1 And straightway in the morning, the chief priests holding a consultation with the ancients and the scribes and the whole council, binding Jesus, led him away and delivered him to Pilate.
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VERS. 1.-- *And straightway,* etc. There follows: *Binding Jesus.* It was the custom of the Jews that whomsoever they had adjudged to death they should deliver bound to the judge. And it is to be noted that they had not bound him then for the first time, but as soon as he was seized by night in the garden, as John says: And thus *they led him away to Annas first*. Here is Samson bound by Dalila. Samson is interpreted, etc., *as far as* and he opens to us who thirst the fountain of everlasting life, that is, of his own body.
2 And Pilate asked him: Art thou the king of the Jews? But he answering, saith to him: Thou sayest it.
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VERS. 2.-- *Art thou the king of the Jews?* When Pilate asks of no crime save whether he be the king of the Jews, the impiety of those men is convicted who found not even falsely anything to lay against him. *Thou sayest.* So he tempers his answer that he speaks the truth, and yet gives no occasion to calumny. And note that to Pilate, who bears the sentence unwillingly, he answered in some part: but to the priests and the chief men he would not answer, and judged them unworthy of his speech.
3 And the chief priests accused him in many things.
4 And Pilate again asked him, saying: Answerest thou nothing? Behold in how many things they accuse thee.
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VERS. 4.-- *See,* etc. The heathen condemns Jesus, but refers the cause to the people of the Jews. *See in how many things,* etc.
5 But Jesus still answered nothing: so that Pilate wondered.
6 Now on the festival day he was wont to release unto them one of the prisoners, whomsoever they demanded.
7 And there was one called Barabbas, who was put in prison with some seditious men, who in the sedition had committed murder.
8 And when the multitude was come up, they began to desire that he would do as he had ever done unto them.
9 And Pilate answered them and said: Will you that I release to you the king of the Jews?
10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him up out of envy.
11 But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas to them.
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VERS. 11.-- *That rather Barabbas.* Their own petition cleaves to the Jews unto this day, which with all their labour they obtained. For, the choice being given them, they chose a robber instead of Jesus, a murderer instead of the Saviour. Deservedly therefore they lost salvation and life, and gave themselves over to robberies and seditions so far that they lost their kingdom and their country, and never received again the liberty of body and of soul.
12 And Pilate again answering, saith to them: What will you then that I do to the king of the Jews?
13 But they again cried out: Crucify him.
14 And Pilate saith to them: Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more: Crucify him.
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VERS. 14.-- *But Pilate.* Pilate gave many occasions of freeing the Saviour, first in comparing the robber with the just one, then in bringing forward: *What will you then that I do to the king of the Jews?* And when they had answered: *Let him be crucified,* he did not at once give in, but according to the suggestion of his wife, who had sent to him (as Matthew says): *Have thou nothing to do with that just man*, answering he said: *Why, what evil hath he done?* And in saying this he acquitted Jesus. *But they the more,* etc. David: *Many dogs have encompassed me*, etc. Isaias: *I looked that he should do judgment, and behold iniquity: and justice, and behold a cry*. Jeremias: *My inheritance is become to me as a lion in the wood: it hath cried out against me*.
15 And so Pilate being willing to satisfy the people, released to them Barabbas: and delivered up Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
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VERS. 15.-- *Barabbas, and delivered,* etc. These are the two goats, the one apompeius, that is, the emissary, is loosed and sent away with the sin of the people into the desert of hell. The other is slain as a lamb for the sins of those who are loosed. The Lord's portion is always sacrificed, the devil's portion, who is their master, is hurled unbridled into Tartarus. *Jesus with scourges.* That he might free us from scourges; whence: *The scourge shall not come nigh thy dwelling*: whereas before it was said: *Many are the scourges of the sinner*. * Jesus scourged with whips.* He was scourged by Pilate himself, whence John: *Pilate took Jesus and scourged him:* and afterwards he added: *And the soldiers platting a crown of thorns*, etc. And he gave him over to the soldiers to be mocked. This he did for this end, that being sated with his punishments and reproaches they might not thirst further after his death.
16 And the soldiers led him away into the court of the palace: and they called together the whole band.
17 And they clothed him with purple: and, platting a crown of thorns, they put it upon him.
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VERS. 17.-- *And they clothe him.* Matthew thus: *And stripping him, they put a scarlet cloak about him*. Which is the same thing. For it was given in place of the royal purple, etc., *as far as* she is clothed in purple or in scarlet, when in the triumph of the glorious martyrs she glories.
