Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 118–131

“Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, saying: Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said to him: You say so.” Truly Jesus did not count it robbery to be equal with God; and not once but often he humbled himself for all. And now, see how far he who had been appointed by the Father judge of all creation, King of kings and Lord of lords, humbled himself, so as to consent to stand before the judge of the land of Judea at that time; and when called, he was asked the question which Pilate asked, perhaps mocking or doubting: “Are you the king of the Jews?” To this question he gave the answer he thought fitting, saying: “You say so.” When adjured by the high priest to say whether he was the Christ, the Son of God, he answered, “You have said it”; but when asked by Pilate, “Are you the king of the Jews?”, he answered, “You say so.” Consider whether the question “If you are the Christ, the Son of God” did not suit a Jew, while the Roman judge, asking, said no longer “Are you the Christ?” but “Are you the king of the Jews?” Whoever carefully considers the very letters of the Gospel words will see that the high priest spoke in doubt: “If you are the Christ, the Son of God”; for the syllable “if” shows the doubt of the question. But Pilate spoke as a statement: “You are the king of the Jews.” That Pilate said this as a statement is confirmed also by the fact that elsewhere he wrote in the inscription, “King of the Jews,” in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, so that Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans might know that Pilate too knew that he was the king of the Jews. From this it appears with what reverence he inquired about Jesus and urged the people to ask for Jesus to be released rather than Barabbas. A further sign of Pilate's reverence was that he washed his hands and said, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.” And Jesus' reply to the high priest, “You have said it,” obliquely rebukes and exposes his doubt; while his reply to Pilate, “You say so,” confirms the judgement of one making a statement. Mark, instead of “If you are the Christ, the Son of God,” writes, “Are you the Son of the Blessed?” Perhaps either what is written simply or what is written in doubt … I do not know whether the copies are not faulty, since both ought to have said alike either “you are” or “are you.” “And when he was accused by the chief priests and elders of the people, he answered nothing. Then Pilate said to him: Do you not hear how many testimonies they bring against you? And he did not answer him a single word, so that the governor wondered greatly.” The ministers and elders of the Jewish letter that kills are [the sons] of those priests and elders who accused Jesus; they take up their accusation to this day and accuse Jesus. Therefore, since that very sin remains upon them, and wrath has come upon them once for all, the doers themselves suffer still, to the end, left with the whole people like a hut in a cucumber field and like a besieged city. And Jesus, when accused, as he then answered nothing, so now he answers nothing to the accusations of these priests and elders. For the Word of God is silent toward them, and they no longer hear the word of God, as it once came to the prophets, and at the consummation of the ages became flesh and dwelt among us. And he did not answer, not only the chief priests and elders of the people who accused him falsely, but not even Pilate, since Pilate wished to hear him defend himself against their lying accusations. For when Pilate said to him, after the accusations of the chief priests and elders, “Do you not hear how much they accuse you?”, he did not answer him either. For it was not fitting to answer even one who was in doubt whether he ought to answer their false accusations. We have said this not forgetting what is said of Pilate, that he had at least some kindly impulse toward Christ; that this is true of Pilate is shown by the whole account of him. But no one will dare to say that his judgement concerning Christ was lasting and firm. For he was drawn also to the opposite; and so now too the Lord did not answer one who was drawing him toward a worse opinion, despising all that had been said in accusation against him. And Pilate wondered at his constancy; perhaps knowing how able he was to pronounce on the charge and to dismiss it, he wondered to see him standing in calm and quiet gravity of wisdom and with an undisturbed mind, in a trial in which those present thought he was in danger of death; and he was stronger than human nature, all of whose weakness wished to blunt the power of his spirit but did not prevail. That it is written not only that Pilate wondered, but that he wondered greatly, moves me to think that it seemed to him worthy of great wonder that Christ, brought to a criminal trial, remained undisturbed and stood before death, which all men think terrible.

