Commentarii in Matthaeum

I think, therefore, that we must not offer a single prayer according to eagerness, but rather approach frequently and, even repeating ourselves, not blush until our requests reach their fulfillment. For this reason Christ also made a third prayer about the same matters, although he knew the will of God and Father quite clearly; rather, through the third he confirmed that he had become man. Perhaps Judas thought he could escape notice, offering a kiss as a token of love, while his heart was full of unholy designs. So, as if from drunkenness, he approaches Christ, expecting to make the exceptional virtue an instrument of deceit and love, and he added also "Hail, Rabbi." Do you say "Hail" to the one ensnared to death through you? Are you not ashamed even of the pretense of betrayal? But from this one could see that, having the liar within himself—that is, Satan—he also lied in saying "Hail." And Christ accepted being kissed—and he became more savage than any wild beast in gentleness.

He said "twelve legions" instead of "you," meaning the twelve disciples, so that [he says] "I have no need of your assistance; for I have not used my authority, but I am giving myself over to the Jews, since the scriptures foretold that this would happen, that the Jews were about to do these things." Does Christ then accuse the teachers of the Jews because they did not prepare the snare of death for him prematurely? He does not wish to indicate this, but rather that "it was possible for you to seize me teaching daily in the temple, yet you did not arrest me; for I was rather reserving the necessity of suffering for the appropriate time." Christ did not say these things, then, accusing the madness of the Jews, nor does he rebuke their slowness toward bloodshed, because they did not arrest him when he was present and visible in the early days; rather, he exposes that the arrest was not a work of the power inherent in them, but of his own will, who had economically accepted and made willed the unwilled passion. Not because suffering was good, but because the things resulting from it were going to restore human nature to its original state, showing that it was a work of his own permission that they took him. The God of all said somewhere through Moses: "If a soul sins and hears a voice of swearing, and this one is a witness or has seen or known, if he does not report it," he says, "he will take the sin." Therefore, a charge of lawlessness was being brought against some, if they made no defense, hearing a voice of swearing.

For this reason Caiaphas cunningly puts the Lord under oath, so that if he should wish to remain silent even after this, he might condemn him as a lawbreaker, knowing that one who is sworn and remains silent becomes liable to the penalty prescribed by the law; but if he speaks the truth, they might kill him as a false Christ, as one calling himself God while having nothing more than other men in respect of flesh and what is seen. Therefore Christ said, "You have said it," meaning, "Your mouth has confessed it henceforth." And in order to make the penalty for their disbelief in him more severe, he again sets his own glory plainly before them, saying, "From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power of God." He says, "You have made no account of me, the Son by nature and truly of God the Father, who has come in a form like yours; and since you have descended to such ignorance that you do not know the mystery of him and of me, even though you are learned in the law, I necessarily say this: that a brief and limited time has been given to you for your impiety against me, until the precious cross; for after this I shall immediately run back to my own honor, I shall ascend to the glory I had in the beginning, I shall be co-throned with God the Father, even with my flesh." When Christ said these things, Caiaphas tore his garments, saying, "He has blasphemed." He did this to make the accusation more vehement and to magnify what was said through the action. Yet what blasphemy is this—this one especially has shone forth and prevailed mightily. It would be fitting to say what one of the holy prophets said:

The heaven was amazed at this and shuddered exceedingly, says the Lord, the God of all, the king of those who rule and the lord of those who exercise lordship; as one of us he is dishonored and endures being struck and submits to the mockery of the impious, setting before us a pattern of his extreme forbearance. For how could the one who examines hearts and reins, the giver of all prophecy, have been ignorant of who it was that struck him? They brought Jesus to Pilate; they themselves were delivered to the Roman armies. And what was announced beforehand through the holy prophets concerning them has been fulfilled. For one says: "Woe to the lawless one; evil according to his deeds will befall him." Another says: "As you have done, so it will be to you; your requital will be requited upon your head." These are a great reproach against the Jews, who chose a brigand and murderer rather than Christ; so little did they care for justice, and thus on account of piety they accused Christ. And when the one who had been allotted to judge was about to free him, they urged that the teacher and instructor of all piety should undergo a sentence of death, and in order that they might suffer an even more grievous punishment, they cried out, saying: "Take this one away, release Barabbas to us." Behold, clearly "they denied the holy and righteous one," as the blessed Peter says, "and asked that a murderer be granted" to them, so that they might be sharers in his portion. 304 27. Neglecting right and just judgment, Pilate did not even consider that he was delivering an innocent man to death, although he had the authority to acquit him.