18 And they began to salute him: Hail, king of the Jews.
19 And they struck his head with a reed: and they did spit on him. And bowing their knees, they adored him.
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VERS. 19.-- *And they struck,* etc. The head of Christ is God. They therefore strike the head of Christ who deny him to be God. And they who defend their error by the authority of Scripture (because writing is wont to be made with a reed) strike his head as it were with a reed. They spit in his face who spurn the presence of his grace with execrable words conceived out of the inward madness of a blind mind, and deny that he came in the flesh. *They adored him.* As though he had falsely called himself God. But today (which is of a graver madness) certain men adore him with sure faith as true God, yet by their perverse deeds forthwith despise his words as though they were fables, and set the promises of his kingdom after the enticements of things temporal. *And they lead him out.* Here Abel is led out into the field by his brother to be slain. Here is Isaac, etc., *as far as* here is Jonas, cast out from the wood of the ship and into the sea and into the belly of the whale for three days.
20 And after they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him and put his own garments on him: and they led him out to crucify him.
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VERS. 20.-- *That they might crucify him.* What is the very shape of the cross but the form of the four-square world? The east shines from the power, the right hand holds the north, the south stands at the left, the west is made firm beneath the feet. Whence the Apostle: *That we may know what is the breadth, the length, the height and the depth*. Birds fly to the upper air in the form of a cross, a man adores, and swims, in the form of a cross, a ship is driven through the seas by a yard-arm made like to a cross. The letter Tau shows the sign of salvation and of the cross.
21 And they forced one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to take up his cross.
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VERS. 21.-- *And they forced.* The Lord himself first bore his own cross, as John says: afterwards this Simon, of whom the others also speak, and this in an order of mystery altogether fitting. *For Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps*. Simon, who bears the cross under compulsion, is he who labours for human praise. Men force him to this labour whom the fear or the love of God does not force. *The father of Alexander.* This Simon seems to have been of great repute, since his sons also are marked out by name as being known to all. Some are called to mind through the merits of their fathers, others through the merits of their sons. But this Simon, etc., *as far as* whence: by Jeremias it is said to Judea: *A plentiful olive tree, fair, fruitful, goodly, the Lord called thy name.*
22 And they bring him into the place called Golgotha, which being interpreted is, The place of Calvary.
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VERS. 22.-- *The place of Calvary.* The Jews hand down that in this place of the mountain the ram was offered for Isaac, that there Christ might be made bald, that is, might be severed from his own flesh, namely from carnal Judea. Outside the gate the heads of the condemned were struck off, and the places of the beheaded are called calvaries. Therefore the Lord was crucified there, that where was the threshing-floor of the condemned, there the standards of the martyrs might be raised up. And because for us was made the curse of the cross, and he was both scourged and crucified for the salvation of all, he willed to be crucified as one guilty among the guilty.
23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh. But he took it not.
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VERS. 23.-- *And they gave.* Matthew, *mingled with gall*, which is the same thing. For he put gall for bitterness. For wine mingled with myrrh is most bitter; although it may be that they made the wine most bitter with both gall and myrrh. * And they gave,* etc. By this vinegar the juice of the deadly apple is wiped away. *And he took it not.* That for which he suffers. Whence of him: *That which I took not away, I then paid*. *And he took it not.* Matthew: *And when he had tasted, he would not drink.* Matthew shows that for us he tasted the bitterness of death, but on the third day rose again.
24 And crucifying him, they divided his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
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VERS. 24.-- *And crucifying him.* Here salvation is fastened upon a tree. First death was fastened upon a tree. The first tree was of the knowledge of good and evil; the second is for us a tree of good only, and of life. The stretching out of the first hand to the tree laid hold on death; the stretching out of the second found the life that had perished. By this wood are we carried over the billowy sea to the land of the living. *His garments.* The garment of Christ, divided into four according to the number of the soldiers, signifies the Church distributed equally, that is, harmoniously, through the four quarters of the world. The garments of the Lord are the commandments with which his body is covered, which is the Church, because they are divided among the soldiers of the Gentiles, so that there are four orders while the faith is one, that is, the married, the widowed, the prelates, the set apart. They cast lots for the undivided tunic, which is peace and truth in all things, after the manner of a royal mantle or of a ring. *Casting lots.* Upon the tunic, namely, which was without seam. Here the things allotted, etc., *as far as* and the lot comes or falls by the judgment of God alone.
