the betrayer, and might the more affect the betrayer, to whom he would not deny the offices of love. Whence it is said: *With them that hated peace I was peaceable*.
48 And Jesus said to him: Judas, dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?
49 And they that were about him, seeing what would follow, said to him: Lord, shall we strike with the sword?
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VERS. 49.-- *Lord, shall we strike with the sword.* The order is this: when they had asked, saying, *Lord, shall we strike with the sword,* then he answered: *Suffer ye thus far.* That is, let not what is to come move you. They are to be permitted to go forward thus far, that they may seize me and the things written of me be fulfilled. But between the delays of the words of those asking and of him answering, Peter, stirred by a greater eagerness of defence, struck on the Lord's behalf. But things which could be done at the same time could not be said at the same time. It is not therefore said, Suffer ye thus far, as though the deed of Peter had pleased the Lord, since in Matthew he is read to have said: *Put back thy sword into its place,* which it appears Jesus said after the deed.
50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
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VERS. 50.-- *The servant,* etc. Mystically: the servant is the people of the Jews, made over, namely unduly, to their princes, who in the Lord's passion lost the right ear, that is, spiritual understanding. Content with the left, that is, with the cheapness of the letter, Peter not taking it away, but the divine judgment disclosing that it had been taken away. Which ear is restored, by the Lord's mercy, in those who chose rather to believe.
51 But Jesus answering, said: Suffer ye thus far. And when he had touched his ear, he healed him.
52 And Jesus said to the chief priests and magistrates of the temple and the ancients, that were come unto him: Are ye come out, as it were against a thief, with swords and clubs?
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VERS. 52.-- *They were come to him,* etc. According to the other evangelists the chief priests and the magistrates had not come to Jesus, but had waited in the hall of Caiphas. But because these men so dealt with the Lord's slaying that they might seem as it were guiltless, since he was betrayed by a disciple, seized by a tribune and by the crowds, condemned by the governor, crucified by the Romans, and Barabbas even chosen by the peoples, the evangelist, wishing them above all to be the guilty, by whose counsel all these things were being carried on, says that they came to seize the Saviour, they who came by the power of their own commanding. *As to a robber,* etc. It is foolish to seek with swords and clubs one who of his own accord offers himself to their hands, and to hunt out by a betrayer, as one lurking by night and shunning your eyes, him who daily teaches in the temple. But for this reason do you gather against me in the darkness, because your power, with which you are armed against the light, is in darkness.
53 When I was daily with you in the temple, you did not stretch forth your hands against me: but this is your hour and the power of darkness.
54 And apprehending him, they led him to the high priest's house. But Peter followed afar off.
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VERS. 54.-- *Of the high priest.* Of Caiphas, who had bought for himself the pontificate of a single year at a price from the Roman prince: yet first to Annas, as John says. *He followed afar off.* Deservedly afar off, he who close at hand was about to deny. It signifies that the Church would imitate Christ's passion far differently, because the Church suffers for herself, Christ for the Church.
55 And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were sitting about it, Peter was in the midst of them.
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VERS. 55.-- *A fire in the midst.* The fire of cupidity, kindled at the prompting of the malignant spirit, was arming in the hall of Caiphas the tongues of the faithless to deny and to blaspheme God. For what the malignant synod was carrying on within, in the house of the high priest, this the fire kindled outside amid the colds of the night was typically showing. Peter, numbed for the hour by this cold, desired as it were to be warmed by the coals of the servants, because he sought the solace of temporal advantage in the fellowship of the faithless. But this faithlessness he left when the Lord looked upon him; and after the resurrection, at the catch of fishes, when he had seen the coals laid and the fish laid upon them, he set his heart aflame with the coals of love.
56 Whom when a certain servant maid had seen sitting at the light and had earnestly beheld him, she said: This man also was with him.
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VERS. 56.-- *A certain maidservant.* Why does a maidservant betray him first, when men could better have recognized him? Unless that this sex might be shown to have sinned in the Lord's slaying, being about to redeem through the passion. And therefore a woman first received the mystery of the resurrection, and keeps the commands, that she might do away the old error of the transgression.
57 But he denied him, saying: Woman, I know him not.
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VERS. 57.-- *But he denied him.* Not on the mountain, not in the temple, not in his own house does Peter deny, but in the praetorium of the Jews, in the house of the high priest, where there is no truth, where Christ is taken and bound. What else than that he should err, whom the doorkeeper of the Jews let in? Eve ill led Adam in; a woman ill brought Peter in.
