Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He describes the passion of Christ: namely, at verse 1, His seizure in the garden; at verse 13, His being brought to Annas; at verse 17, the threefold denial by Peter; at verse 19, the examination of Jesus by the high priest, and the unjust blow struck to Jesus; at verse 24, the sending of Jesus to Caiaphas; at verse 28, His accusation before Pilate; at verse 33, the examination of Jesus by Pilate, who, perceiving His innocence, endeavors to set Him free by comparing Him with Barabbas. I have explained the passion of Christ at Matthew, chapters XXVI and XXVII; here therefore I will only briefly touch on what John has proper and peculiar to himself.
Vulgate Text: John 18:1-40
1. When Jesus had said these things, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where there was a garden, into which He entered with His disciples. 2. And Judas also, who betrayed Him, knew the place; because Jesus had often resorted thither together with His disciples. 3. Judas therefore, having received a band of soldiers and servants from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth, and said to them: Whom seek ye? 5. They answered Him: Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith to them: I am He. And Judas also, who betrayed Him, stood with them. 6. As soon therefore as He had said to them: I am He; they went backward, and fell to the ground. 7. Again therefore He asked them: Whom seek ye? And they said: Jesus of Nazareth. 8. Jesus answered: I have told you that I am He. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way. 9. That the word might be fulfilled which He said: Of them whom Thou hast given me, I have not lost any one. 10. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus. 11. Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? 12. Then the band and the tribune, and the servants of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound Him. 13. And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was father in law to Caiphas, who was the high priest of that year. 14. Now Caiphas was he who had given the counsel to the Jews: That it was expedient that one man should die for the people. 15. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. And that disciple was known to the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the court of the high priest. 16. But Peter stood at the door without. The other disciple therefore, who was known to the high priest, went out, and spoke to her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. 17. The maid therefore that was portress, said to Peter: Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith: I am not. 18. Now the servants and ministers stood at a fire of coals, because it was cold, and warmed themselves. And with them was Peter also, standing, and warming himself. 19. The high priest therefore asked Jesus of His disciples, and of His doctrine. 20. Jesus answered him: I have spoken openly to the world: I have always taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, where all the Jews resort; and in secret I have spoken nothing. 21. Why askest thou me? Ask them who have heard what I have spoken to them; behold, they know what things I have said. 22. And when He had said these things, one of the servants standing by gave Jesus a blow, saying: Answerest Thou the high priest so? 23. Jesus answered him: If I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil; but if well, why strikest thou me? 24. And Annas sent Him bound to Caiphas the high priest. 25. And Simon Peter was standing, and warming himself. They said therefore to him: Art not thou also one of His disciples? He denied it, and said: I am not. 26. One of the servants of the high priest (a kinsman to him whose ear Peter cut off) saith to him: Did not I see thee in the garden with Him? 27. Again therefore Peter denied; and immediately the cock crew. 28. Then they led Jesus from Caiphas to the governor's hall. And it was morning; and they went not into the hall, that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the pasch. 29. Pilate therefore went out to them, and said: What accusation bring you against this man? 30. They answered, and said to him: If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him up to thee. 31. Pilate therefore said to them: Take Him you, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews therefore said to him: It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. 32. That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He said, signifying what death He should die. 33. Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and called Jesus, and said to Him: Art Thou the king of the Jews? 34. Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of me? 35. Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Thy own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered Thee up to me: what hast Thou done? 36. Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence. 37. Pilate therefore said to Him: Art Thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 38. Pilate saith to Him: What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and saith to them: I find no cause in Him. 39. But you have a custom, that I should release one unto you at the Pasch: will you, therefore, that I release unto you the king of the Jews? 40. Then cried they all again, saying: Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
Verse 1: When Jesus Had Said These Things, He Went Forth With His Disciples Over the Brook Cedron, Where There Was a Garden
1. WHEN JESUS HAD SAID THESE THINGS, HE WENT FORTH WITH HIS DISCIPLES OVER THE BROOK CEDRON, WHERE THERE WAS A GARDEN, INTO WHICH HE ENTERED WITH HIS DISCIPLES. — Jesus, having finished His fervent discourse after supper — a long discourse which begins at chapter XIII and ends here — in which He bade the Apostles a final farewell, hastens to the passion and death, offers Himself to it, and of His own accord goes to meet it by entering the garden and there awaiting Judas and the Jews, by whom He knew He was to be seized. He gave this example of magnanimity, so that He might first take possession of the arena and place of His approaching duel with death, sin, and the devil, as though certain of victory and triumph.