“At the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the people one prisoner whom they wanted.” Do not wonder that, while Roman rule over them was still in its beginnings, and the Jews had only recently taken on the yoke of the Romans, the Jews were granted the right to ask at the Paschal feast for one man of their choosing, even if he appeared guilty of a thousand murders. For nations grant certain favours in this way to those they subject to themselves, until their yoke over them is made firm. Yet this custom of releasing a prisoner existed once among the Jews too. For when Saul had decreed that no one should take food, and Jonathan had tasted a honeycomb against the king's decree, Saul found Jonathan guilty, and though he was his son, he had decided, because of an oath of his, to kill him; but he did not kill him, since the whole people of Israel intervened and asked for his life. But it is not surprising that Pilate released one prisoner to the people, or that Saul, at the people's request, released Jonathan; for in both cases the fault lay with those who asked for the life, since the Jews were always liable to guilt. But let us ask whether something of this kind happens in God's judgement too, and whether the whole Church can ask for one of the sinners to be released from the condemnation of sin, especially if his other works drag him toward perdition, but he is unwearied in doing good to the Church. For you will often find such men among those in power, sinners in other respects, yet doing much for Christians, as far as they can. And you will be led all the more to inquire into such things if there is good reason for the fact that Israel too prayed to God for the life of Nebuchadnezzar and of Belshazzar his son. But if this seems to anyone worth inquiring into, let him inquire. What is plain, however, is this: let us all try to take care to be found among those who ask, and in the rank of those who have lived well, rather than among those for whom it is asked as for wicked men. For even if some sinner is granted to the prayers of the Church, it is still not just that such a man should attain glory and blessedness; it is enough for him that he is released from punishment. I think it was because of this feast day of the Jews, on which Barabbas was chosen for life and Christ was neglected, that the Lord says through the prophet, “Your fasts and holidays and feast days my soul hates”; and because they wished to keep the feast with a released robber rather than with Jesus. To speak by way of example: if they had kept the feast rightly, like Josiah or someone like him, and had been given leave to ask for whom they wished, without doubt they would have asked for Jesus and condemned Barabbas. But let us pray that, keeping the feast not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, we may be worthy to condemn Barabbas and to receive Jesus, free of all bonds, as our king and Lord. And as long as we do this, our feasts are not turned into mourning, nor our songs into lamentation, but there will be true feasts in us, the feasts of God.

“And they then had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them: Whom do you want me to release to you, Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ? For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed him over.” In many copies it is not found that Barabbas was also called Jesus, and perhaps rightly, so that the name of Jesus may not belong to any of the wicked. For in so great a multitude of Scriptures we know of no sinner named Jesus, whereas with other names of the righteous we find wicked men too bearing the same name: for example, Judas the apostle, the Zealot, and Judas the patriarch, and also Judas Maccabeus, all praiseworthy; but Judas the betrayer. And in Genesis sons of Seth and sons of Cain are found bearing the same names, such as Enoch, Lamech, and Methuselah. But it was not fitting for anything of the kind to happen with the name of Jesus. And I think that something of this kind was added among the heresies, so that they might have something suitable to say in support of their fables about the likeness of the names of Jesus and Barabbas. For I think that in these things a true mystery is shown: that Barabbas was set for sedition and wars and murders to be done to the souls of men; but Jesus, as the Son of God, was set as peace, and as the Word and Wisdom, for all good things. So, when these two were both prisoners in human affairs and in bodies, that people asked for Barabbas to be released to them; because of him that nation does not cease to have seditions and murders and robberies: according to some of the nation, in outward things; but according to all the Jews who do not believe in Jesus, inwardly, in the soul. For where Jesus is not, there are seditions and strifes and battles. But where Jesus is, so that they can say, “If Christ is in us, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness,” there are all good things together, and countless spiritual riches in his hands, and peace. For he is our peace, who has made both one. And if anyone sees that contrary working, he will know that Barabbas is in all men the notorious prisoner whom they desire to have released to them; not only Israel according to the flesh, which sinned then, but also all who are like them, whether in doctrine or in life. Whoever, then, does evil, Barabbas is released in his body, and Christ is bound; but whoever does good, Christ is released in him, and Barabbas is bound.