58 And after a little while, another seeing him, said: Thou also art one of them. But Peter said: O man, I am not.
59 And after the space, as it were of one hour, another certain man affirmed, saying: Of a truth, this man was also with him: for he is also a Galilean.
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VERS. 59, 60.-- *Man, I know not what thou sayest.* Not only does he deny Christ who says that he is not the Christ, but also he who, though he be one, denies that he is a Christian; and so is fulfilled what the Lord says: *Thou shalt deny me. He is Galliaeus.* Men of Jerusalem and Galileans are alike Hebrews and of one tongue, but each several province has its own properties, and cannot change the homeborn sound of its speech. *And immediately.* After the third denial the cock's crow follows. The sacraments of things are designated by the state of the times. At midnight he denies, at the cock's crow he repents. After the resurrection, under the light, him whom he had thrice denied he thrice professed that he loved; because he who had erred in the darkness of forgetfulness corrected it by the remembrance of the light now hoped for, and by the presence of that same true light fully raised up whatever he had supposed.
60 And Peter said: Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, as he was yet speaking, the cock crew.
61 And the Lord turning looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, as he had said: Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny thrice.
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VERS. 61.-- *And the Lord turning.* By his look he provoked him to tears, as it were bringing back to his mind how often he had denied, and what he had foretold him; nor could he remain in darkness upon whom the light of the world looked.
62 And Peter going out, wept bitterly.
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VERS. 62.-- *And going forth without.* Shut off from the council of the impious he washes his guilt, who was permitted not within, and for this reason, to waver: that in the chief of the Church a remedy of penance might be founded, and that no one might dare to trust in his own virtue.
63 And the men that held him mocked him and struck him.
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VERS. 63.-- *They mocked him,* etc. The prophecy was fulfilled: *With a rod shall the cheek of the judge of Israel be smitten.* And likewise: *I have given my cheek to blows.* But he who was then beaten by the buffets of the Jews is now beaten by the blasphemies of false Christians. They veiled his face, not that he might not see their crimes, but that they might hide from themselves (as they once did to Moses) the grace of the knowledge of him: *For if they believed Moses, they would believe the Lord also*. This veil remains upon their hearts until this day, but from those who believe it has been taken away: when he died the veil of the temple was rent.
64 And they blindfolded him and smote his face. And they asked him saying: Prophesy: Who is it that struck thee?
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VERS. 64.-- *Prophesy.* A contumely against him who called himself a prophet. But both heretics and Jews, who until this day deny Christ, and evil Christians who exasperate him by reprobate deeds, while they suppose that their thoughts and works of darkness are not seen by him, say as it were in mockery: *Prophesy: Who is it that struck thee?*
65 And blaspheming, many other things they said against him.
66 And as soon as it was day, the ancients of the people and the chief priests and scribes came together. And they brought him into their council saying: If thou be the Christ, tell us.
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VERS. 66.-- *If thou be the Christ.* They do not desire the truth, but prepare a calumny. They understood that the Christ would be born of David a mere man. According to this, therefore, they ask, so that if he should say, I am the Christ, they might calumniate him for arrogating royal power to himself.
67 And he saith to them: If I shall tell you, you will not believe me.
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VERS. 67.-- *If I shall tell you.* He had often said that he was the Christ. He had also asked them how they said that Christ was the son of David, when David calls him Lord, that by this he might provoke them to believe him God: but they were willing neither to believe him speaking, nor to answer him asking, nor to let him go who was guiltless.
68 And if I shall also ask you, you will not answer me, nor let me go.
69 But hereafter the Son of man shall be sitting on the right hand of the power of God.
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VERS. 69.-- *And hereafter it shall be.* They who sought to calumniate the seed of David hear yet more: that through contempt he is to come to glory.
70 Then said they all: Art thou then the Son of God? Who said: You say that I am.
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VERS. 70.-- *You say.* So does he temper his answer that he both speaks the truth and gives no opening to calumny. He chose rather to prove himself Christ the Son of God than to say it, that the ground of condemning might be taken away from those who confess the very thing they lay against him.
71 And they said: What need we any further testimony? For we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth.
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VERS. 71.-- *For we ourselves have heard.* Where he said: *The Son of man shall be sitting at the right hand of the power of God.* By their own sentence do they condemn themselves who deliver to death him whom by the testimony of their mouth and of their work they acknowledge to be God.