Hence it is gathered that Jesus, as soon as this discourse was finished, crossed the brook, and consequently that the dispute of the Apostles about primacy did not happen after the discourse, as St. Augustine holds, but before it. Concerning the hymn it is uncertain: for that it was sung by Christ and the Apostles after the discourse, Matthew suggests in chapter XXVI, verse 30, saying: "And a hymn having been said, they went out to Mount Olivet." But that the hymn was said before the discourse is supported by the thanksgiving: therefore it was sung immediately after the supper and the Eucharist, before the discourse. So Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Euthymius, on Matthew chapter XXVI, and Ribera here. See the Chronological Order.
He went forth, — out of the house and upper room, where He had delivered and finished the whole discourse. Francis Lucas, however, and others think that part of the discourse from chapter XIV, verse 31, where Christ says: "Arise, let us go hence," down to this point was held after leaving the house, on the way toward the brook Cedron, and then "He went forth" should be explained as "He crossed over."
OVER THE BROOK CEDRON. — A "torrent" properly is a stream produced by the confluence of rainwater, which in winter flows with force but in summer dries up — such as I have seen very many and very great ones in the Alps, and such this one seems to have been. Hence the Syriac translates: "across the ford of Cedron," because it could be forded and crossed on foot. The torrent here signifies the vehemence and violence inflicted on Christ by the Jews in His passion, but passing away at once. Jesus therefore went through the torrent, to signify that He was entering into the torrent of sufferings, "He shall drink in the way." Hence some suppose that Jesus, after being seized by the Jews, was led back through the brook and cast headlong into it — so Adrichomius, in his Description of Jerusalem, n. 207, in accordance with Psalm lviii (lxix), 1: "Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul. I stick fast in the mire of the deep, and there is no sure standing," that is, there is no place where I can stand firm.
CEDRON. — In Greek τῶν κέδρων, that is "of the cedars," because this brook had cedars planted on this side and on that, say S. Thomas and Lyranus. The Arabic version favors this, translating "across the brook of the cedar." But "Cedron" is a Hebrew word, not Greek; in Hebrew it does not mean "cedar" (for that is ארז erez), but obscurity, blackness, gloom and darkness, on the testimony of S. Jerome in his "On Hebrew Places." This brook therefore was called Cedron, that is, dark, dusky, or black — either from the shadowy nature of the spot (for it was planted thick with trees), or from the blackness of its waters, or from the soot of burnt corpses, of which I speak presently. Therefore "Cedron" is a singular noun, not plural, and accordingly the plural article τῶν is read corruptly in the Greek where it should be τοῦ.
This brook is situated on the East of Jerusalem, between the city and Mount Olivet, and flows through the deep Valley of Josaphat and fertilizes it. In this valley, says Adrichomius in his "Jerusalem," n. 204, the pious kings of Judah — Asa, Ezechias, and Josiah — burned the idols of the temple and cast their ashes into the brook Cedron. This valley was the common cemetery of the whole city, where the commoners and the poor were all buried — for the Jews had the custom of being buried outside the city, and now the Turks bury their dead there as well. In this same valley, too, on that day which shall be terrible to all mortals, all men from every quarter are to be gathered for the last and general Judgment, that they may receive from Christ the Judge the rewards due to the merits of each.
John therefore mentions the brook Cedron, first, for exactness of historical truth; second, for the figure of it: David, fleeing from his son Absalom with his men, crossed the brook Cedron in grief and was a type of Christ crossing this same brook — yet not fleeing, but offering Himself to Judas the betrayer and the Jews who pursued Him. Third, to show that He was going to His Passion to expiate not His own sins but all the sins of Adam and his posterity, however monstrous they might be — such as were committed in this valley and brook. For the brook Cedron flows through the valley of Gehennom, where infants were burned alive by their parents as a savage parricidal offering to the idol Molech. Fourth, that He might turn the place of the Passion into a place of triumph; for from the neighboring Mount Olivet, where He began to suffer and in prayer sweated water and blood, on the fortieth day after His resurrection He ascended triumphant into heaven; and at the end of the world, when He shall return to judge, He will sit as Judge above the Valley of Josaphat (Joel iii, 2) and above the brook Cedron, to judge both the Jews who persecuted Him and all men according to their merits — namely, those who were grateful for His Passion, by awarding them to heaven; but those who were ungrateful, to hell, which was vividly represented by this valley of Gehennom, through which the brook Cedron flows.
