Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Magdalene with her companions visits Christ's sepulchre. An angel removes the stone from it and strikes the guards with terror, and declares to the women that Christ is risen. They return to announce this to the Apostles. On the way Christ meets them and commands them to announce it to them. The Jews, having given money, persuade the guards to say that, while they themselves were sleeping, the Apostles stole the body of Christ. Finally, at verse 16, Christ appears to the disciples on a mountain of Galilee and sends them to baptize and teach all nations.
Vulgate Text: Matthew 28:1-20
1. And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, to see the sepulcher. 2. And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it: 3. And his countenance was as lightning, and his raiment as snow. 4. And for fear of him the guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men. 5. And the angel answering, said to the women: Fear not you; for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified: 6. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, and see the place where the Lord was laid. 7. And going quickly, tell His disciples that He is risen; and behold He will go before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him. Lo, I have foretold it to you. 8. And they went out quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, running to tell His disciples. 9. And behold Jesus met them, saying: Hail. And they came up and took hold of His feet, and adored Him. 10. Then Jesus said to them: Fear not. Go, tell My brethren that they go into Galilee; there they shall see Me. 11. Who when they were departed, behold some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all things that had been done. 12. And they being assembled together with the ancients, taking counsel, gave a great sum of money to the soldiers, 13. Saying: Say you, His disciples came by night, and stole Him away when we were asleep. 14. And if the governor shall hear of this, we will persuade him, and secure you. 15. So they taking the money, did as they were taught: and this word was spread abroad among the Jews even unto this day. 16. And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17. And seeing Him they adored: but some doubted. 18. And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth. 19. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.
Verse 1: And in the End of the Sabbath, When It Began to Dawn Towards the First Day of the Week, Came Mary Magdalene and the Other Mary
Verse 1. And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (of James, of whom in chap. XXVII, vv. 56 and 61), to see the sepulcher.
— The Syriac: "In the evening on the sabbath, when the first day of the week was about to dawn." The Arabic: "At the beginning of the first of the sabbaths, as the first of the sabbaths was dawning, Mary Magdalene came, etc."
Here is a difficult apparent contradiction: how could it be "evening" if the day was dawning, indeed, as Mark says, "the sun having now risen"?
First, St. Jerome answers that these women went out to the sepulcher several times, namely in the evening and in the morning; wherefore the Evangelists narrate now one and now another of their goings forth.
Secondly, St. Ambrose thinks that some of the women went out in the evening and others in the morning, and consequently that the Evangelists are narrating different outings of theirs and different incidents. Thus Gregory of Nyssa, Oration 2 On the Resurrection, holds that the women went to the sepulcher four times: "Matthew," he says, "speaks of those women who came in the evening of the sabbath; John says Magdalene came while it was yet dark; Luke speaks of others about daybreak; Mark of another, at sunrise, with some accompanying her who had already been at the tomb before." But to one who compares the Evangelists among themselves, it is clear that they are speaking of one and the same going forth of these same women to visit Christ's sepulcher.
Thirdly, Baronius understands by "evening" the star of Venus, which is called Lucifer, in Greek ἑωσφόρος (the dawn-bringer); in Latin it is Vesper, and by Varro Vesperugo; as if to say: When Lucifer rose in the morning before the sun, Mary Magdalene came to Christ's sepulchre. For this star, a rival of the sun and moon, follows the setting sun in the evening, and shines first among the other stars, whence it is called Hesperus; but in the morning it precedes the rising sun, whence it is called Lucifer, because it brings the dawn and the light of day. But this star is not what the Greek ὀψέ, nor the Latin Vespere, signifies.
I say therefore that "evening" or "the evening of the sabbath" is the night following the sabbath — the night which dawns, that is, is terminated and ends in light, on the first day of the week, i.e. the morning of the Lord's Day, which is the first day after the sabbath. So Nyssen, Oration 2 On the Resurrection; St. Augustine, book III On the Harmony of the Gospels, chapter 24; Theophylact, Euthymius, St. Thomas, and others. That this is so is clear: First, from Mark, who clearly explains it thus, saying: "And when the sabbath was past." Secondly, because Matthew is wont to touch on many things briefly and in few words. Thus here he touches briefly upon the time at which these women, burning with love for Christ, came together and prepared themselves by buying spices to visit and anoint Christ already buried — which was in the evening, or immediately after the sabbath had passed, during which by the Law they had been obliged to rest from this and other works. He also wished to indicate the time at which they came to the sepulchre, which was at the dawning of the Lord's Day. Hence Rabanus: "They began to come in the evening," he says, "for they prepared the spices; but they arrived in the dawning morning."
For even before the sabbath, at the end of the Preparation day (that is, Friday), immediately after Christ's death and burial, they had begun to make preparations to anoint Him. For this is what Luke says in chapter 23, verse 56: "And returning (from Christ now buried), they prepared spices and ointments; and on the sabbath day they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared." And Mark 16:1: "When the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of James, and Salome bought spices that coming they might anoint Jesus, and very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen." For Mark is wont to be an interpreter of Matthew. Thirdly, the same is clear from the Greek ὀψὲ σαββάτων, which you may translate in two ways: First, "late in the sabbaths," that is, the sabbath being now over.
For ὀψέ means late, tardy, at the end, long after, a long while after the sabbath has passed. For the Hebrews began the sabbath and other festivals from the preceding evening, and ended them at the following evening, Leviticus 23:32; wherefore this following night was not the night ending the sabbath, but beginning the Lord's Day. Again, ὀψέ is the same as "in the evening" or "evening," as Our translator renders, and others commonly. Thus ὀψὲ τῆς ἡμέρας is the same as "in the evening of the day," as Budaeus and others attest. Now "in the evening" means "in the night." "For evening is the night which the light terminates," says St. Augustine.
Hence St. Prosper in the Sentences, sentence 203, drawing from St. Augustine: "In the evening," he says, "was the Lord on the cross; in the morning, at His resurrection; at noon, at His ascension." For the Hebrews call the night "evening," because the beginning of the night is the evening. Hence in Habakkuk chapter 1, "evening wolves" are called nocturnal, as those that prowl by night. Hence the Hebrew ערב ereb, that is "evening," is derived from ערב arab, that is, to grow dark or be obscured, which is what night does.
According to the first meaning mentioned, then, the sense is, as if to say: Late, that is, a long time after the sabbath had passed, indeed in the depth of night, when the Lord's Day was dawning, Mary came to see the sepulchre. According to the latter meaning, the sense is nearly the same, as if to say: In the evening of the sabbath, that is, on the night following the sabbath, which was already advancing toward daybreak, namely when the Lord's Day was dawning, Mary came, etc.; "the day, namely, now approaching, looking forth and rising," as Euthymius says; that is, at the dawn and daybreak of the Lord's Day.
Hear St. Augustine in the place already cited: "Thus then it has been said: In the evening of the sabbath, as though it were said: On the night of the sabbath, that is, on the night which follows the day of the sabbath, as his very words sufficiently indicate. For he says thus: And in the evening of the sabbath, which is dawning toward the first day of the week — which cannot be so if we understand the word 'evening' to signify only the first small part of the night, that is, only the beginning of the night. For the beginning itself does not dawn into the first day of the week, but the night itself which begins to be terminated by the light. For the end of the first part of the night is the beginning of the second part; but the light is the end of the whole night. Whence can the evening be said to be dawning into the first day of the week, unless by the name 'evening' the night itself be understood, which the light terminates?"
Matthew therefore indicates that these women prepared the ointments by night, but came to the sepulchre at the rising of dawn, as Luke, John, and Mark have it. You will say: John adds that they came "early, when it was yet dark." I reply: That is also true, because it was dawn or daybreak when the sun itself had not yet risen, but while its rays reflected on the mountains or clouds were already appearing, some darkness yet remained in the air. For dawn is the boundary between light and darkness; or else there was darkness while they were leaving their house, but the light and the sun had risen — as Mark has it — when they came to the monument. So Dionysius of Alexandria, in his Letter to Basilides.
Another reason, but a symbolic one, is given by Blessed Peter Chrysologus in his Sermon On the Resurrection: "There was," he says, "naturally darkness, and yet it is said that the sun had risen, because on that day (when Christ rose) the sun, as though congratulating the risen Christ, was ante-lucan — it rose earlier than usual." So says he; let him answer for the credit of the thing. In agreement with Chrysologus, Remigius says: "The dignity of that night is extolled: for otherwise evening does not dawn into day, but grows dark into night; but the Lord made that whole night festive and sparkling with the light of His resurrection."
Of the Sabbath. — In Greek σαββάτων, that is, "of sabbaths," meaning "of the sabbath," as Our translator, the Syriac, Vatablus, and others render; indeed so has the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew which is in circulation, namely שבת sabbat, i.e. of the sabbath. For in Scripture the sabbath is often called "sabbaths" in the plural: first, because the sabbath recurred frequently and several times throughout the years and months, and there were many sabbaths — four each month, fifty-two each year, since every week had its sabbath; and because on the sabbath there were many rests, that is, many cessations: for there had to be rest from every kind of work; for the feast of the sabbath was most holy. Thus Luke, Acts 13:14, says: "Entering the synagogue on the day of the sabbaths," i.e. on the sabbath day. And chapter 16:13: "And on the day of the sabbaths (that is, the sabbath day) we went out." Hence also all four Evangelists in this place, verse 1 or 2 in Greek, call the sabbath "sabbata" in the plural — though elsewhere it is called σάββατον in the singular, with omicron, not omega, as some have thought. Add a third reason proper to this passage: namely, that this sabbath is called "sabbata" in the plural, because this was a great sabbath day, as John says in chapter 19, verse 31; because it was the paschal sabbath, or one falling within the week of the Passover, the whole of which was festive; and because on this sabbath Christ the Lord rested in the sepulchre, and after it had passed He rose again.