And he washes his hands, supposing that by this he is free from sin, which is foolish to think. Perhaps, as a pagan, he thought that water alone suffices for the removal of sins. The Lord, through the voice of Jeremiah, reproached this impious outcry of theirs, saying: "I have abandoned my house, I have left my inheritance, I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies. My inheritance became to me like a lion in the thicket; it raised its voice against me, therefore I hated it." And the prophet Hosea also spoke somewhere concerning the impiety of the Jews: "Woe to them, for they have revolted from me; they are wretched, for they have been impious toward me; but I redeemed them, yet they slandered me with falsehoods. Their rulers will fall by the sword because of the ignorance of their tongue." The Savior is led to the saving passion. But they placed his cross upon Simon of Cyrene. Another of the holy evangelists said that Jesus himself "carried" the wood. Both are certainly true; for the Savior bore the cross, but about midway on the road, encountering the Cyrenaean, they seized him and transferred the cross to him. For it is said concerning him through the voice of Isaiah: "A child was born to us, a son was given to us, whose beginning is upon his shoulder"; for the cross became his beginning, through which he has reigned over the world beneath heaven, if it is true that he became "obedient unto death," and death by the cross, on account of which God exalted him.

Concerning the place of the Skull, it has come to us that the Hebrews transmit that the body of Adam was buried there, and since "in Adam all" die, Adam also arose, and "in Christ all will be made alive." You see how the creator and lord of all corrects his own nature; for he refers it back to the beginning by becoming like us for us, and for our sake he endured our sufferings. And when he was suspended from the cross, two thieves were crucified with him, and this was admittedly an insult according to the intention of the Jews, yet it is a reminder of the prophecy that says, "And he was counted among the lawless." But through his sufferings the blessings run to us; for it is true that "by his wound we were healed." These two thieves prefigured the two peoples, of whom one showed ingratitude until the end and did not acknowledge even the final captivity, which he suffered at the hands of the Romans, as a punishment for his outrages against Christ, while the other, near the very end, did not despair of forgiveness, but corrected the harshness of his evils by theology. And the fact that the Lord endured the cross between the thieves revealed his voluntary death and his presence to the two peoples. He came to them willingly, desiring both by his incarnation

renew themselves, even if the former, like one of the thieves, begged off, saying, "We have no king except Caesar," and demanded the innocent blood upon his own head, and gloried in the murder as just, from which both these and that one commonly fell from the kingdom. Now one of the thieves, living with the godless ways of the Jews, belched forth the same words as they: for "If you are," he says, "the Christ, save yourself and us." But the other, walking the opposite path to him, is rightly admired: for he believed in him even though such a bitter penalty was hanging, he rebuked the shameless talk of the Jews and the words of the one crucified with him, he confessed the sin in order to appear more righteous: for he bore witness to Christ's complete innocence and was an accuser of the madness of those who crucified him, and by this he seized the lot of the saints, the registration above and in the heavens. For seeing him crucified, he called him king; he expected the one in dishonor and suffering to come in divine glory, he seized the faith, although not nobly reared, and he also benefits us by opening the heavens for us. The darkness over the whole earth occurred from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, the sun failing, so that they might know that he is the very one hanging on the wood who took the whole creation as his ally for them, when he fought against the Egyptians for their sake. The light of the sun failed and darkness was spread over all their land, the sun drawing in its ray and as if no longer enduring to send it to those who had become lord-killers.

And in another way, we say that the land of the Jews, or its inhabitants, were darkened, because it did not receive the sun of righteousness and "the true light." The Lord spoke this utterance as a man, in order to achieve for our human nature the ability to speak boldly to God, saying, "Why have you forsaken me?" For only those who are pure and free from sin can say this without fear. And when he says "my God" to the Father, he suffers no harm to his own divinity and glory, being God by nature, when he speaks as a man these things that are fitting to humanity, just as we, if we call God "Father," do not thereby cast off being humans by nature and creatures of God, even if God calls us to sonship by grace through faith in Christ. A great and exceptional benefit was achieved through Christ for our souls: for since we have been justified through faith in God, and in him the human nature has been found to have acquired faultlessness, he has innovated for us that the souls of those departing from bodies no longer go to Hades as before, but are rather sent into the hands of the living God. And knowing this, the holy Stephen said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And another of the apostles writes, "So also those who suffer according to the will of God should entrust their souls to the faithful Creator." And the earth was shaken, signifying the change for the better, or also indicating indignation against those who had outraged him.