WHERE THERE WAS A GARDEN, — because in the garden of Paradise Adam sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, here Christ begins to expiate his sin in a garden: "For all things had to return to their beginning," says Cyril. Chrysostom adds: "For in the garden He tarried as in a prison," in order, as Theophylact says, "to lessen the labor of the Jews who were seeking Him." Theophylact adds a third reason, saying: "For the sake of prayer He used to seek out solitary places and quiet retreats, so that we may do the same." The rest I have said at Matt. xxvi.
Symbolically: note that Christ first went into the desert (Matt. iv); thence through the cornfields (Matt. xii); finally into this garden — to teach us to go first to the sowings of preaching, then to the Passion and the Cross. Hear S. Ambrose, Bk. IV on Luke: "See," he says, "by what paths we are led back to Paradise. Now Christ is in the desert; He acts out the man, instructs him, forms him, exercises him, anoints him with spiritual oil. When He sees him stronger, He leads him across through the cornfields and fruit-bearing labors" — as when the Jews objected that His disciples were plucking ears of corn on the Sabbath; for by then He had set His Apostles in a tilled and fruitful field of work. "Afterwards He places him in Paradise at the time of the Passion, when He crossed the brook Cedron, where there was a garden."
Verse 4: Jesus Therefore, Knowing All Things That Should Come Upon Him, Went Forth and Said: Whom Seek Ye?
4. JESUS THEREFORE, KNOWING ALL THINGS THAT SHOULD COME UPON HIM... WENT FORTH AND SAID: WHOM SEEK YE?
[John adds] "knowing," lest anyone should suppose that Jesus had fallen into the hands of the Jews unaware and against His will; rather, He knowingly and willingly gave Himself up to them: whence He WENT FORTH to meet them AND SAID: WHOM SEEK YE? — Judas had already kissed Jesus and by the kiss had given a sign to the cohort to seize Jesus; but Jesus would not be seized by that sign, lest it should seem that He was captured against His will. Therefore by the omnipotent force of His divinity He held back the cohort and fastened it to its place, so that when the sign was given they neither dared nor were able to rush upon Him to seize Him. Hence Christ of His own accord came forth undaunted to meet them, and asked, "Whom seek ye?" as though challenging them to come at Him.
Verse 5: They Answered Him: Jesus of Nazareth
5. THEY ANSWERED HIM: JESUS OF NAZARETH.
They do not say, "we are seeking You," but "Jesus." Therefore they did not recognize Him, although He had been pointed out and betrayed by Judas' kiss — because Jesus struck them with ἀορασίᾳ (unseeing) and blindness, so that they did not recognize Him though He was present, even though the officers of the chief priests had often before this both seen and heard Him. So Chrysostom, hom. 82: "See," he says, "the insuperable power — how standing in the midst of them He made them blind." And Cyril: "It is plain therefore that a divine [power] shone forth: for though He offered Himself to those who were seeking Him, yet He was in no way recognized."
AND JUDAS ALSO, WHO BETRAYED HIM, STOOD WITH THEM. — Judas had gone on ahead of the cohort to kiss Jesus; but after giving the kiss, when he saw the cohort not rushing forward to seize Christ but standing motionless, conscious of his own treachery and impenitently obstinate, he returned — not to the disciples of Jesus, but to the cohort, that by it he might be defended against Jesus whose power he feared, and so together with it he was struck down to the ground by Christ and laid prostrate. So says S. Augustine, although Euthymius and Ribera make out that Judas went up to Christ and kissed Him after he had been thrown with the Jews to the ground — which is also probable and argues the greater shamelessness of Judas.
Verse 6: As Soon Therefore as He Had Said to Them: I Am He; They Went Backward
6. AS SOON THEREFORE AS HE HAD SAID TO THEM: I AM HE; THEY WENT BACKWARD, — as though driven back and thrown flat on their backs by the force of the spirit and voice of Jesus when He said, "I am He." For they did not fall forward upon their faces, lest the power that threw them down should seem to come from some other direction — say, from behind — but backward, so that it might be manifest that they were thrown down by the force of Christ's mouth and word, and that they were unable to bear or endure His countenance and His speech. For Jesus, by saying "I am He," recalled to their minds the Name which God had given Himself, saying to Moses in Exod. iii: "I am Who am," as if to say, This is My Name — I who lay you low, and, if I willed, could annihilate you, for "I am Who am." Therefore "you are they who are not;" for all your being you receive not from yourselves but continuously from Me.