On the first day of the sabbaths. — That is, on the first day after the sabbath, that is, on the Lord's Day. For the Hebrews named all the days of the week from the sabbath, as from the holiest. Thus "the second of the sabbath," that is, after the sabbath, was the second feria (Monday); "the third of the sabbath" was the third feria, or Tuesday, and so on for the rest. Hence the whole week was also called a sabbath, as in "I fast twice on the sabbath," i.e. in the week, Luke 18. So here "the first of the sabbath" may be taken for the first day of the week, namely Sunday — concerning the veneration and worship of which St. Augustine writes in Sermon 251 On the Seasons: "The Apostles and Apostolic men ordained that the Lord's Day should be observed with religious solemnity, because on that day our Redeemer rose from the dead. It is therefore called the Lord's Day (Dominicus), in order that on it, abstaining from earthly labors and worldly enticements, we may devote ourselves only to divine worship, paying to this day honor and reverence, on account of the hope of our own resurrection, which we have in it. For as the Lord rose from the dead, so we also hope we shall rise," etc. The same: "The Lord's Day," he says, "is the first day of the world: on it the elements of the world were formed, on it the angels were created." See more in the same, Sermon 254.
Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary — namely, the wife of Cleophas and mother of James. These were the leaders and vanguard of the other women who used to accompany Christ: for that there were several others is plain from Luke 23:55 ff., where among others he names Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Mark adds Salome. Furthermore, the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, was not among them, because she knew for certain and was expecting that Christ would rise on that same day; whence she knew this anointing would be useless.
Which is dawning. — You will say, why does he say "quae" (which, fem.)? For it should have been "qui" (which, masc.), referring to vesper (evening), as was just used. I reply: He says "quae" because he is referring not to the word's grammatical form but to the thing signified by the word. For the Greek ὀψέ, that is "in the evening, late, tardily," signifies the evening or night, which is being terminated and dawns in the sunrise of the following Lord's Day: otherwise, strictly speaking, τὸ ὀψέ, like vespere, is not a noun but an adverb — which nevertheless includes and signifies a noun within itself, namely the evening and night, to which the pronoun "quae" refers. Again, the noun vespere can be taken as a noun, and it is not only masculine but also feminine, as is plain from that line of Virgil, Georgics I:
Illic sera rubens accendit lumina vesper.
"There red evening lights her late lamps." (Virgil, Georgics I)
So Ambrosius Calepinus, although others refer the word "sera" (late) to "lumina" (lamps). Therefore the word "quae" refers to "vesperam," that is the evening or night, which dawns — that is, gives way to the light of the following day.
Hence it is clear that these women came to the sepulchre at dawn and daybreak: for to this they were urged both by their love of Christ, to make them hasten to Him and forestall the day; and by their fear of the Jews, lest if they had come in broad daylight, being seen by Jews hostile to Christ, they would have been badly received. Moreover, Matthew here narrates directly only the time of the women's arrival at the sepulchre; but he indirectly hints also at the time when Christ rose, namely at dawn a little before the women's arrival — as the common opinion of the Doctors and of the Church holds, which St. Jerome and St. Augustine prove from Psalm 56:9: "I will rise at dawn"; and Eusebius, book X Of the Evangelical Demonstration, final chapter, interprets the title of Psalm 21, "for the morning aid," as referring to the resurrection of Christ, which was accomplished in the morning.
The common opinion, then, is that Christ rose after midnight and before sunrise on the Lord's Day: otherwise He would have been found dead by the women. And He did so for this reason, that just as thirty-three years before He had at the same time been born of the Blessed Virgin, so now, reborn by the resurrection, He might as the new Sun of Justice shine forth upon the world. Hence of old the Christians on the day of Easter, after midnight, broke their fast and the assembly of the vigil, and gave great signs of joy. So Euthymius.
Furthermore, Christ does not appear to have risen immediately from midnight. For Mark, 16:9, more precisely says that Christ rose in the morning; and this is taught by most of the Fathers, whom Suarez cites in Part III, disputation 46, section 2. Indeed the Church in the Paschal hymn so begins: "Aurora lucis rutilat," etc. "Cum rex ille fortissimus, pede conculcans tartara," etc. "Victor surgit de funere."
Morally: learn here that Christ reveals Himself, His grace, and His glory to those souls which take pains to anoint Him with the good works of prayer, penance, and charity, that He may animate and strengthen them in these very things. Hence St. Gregory, homily 21: "Those women," he says, "who came with spices, see angels: because evidently those minds behold the heavenly citizens which set out toward the Lord through holy desires with the fragrances of the virtues."
To see (Greek θεωρῆσαι, that is, to behold, to contemplate) the sepulchre, — namely, that they might anoint Christ, as Mark says, 16:2. For to this end, when Christ was being buried by Joseph, they had watched and carefully observed the form and manner in which Christ had been laid in the sepulchre, so that, returning after the sabbath, they might fittingly and reverently anoint Him. Hence it is probable that they did not know about the guard of soldiers posted at the sepulchre by the Jews, nor about its sealing, but had returned home from the sepulchre before those two things were done. For if they had known these two things, they would not have dared to come to the sepulchre, lest they run into the guards, much less to break the seal. But God, without their knowing it, removed both of these obstacles before their arrival, as will be plain from what follows. From this learn to strive for heroic deeds for God's glory, and to trust with certainty that God will either remove all obstacles in the way, or enable us to overcome them.
Mystically Bede, on Luke chapter 24, says: "By the fact that the women come to the monument very early in the morning, an example is given us of approaching the Lord's body with the darkness of vices dispelled. For this sepulchre also bore the figure of the Lord's altar, on which the mysteries of Christ's body ought to be consecrated not in silk, nor in dyed cloth, but — after the pattern of the shroud in which Joseph wrapped Him — in pure linen: so that, just as He offered the true substance of earthly nature unto death for us, so we too in commemoration of Him might lay upon the altar linen that is pure of earth's growth, white, and in many ways chastened as by a kind of mortification. But the spices which the women bring signify the fragrance of the virtues and the sweetness of prayers, with which we ought to approach the altar."
Note: This was the order of Christ's Passion and Resurrection. First, Christ was in His Passion for about 18 hours. For on Thursday evening He ate the lamb, washed the disciples' feet, instituted the Eucharist, and delivered His long sermon on charity (John 13 and following), and at last went to Gethsemane: all of which easily require three hours. Therefore around the third hour of the night, in Gethsemane, He began to be sorrowful and to pray that the cup might pass from Him. From there, if you count all the hours up until the third hour of the afternoon on Friday, at which Christ died, you find 18 hours; whence learn morally how brief is the time of Christ's Passion and of Christians' suffering, but how long the time of the Resurrection and of glory, because it is eternal. So liberal is God, so short is the suffering, so long the reward and the glory: "Momentum est quod cruciat, aeternum quod delectat" — "Brief is what torments, eternal is what delights." Christ suffered for 18 hours, but He shall be glorious for eternity.
Secondly, Christ, dying at the third hour of the afternoon, immediately descended as to His soul into hell, while His body, taken down from the cross, was washed and wrapped in a shroud, so that before nightfall He was buried (for it was the night of the sabbath, on which the Jews had to rest from every work). Therefore He was in hell for about 36 hours (in the sepulchre, 33): for that is the total if you count the three hours remaining from the third hour of the afternoon until the night of Friday, plus the 24 hours of the sabbath, plus nine hours of Sunday night. For it seems that Christ rose after midnight and before dawn, around the ninth hour of the night: for the night was then equal to the day, that is 12 hours each, because it was near the equinox. Wherefore it is surprising that St. Augustine, On the Trinity book III chapter 6, should count 40 hours from Christ's death until His resurrection, and 36 from His burial to His resurrection.
Thirdly, Christ, as soon as He appeared in hell — namely in limbo — showed to Adam, Abraham, and the rest of the patriarchs and prophets not only His soul but also the Divinity joined to it: wherefore He blessed them with the vision of His Divinity; then, therefore, hell was as it were heaven. Whence Christ said to the thief who was about to come to Christ in limbo: "This day you shall be with Me in paradise."
Fourthly, around the ninth hour of the Lord's Day night, Christ, going forth from hell with the patriarchs, came to the sepulchre, and there showed them His body, entirely disfigured, livid, bloody, torn, etc., [which had been endured] for them, and then, cleansing this body from every bruise, blood, ointment, etc., and sending angels again (although some think that all this was done not through angels, but through Christ's very soul, which had this power from the hypostatic union with the Word: so Suarez, Part III, vol. I, disputation 45, section 2), to gather His blood which had been shed in the scourging and along the way, likewise His hair that had been plucked out, etc.; once collected, He again infused it into the veins of His body, and the glorious soul of Christ, entering it and uniting it to itself, animated, vivified, and glorified it. For He poured His glory, as it were the sun by its rays, into it, especially into the five wounds, which shone more clearly than the rest of the members.
Fifthly, to many of the Fathers — such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and the rest — He restored their bodies, to make them sharers in His resurrection and glory, and His witnesses among the Jews, as is plain from Matthew 27:53.
Sixthly, Christ rose again, passing through the stone that covered the sepulchre. Soon an angel descended, stirring up an earthquake and rolling the stone away from the sepulchre, so that he might rouse the guards and open the entrance of the sepulchre to the women.
Seventhly, soon after He appeared in glory to the Blessed Virgin His Mother, and showed her the Patriarchs who had already risen, all of whom, greeting her with honor, filled her with wonderful joy. After that He appeared to St. Mary Magdalene as she persevered at the sepulchre, etc.
Tropologically: learn here how reverently we ought to venerate, adorn, and honor the tombs and relics of Christ, of the martyrs, and of the other saints. St. Ambrose, in his sermon On SS. Nazarius and Celsus, concisely assigns four reasons: "I honor," he says, "the scars borne in the martyr's flesh for Christ's Name. I honor the memory of his life by the perpetuity of his virtue. I honor the ashes hallowed by confessing the Lord. I honor in those ashes the seeds of eternity." "The bodies of the just are not to be despised," says St. Augustine, "seeing that the Holy Spirit made use of them as instruments and vessels unto every good work." See St. Chrysostom, final homily on the Epistle to the Romans, in the Moral application.
Verse 2: And Behold, There Was a Great Earthquake. For an Angel of the Lord Descended From Heaven
Verse 2. And behold, there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven; and approaching, he rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. — "An earthquake." Why? I answer: First, that by it might be signified the power, glory, and magnificence of the risen Christ, as of God, who at His nod shakes the earth — the Lord over hell, heaven, and earth. For by an earthquake God showed His presence and power on Sinai and elsewhere; according to that text: "From the face of the Lord the earth was moved," Psalm 113:7. And: "O God, when Thou didst go forth in the sight of Thy people, when Thou didst pass through the desert, the earth was moved," Psalm 67:8.