The breaking open of the rocks is a sign that the "stony heart" of the nations was opened to receive the evangelical seed. And the saints who arose and appeared to the many did not alone receive the gift of resurrection prematurely, but it happened as a sign that death was abolished through the death of Christ. I think the law also looked to this, commanding the involuntary homicide, after fleeing, to return again to his homeland after the death of the high priest; for the death of Christ restored to us, who are liable, the ascent to the heavenly Jerusalem. The earth was shaken, signifying the transformation of things for the better, even if it shows the indignation of God against those who have committed outrages against him. The breaking open of the rocks indicates that the souls of the gentiles were opened to receive the faith of Christ. And the saints who arose and appeared to many signify that death was abolished through the death of Christ. The rending of the veil was a not obscure sign that the temple itself, so to speak, mourned for those who were brought to ruin and destruction, who crucified the master of the temple itself; and perhaps also for the impiety against Christ, through their custom, the event convicting them; for it was the custom of the Jews to rend their garments when God was blasphemed. And the event seems to indicate to us something else necessary for benefit.

The veil that concealed the holy of holies within, when the time came for the shadow of the law to be rolled up and worship in types to cease, and for the holy of holies to be opened to those justified by faith in Christ, is rent asunder, as if God himself were showing them to the worthy, so that with nothing hindering them, those who follow in the footsteps of Christ might run into the inner tent. "And the crowds" who had come "to the spectacle, beating" their "breasts, turned back," perhaps freeing themselves from impiety against Christ by crying out against those who crucified him, even if not openly, because of the wickedness of the leaders. Such is the power of the crucified one—of this centurion who later showed courage in the faith. The Lord spoke truly when he said, "When I am raised from the earth, I will draw all to myself"; for behold, being raised on the precious cross, he began to net many into recognition of the truth. He drew the centurion, and he also drew some of the Jews, who "beat their breasts," being pierced in conscience and surely looking up with the eyes of their mind toward the Lord.

Since the Lord endured the passion on the cross for our sake and gave his own flesh as an exchange for the life of all, and was in the tomb like "a free man without help among the dead," as is sung in the Psalms, the women ran, bringing things for the care of the body and being full of spices; for they thought that he would lie with the others and remain dead in the tomb. And do not be surprised if women were ignorant that, being God and life, he would destroy the power of corruption and run back to life, when even to the apostles themselves the account of his resurrection seemed to be simply some nonsense and a fabricated thing, because not even they knew the divinely inspired scripture. So the women arrived at the tomb, but not finding the body of Christ, because of their love for him they see a holy angel. And indeed he became for them an evangelist and herald of the resurrection: "Do not seek," he says, "the one who is always living," being by nature life, "among the dead; for he is not here," that is, in death and the tomb, "but he has risen," having become a path of return to incorruption not so much for himself as for us; for this reason he lowered himself to kenosis and underwent likeness to us, so that "by the grace of God," as the blessed Paul says, "he might taste death for everyone" and become this death of death and dissolution of the curse once brought upon the first-formed; for the Lord prepared us to enter into such hope by saying: "Truly I say to you, he who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.

For it must be known that angels announced the birth to the shepherds in Bethlehem, and now rational powers proclaim the resurrection. Heaven has thus ministered to the proclamations concerning him, and the hosts of the upper spirits attend to the Son as the master and lord of all, even when he became flesh, that is, man. The female sex has gained profit and a release from reproach and an overturning of the curse; for he who long ago said to them "you will bear children in pains" has given them cessation by meeting them in the garden and saying "rejoice." With exceeding joy the women to him—and to good hopes and healing the afflicted. You see how some of the evangelists pass over certain things; for the doubt has been clearly unfolded by John, with the one who doubted, who was Thomas, being shown; so that also the mention of the appearance in Judea, which happened a second time, how the matter stood. But he said that he appeared to them in Galilee, which alone seems to me John omitted, as if it were his purpose to say the rest, how many times he appeared and where, but also clearly explaining how. John mentions other apparitions, but the one Matthew speaks of here not only the eleven saw, but also the many, as is likely. Economically and more humanely he said "it was given to me"; but he wishes it to be understood that he has authority over all as God, and having let go the measure of the kenosis, he ascended to his innate and ever-present glory, and is confessed as God and lord of all with flesh.

Therefore he says, "It was given to me," not as receiving it for the first time when he became man, but as receiving in the order of a man what he always possessed by virtue of being from the Father and being God by nature.