I have given the tropological and allegorical meaning of this thunderbolt-like prostration of the officers at Matt. xxvi, 50.
Verse 8: If Therefore You Seek Me, Let These Go Their Way
8. IF THEREFORE YOU SEEK ME, LET THESE GO THEIR WAY.
Why did Christ command this? I answer, first, because it belonged to Him alone, as Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour of the world, to redeem mankind by His own death. So Cyril: "He drew His disciples," he says, "out of danger, not ignorant that that conflict and the work of our salvation pertained to Himself alone; for it is the work of a nature that reigns, not serves." Second, because He had destined the Apostles to survive Him, so that after His death they might proclaim to the whole world His Resurrection, His doctrine, and His law. Third, to show His love and care for them, whereby as a Good Shepherd He cares for the safety of His sheep and neglects His own — nay, lays down His life for the sheep, that by His death He may give them life. This reason is intimated by John in the next verse, saying:
Verse 9: That the Word Might Be Fulfilled Which He Said: Of Them Whom Thou Hast Given Me, I Have Not Lost Any One
9. THAT THE WORD MIGHT BE FULFILLED WHICH HE SAID (CH. XVII, V. 12): OF THEM WHOM THOU HAST GIVEN ME, I HAVE NOT LOST ANY ONE, — that is, I did not suffer to perish any of the eleven Apostles whom Thou hast given Me, O Father; for Judas, being as it were the son of perdition, was not given to Me, nor preserved, by the Father. You will ask: Of what perdition and death is Christ speaking — of the soul, or of the body? Some say the one, some the other: I take it of both. For these disciples would have perished in body, because having been arrested with Jesus their Master they would have been put to death — especially since Peter had resisted the cohort and wounded Malchus. They would also have perished in soul, for, weak and frightened by the threats of the Jews, they would have denied Christ just as Peter denied Him; and so, being killed by the Jews, they would have lost both body and soul, for they would have died in the mortal sin of denial. Thus Rupert, Cajetan, Ribera, Franciscus Lucas, Toletus, and others.
Verse 10: And the Name of the Servant Was Malchus
10. AND THE NAME OF THE SERVANT WAS MALCHUS.
He gives the servant's name for a mystery. For in Hebrew Melech and in Chaldee Malcha (whence Malchus) is the same as "King;" and he was the servant of the High Priest, and signifies the Jewish people, which was once a king and free, but afterwards became the servant of the high priests and priests, who burdened them with their traditions and ceremonies and besides devoured them, as we saw in Matt. xxiii. This people, when Peter and the Apostles preached the Gospel, lost its right ear on account of its unbelief and hatred of Christ — that is, it became deaf to hearing the Gospel and to hearing those things that are necessary for salvation, until the Lord should convert it and restore its ear. So S. Cyril here, and S. Ambrose on ch. xxii of Luke, and S. Jerome on ch. xxvi of Matthew. S. Ambrose adds that Peter wished to imitate the zeal of Phinees, who killed the prince of Israel fornicating with the daughters of Moab and for that obtained the priesthood, Numb. xxv. Peter's love and zeal for Christ therefore lessened his guilt; yet he sinned, because he drew the sword without consulting Christ — especially since a little before he had heard from Him that He was going of His own accord to His Passion and death.
Verse 12: They Bound Him
12. THEY BOUND HIM, — by whom they ought rather to have wished to be loosed; and perhaps among them were some who afterwards, being freed by Him, said, "Thou hast broken my bonds," as S. Augustine says. Christ, had He willed, could have broken all the bonds of the Jews more easily than Samson broke the tow ropes of Dalila (Judg. xvi, 9); but He would not. First, that He might expiate the sin Adam had committed with his hands; for because the first Adam too freely stretched out his hands toward the forbidden fruit, therefore Christ the second Adam willed to be bound hands and feet, that He might expiate the sin of Adam and the other sins of his posterity, which for the most part are committed with the hands. Secondly, to fulfill the type: Isaac, who was a type of Christ, was bound when about to be offered up by Abraham; for victims used to be bound, lest they should struggle against the sacrifice, Gen. xxii, 9. Thirdly, that by undertaking these bonds out of love for us, He might cast upon us bonds of charity, by which He might draw us to love Him in return, according to that of Osee xi: "I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of charity."