Secondly, that the women might recognize the angel not only from his august light and appearance, but also from this earthquake; and so might more readily believe the resurrection of Christ as announced by the angel — especially since by this earthquake the angel rolled the stone away from the door of the sepulchre, so that the women might enter it, and, seeing the empty sepulchre, might know that Christ had risen. So St. Chrysostom, Augustine, Theophylact, and others.
Thirdly, that the soldiers guarding the sepulchre — numb with the cold of night, or else asleep — might be roused, and become witnesses that Christ had risen by divine power; "that," as Euthymius says, "roused up by the fear of the earthquake, and struck with horror at him who had rolled away the stone, they might flee in dismay, and announce these things to the Jews, and so become themselves witnesses of the truth."
Symbolically: the earth, which at Christ's death trembled for horror, at His resurrection leapt up for joy, as it were, and applauded the risen One with congratulation. Thus at the blessed death and passage to heaven of St. Paulinus of Nola and of other saints, we read that the earth was shaken and leapt up. "So great," says St. Jerome, "that it would shake all things and threaten the complete overthrow of the earth." Thus at Christ's death the whole earth trembled, as I said in chapter 27, verse 51.
For an angel of the Lord. — The word "for" indicates that the preceding earthquake was produced by the angel, and that the stone was rolled back together with it. Franciscus Lucas and others think that this angel was Gabriel, who according to his name is a minister of the power of God and executes His works. For "Gabriel" means "the strength of God." There is no doubt that many angels were present to him, and for three days guarded the sepulchre, and adored the sacred body of Christ there, since it was hypostatically united to the Divinity. Just so, at the birth of Christ, when the angel announced to the shepherds the birth of Christ, "there was a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest," Luke 2:13. For just as Christ there was born of the Virgin, so here, rising from the sepulchre, He was reborn by the power of the Holy Spirit, and as it were regenerated.
Furthermore, this angel appeared in the form of a young man, as Mark says: First, because youth signifies the angels' unfailing and perennial vigor, beauty, and strength — whence it comes about that they never grow weary, or fail, or grow old; but they always endure, lively, vigorous, swift, and nimble. Hence they are depicted as young men with wings. So St. Dionysius, On the Celestial Hierarchy. Secondly, because this angel represented Christ, who was a young man: for He died and rose again at the age of 34. Thirdly, youth signifies that he was strong and warlike, to fight against the guards. For young men are the best, most daring, most ready, and most robust soldiers. Whence the Poet:
Ἔργα ἀνδρῶν, πόλεμοί τε νέων, βουλαί τε γερόντων.
That is: The works belong to the men, the wars to the young men, but the counsels to the old.
Finally, youth represents the beauty, liveliness, immortality, agility, and glory of the glorified body, which Christ assumed in the resurrection.
And approaching, he rolled back the stone — the stone of Christ's sepulchre — not in order that Christ might rise from it: for Christ had already risen, penetrating the closed sepulchre by divine power through the gift of subtlety; but that he might show the women that Christ their God and Lord had now risen, by opening the approach to the sepulchre and displaying it empty of Christ's body: for as Christ was born from the closed womb of the Virgin, so too He rose from the closed sepulchre.
Hear St. Augustine, Sermon 138 On the Seasons: "The perfidious Jews," he says, "had sealed the stone of the monument, that Christ might have no way out: but how could He fail to go out from the sepulchre, who came forth from the uncorrupted womb of His mother with her virginity unimpaired? He deceived the guards, leapt forth from the sepulchre, appeared to the disciples with the doors not opened: from the one place He went out though it was closed, into the other He entered though He had been shut out." So also Euthymius, Chrysostom, and Theophylact here, and St. Jerome to Hedibia, Question VI; Nyssen, Oration 2 On the Resurrection; Justin, Question 117 To the Orthodox; St. Epiphanius, Oration On the Burial of Christ; Chrysologus, Sermon 75; Gregory Nazianzen, in the tragedy Christus patiens, and others elsewhere. Therefore when Saint Leo, in Epistle 83 to the Monks of Palestine, says that Christ rose on the third day "when the stone had been rolled back," the expression "when the stone had been rolled back" signifies not the cause, but the sign, effect, and proof not of a phantom but of a true resurrection of Christ. For he is arguing against those who said that Christ was a phantom and that all His works had been phantasmal, as he himself explains in the passage that follows.
From this, gather an argument against Calvin and our Innovators: that by a similar omnipotence of God the whole Christ can be contained in the Eucharist under a small host. For if Christ, by penetrating the stone of the tomb, could be in the same place with the stone, then likewise in the same host many and great members of Christ can be together. The Calvinists, in order to evade this weapon, reply that the stone of the tomb became soft like wax and melted away, and thus opened a place and yielded to the rising Christ. But this fiction of theirs is ridiculous, and diametrically contrary to the common sense of the Fathers, the Doctors, and the Church, namely that Christ rose from a closed tomb. Add that if God can turn a hard stone into soft wax, why can He not also grant to a body a spiritual manner of existing and of penetrating a stone?
The Stone. — Some think that there were two stones of the tomb: the first exterior one, which closed the outer entrance of the tomb, and another interior one, which properly sealed the sepulchre itself. For the tomb of Christ was in a crypt, as it were in a chamber or inner room, such that the chamber had its own doorway and the sepulchre also had its own. So Saint Augustine, On the Harmony of the Evangelists, Book III, chapter 24; Bede, Borchard, and Maldonatus. But the Evangelists mention only one stone, namely the one which closed the exterior door of the crypt: for the inner sepulchre was open on the south side, and therefore had neither doorway nor stone, as is clear from a sketch of it, although Borchard, in his Description of the Holy Land, thinks the opposite — namely that this stone closed the inner sepulchre itself, not the outer chamber.
Truly Chrysologus, in Sermon 74: "The stone," he says, "rolled against the entrance proved the death, rolled back became the witness of the resurrection." And Severianus in the Catena: "He does not say: He rolled, but: He rolled back the stone, because the stone rolled to the entrance proved the death, and rolled back became the witness of the resurrection. Here the order of things is reversed. The tomb devours death, not the dead man; the house of death becomes a dwelling of life; a womb of a new kind receives the dead man and gives him back alive."
A figure of this was Samson, who, when he had entered Gaza and was besieged by the Philistines guarding the gate, arose at midnight and carried off the gates to the summit of the mountain. For, as Saint Gregory explains in Homily 21: "Our Redeemer, rising before dawn, not only came forth free from the underworld, but He also destroyed the very bars of hell; He took away the gates and went up to the summit of the mountain, because in rising He removed the bars of hell, and in ascending He penetrated the kingdoms of heaven."
And He was sitting upon it — not as if wearied from the labor of removing the stone from the tomb, but in order to show, first, that He was the one who had rolled back the stone; second, so that He might calmly receive the women as they approached, and defend them against the guards; third, "that He might be the guardian of the Lord's sepulchre," says Saint Jerome, lest someone seeing it empty should bring in another corpse and thereby say that Christ had not risen; fourth, to terrify the soldier-guards, as if to say: You stand armed to watch over the sepulchre, so that you may guard it and Christ as though shut up in it, lest He be able to rise: behold, I have been sent from heaven and have unlocked it, and have shown that Christ has risen from it even though it was closed and you were unwilling. Come to me, if you dare, and rise up against me — I am sitting calmly and untroubled, waiting for you; and if you all approach me, I shall with a slight touch lay you low and crush you like fleas.
Saint Thomas here gives symbolic reasons for the angel's sitting: "He was sitting," he says, "because no weariness was in Him — as a teacher of faith, as a master of the resurrection; He was sitting upon the rock, so that the solidity of the one sitting might give firmness to believers; the angel was laying upon the rock the foundations of the faith, upon which Christ was about to establish the Church. Or by the stone of the monument death can be designated, by which all were oppressed: by this, therefore — that the angel sat upon the stone — it is signified that Christ by His own power subjected death." Hear Bede as well: "He was sitting, so that by sitting He might signify that, with the author of death having been overcome, He had already ascended the throne of an eternal kingdom: and He was sitting upon the rolled-back stone, by which the door of the monument had been closed, that He might teach that He had by His own power cast down the bars of hell."
You will object first: how is it that Matthew and Mark say the angel was sitting, when Luke says he was standing? I answer: "to stand," by a Hebraism, applies to any posture; for it simply means that a thing is present, whether it be upright, or sitting, or lying down. Thus of Magdalene, who was lying at the feet of Christ and washing and anointing them, Luke says in chapter 7, verse 37: "Standing behind at His feet, she began to wash His feet with tears and wiped them with the hair of her head"; "standing," that is, lying. Add that the narrative of Matthew and Mark is a different narrative from that of Luke, as I shall presently explain.
You will object secondly: how is it that Matthew says that the angel sat upon the rolled-back stone, that is, outside the sepulchre, and that he was seen there by the guards, when Mark says that the women saw the angel not outside, but when they were entering the monument, that is, inside the sepulchre? I answer: the angel first removed the stone which closed externally the door of the crypt in which the sepulchre was, and then, with a glance at the guards who were outside, terrified them and put them to flight, lest they should keep the women away from the entrance of the sepulchre; then he entered the sepulchre itself, and there he was seen by the women, in order to show them the empty sepulchre, and thus that Christ had risen. Hence he says: "He has risen, as He said: Come and see the place where the Lord was laid." So Theophylact. Or rather, the angel of whom Matthew speaks was a different angel from the one of whom Mark speaks. For Matthew's angel was sitting upon the stone outside the sepulchre, and bade the women enter the sepulchre. When, therefore, they had entered the sepulchre, they saw there another angel, the one of whom Mark speaks, who said and confirmed exactly the same thing that the first angel of Matthew had said outside the sepulchre. So Barradius.
But I say that exactly the same thing is being said by Mark as what Matthew says. For Mark is accustomed to be the follower and interpreter of Matthew. Therefore, what Mark says — "entering into the monument" — take it thus, that is, when they were preparing to enter or beginning to enter the monument: for they had not yet entered it, but were still outside it, and there they saw and heard the angel, as Matthew has it. For "to enter" here, as elsewhere, signifies an action begun, not completed. If you wish to signify a completed action, say with Saint Augustine, in his book On the Harmony of the Evangelists, book 3, chapter 24, and with Francisco Luca, that the women did enter the monument, that is, into the vestibule or enclosure which stood before the monument and which divided and separated it from the rest of the garden: for it was fitting that the sepulchre be separated from the garden by some hedge or enclosure. Moreover, the fact that Luke, in chapter 24, says that the women in the monument saw and heard two angels, is another and different narrative from this narrative of Matthew and Mark, about which I shall speak below in its own place and order.