“While he was sitting on the judgement seat, his wife sent to him, saying: Have nothing to do with that righteous man; for I have suffered much today in a dream because of him.” Jesus had been handed over out of envy, and an envy so manifest that even Pilate was not ignorant of it. And the evangelists did not wish to pass over an event of divine providence that contains the praise of God, who wished, through a dream, to turn Pilate's wife, so that, as far as lay with her, she might forbid her husband to dare to pronounce sentence against Jesus. Matthew did not set out the dream, but said only that she had suffered much in a dream because of Jesus. And she suffered in a dream so that she might not suffer more; so that we may call Pilate's wife blessed, who suffered much in a dream because of Jesus, and received in a dream what she would otherwise have suffered. From this one will dare to say that it is better for someone to receive evils in a dream than in life. For who would not choose to receive his evils in a dream rather than in his life, unless perhaps he deserves such things that it is better for him to receive harsher things in his life than lighter ones in a dream? For he who received evils in his life, and not these evils which one receives in a dream, is comforted and rests in Abraham's bosom; and accordingly he will have comfort. Whether she also had a beginning of conversion to God from having suffered much in a dream because of Jesus, God knows; yet this too is contained in certain Scriptures that are not public. And see that Pilate's wife called Jesus righteous; perhaps this wife of Pilate is a figure of the Church from the Gentiles, which was once ruled by Pilate but now is no longer under him, because of her faith in Christ.

“But the chief priests and elders persuaded the people to ask for Barabbas and to destroy Jesus. And the governor answered and said to them: Which of the two do you want me to release to you? And they said: Barabbas.” And one can see even now how the people of the Jews is persuaded by its elders and by the teachers of the Jewish worship, and stirred up against Jesus, to destroy him as far as lies with them, and to have Barabbas released. For the crowds believe their rulers and priests. And often the governor says to the people, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” But the crowds, as true crowds, … who walk the broad way that leads to destruction, asked for Barabbas to be released, wishing to have him released to them.

“Pilate says to them: What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all say: Let him be crucified,” and the rest. Wishing to strike them with shame at so great an iniquity, Pilate says to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”; and not only that, but also wishing to fill up the measure of their impiety. But they, neither blushing that Pilate confessed Jesus to be the Christ, nor keeping any limit to their impiety, all said, “Let him be crucified.” Even if they had asked for Barabbas to be released, but had not, on the other hand, demanded Christ for the cross (for example, if they had asked for Barabbas to be released, but had not asked for this man to be crucified, and had left it in Pilate's power to do with him as he wished), it would still have been a great impiety that, passing over the righteous man, they had asked for a murderer. But as it is, they multiplied the measure of their impiety, demanding not only a murderer for life, but also the righteous man for death, and for the most shameful death of the cross. Still persisting in his wish to shame them, so that, shamed at least, they might come to choose the righteous man, even if not from the judgement of their hearts, he says to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” Having nothing to answer to this, they cried out the more, not laying aside but increasing their anger, animosity, and blasphemy, and said, “Let him be crucified.” But Pilate, seeing that he was gaining nothing, used a Jewish custom, wishing to appease them about Christ's innocence not only by words but also by the act itself, if they were willing; and if they were not willing, to condemn them, acting not according to any custom of the Romans. For he took water in the sight of all and, washing his hands, said: “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.” And he indeed washed himself; but they not only refused to cleanse themselves of the blood of Christ, but even took it upon themselves, saying: “His blood be on us and on our children.” Because of this they became guilty not only of the blood of the prophets, but, filling up the measure of their fathers, they became guilty of the blood of Christ, so that they hear God saying to them: “When you stretch out your hands to me, I will turn my eyes away from you; for your hands are full of blood.” Therefore the blood of Jesus came not only upon those who lived then, but also upon all the generations of the Jews that followed, until the consummation. Therefore, until now, their house is left to them desolate. But Pilate, forgetting the good words with which he had begun to defend Christ's innocence, turned aside to evil, and not only handed Jesus over, but handed him over scourged, to be crucified.