25 And it was the third hour: and they crucified him.
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VERS. 25.-- *Now it was the third hour.* This Mark has properly, for at the sixth hour darkness overspread the earth, so that none could move his head. For from the thirtieth, etc., *as far as* who are rather to be said to have crucified him, though they strive to dissemble it, than the soldiers, who according to their office obeyed their captain.
26 And the inscription of his cause was written over: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
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VERS. 26.-- *And there was a title.* The title shows that not even by killing him could they bring it about that he should not be their king; whence: *But I am appointed king by him,* etc. For he is fittingly at once king and priest, since he offered to the Father the excellent victim of his own flesh upon the altar of the cross, and held forth the dignity of a king by the title, that he might make known to all that through the gibbet of the cross he had not lost, but had confirmed, his empire.
27 And with him they crucify two thieves: the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
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VERS. 27.-- *And with him they crucify.* As the Apostle says: *Our old man is crucified together with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, that sin may no more have dominion over us.* So long therefore as our works act, that the body of sin may be emptied out, so long, etc., *as far as* whence the Apostle: *That, being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, the height and the depth*. *Two thieves.* The thieves who were crucified with the Lord signify those who, by faith and confession of Christ, or by the struggle of their own martyrdom, undergo any strict continence whatsoever. And they who do this for eternal glory are signified by the merit and the faith of the thief on the right. But whoever does it for human glory or with any less worthy intention imitates the mind and the deeds of the thief on the left. Truth, reckoned among the wicked, leaves the one on the left and takes up the other on the right; so will he do in the day of judgment, out of a like crime they obtain unlike ways. The one goes before Peter into paradise, the other before Judas into hell. A short confession purchases a long life, and a blasphemy that has an end is punished with an eternal penalty. Here the colt of Juda is bound to the vine, ἀναβόλαιον, that is, the cloak is dyed in the blood of the grape, here the kids tear the vineyard.
28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith: And with the wicked he was reputed.
29 And they that passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying: Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God and in three days buildest it up again:
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VERS. 29.-- *Wagging their heads.* The death of the wicked is sent forth when the bonds of hell are stirred up even to the neck, which is the neck of the human race.
30 Save thyself, coming down from the cross.
31 In like manner also the chief priests, mocking, said with the scribes one to another: He saved others; himself he cannot save.
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VERS. 31.-- *He saved others.* Even unwilling they confess that he made others safe, and they condemn themselves by their own sentence, because he made others safe and could have saved himself if he would.
32 Let Christ the king of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him, reviled him.
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VERS. 32.-- *Let him now come down.* It is more to rise from the sepulchre, and yet they did not believe. *These all have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together*. *And they that were with him.* According to Luke one thief blasphemed, saying: *If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.* The other, etc., *as far as* they who seek heavenly things without doubt attain to them, Christ mediating and having mercy.
33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour.
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VERS. 33.-- *And when the sixth hour was come.* It is to be noted that at the sixth hour, that is, when the sun was about to withdraw from the centre of the world, he was crucified, and that at daybreak, at the rising of the sun, he rose again, etc., *as far as* and at what hour the first Adam by sinning brought death into the world, at that same hour the second Adam by dying should destroy death. *Darkness.* Here is Noe made drunk and stripped, covered by heaven and earth with a drunkard's cloak, and mocked by man, here blood dripped from the wood.
34 And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying: Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabacthani? Which is, being interpreted: My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?
35 And some of the standers by hearing, said: Behold he calleth Elias.
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VERS. 35.-- *And some,* etc. Not all. Perhaps the Roman soldiers, not understanding the property of the Hebrew tongue, from that which is said Eloi, thought that Elias was being called upon by him. Or the Jews, perverting the Lord's words in their accustomed speech, defamed him of weakness, in that he was calling for the help of Elias.
36 And one running and filling a sponge with vinegar and putting it upon a reed, gave him to drink, saying: Stay, let us see if Elias come to take him down.
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VERS. 36.-- *And running,* etc. John says more fully: *Afterwards Jesus, knowing,* etc. As if: This you have done the less, give what you are. For they were, etc., *as far as* whereof: *The Lord planted the vine Soreth: and how art thou turned into the bitterness of a strange vine: and I looked that thou shouldst bring forth grapes, and thou hast brought forth thorns*.