Verse 3: And His Countenance Was as Lightning, and His Raiment as Snow
Verse 3. And His countenance was as lightning, and His raiment as snow. — "As lightning." Why? I answer: First, because lightning is akin to, and very aptly represents, the nature and gifts of the angels. For lightning is most splendid, most swift, most effective, and more than fiery: it pervades and lays low all things. For this reason, of the Cherubim who surround God's triumphal chariot, it is said in Ezekiel 1:14: "They went and returned in the likeness of flashing lightning." And Psalm 103, which Paul cites in Hebrews 1: "He makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire."
Secondly, lightning signifies the glory of the angels, which flashes with the lightning of divine knowledge: for the nature of lightning is, as it were, of spiritual and heavenly origin, as is the case with the angels, both in respect to nature and in respect to grace and glory. Again, lightning signifies the glory of Christ as He rises; for the glorious body of Christ shone like lightning. For when angels appear, they appear in that form which suits the matter on account of which they appear. Since therefore this angel appears in order to represent the glorious resurrection of Christ, hence his face flashed like lightning: for lightning is most brilliant, most powerful, most subtle, and most agile. Hence it very aptly represents the four gifts of the glorified body, both of Christ and of the Blessed; namely, clarity, impassibility, subtlety, and agility. For by the resurrection of Christ, says Saint Leo in Sermon 1 On the Ascension, "infirmity has passed into strength, mortality into immortality, ignominy into glory."
Thirdly, and more aptly, lightning represents the zeal, terror, and wrath of the angel against the impious Jews and the soldiers guarding the sepulchre, who wished to hinder Christ's resurrection: for lightning is a symbol of bitter and swift warfare and of keen and ardent warriors. For lightning is joined with thunder, and from it, as it were, a flame bursts forth. Hence lightning is called the son of thunder. Gabriel, therefore, is here introduced as a kind of Mars, flashing and hurling thunderbolts, penetrating all things with his strength as with a thunderbolt, casting down, blasting, reducing to ashes, so as to overwhelm the guards. Hence to them alone he appeared so flashing that he seemed to be about to leap upon them; but for the women he tempered this lightning, and showed a countenance that was indeed glorious, yet gentle and cheerful. For the Blessed appear to each in that form and appearance in which they themselves will: therefore to the women he appeared simply white-robed, that is, clad in a white robe, as Mark has it in chapter 16, verse 5.
Thus the same Gabriel, in Daniel 10:5, representing the strength and victories of the Maccabees against Antiochus Epiphanes, appeared flashing like lightning: "His face," he says, "as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp." Hear Saint Gregory in Homily 21 on the Gospels: "For in lightning there is the terror of fear, but in snow there is the soothing of brightness: since, however, Almighty God is both terrible to sinners and gentle to the just, rightly is the angel, the witness of His resurrection, shown both in the lightning of his countenance and in the whiteness of his garment, so that by his very appearance he might terrify the reprobate and soothe the pious. Hence also, rightly, a pillar of fire went before the people as they walked through the deserts by night, and a pillar of cloud by day. For in fire there is terror, but in the vision of cloud a gentle comforting: and the day is taken as the life of the just, the night as the life of the sinner."
Tropologically: let holy and angelic preachers be like thunders and lightnings, which by their thundering and lightning crush, blast, and destroy the vices of sinners. Thus of Saint Basil, Saint Gregory Nazianzen says at his funeral: "Your thunder, O Basil, was your speech, but your life was lightning." Thus John and James are called by Christ Boanerges, Mark 3:17, that is, sons of thunder, that is, thundering and flashing lightning against impiety and the impious. I have said more on this subject at Apocalypse 4, 5.
Anagogically: lightning represents the fire of gehenna, prepared for the impious Jews and for the guards who were enemies of Christ, because flashes of lightning are sulphurous and smell of fire and brimstone; and gehenna burns with fire and brimstone, Apocalypse 20:9; Isaiah 30:33. Hence too the Sibyl foretold that the Antichrist would be slain by an angel and blasted with a thunderbolt, as I said at Apocalypse 19:11.
And his raiment as snow, — pure and white. Hence Mark calls it "a white robe," Luke "a shining garment." This whiteness and brightness signify, first, the purity, innocence, and chastity of the Angels; secondly, the joy and glory of the resurrection of Christ, and especially the gift of clarity. Hear Saint Gregory, Homily 21 on the Gospels: "Because he appeared clothed with a white robe, it was because he was announcing the joys of our festival. For the whiteness of his garment makes known the splendor of our solemnity. Should we call it ours or his? But to confess the truth, let us rather say both his and ours. For that resurrection of our Redeemer was both our festival, because it brought us back to immortality, and the angels' festival, because in recalling us to heavenly things it filled up their number. Therefore in his own and in our festival the angel appeared in white garments, because while by the Lord's resurrection we are being led back to the heavenly realms, the losses of the heavenly fatherland are being repaired." See what I said at Ecclesiastes 9:8, on the words: "Let thy garments always be white."
Verse 4: And for Fear of Him the Guards Were Struck With Terror, and Became as Dead Men
Verse 4. And for fear of him the guards were terrified, and became as dead men, — that is, thunderstruck "and stupefied like dead men," says Saint Jerome, because they saw the thunderbolt-hurling angel threatening them, as it were, with the thunderbolt of death and brandishing it. For they feared that they would be blasted by him as by lightning, be slain, and be reduced to ashes. If the angel, merely by looking at the guards with his flashing face, struck and stupefied them so greatly, what would he have done if he had laid hands upon them and exerted his strength? For in this manner one angel killed in a single night 185,000 soldiers in the camp of Sennacherib, Isaiah 37:36.
Verse 5: And the Angel Answering, Said to the Women: Fear Not You
Verse 5. And the angel, answering, said to the women: Fear not ye. — You will ask: how is it that Matthew and Mark say that only one angel was seen by the women, when Luke asserts that two were seen, who comforted the terrified women with different words from those which Matthew and Mark have? I answer: the history and narrative of Luke is different from this of Matthew, and happened later, as I shall show below.
To the women, — namely, to Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and the others, as Luke has in chapter 24, verse 10. Therefore those are mistaken who think that Magdalene, when she had seen the empty sepulchre, immediately ran back to the Apostles to tell them, and that she did not see the angels, but that they were seen only by Mary the mother of James and the others. John, therefore, in chapter 20, verse 1, when he names Magdalene alone and narrates that she ran back to the Apostles, understands under her all her other companions. For Magdalene was the leader and chorus-leader of all of them.
Eve, conversing with the devil, met with death, but these women, conversing with an angel, found life. Hear Severianus in the Catena: "As the Lord rises, a heavenly fellowship is restored to earthly beings, and for the woman who had had a deadly counsel with the devil, there becomes a life-giving conversation with an angel." Sorceresses and witches imitate Eve, who by conversing with the devil draw in death; but penitents imitate Magdalene, who by calling upon the angels obtain life.
Fear not ye. — The "ye" has emphasis: "When he says: Ye," says Saint Chrysostom, "this bears much honor with it, and at the same time declares that those who with the greatest boldness had dared to commit that crime, unless they repent, will suffer the utmost. For it is not your part," he says, "to fear, but theirs who crucified Him." And Saint Gregory, in Homily 21 on the Gospels: "Let those," he says, "be afraid who do not love the coming of the citizens from on high; let those be in dread who, pressed down by carnal desires, despair of being able to reach their fellowship. But why do ye fear, who see your fellow citizens?"
For I know that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified. — The "for" gives the reason why, upon seeing the angel, they ought not to fear, but to be made cheerful and to rejoice, because both they and the angel love and reverence Jesus crucified, and serve and minister to Him; as if the angel were saying: "I have come for the service of Him for whose sake ye also have come, and we have one Lord and one will," says Christianus Druthmarus, who seven hundred years ago wrote on Matthew, about the year of the Lord 850, and was a contemporary of Rabanus, Angelomus, Simeon Metaphrastes, and Haymo.
He names Him as crucified, both to show that he does not blush at, but openly proclaims, the cross and the Crucified, and declares himself to be His servant — because the cross is the highest honor and glory of Christ and of His followers — and to signify the fruit of the cross of Christ, namely that it is itself "the head and summit of good things," as Saint Chrysostom says, and that through the cross Christ redeemed not only women and other men, but also gladdened the angels, and indeed conferred upon them grace and glory, as the weightier Theologians hold, with Francisco Suarez, as I have shown at chapter 18, verses 12 and 13. Finally, that through the cross He has reconciled the angels to men, and heaven to earth, "making peace through the blood of His cross, whether the things that are on earth or the things that are in heaven," says Paul, Colossians 1:20.
Verse 6: He Is Not Here; For He Is Risen, as He Said: Come, and See the Place Where the Lord Was Laid
Verse 6. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said: Come, and see the place where the Lord was laid. — The Syriac has: "our Lord." "He is not here by the presence of the flesh," says Saint Gregory, "and yet He was nowhere lacking by the presence of His majesty."
For He is risen. — In Greek ἠγέρθη, that is, "He awoke," He was stirred, He was roused from death as from a short and light sleep, to the vigil of light and of life: for ἐγείρω means to rouse, to awaken, to raise up, to lift up. For to Christ death was like a sleep; for in the sepulchre He slept, as it were, for 36 hours, then on the morning of the Lord's day He rose as if awakened. So shall it be for us also. Wherefore, as sleep is a kind of brief death, so death is a longer sleep. Hence the Poet: "O fool, what is sleep, except the image of icy death?" Hence Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, does not call those who have departed this life "dead" but "sleeping," because namely from the sleep of death we shall all be awakened and rise to life on the day of judgment.
Again, ἠγέρθη, that is, "He awoke," just as trees, in winter as it were stripped and sleeping, are awakened in the spring, when they begin to put forth leaves, to bloom, and to produce fruit. So Saint Jerome, or whoever the author is, on Mark chapter 16: "The bitter root of the cross," he says, "has vanished: for the flower of life has burst forth together with the fruits, that is, He who lay in death, rose in glory;" and in the same manner He will make His faithful rise again. Therefore, as Saint Leo says, Sermon 1 On the Ascension: "Whither the glory of the Head has gone before, thither also is the hope of the body called." For He Himself "will transform the body of our lowliness, conformed to the body of His brightness," Philippians 3:21. "For the body is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption; it is sown in ignobility, it shall rise in glory; it is sown in weakness, it shall rise in strength; it is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body," 1 Corinthians 15:42.
