Chapter 15

Chapter 15. — On Those Things Which He Suffered Before Pilate. On the Custom. On the Request for the Body of the Lord. On the Burial

¹ And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate. And Pilate asked Him, Are You the King of the Jews? And He answering said to him, You say it. And the chief priests accused Him of many things. But Pilate asked Him again, saying, Do You answer nothing? Behold how many things they testify against You. But Jesus yet answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled. Now at the feast he released to them one prisoner, whomsoever they asked. And there was one named Barabbas, bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude crying aloud began to ask him to do as he had ever done for them. But Pilate answered them, saying, Will you that I release to you the King of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him for envy. But the chief priests stirred up the people, that he should rather release Barabbas to them. And Pilate answered and said again to them, What then will you that I do to Him whom you call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify Him. Then Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has He done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify Him. And so Pilate, willing to content the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified. The Jews delivered the Lord to the Romans; and they too were delivered by the Lord into the hands of the Romans. And the Scriptures are fulfilled which say, Woe to the lawless one, for evil shall come upon him according to the works of his hands; and again, Give them according to the works of their hands; and again, As you have done, so shall your recompense be unto you. When Pilate asked, Are You the King of the Jews? the Lord gives an ambiguous answer. For the saying, You say it, can be understood to mean, You have spoken truly; you have said what I am; but it can also be understood thus: I do not say this, but you say it. And when He was questioned again and answered nothing, He brought Pilate to amazement; for he marveled that, though He was learned in the law and eloquent, and able by a defense to shake off the false accusations, He said nothing, but rather nobly endured the charges. Behold both the bloodthirstiness of the Jews and the moderation of Pilate—though he too is worthy of condemnation, because he did not zealously take his stand for the good. For they kept crying out that He should be crucified; but he, though weakly, nevertheless tries to snatch Jesus from condemnation; for this reason he asks again, What then shall I do with Jesus? giving them on every side occasions to release the Lord as guiltless, and for this cause delaying and putting it off. In the end, however, having bowed beneath their will, he scourged the Lord—that is, he flogged Him with plaited thongs—that they might think they had received Him already condemned from a tribunal; and he delivered Him to them to be crucified. For he willed what was enough to satisfy the multitude, not what was pleasing to the just man and to God.

² And the soldiers led Him away into the hall, which is the Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothe Him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about His head, and began to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote His head with a reed, and spat upon Him, and bowing their knees worshipped Him. And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, and put His own garments on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him. And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear His cross. The tribe of soldiers, ever rejoicing in disorders and insults, displayed its own ways. For if the Jews, who had heard countless teachings, treated Him so—they who had been benefited much and often—what could we say concerning the Gentiles? They call together, then, the whole band—that is, the whole company—and clothe Him with purple, mocking Him as a king; and here the dancers of the devil take the crown instead of a diadem, and the reed instead of a scepter. And they compel a certain man to bear His cross, although another evangelist says that Jesus went forth bearing His own cross. Both, then, came to pass: for up to a certain point He Himself bore the wood; but when they found one to bear it, they compelled that man, and thereafter the cross was borne by him. And why did he say of what sons he was the father? For greater confirmation; for it is likely that the man was still living, and able to relate all the things at the cross. But let us also wear the purple, the royal robe. What do I mean? As kings we ought to walk, treading upon serpents and scorpions, and prevailing over sin; for we are called Christians—that is, anointed ones ourselves, just as the kings then were called christs (anointed). Let our life, then, be not servile and ignoble, but royal and free. And let us wear also the crown of thorns—that is, let us be eager to be crowned with the rough and continent and pleasureless life, not the soft and smooth and pleasure-loving one. And let us become Simon also, which is obedience, and let us take up the cross.