Moreover, it is plain that the Jews bound Christ harshly and cruelly — both because of the monstrous hatred with which they and their masters the chief priests burned against Christ, and because they wished to avenge the shameful prostration they had suffered, and the violence inflicted by Peter upon Malchus and themselves. I have said more on this matter at Matt. xxvi, 55.
Verse 13: And They Led Him Away to Annas First: For He Was Father-in-Law to Caiaphas, Who Was the High Priest of That Year
13. AND THEY LED HIM AWAY TO ANNAS FIRST: FOR HE WAS FATHER-IN-LAW TO CAIAPHAS, WHO WAS THE HIGH PRIEST OF THAT YEAR.
You will ask why Judas and the Jews led Christ first to Annas, not to Caiaphas, since it was by Caiaphas, as being the high priest, that He was to be judged, not by Annas.
I answer: First, in order that they might honor Annas as the elder and father-in-law of Caiaphas — whom therefore Caiaphas himself "honored as a father," says Euthymius, and by whose counsel he governed the people.
Secondly, because the house of Annas was on the road for those going to Caiaphas, says S. Augustine.
Thirdly, because Annas above the rest seems to have desired and procured the arrest of Christ. Hence these officers lead Christ to him, as it were, in triumph, says S. Chrysostom, to cheer him, and in return to be rewarded by him with some gift or present for having brought Christ.
Fourthly, that they might summon Annas — who on the preceding evening had gone home to sleep on account of the cold of the night, leaving the other elders — from his house to the full council which was to be held against Jesus now captured, the next morning in the house of Caiaphas.
Fifthly, and most of all, because it was by Annas that the price of selling Christ, namely the thirty pieces of silver, had been promised to Judas. Therefore Judas brings Jesus to Annas, to receive from him the thirty pieces of silver promised to him for Him — as S. Cyril holds that he actually did receive them from him. And this is gathered from the fact that in the original compact of the chief priests with Judas concerning the betrayal of Christ, the chief priests had not counted out the thirty pieces but only promised them, as is plain from Matt. xxvi, 15; therefore Judas received them on this night in the house of Annas. When a little later he saw Christ delivered up to Pilate, repenting of the deed, he flung them down in the temple, Matt. xxvii, 3. For he could not have received them in the house of Caiaphas, both because Caiaphas was so taken up with matters concerning Christ — finding false witnesses, examining Him, summoning the council, etc. — that he had no time to deal with Judas. Hence it seems that Judas did not advance further with the officers than the house of Annas, and did not enter the house of Caiaphas; for if Judas had been there, Peter would certainly not have dared to go in, fearing to be betrayed by Judas; for if Judas had been present, when Peter three times denied Christ in the house of Caiaphas, he would certainly either have publicly charged him with it, or secretly warned the officers that Peter had been a disciple of Christ along with him, so that they might arrest him.
THE HIGH PRIEST OF THAT YEAR, — because the Roman governors often and every now and then yearly changed the high priests of the Jews and appointed new ones, just as new consuls are appointed each year. Although Pilate had this peculiar to himself, that he did not replace Caiaphas, whom he had found in office as high priest. Hence Caiaphas held the high-priesthood without interruption throughout the whole three years during which Christ was preaching.
Verse 22: One of the Servants Standing By Gave Jesus a Blow
22. ONE OF THE SERVANTS STANDING BY GAVE JESUS A BLOW.
See Augustine, Tract. 113, where after enumerating the many punishments the servant deserved, he says: "For which of these could not He have commanded by His power — He by whom the world was made — unless He had chosen rather to teach us patience, by which the world is overcome?" See also what I have said at Matthew xxvi, 59.
Moreover, Christ did not turn the other cheek, lest He should seem to acknowledge guilt. So too Paul, when ordered to be unjustly struck by the high priest, said out of zeal for justice: "God shall strike thee, thou whited wall," Acts xxiii. S. Augustine adds that "Jesus was prepared not only to turn the other cheek to be struck again, but to have His whole body fastened to the wood," so that by deed He might confirm His teaching in Matt. v, 39.