All the Martyrs and Saints continually set this before themselves, and therefore, strengthened by this hope, they nobly overcame whatever labors, troubles, and crosses befell them; of whom the first-fruits were the Maccabees: read their deeds and words in 2 Maccabees 7; for indeed "the hope of Christians is the resurrection of the dead," says Tertullian, in his book On the Resurrection. And Saint Augustine, Sermon 3 On the Ascension: "The death of Christ," he says, "gave us life, the resurrection raised us up, the ascension consecrated us."
As He said. — The angel urges Christ's oracle and promise, as if saying: Christ, whom you all regarded as a holy and divine Prophet, foretold and promised that He would rise from death on the third day. Therefore believe that He has risen: for so great a Prophet could not and would not lie, especially since you already see that His body has gone out of the sepulchre and has risen — as I, who am an angel of the living and true God, announce and most certainly affirm. The same He Himself foretold through David, Psalm 15, saying: "Because you will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you give your Holy One to see corruption;" because, as Saint Peter says in Acts 2:24: "It was impossible that He should be held by it [hell]."
Moreover, Christ rose again before He was anointed by the women, in order to show that He had no need of that anointing, as one who was rising by His own power. Another, moral reason is given by Saint Bernard, Sermon 12 on the Canticles, namely that He would rather have the price of this anointing be attributed to the poor than to Himself: "Accordingly," he says, "the Lord Jesus did not wish the prepared ointment to be spent on His dead body, so that He might save it for His living body, that is, for the Church: she is the dearer body of Christ. That, lest she should taste of death, that other was delivered over to death — no Christian is unaware of this; He desires that she be anointed, that she be cherished, He wishes her weak members to be refreshed with poultices and treatments: therefore He kept the precious ointments for her, when, anticipating the hour and hastening His glory, He did not frustrate the women's devotion, but instructed it."
Saint Jerome gives a similar example in his epistle to Lucinius: "Exuperius," he says, "bishop of Toulouse, imitator of the widow of Zarephath, hungering himself feeds others, and with a face pale from fasting, is tormented by another's hunger, and has distributed all his substance among the bowels of Christ. There is nothing richer than he, who carries the Body of the Lord in a wicker basket and His Blood in a glass cup."
Come (enter with me into the sepulchre: for, so that ye might enter it, I have removed the great stone from it), and see the place where the Lord was laid. — That by ocular inspection, as Chrysostom says, you may see that His body is not here, but has risen from it, "so that if you do not believe my words, you may believe the empty sepulchre," says Saint Jerome. The angel therefore went ahead on the way and, as a guide, led the women into the sepulchre and showed them that it was empty, so that they might not doubt that Christ had risen from it.
Verse 7: And Going Quickly, Tell His Disciples That He Is Risen; and Behold He Will Go Before You Into Galilee
Verse 7. And going quickly, tell His disciples that He has risen; and behold He will go before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him: Behold I have foretold it to you. — "Quickly," so that you may quickly lift and wipe away the grief of the disciples, conceived from the death of Christ their Master, and raise up their sorrowful spirits and fill them with joy by the most gladsome message of Christ's resurrection. These women deserved to receive this above others, because above others they had devotedly gone to His sepulchre.
Saint Gregory gives a symbolic reason, in Homily 25, saying: "For because in paradise a woman served up death to the man, from the sepulchre a woman announces life to the men; and she tells the sayings of her Life-Giver, she who had repeated the words of the death-bringing serpent. As if the Lord were saying to the human race, not in words but in deeds: From whatever hand the drink of death was brought to you, from that same hand receive the cup of life."
Tell His disciples. — Mark adds: "and Peter," that is, And especially Peter, and above all Peter; both because Peter, in Christ's absence, was the first and chief of the Apostles; and because Peter, just as he loved Christ above the others, so also above the others grieved at His death. Saint Gregory adds a third reason, in Homily 21 on the Gospels: "Because," he says, "if he had not named by name the one who had denied his Master, he would not have dared to come among the disciples: therefore he is called by name, lest he despair on account of his denial. In this matter we must consider why Almighty God permitted the one whom He had arranged to place over the entire Church to tremble at the voice of a servant-girl and to deny himself. This, indeed, we recognize to have been done by a great dispensation of piety, so that he who was to be the shepherd of the Church might, in his own fault, learn how he ought to have pity on others. Therefore He first showed him to himself, and then preferred him over the others, so that from his own weakness he might come to know how mercifully he should bear with the weakness of others."
He will go before. — That is, He has determined to go before, and destines, and in fact will go before by the gift of agility, by which He will outstrip all. Hence Euthymius: "He will go before," he says, that is, "He will go in advance of you," He will be there before you.
Into Galilee. — Why? I answer: First, because Galilee was the homeland of the Apostles, to which they were thinking of returning after Jesus' death, in order to conduct themselves more conveniently and safely among their own people. Secondly, because in Galilee Christ willed to show Himself openly to all the disciples called together and gathered; for the Jews would not have permitted these to be gathered in Judea: for they had been continually persecuting Christ and His Apostles, as is clear from John 11:8 and following. Hence the Apostles were shunning the Jews and Judea, and were longing to return to Galilee, lest in Judea the fear of the Jews should disturb them, says Saint Chrysostom. Thirdly, because Christ had for the most part preached and worked very many miracles in Galilee. He therefore commands the Apostles to go back there, that from the very places in which He had preached they may recall His teachings and miracles.
Symbolically: hear Saint Gregory, Homily 21: "For Galilee signifies a passing over from death to life. Our Redeemer, indeed, had already passed over from passion to resurrection, from death to life, from punishment to glory, from corruption to incorruption. And He is first seen by the disciples in Galilee after the resurrection, because we shall afterwards joyfully see the glory of His resurrection, if only we pass over from vices to the heights of virtue. He, therefore, who is announced in the sepulchre, is shown in the passing-over; because He who is known in the mortification of the flesh, is seen in the passing-over of the mind." But I shall speak again about Galilee at verse 17.
Christ, however, also appeared to the Apostles in Judea, but secretly and in passing, as we shall shortly see; but in Galilee openly and for a long time. Hear Saint Jerome, epistle 130 to Hedibia, Question 7: "In the one (in Jerusalem) He was seen for the consolation of those who feared, and was seen briefly and was once again taken out of their sight; in the other (in Galilee), however, there was such familiarity and perseverance that He even ate together with them." Hence Paul the Apostle also reports that He appeared to five hundred disciples at once, 1 Corinthians 15:6.
Here, in historical order, must now be interwoven what Luke has in chapter 24, verse 3, namely that Magdalene with her companions, when, at the angel's invitation, they had entered Christ's sepulchre and saw it empty and saw that the body of Christ was absent, partly because of His absence and partly because of the appearance of the two angels who appeared there, cast down their faces and were dismayed; and that the angels therefore lifted up their fear and dismay, and at the same time rebuked with a somewhat severe reproof their unbelief — namely, that they had not plainly believed the former angel who said that Christ had risen.
That this narrative of Luke is not the same as this of Matthew and Mark, as some think, but a different one, is clear from the very words, which are plainly different; likewise from the fact that in Luke two angels are said to have appeared, but here in Matthew and Mark only one. Hear Luke: "And entering in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, while they were dismayed in mind about this, behold, two men stood beside them in shining raiment. And as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the ground, they said to them: Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying: That the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." In Greek: ἐν ἐσθῆτι ἀστραπτούσῃ, that is, in flashing garments and in raiment gleaming like lightning, so that by this they might be recognized to be not men, but heavenly ones, and at the same time to represent the glory of Christ rising and triumphing over death. See what I have said at verse 3.
Verse 8: And They Went Out Quickly From the Monument With Fear and Great Joy, Running to Tell His Disciples
Verse 8. And they went out quickly from the monument with fear and great joy, running to tell His disciples. — "With fear," that is, with the holy awe which Christ's sepulchre was breathing forth, and the flashing angels, and the resurrection of Christ announced to them by the angels — which, since they were grieving over Christ's death and thinking of anointing Him, came upon them as a thing unexpected, and thus almost incredible: wherefore a new fear came upon them, lest perhaps this angelic vision might be a phantasmal apparition which was deceiving them, and that Jesus' body might have been carried off by stealth.
And with great joy, — because they had seen the angels and had received from them so joyful a message of the resurrection. They therefore had alternating movements of the soul, of fear and of joy, conflicting and contending with one another, as will become clear from what follows. So Saint Jerome: "A twofold affection," he says, "held the minds of the women, of fear and of joy: the one from the greatness of the miracle, the other from desire for the risen Lord." And Euthymius: "With fear, he says, because of the marvels they had seen; with joy, because of the joyful message which they had heard."
Running to tell His disciples. — In what manner and what they reported, Matthew is silent, but John and Luke explain it — yet differently. For John says that Magdalene, on returning, said only to Peter: "They have taken away my Lord from the monument, and we do not know where they have laid Him." But Luke says that they narrated to the Apostles all that they had seen and heard, and consequently also the vision of the angels.
You will object: Whence this difference? I answer: From the fact that these women were timid and uncertain, as I have already said, and therefore said nothing to anyone on the way, as Mark has it. And thus, because they did not firmly and certainly believe that Christ had risen, which nevertheless they had heard from the angels, their alternating thoughts give rise to similar alternating utterances: at one moment they report the vision of the angels, at another they speak their own opinion, by which they thought that the body of the Lord had been taken away from the sepulchre by someone. This latter point, because it had been passed over by the other Evangelists, is therefore recounted by John alone.
Here, then, in historical order there must be inserted what John recounts in chapter 20, from verse 2 to verse 19. I shall compress his words into a few, in order to assign the order of the events by which the Evangelists are reconciled to one another — who otherwise seem entangled, and differing from, and indeed contradicting, one another. This was the order: Magdalene with her companions, after they had seen and heard the angels, ran from the sepulchre and returned to Jerusalem, to report to the Apostles what they had seen and heard. When they had heard these things, Peter and John immediately ran to the sepulchre; and Magdalene, running with her companions, followed them. Peter and John, having entered Christ's sepulchre and seen only His linen cloths, returned home amazed. As they returned, Magdalene's companions followed them; but Magdalene herself remained at the sepulchre weeping, out of fear and out of desire to find the body of Christ. Wherefore as she glanced again into the monument, she saw two angels showing reverence to Christ, who was behind Magdalene. Magdalene therefore, turning to see who was behind her to whom the angels were showing reverence, saw Jesus in the form of a gardener, and hearing His accustomed address, "Mary," she recognized Him and held His feet, and so on — the matters that must be explained in John.