³ And they bring Him to the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh; but He received it not. And when they had crucified Him, they parted His garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And the superscription of His accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with Him they crucify two thieves, the one on His right hand, and the other on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And He was numbered with the transgressors. There is a tradition that has come down to us from the holy Fathers, that Adam was buried there. The Lord, then, who heals the fall and the death of Adam, is crucified there, that where the beginning of death was, there also might be the undoing of death. And they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink; and myrrh is most bitter; so in mockery they gave such things to the Lord. Another evangelist says vinegar with gall, and yet another says that something else was offered to the Lord; and there is nothing contradictory in these things. For, there being disorder, different men offered different things; the one, vinegar and gall; the other, wine mingled with myrrh. And perhaps the wine was sour, and the myrrh bitter; and so they agree, both he who says wine mingled with myrrh, and he who says vinegar with gall; for the wine is the vinegar, and the myrrh the gall—the one because it was sour, the other because it was bitter. Nor again does he who says, They gave Him to drink, but He received it not, contradict him who says, And when He had tasted it, He would not drink. For altogether, in saying that He received it not, he showed that He did not drink it. And they cast lots also upon His garments, doing this too for mockery, as though dividing the garments of a king, although they were paltry. And they wrote a title, that is, the cause for which He was crucified, THE KING OF THE JEWS; that by this also they might mock His glory, as one who was nothing and yet had proclaimed himself a king, and that all who passed by might not pity Him, but rather trample upon Him as upon a tyrant. But how does Mark say that He was crucified at the third hour, while Matthew says that the darkness came at the sixth hour? It may be said, then, that at the third hour He was crucified, but the darkness began to come from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. And He is crucified with thieves, that men might conceive an evil opinion of Him, that He too was a malefactor; but this came to pass by [divine] dispensation. For the prophecy is fulfilled, He was numbered with the transgressors. And in another sense, the two thieves are a symbol of the two peoples, the Jewish and the Gentile. For both were lawless: the Gentile, as having transgressed the natural law; the Jewish, as having transgressed both this and the written law which God gave him; but the Gentile was the grateful thief, while the Jewish was blasphemous to the end. And the Lord is crucified in the midst of the two peoples; for He Himself is the stone that joins us together.

⁴ And they that passed by railed on Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, You that destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with Him reproached Him. And they that passed by, he says—that is, those going along the road—these too blasphemed the Lord, as it were jeering at Him as a deceiver. Likewise also the chief priests said, He who saved others, does He not save Himself? And this they said in derision of His miracles, mocking them as though they had come to pass only in appearance; for by working wonders He had saved many. And the devil incited them to say, Let Him come down from the cross. For since the author of evil knew that salvation comes through the cross, he again tempted the Lord, that, if He should come down from the cross, he might be assured that He is not the Son of God, and so the salvation through the cross might be undone; but He was indeed truly the Son of God, and for this very reason all the more did not come down; for if He had been about to come down, He would not have gone up at all in the first place. But knowing that thus salvation would come to men, He endured both to be crucified and to suffer all the rest, and to complete His work. And they that were crucified with Him reproached Him—the two of them at the first; then one of them recognized Him as guiltless, as Luke says.[1]

⁵ And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, He calls Elijah. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit. Darkness came, not upon one place, but over the whole earth; and if it had been the season of an eclipse, one might say that the phenomenon was natural; but as it was, the moon was fourteen days old, when it is impossible for a natural eclipse to occur. And the Lord cries aloud in Hebrew the prophetic word, showing that even to His last breath He honors the things of the Hebrews. And the saying, Why have You forsaken Me? He speaks as from the person of human nature, as though saying this: Why have You forsaken Me the man, O God, that I should see God crucified for me? For we men were the ones who had been forsaken, but He was never forsaken by the Father. For hear what He says: I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. Or He says this also on behalf of the Hebrews, being Himself a Hebrew according to the flesh: Why have You forsaken Me—that is, the Hebrew people—that they should crucify Your Son? For just as we are wont to say that God has clothed Himself with me, instead of with human nature, so here too understand the saying, You have forsaken Me, instead of, My human nature, or My people the Jews. And one ran and gave Him vinegar to drink, that the sharpness of the vinegar might more quickly put Him to death. And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, gave up the spirit, as it were summoning death, as Master and dying by His own authority. And what the voice was, Luke declared: Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit. For this too the Lord accomplished for us, that the spirits of the saints should ascend into the hands of God; for formerly the souls of all were held in Hades, until He came who proclaimed release to the captives.