37 And Jesus, having cried out with a loud voice, gave up the ghost.
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VERS. 37.-- *But Jesus,* etc. Luke discloses what he said: *Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and saying this he expired*. But that which John says: *When he had taken the vinegar, he said: It is consummated: and bowing his head he delivered up the spirit*. Between this which he says: *It is consummated,* and that: *bowing his head he sent forth the spirit,* there was sent forth that great voice which John passes over in silence, and the rest record: *Into thy hands,* etc. For, the flesh being made weak, the divine power straightway prevailed, which says: *Open ye to me the gates of justice*, etc. But we who are of the earth die with no voice, or with one; for he expired with a lifted-up voice who came down from heaven.
38 And the veil of the temple was rent in two, from the top to the bottom.
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VERS. 38.-- *And the veil of the temple.* That the ark of the testament and all the mysteries of the law which were covered may appear, and may pass over to the Gentiles. Before it was said: *God is known in Judea, in Israel his name is great*; but now: *Be thou exalted above the heavens, O God*, *and in all,* etc.; and in the Gospel before: *Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles*.; and after the passion: *Go ye, and teach all nations*.
39 And the centurion who stood over against him, seeing that crying out in this manner he had given up the ghost. said: Indeed this man was the son of God.
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VERS. 39.-- *And seeing,* etc. It is shown why the centurion wonders, because he saw that he had so expired, that is, had sent forth his spirit. For no one has the power of sending forth his spirit, save the creator of souls. *Truly,* etc. Note that the centurion before the cross, in the very scandal of the passion, confesses him truly the Son of God: and Arius, etc., *as far as* and, the Synagogue keeping silence, he affirms him truly the Son of God.
40 And there were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joseph and Salome,
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VERS. 40.-- *And there were.* As the female sex is not shut out from salvation through Mary the Virgin: so it is not driven back from the mystery of the cross, of knowledge and of the resurrection, through the widow Mary Magdalen and the other mothers. *Of James the less and of Joseph.* By James the less he means James the son of Alpheus, who is also the brother of the Lord, in that he was the son of Mary the Lord's mother's sister. Of whom John: *Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother*, etc. He seems to call her Cleophas's from her father or from her kindred.
41 Who also when he was in Galilee followed him and ministered to him, and many other women that came up with him to Jerusalem.
42 And when evening was now come (because it was the Parasceve, that is, the day before the sabbath),
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VERS. 42.-- *And when it was now evening,* etc. Παρασκευὴ in Greek, preparation in Latin. By this name the Jews dwelling among the Greeks called the sixth day of the week, because on it they prepared the things that were needful for the sabbath, according as, etc., *as far as* until, the eighth age coming, the bodies themselves also, by the resurrection glorified, may together with the souls receive the incorruption of the eternal inheritance.
43 Joseph of Arimathea, a noble counsellor, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus.
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VERS. 43.-- *Joseph came.* Joseph came in the evening of the parasceve from Arimathia, which is interpreted *laying down,* to lay down the body of Christ, etc., *as far as* the elect, who are the stars of the sea, looking on from afar, when, if it can be done, even the elect shall be scandalized.
44 But Pilate wondered that he should be already dead. And sending for the centurion, he asked him if he were already dead.
45 And when he had understood it by the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
46 And Joseph, buying fine linen and taking him down, wrapped him up in the fine linen and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewed out of a rock. And he rolled a stone to the door of the sepulchre.
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VERS. 46.-- *And Joseph,* etc. From the simple burial of the Lord the ambition of the rich is condemned, who not even in their tombs, etc., *as far as* celebrates with earthly linen, as the body of the Lord was buried in a clean linen cloth: so was it decreed by pope Sylvester. *Which was hewn out.* It is said that the Lord's monument was a round house hewn out of the underlying rock, of such a height that a man standing upright can scarcely reach the top with his hand stretched out. And it has an entrance, etc., *as far as* but the colour of the monument and of the tomb is said to be mingled of white and red.
47 And Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of Joseph, beheld where he was laid.
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VERS. 47.-- *And Mary,* etc. Luke says: *That all his acquaintance stood afar off, and the women that had followed him*. But when the others, his body being laid down, had returned to their own, the women alone, etc., *as far as* and they weigh carefully, with pious curiosity, whether haply they may be able to imitate him, and in what order his passion is to be embraced.