Therefore Magdalene alone first, as it is in Mark, saw Christ rising, inasmuch as she, above the others, was burning with love of Christ, and therefore clung inseparably to His sepulchre. Presently, at Christ's command, Magdalene followed and overtook the other women as they were going away, with swift steps, and there with them she again saw and heard Christ greeting them. So Saint Chrysostom, Jerome, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others. Whence there follows:
Verse 9: And Behold Jesus Met Them, Saying: Hail. And They Came Up and Took Hold of His Feet, and Adored Him
Verse 9. And behold Jesus met them, saying: Hail. And they came up and took hold of His feet, and adored Him. — Just as, after the courtiers, the king follows, and after the priests, the Pontiff; so here, after the angels, Christ follows, and, showing by the deed itself that He was alive again — the resurrection which the angels had asserted in words — He confirms this to the pious women. For He willed that the angels should prepare the way for Him in this regard, both so that they might more easily believe that He had risen, and lest, if without prior warning He should unexpectedly show Himself to them in His glory, He might strike them down and take away their breath.
He met them. — Because they, more than the men, were seeking Him with great affection and desire of piety. For whoever earnestly seeks Jesus, finds Jesus lovingly meeting him, according to this: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find," Matthew 7:7. So Saint Jerome: "Those who were seeking in this way," he says, "those who were running in this way, deserved to meet the rising Lord, and first to hear 'Hail,' so that the curse of Eve, a woman, might be overturned in women." In the same sense Hilary: "That the little women first see the Lord, are greeted, fall at His knees, are commanded to announce it to the Apostles — the order of the principal cause is reversed, so that, because death had begun from this sex, to it first the glory, the sight, the fruit, and the message of the resurrection might be given."
Tropologically, Rabanus: "To those beginning the journey of virtues," he says, "Christ, in assisting, comes to meet them." Moreover, Eve is for us the mother of perdition and of weeping. Hence some note that male infants who are born of Adam, when weeping, repeat the sound A, which is the first letter of Adam; but female infants, in their crying, repeat E, which is the first letter of Eve — as if lamenting the fall of their parents, and from it their own ruin. These women hear "Ave" in place of "Eva," because they are ministers of the resurrection, of salvation, and of joy. Hence to the Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ, their queen and ruler, we sing: "Ave, maris stella, Dei mater alma," etc.
Hail. — In Greek χαίρετε, that is, "Rejoice, be well"; the Syriac has, "Peace to you." For this is the Hebrews' proper greeting, by which, under the name of peace, they wish every good and every happiness; the Arabic has, "Be glad, because you now see me alive again — me, your Master whom you saw dying — so that I may exercise the same care for you as before, and lead you to a similar resurrection and glory." Thus after Christ's example, the blessed souls and the angels, when they appear to men, bring them joy, confidence, and gladness, whereas the demons and the damned souls bring sadness, fear, and despair, and make men sorrowful, anxious, perplexed, and despairing.
And they came up (drawn by so friendly a greeting of Jesus) and took hold (Vatablus: "seized") of His feet. — That is, out of reverence and love for so great a majesty, and out of joy at so new and glorious a resurrection of Christ the Lord and their beloved, they embraced, clasped, and kissed His feet. Magdalene taught them by her own example to do this — she who, as a penitent, first washed and dried Jesus' feet, and then after the resurrection was the first to desire to hold and kiss those same feet, John 20:17. Thus the Shunammite woman took hold of the feet of Elisha, praying that he would raise up her dead son, 2 Kings 4:27. Thus the faithful embrace and kiss the feet of the Pontiff, as also of men illustrious for holiness.
Christ here permitted Himself to be touched by the women, in order to show them that He had truly risen, and to make them witnesses and heralds of His resurrection. Hence Chrysostom: "After, he says, they had run to Him with immense joy, by the touch they received proof and certainty of the resurrection." And Euthymius: "They indeed, out of desire and reverence, held His feet: and He did not forbid it, providing that by the touch they should be made more fully convinced that it was not a phantom."
And they adored Him — with the worship of latria, as the true Messiah, or Christ the Son of God, who by the power of His divinity had raised up His own humanity from death, as He Himself while living had foretold to them. Therefore the vision of the resurrection of Christ illumined, confirmed, and increased their faith in His divinity and in the other mysteries which, while He was alive and teaching, they had heard from Christ but not fully understood. Wherefore, with Thomas, if not with their mouth, certainly in their heart they said: "My Lord and my God."
Verse 10: Then Jesus Said to Them: Fear Not, Go, Tell My Brethren That They Go Into Galilee
Verse 10. Then Jesus said to them: Fear not, go, tell My brethren that they go into Galilee; there they shall see Me. — "Fear not"; for the vision of supernatural and heavenly things, such as was the resurrection of Christ — its very nature shakes the eyes and minds of those who behold it, and strikes them with fear and holy dread. See St. Jerome: "Both in the Old and in the New Testament," he says, "this is always to be observed, that whenever some more august vision appears, fear is first driven away, so that with mind set at peace they may hear what is being said."
Go, announce to My brethren. — Christ, now glorious, with wondrous kindness, and in order to give us an example of humility, deigns to call His disciples "brethren," for their consolation, that He may raise up their sorrowful and dejected spirits into hope and courage. As if He said: Tell the Apostles, who are sons of one and the same God the Father with Me, but adoptive through grace, whereas I am the natural Son through the Divinity which I have received from Him as God, and through the hypostatic union with the Divinity which I have received from Him as man. The reason is given by St. Chrysostom, and from him by Euthymius: "He made use of women," he says, "instead of Apostles to the Apostles, honoring that sex which had been made infamous through the seduction of the serpent. And because the woman was made the cause of sorrow to the man, now women are made to men the ministers of joy." Luther wrongly concluded from this saying of Christ that women, too, are permitted to preach: for it is one thing to announce and another to preach. For if Christ had said to Mary Magdalene, "Preach," she herself could and ought to have preached.
There they shall see Me. — As if He said: In Galilee they shall enjoy the sight of Me in a familiar way, frequently, for a long time, openly and freely; they shall speak and deal with Me mouth to mouth: in Judaea not so, although even there I shall appear to them from time to time. For in Judaea I appeared to them only briefly.
On the very day of His resurrection, that is, of Easter, Christ appeared six times in this order. First, He appeared to His Mother the Virgin Mother of God, as St. Ambrose teaches, Book On Virginity, after the beginning; St. Anselm, Book VI On the Excellence of the Virgin; Rupert, Book VII On the Divine Offices, ch. 25; St. Bonaventure in the Life of Christ, ch. 87. And this is the common opinion of the Doctors and of the faithful, which is proved both by the preceding sorrow of the Virgin over the passion and death of her Only-Begotten, and likewise by the merits and dignity of so great a Mother; and by the love and piety of so great a Son toward such a Mother. Secondly, He appeared to Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre, Mark 16:9, and John 20:16. Thirdly, He appeared to her with the other women as they were returning to Jerusalem, on the way, Matthew 28:9. Fourthly, He appeared to Peter, Luke 24:34. Fifthly, to the two disciples going to Emmaus, in the same place. Sixthly, to them all — namely, to the ten Apostles: for Thomas was absent, and Judas had hanged himself, so that of the twelve only ten remained, Luke 24:36.
But after the day of Easter: first, He appeared to the eleven Apostles with Thomas now present, on the very octave of Easter, which is now called Low Sunday (Dominica in Albis), John 20:26. Secondly, He appeared to seven disciples, among whom were Peter and John, as they were fishing in the sea of Galilee, John 21:1. Thirdly, He appeared on the mountain of Galilee to many, indeed to more than five hundred brethren.
Verse 11: Who When They Were Departed, Behold Some of the Guards Came Into the City
Verse 11. Who when they were departed, behold some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all things that had been done. 12. And they being assembled together with the ancients, taking counsel, gave a great sum of money to the soldiers — as they had previously given to Judas the traitor. See here the degrees of sins, by which sinners continually descend more deeply until they rush down into hell: for one sin, unless wiped out by repentance, draws a man to another and yet another, until it drags him to Tartarus, according to that saying of Isaiah 5:18: "Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as the rope of a cart." See what is said there about the ropes by which sins are bound to sins.
Verse 13: Saying: Say That His Disciples Came by Night and Stole Him Away While We Were Asleep
Verse 13. Saying: Say that His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep. — Consider here how blind the perversity of the chief priests was: for through it they increased the fame and the faith of Christ's resurrection, which they were trying to extinguish, says St. Chrysostom. For they speak things impossible and incredible. For first, says Remigius: "If the guards were asleep, how did they see the theft?" And St. Augustine on Psalm 63: "You produce," he says, "sleeping witnesses. Truly you yourself have fallen asleep, who by examining such things have failed."
Secondly, the disciples of Christ had fled in fear, and, anxious for their own safety, had hidden themselves in hiding places: how then would they have dared to carry off the body of Christ, which they knew was being guarded by so many soldiers? Great therefore and blind was the malice of the elders, who, as Severianus says in the Catena: "Not content with having killed the Master, they also contrive to destroy the disciples," namely, so that Pilate, as though the disciples were thieves of Jesus, whom they themselves had condemned as guilty, might punish them with capital punishment.
Thirdly, it is incredible that Roman soldiers, so faithful and vigilant, should all to a man have fallen asleep at Christ's sepulchre, especially since they knew that their own lives were at stake. And even granting that they had all fallen asleep, they would surely have been awakened by the noise of the great stone which had to be rolled away from the sepulchre by the Apostles, the alleged robbers of Christ's body, and by the dressing, wrapping, and carrying off of so large a body as Christ's. Thus St. Chrysostom: "How," he says, "could they steal, who did not even dare to appear? And if while they saw Him still alive they fled, how would they not have feared the soldiers once He was dead? And why would they not rather have stolen Him on the first night, when no one was there? And if they had stolen Him, would they have left the winding-cloth behind? Would they have delayed in leaving? Certainly these men confirm the resurrection: for they confess that the body is not in the sepulchre; and that it was not taken away is shown by the watch of the soldiers and the fear of the disciples. Therefore [the Jewish story] here lies against itself unwittingly." Wherefore Severianus truly and acutely says: "They make the disciples' supposed crime to be the Master's virtue. Clearly the soldiers lost Him, the Jews destroyed Him; but the disciples took their Master away not by theft but by faith; by virtue, not by fraud; by holiness, not by crime; alive, not dead." Moreover this Severianus was Bishop of Gabala, a most eloquent man, about whom Gennadius writes in his book On Illustrious Men. He was a contemporary and intimate friend of St. Chrysostom, at whose invitation he from time to time preached at Constantinople. His sermon is extant in volume V of the Works of St. Chrysostom.