“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him; and they put on him a scarlet cloak, and put purple around him, and plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and kneeling before him they mocked him, saying: Hail, king of the Jews.” It is likely that at that time, in the early days of the newly established imperial rule, the soldiers, not yet keeping a becoming order of discipline, acted against the Saviour beyond the custom of the discipline that exists now, when they took him into the praetorium, gathered the whole cohort, and did what they are said to have done, making Jesus their sport because he had been called king of the Jews. But I think the soldiers did this with the invisible kings and rulers of this age working in them, who stood up and gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ, so that that mockery seems to have been theirs rather than men's; theirs, I mean, who did not know the wisdom of God in that dispensation; “for if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty.” So that cohort was a figure of some malign army. And they stripped him of the garments he wore over all, the seamless tunic and the robe (for John describes his garments so); and, mocking him because of his royal name, they put on him a scarlet cloak, not understanding what they were doing. But that scarlet cloak was a figure of the scarlet sign written of in Joshua son of Nun, which Rahab had for her salvation, and of what was done in Genesis to one of Tamar's sons, when scarlet was tied to the hand of the one being born, as a sign of Christ's future passion. So now too the Lord, receiving the scarlet cloak, took upon himself the blood of the world, and in that crown of thorns took the thorns of our sins, woven upon his head. Of the cloak it is written that they stripped him of the scarlet cloak again; but of the crown of thorns the evangelists wrote nothing of the kind, because they wished us to inquire what became of the crown of thorns, once put on and never taken off. I think, then, that that crown of thorns was consumed on the head of Jesus, so that our old thorns may no longer exist, once Jesus has taken them from us onto his own venerable head. And if it is fitting to say something also about the reed which they put in his right hand, we give this account. That reed was a figure of the vain and fragile sceptre on which we all leaned before we believed, the sceptre of the evil one. For we trusted in the reed staff of Egypt, or of Babylon, or of any kingdom opposed to the kingdom of God; and he took that reed, the staff of a fragile kingdom, from our hands, to triumph over it and crush it on the wood of the cross; and in place of that former reed on which we used to lean, he gave us the sceptre of the heavenly kingdom, and the rod of which it is written, “A rod of equity is the rod of your kingdom”; or the rod that corrects those who need correction, of which the Apostle says, “What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod?” He also gave us a staff, so that we may celebrate the Passover, as it is written, “Let your staffs be in your hands,” so that we may celebrate the Passover laying aside the reed staff we had before we celebrated the Lord's Passover. And they strike the venerable head of Jesus with this fragile and vain reed, since that opposing kingdom always reviles and strikes God the Father, the head of the Lord Saviour. And in all these things the only-begotten Power was not harmed, just as he suffered nothing when he was made a curse for us, though by nature he was blessing; but, being blessing, he consumed, dissolved, and scattered every human curse.

“As they went out they found a man of Cyrene named Simon; him they compelled to carry his cross.” According to three evangelists Jesus is tempted by the devil; but according to John, who wrote of his spiritual nature, he is not tempted, for the truth and the life and the resurrection and the true light is not tempted; but he was tempted according to the man whom the only-begotten God had taken up. In the same way, according to John, the Saviour, those who had taken him laying it upon him, went out carrying his own cross to the place called the place of the Skull; but according to the others he does not carry it himself. For those who were leading him out to crucify him found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they compelled to take up Christ's cross. And it was fitting not only that the Saviour should take up his cross, but that we too should carry it, fulfilling a compulsion that brings us salvation. Yet we would not have been so profited by taking up his cross as we are now profited by his cross, since he himself takes it up and carries it. You will ask whether, according to the text, both things happened, so that the evangelists do not disagree with one another, and which of them happened first: whether those who took Jesus to crucify him, and laid the cross on him so that he might carry it out to the place of the Skull, did this first, before they compelled Simon of Cyrene; or whether, having gone out, they compelled Simon, and when they had come to the place where they were going to hang him, laid the cross on Jesus so that he himself might carry it. Let him who is able to examine it inquire by examining both accounts, to find whether Jesus took up the last stretch of carrying the cross, or rather Simon of Cyrene, compelled not by chance but according to some foreknowledge of God concerning him, led by God's disposition to this, so that he might be found worthy of the gospel Scripture and of the service of the cross of Christ, by which the world is crucified to the saints, and the saints to the world. Some have also wished to explain this Simon of Cyrene morally, from his being from Cyrene of the Pentapolis in Libya, taking occasion from the five senses to say that, as it were, the five senses carried the cross of that dispensation. And Simon means “obedience.” To whom was it more fitting to carry the cross of Christ than to obedience? Or, as the second son of Leah is called, to Simeon? For both the patriarch and Peter are named in two ways among the Greeks, according to the character of the Hebrew language, so that one who bears this name may be called both Simon and Simeon, since the Hebrews write the name of Simeon and that of Simon with the same letters. And the place of the Skull is said to have had no ordinary place in the dispensation, as the place where he who was to die for men should die. For a tradition of this kind has come down to me: that the body of Adam, the first man, was buried there where Christ was crucified, so that as in Adam all die, so in Christ all may be made alive; so that in that place which is called the place of the Skull, that is, the place of the head, the head of the human race may find resurrection, together with the whole people, through the resurrection of the Lord Saviour, who suffered and rose there. For it would have been unfitting that, while many born of him received the remission of sins and obtained the benefit of the resurrection, the father of all men himself should not rather obtain such grace … giving thanks, he gave it to the disciples, and promised that he would drink it new in the kingdom of God.