⁶ And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, who stood over against Him, saw that He so cried out and gave up the spirit, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. There were also women looking on from afar, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; who also, when He was in Galilee, followed Him, and ministered to Him; and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem. The veil was rent, God showing that the grace of the Spirit had departed from the temple, and that the Holy of Holies would be made visible and accessible to all—which also came to pass when the Romans entered—and that the temple too mourns. For what the Jews are wont to do in calamities, even to rend their garments, this the temple also, as though it were alive, displayed at the suffering of its Creator, rending its own garment. And another thing also is signified by this. This flesh is the veil of our temple—that is, of the mind; and so the power of the flesh, which it had against the spirit, was rent by the sufferings of Christ, from the top to the bottom—that is, from Adam to the last of men. For indeed Adam was sanctified by the sufferings of Christ, and no longer shall his flesh be accursed, nor subject to corruption, but we all have been honored with incorruption. And when the centurion—that is, the captain of a hundred (for the Romans call a hundred centum)—saw that He so gave up the spirit in a lordly manner, he marveled and confessed. And behold the order reversed: the Jews put to death, the Gentile confesses; the disciples flee, the women remain. For there were, he says, women also, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and of Joses; and this was the Theotokos, who, inasmuch as she was betrothed to Joseph, was their stepmother; and the children of Joseph were James and Joses. She is called, then, their mother, instead of stepmother; just as she was also called the wife of Joseph, instead of betrothed. And Salome was the mother of the sons of Zebedee. And many others also. For he mentioned by name the more notable ones.

⁷ And now when the evening was come, because it was the Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, an honorable counselor, who also himself waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and calling the centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead. And when he knew it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where He was laid. The blessed Joseph, while still serving the law, yet recognized Christ as God, and therefore dares a praiseworthy daring; for he did not reckon, I am rich, and I shall fall from my wealth if I ask for the body of one condemned for tyranny, and I shall be slandered to the Jews; none of these things did he say within himself; but counting all things secondary, he asked that he might bury the body of the condemned. And Pilate marveled that He was already dead; for he supposed that He would hold out a long while, as the thieves also did. And he asked the centurion whether He had been long dead—that is, whether He had died before the [usual] hour. So Joseph, having received the body, bought fine linen. And taking Him down, he wrapped Him in the linen, burying the precious One preciously. For he too was a disciple of Christ, and knew how one ought to honor the Master; and he was honorable—that is, grave, reverent, blameless. And to be a counselor was a certain dignity, or rather a public office and burden, which those who held it were constrained to oversee the affairs of the market; and danger often came upon many from this, because of the misconduct of the market. Let the rich hear, and those occupied with public affairs, how in no way did the counselor’s dignity hinder Joseph toward virtue. And Joseph is interpreted addition; and Arimathaea, taking away that. May it come to pass, then, that we too become like Joseph, ever adding to the course of virtue, and taking away that—that is, what is truly good; and that we receive also the body of Jesus through communion, and lay it in a sepulchre hewn out of a rock—that is, in a soul that remembers and does not forget God. And let that soul be hewn out of a rock—that is, from Christ, who is the rock that gives stability; and let us wrap it in fine linen—that is, receive it in a pure body; for the linen of the soul, and as it were its garment, is the body. We must, then, receive the divine body of the Lord not only in a pure soul, but also in such a body; and we must wrap it—that is, fold and gather it together, and not spread it out; for the mystery is folded and hidden, and not spread abroad.