You will say: How was it that the guards did not fear the vengeance of the risen Christ and of the shining angel whom they had seen, to punish so great a lie on their part, nay rather the manifest exposure of it, namely, that Christ should publicly show Himself alive again? Jansenius answers: The chief priests persuaded them that Christ had not risen to a common and bodily life, so as to appear visible to men, but to a spiritual one, in which He would deal with angels only; or at any rate, that He would appear not in Judaea, but only in Galilee to His Galileans. But you may say more plainly that the soldiers had been blinded by the authority of the chief priests and by their own greed and thirst for money, just as Judas, who was an Apostle of Christ. For having their eyes and mind fixed on the gold before them, they neither considered nor feared vengeance, especially since they had experienced no such power from the angel who was keeping watch at the sepulchre.
Verse 14: And if the Governor Shall Hear of This, We Will Persuade Him, and Secure You
Verse 14. And if the governor shall hear of this, we will persuade him, and secure you. — "We will persuade," that is, we will convince Pilate that your sleep and negligence in guarding the body of Christ is a light matter and worthy of pardon, and that no harm can come from it: for he himself knows that our cause, not his own, is at stake here, and so much so that he, for our sake and against his own conscience, condemned Jesus to the cross; and if he was so pliant in unjustly condemning Jesus at our insistence, he will show himself far more pliant in acquitting you at our request. But that these soldiers secretly revealed this fraud and the whole affair to Pilate, and confirmed the resurrection of Christ, and that Pilate wrote this to Tiberius Caesar, who accordingly wished to place Christ among the gods — this, from Pilate's own acts, is told by Hegesippus in his Anacephalaeosis: "The chief priests of the Jews," he says, "lying to me, asserted that Jesus was a magician and was acting against their law. I, however, believed it to be so, and handed Him over, after scourging, to their judgment. They crucified Him and set guards at the sepulchre. But He, while my soldiers were keeping watch, rose on the third day. For to such a pitch did the wickedness of the Jews burn, that they gave money to the guards and told them to say: Declare that His disciples stole away His body; yet when they had received the money, they could not keep silent about what had been done; for they also testified that they had seen Him risen, and that they themselves had received money from the Jews. I have set these things forth, that no one may lie otherwise and suppose that credence is to be given to the lies of the Jews."
That Pilate reported these things to Tiberius Caesar is also taught by Tertullian in the Apology, ch. 5; and by Eusebius in his History, Book II, ch. 2, and in his Chronicle, in the year of Christ 38, where he writes: "Pilate having made report to Tiberius concerning the doctrine of the Christians, Tiberius referred the matter to the Senate, that it might be received among the other religions. But when by decision of the Fathers it had been decided that the Christians should be expelled from the city, Tiberius by edict threatened death to the accusers of the Christians." And Orosius, Book VII, ch. IV: "Pilate," he says, "reported to the emperor Tiberius concerning the passion and resurrection of Christ, and the subsequent miraculous works which had been openly wrought either by Him Himself, or which were being done by His disciples in His name, and about this — that, as the faith of many grew in rivalry, He was being believed to be God."
Verse 15: So They Taking the Money, Did as They Were Taught: And This Word Was Spread Abroad Among the Jews
Verse 15. So they, having received the money, did as they had been instructed. And this word was spread abroad among the Jews even until this day. — Namely, among the common people and those who were of small wit: for the more prudent easily detected this fraud and secretly investigated the whole matter from the soldiers themselves; indeed Longinus the centurion openly withstood the soldiers and asserted that Christ was risen, and for that reason died a martyr for Him, as his Life on the 15th of March records. But this fraud was most of all refuted by the Apostles, who affirmed that Christ had appeared to them alive again and confirmed it by many miracles, so much so that the faith of Christ's resurrection was received and believed by practically the whole world. "For what the Jew in Judaea was obscuring with gold," says Severianus, "became clear by faith throughout the whole world." The same is openly refuted by Josephus, although a Jew by race and sect. Let the Jews hear him and believe their own Hebrew, since they will not believe Christ. For thus he writes, Antiquities, Book XVIII, ch. 4: "At that same time there was Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is lawful to call Him a man. For He was a worker of wonderful deeds, and a teacher of those who willingly receive the truth, and He had very many followers both from the Jews and from the Greeks. This was the Christ: whom, when He had been accused by the chief men of our nation and Pilate had condemned Him to the cross, those who had begun to love Him from the beginning did not cease to love. For He appeared to them on the third day alive, just as the prophets had foretold by divine inspiration this and many other wonderful things about Him; and to this day the race of Christians, named from Him, has not failed."
Verse 16: And the Eleven Disciples Went Into Galilee, Unto the Mountain Where Jesus Had Appointed Them
Verse 16. And the eleven disciples (for Judas the twelfth had already hanged himself) went into Galilee, into the mountain where Jesus had appointed for them. — Matthew, omitting the other appearances of Christ, recounts only the one that took place in Galilee, both because the angel had promised it in verse 7 and Christ in verse 10; and because that appearance was famous and public in the presence of 500 brethren, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:6. For to it, by Christ's command, all His disciples were called together — of whom He had very many in Galilee, because there they were safer from the hatred and persecution of the Jews than in Judaea, as Chrysostom and Euthymius say.
Into the mountain. — It is certain that this mountain was not the Mount of Olives, from which Christ ascended into heaven in the presence of His disciples, and therefore that it is not that appearance which is here spoken of. For the Mount of Olives is in Judaea, not in Galilee. Lyranus, Dionysius the Carthusian, St. Bonaventure, Jansenius and others plausibly suppose this mountain to have been Tabor, where originally Christ, transfigured, had shown His glory to Peter, James and John, Matthew 17.
Mystically, St. Jerome: Galilee, he says, was a sty of all vices, where beforehand there was error and slipperiness; and therefore it was fitting that it should be illumined by the presence and glory of Christ, according to the oracle of Isaiah 9:1 and 2.
Again Bede, in his homily: "Now," he says, "the Lord had passed from death to life, from corruption to incorruption: for Galilee means the same as transmigration." Hence the Gloss: "We," it says, "if we migrate from vices to virtues, shall behold the glory of the resurrection."
Allegorically St. Augustine, Book III of On the Agreement of the Evangelists, near the end: "Galilee," he says, "is the same as 'transmigration,' from the root גלה gala, that is, 'he migrated,' because the grace of Christ was about to migrate from the people of Israel to the Gentiles." Hence He says of it: "I will go before you into Galilee," because when the Apostles were preaching the Gospel it would not be believed unless the Lord Himself prepared the way for them in the hearts of men. "There you shall see Him," that is, there you shall find His members, there you shall recognize His living body in those who shall receive you. These are the very words of St. Augustine, although with some things omitted for the sake of brevity.
Anagogically, St. Augustine in the same place: Galilee, he says, also signifies in Hebrew "revelation," from the root גלה gilla, that is, "he revealed": whence it represents heaven and the beatific vision. "That," says Augustine, "shall be the revelation, as though the true Galilee. We shall be like Him; there we shall see Him as He is. That shall also be the more blessed transmigration out of this world into that eternity, if we so embrace His precepts that we may deserve to be set apart at His right hand: for then the left shall go into eternal burning, but the just into life everlasting. Hence that saying: They shall transmigrate, and there they shall see Him."
Verse 17: And Seeing Him They Adored: But Some Doubted
Verse 17. And seeing Him, they adored; but some doubted. — Not any of the eleven Apostles, but some of the other disciples. For all the Apostles were already confirmed by so many visions and proofs of Christ's resurrection that they did not doubt He had risen. Or at any rate, if you prefer to refer the word "doubted" to the Apostles, about whom the whole discourse here and in what follows is concerned, understand "doubted" to mean: they had previously doubted, but now were not doubting; for the perfect is put for the pluperfect — this is what the aorist signifies, which in Greek is ἐδίστασαν. For Matthew wished briefly to touch on the doubting of Thomas and the other Apostles about the resurrection of Christ, before they had been sufficiently instructed about it by the appearing Christ — which Luke, Mark, and John narrate more fully. Thus Theophylact: "You must," he says, "understand it in this way, that when they had come into Galilee, they adored Him. But those who adored in Galilee, had first doubted in Jerusalem." So also Barradius, Franciscus Lucas, and others. Yet "their doubting has increased our faith," says St. Jerome.
Furthermore, Christ, when He appeared, appeared in the same form and figure which He had had while He was alive, so that He might be recognized by the Apostles from these features as being the same and not another. Thus St. Cyril, Book XII on John, ch. 35.
Wherefore He hid the endowment of His clarity; for the feeble eyes of mortals could not have borne it. Hear St. Augustine, Book XXII of The City of God, ch. 19: "It is to be believed that the clarity in Christ's body when He rose was rather hidden from the eyes of the disciples. For human and weak sight could not have borne it, when He had to be so beheld by His own that He could be recognized."
Verse 18: And Jesus Coming, Spoke to Them, Saying: All Power Is Given to Me in Heaven and in Earth
Verse 18. And coming up (showing Himself more closely and familiarly to the disciples, who were reverencing Christ's majesty) Jesus spoke to them, saying: All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth. — The Arabic: I have been endowed with all power in heaven and above the earth. Maldonatus and others probably think that these things were not done and said by Christ at this time, that is, when He appeared to His own in Galilee; but at the last appearance, which took place on the Mount of Olives, when from it He ascended in glory into heaven. For Christ here seems to be saying a final farewell to the Apostles and giving His last warnings and commands, and sending them forth, as it were as His legates, to evangelize throughout the whole world — which He did on the day of the Ascension.