“And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among themselves by casting lots; and sitting down they kept watch over him there.” And even now there are those who, though they do not have him himself, have his garments, that is, the words set down in the Scriptures, and these not fully, but in part; and the prophet speaks of this very mystery, which is now fulfilled. Whether any of his garments was torn in that division, or each of them remained whole as it was, and what kind of garments they were, we do not read in the three evangelists. But in John we learn that the soldiers, after they had crucified Christ, took his garments and made four parts, a part for each soldier. But the tunic, since it was seamless, woven from the top throughout, they said to one another: “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it.” So not all received it, but only he who won the lot. One who discusses the differences among those who have the Lord's garments will without doubt find some who in their doctrines, though they do not have him, yet have the tunic woven from the top throughout; and others who have not even that, but some small part of his garment. And consider this: according to Matthew, Jesus received vinegar mixed with gall, tasted it, and would not drink; but according to Mark, when wine mixed with myrrh was given him, he did not take it …

“And sitting down they kept watch over him there.” The soldiers kept watch over the body, sent by the chief priests, as though it would be stolen by his disciples if it were not guarded; but the dispensation raised him up, and made witnesses of his resurrection, not just two or three, but many more. For he was seen by Cephas, then by the eleven; then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers; and last of all to Paul. And it was no small sign of his resurrection that he was seen by so many, by men who took on danger to preach him living among the peoples who had demanded him for the cross. And now the new chief priests, namely the sons of those rulers, crucify the word of truth set down in the Scriptures by their false interpretations, and kill it with lies. But the word of truth, though it is killed among them, lives in its own nature, and always finds and chooses for itself vessels in which to rise and live and further confound its killers, shown to be alive by many testimonies.

“And over his head they put the charge against him, written: This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” Whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed king, and every script bears witness to his kingdom, whether of the Greeks, or of the Romans, or of the Hebrews; and in place of a crown it was written over his head: “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” And since no other cause of his death is found (for there was none), this alone is held: he was king of the Jews; of which he spoke, saying, “But I have been established as king by him on Zion, his holy mountain.” The high priest according to the letter of the law wore on his head the form of a sign, and “Holiness to the Lord” written on metal; but Jesus, the true high priest and king, has written on the cross, “This is the king of the Jews”; but when he ascends to the Father and receives the Father into himself, in place of letters and a name he has the very one who is named, and has him as his crown; and being made worthy of him, and made the worthy house of God the Father, he alone can fully contain the Father.

“Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.” The Lord, crucified among robbers as though he were one of them, fulfilled the prophecy that says of him, “And he was reckoned among the lawless”; and one can see his disciples, who bear witness to the worship of God brought in through him, reckoned among the lawless, crucified with them, and enduring the other sufferings as they do. For the world, and the spirit that is in it, always persecutes and punishes the outstanding: those outstanding in wickedness, for the benefit of many; but those outstanding in virtue, because this world is not worthy of those who look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen, and despise it, like the saints of old who went about in sheepskins and goatskins, in caves and holes in the ground, of whom the world was not worthy.