It is given to Me, — namely, to Me alone, and that both as I am the Son of God and God: for thus from eternity "all" His "power" and majesty have been given Me by the Father together with the divine essence; and also properly, as I am man, say St. Cyril, Gregory of Nyssa, Athanasius and others. It has been given Me, I say, inchoatively in My Incarnation, by reason of the dignity of the hypostatic union with the Word; but completely, all power has now been given Me by God after the Resurrection, on account of the merits of My Passion, when, death, sin, hell and the devil having been vanquished, as the triumphant Conqueror and Redeemer of men, I acquired full and proximate right and dominion over them at the price of My blood, so that I might very soon and proximately gather them, subjected to Me by faith and grace, into the Church, which is My spiritual kingdom, through Me and the Apostles, and rule them on earth, and crown and beatify them in heaven. This universal dominion and kingdom of Christ is fully described by Daniel 7:14, and by the Apostle, Ephesians 1:20; Philippians 2:10 and following, and by St. Peter, Acts 10:36, and by St. John, Apocalypse 17:14. See what has been said on chapter 27, verse 11.
Christ makes mention of His power in order to signify that by this power He is sending forth the Apostles to subdue all nations to His faith. Hence He adds: "Going therefore," etc. Furthermore Suárez, in Part III, treating of Christ's dominion, explains this passage of the "power of excellence," which was communicated to Christ, as He was man, in virtue of the hypostatic union, at the very first instant of His conception from the Word, which He Himself displayed according as the times allowed, and after the resurrection exercised perfectly and fully.
Verse 19: Going Therefore, Teach Ye All Nations; Baptizing Them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
Verse 19. Going therefore, teach all nations (My faith and the doctrine of the Gospel. Here, then, the Apostles received from Christ the trumpet of the Gospel, says St. Leo, epistle 81, and the office of preaching), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. — Hence, from the tradition of the Church, it is clear that this is the form of Baptism: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"; in which, by saying "in the name," not "in the names," we plainly profess the faith of the Holy Trinity and of one Deity. For "in the name" is the same as: in the name and person called upon and invoked, and consequently, in the divinity and power of the three Persons, who are in one and the same Deity; namely, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This is signified by the Greek εἰς τὸ ὄνομα, that is, "into the name," that is, by invoking the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, so that through the baptism of the body, the soul may be washed from sins and sanctified by grace. Thus St. Jerome: "The name of the Trinity," he says, "is one God, so that of those whose divinity is one, the giving may also be one." And Euthymius: "The one name of the three," he says, "denotes the one nature of the Holy Trinity." Hence St. Isidore, Book VII of the Etymologies, ch. 4: "It is called Trinity," he says, "because the whole is made one out of a certain three, as it were a tri-unity, like memory, understanding and will, in which the mind has within itself a certain image of the divine Trinity: for though there are three, they are one." And St. Bonaventure on 1, dist. 24: "It is called Trinity," he says, "as it were thrice unity, or the unity of three." Whence, against the Arians, Macedonians, Nestorians and other heretics, it is clear that the Son is true God and consubstantial (ὁμοούσιον) with the Father, equally with the Holy Spirit, as St. Athanasius, Hilary, Augustine, Ambrose and the rest constantly teach. Here, then, Christ most clearly expresses the mystery of the Holy Trinity, which Moses in the Old Testament darkly foreshadowed, lest the rude Jews should believe the three Persons to be three gods, and so, after their manner, worship many gods.
Morally: learn here, O disciple and Apostle of Christ — nay, of Christ Himself — that it is a divine work to teach and convert all nations, even the rude, rustic, and barbarous. Hence St. Gregory, homily 12 on Ezechiel: "No sacrifice," he says, "is so great to almighty God as zeal for souls." And Richard of St. Victor: "I know not," he says, "whether any greater benefit can be conferred by God than that through His service others should attain salvation." Famous is that saying of the great Dionysius the Areopagite: "The most divine of all divine things is to cooperate with God in the conversion of those who err and in the leading back of sinners to Himself; and those who, overflowing in the bowels of charity, and imitating the communication of God's goodness, labor with pure love for the salvation of all, are rightly called deiform and divine, nay, most divine."
Verse 20: Teaching Them to Observe All Things Whatsoever I Have Commanded You: And Behold I Am With You All Days, Even to the Consummation of the World
Verse 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. — That is, all the precepts which I have commanded in the Gospel; for faith alone does not suffice for salvation, but the observance of the commandments and the assiduous practice of the virtues is required: "For it is not the hearers of the law that are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified," Romans 2 and 3.
And behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world. — As if He said: Although I shall ascend into heaven, yet I shall not forsake you, whom I am sending that you may traverse the whole world. Therefore, even though everywhere, in obedience to this My command, you evangelize with great labors, want, adversities, perils, persecutions, do not lose heart, do not think of yourselves as desolate and forsaken by Me; for behold, I pledge Myself that I shall always be with you.
I am with you, — both as God and as man, through the present aid, grace, strength, consolation, direction, deliverance, which I shall always bring to you and to your successors, through which I shall make all things difficult easy for you, says St. Chrysostom, so that you may gather to Me out of all nations the Church, that is, the faithful and the saints. And that "unto the consummation of the world." Sooner shall this world come to an end than My presence in the Church shall cease. Therefore take up with great courage this work and Apostolic office which I enjoin upon you, for you shall visibly rule the Church, while I shall invisibly rule and protect the same. "He who promises that He will be with His disciples unto the consummation of the world," says St. Jerome, "also shows that they shall always live on (in their posterity and successors) and that He will never withdraw from those who believe."
"Do not," says Prosper, in Book II of The Vocation of the Gentiles, ch. 1, "tremble on account of your own weakness, but trust in My power; for I shall not abandon you in this work — not in such a way that you shall suffer nothing, but, what is far greater, I am about to grant that you shall not be overcome by any cruelty of those who rage against you."
This is what Christ, when He was about to go to death, promised to the Apostles, John 14:16: "I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth." For the gifts of the Holy Spirit and of Christ are the same, since the Deity of both is the same, and consequently the operation is the same. For the external works of the Holy Trinity are undivided; and what one Person works, this the other two also work. To the Holy Spirit, however, who proceeds as Love, the works of grace and holiness are by fitting attribution appropriated. In Greek and Syriac "amen" is added, as if to say: Thus it shall certainly come to pass as I have said and promised. Thus Christ was also visibly present with Paul, Acts 22:17, and with St. Stephen in his martyrdom, Acts 7. Thus He was present with St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles, Martyrs, and Doctors. For this reason Christ is called "Emmanuel," that is, "God with us," Isaiah 7. And the Church is called the City of God. Hence Ezechiel, chapter 48, last verse, says: "The name of the city from that day shall be: The Lord is there." Hence God through Zechariah, chapter 2, promises the Church, saying: "I will be a wall of fire round about, and I will be in the glory in the midst of it." See what has been said there.
For this further reason Christ willed to remain continually in the Church in the venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist, indeed in each and every church, unto the end of the world. For just as Christ's humanity and Divinity is glorious in heaven and is adored visibly by the Angels and the Saints, so the same is in the Eucharist, but hidden under the species of bread and wine, and therefore invisible; and there He is adored, nay even eaten by the faithful, that He may furnish to their souls everything that bread and wine furnish to bodies — namely, all nourishment, all vigor, all strength, all sweetness, all delight, all joy. Wherefore it is Christ who, through each priest when they celebrate, works daily the miracle of miracles, namely, that wonderful conversion of bread and wine into His own Body and Blood, which the Theologians call transubstantiation: for neither man, nor angel, nor any created power can effect this. He Himself, therefore, is even now in act a priest, while through the individual priests He confects the Eucharist, and offers Himself in it to God the Father as an unbloody victim in holocaust, as I said on chapter 26, verse 26, out of the Council of Trent.
Tropologically: Christ is in the soul and with the faithful and holy soul, unto the end of life, giving it that great gift of perseverance which leads the elect into heaven; for He Himself does not forsake the just man, unless He be first forsaken by him, as the Council of Trent, session 6, says, quoting St. Augustine.
And so Christ, in the holy soul — first, politically — is as it were a king in his kingdom, which He rightly directs and rules according to the laws of justice; and as a general in the army, strengthening the soul, that it may overcome and vanquish all enemies, namely the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Secondly, economically (that is, in household fashion), He is in the soul as a father in a house and family, which He wisely governs, protects, and enriches. Again, He is in it as a pilot in a ship, steering it safely through the waves and billows of this stormy sea, that is, through the temptations of this perilous life, to the harbor of eternal salvation. He is in it what the charioteer is in the chariot, that He may carry us, as it were while we sleep, into the heavenly city and fatherland. Hence we ought continually to cry out to Him what Elisha cried out after Elijah, as he was caught up in the fiery chariot into heaven: "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the driver thereof," 2 Kings (IV Kings) 2.
Thirdly, ethically, Christ in the soul is as it were reason and prudence, which prudently directs all actions according to the norm of divine reason and of the eternal law, which is in the mind of God, so that the soul may follow, not the errors of its own concupiscence, but the dictates of divine truth and the eternal reasons that are in the mind of God, and His holy will in all things and everywhere.
Fourthly, physically, He is in the soul what the soul is in the body: for He is as it were the soul of the soul, quickening it with the life of grace, that the soul may live a life not animal and carnal, but spiritual and divine, and that all its acts, in His working, may be not natural but supernatural and divine, and therefore meritorious of eternal life and glory.
Finally, He is as it were a divine fire, kindling and inflaming the soul with the flame of charity. He is in the soul what the sun is in the world; namely, He Himself is the heavenly Sun, illuminating the whole orb of our soul with the light of His grace, quickening, warming, and making it fruitful with the good works of every virtue, according to that saying: "It is He who works in us to will and to accomplish," Philippians, chapter 2; and, "who works all things in all, according to the purpose of His will," Ephesians 1. He it is who inspires our words with force, vigor, and efficacy, so that we may convert our hearers and neighbors from sins to repentance and sanctity, according to that saying of Paul: "I have planted, Apollos has watered, but God gave the increase," 1 Corinthians 3:6.
Therefore, O wise and holy soul, go forth to meet your God with reciprocal love and desire: your Jesus longs to be with you; do you, in turn, desire to be with none but Jesus. His delights are to be with you; let your delights be to be with Him. Allow yourself therefore to be ruled, bent, and directed by Him, just as a kingdom allows itself to be governed by its king, an army by its commander, a household by its master, a ship by its pilot, a chariot by its charioteer, the will by reason, the body by the soul, the world by the sun. "You are enough for God; let your God be enough for you," says St. Augustine.