Verse 24: And Annas Sent Him Bound to Caiaphas the High Priest
24. AND ANNAS SENT HIM BOUND TO CAIAPHAS THE HIGH PRIEST, — as if to say, "Now Annas had sent Jesus bound to Caiaphas the high priest." So the Syriac, Arabic, and Cyril. For there is here a hysterologia (a putting later of what is earlier). For John, as if he had forgotten to relate the sending of Jesus by Annas to Caiaphas, inserts it here, to show who was the high priest who examined Jesus, whose servant gave Him the blow — namely that it was Caiaphas, not Annas. For Caiaphas, not Annas, was the high priest; and so this verse in its right order belongs after verse 13; for Peter's triple denial and the examination of Jesus — all that John narrates after v. 13 — took place in the house of Caiaphas the high priest, not in that of Annas, as is plain from S. Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Verse 28: They Led Jesus Therefore From Caiaphas to the Governor's Hall
28. THEY LED JESUS THEREFORE FROM CAIAPHAS TO THE GOVERNOR'S HALL, — that is, to the house and hall of Pilate, who was the prætor, that is, the governor and judge of Judea in criminal and civil matters alike. So it is to be read with the Roman texts, the Greek, the Syriac, and the Arabic. Hence S. Augustine had a corrupt copy who, in Tract. 114, reads: "They led Jesus therefore to Caiaphas at the prætorium," and was thereby forced to say that either Caiaphas came into the house of Pilate, or that both lived in the same house — the contrary of which is plain from the Gospel.
Further, every magistrate whom an army obeyed was called Prætor, says Victorinus; from præeundo (going before), says Varro, as if Præitor, because he went before in law and in the army. Thence the house and the place in which he administered justice was called the prætorium; there therefore was the tribunal in which the cases of the accused were tried, and for this reason the chief priests led Jesus there, that He might be condemned by Pilate.
AND THEY WENT NOT INTO THE HALL, THAT THEY MIGHT NOT BE DEFILED (BY ENTERING THE HOUSE OF A PAGAN AND IDOLATROUS GOVERNOR), BUT THAT (BEING PURE AND CLEAN) THEY MIGHT EAT THE PASCH.
"Pasch" here does not mean the paschal lamb, as Chrysostom and Cyril would have it (for they had already eaten that the day before at the supper), but the paschal victims which were offered throughout the seven days of the Passover. For these could be eaten only by those who were ritually clean. See here the hypocrisy of the chief priests, who wish to appear most religious while they are most wicked — nay, Christ-killers. Whence S. Augustine exclaims: "O impious and foolish blindness: to fear defilement by entering a stranger's house, and yet not fear defilement of Christ by their own crime!" See S. Cyril.
Verse 31: It Is Not Lawful For Us to Put Any Man to Death
31. IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR US TO PUT ANY MAN TO DEATH.
From this it appears that the Romans, since the Jews had been subdued by right of war, took from them the right of condemning criminals and putting them to death, and reserved this right to themselves; for that is exactly what these words of theirs mean. So Rupert, S. Thomas, Jansenius, Suarez, and others.
You will say: But the Jews stoned S. Stephen and hurled down S. James. I reply that they did this not by due process of law, but in a tumult and fury of the people. Whence Josephus, Antiquities Bk. XX, ch. viii (otherwise xvi), asserts that Ananus the high priest was deprived of his office by the Roman governor because he had ordered S. James to be killed. And so too in Acts xviii, the Jews did not dare themselves to kill Paul, but handed him over to the proconsul Gallio to be put to death.
You will press the objection: Pilate had already given the chief priests permission to judge and kill Jesus, saying, "Take Him you, and judge Him according to your law." Therefore they could have done it. I answer that the chief priests could indeed have done it, but were unwilling to accept this permission from Pilate, and silently said as it were: You Romans have altogether taken from us the right of the sword; we therefore are unwilling to usurp it in this one case, to put Jesus to death. So either give us back the right of capital punishment absolutely, or else kill Him yourselves together with others. They said this because they wished Jesus, as a seditious man aspiring to the kingdom of Judea, to be punished with the most shameful death, that is, to be crucified by the Roman governor (for the Romans crucified those who aspired to sovereignty), and they wished to transfer the odium for His death from themselves to Pilate, lest they should be stoned or assailed with insults by the people, whom they knew to be devoted to Jesus.
Others answer differently — namely S. Augustine and Cyril, and from them Suarez (III part, Qu. XLVII, art. 4) — that it was not lawful for the Jews to put anyone to death during the festival of the Pasch, on account of the solemnity of the feast, though at other times it was lawful for them. Ribera, however, answers that the Pharisees, out of their particular and proper sect, observed this, that they should condemn no one to death, as Josephus, son of Gorion, relates in his "Jewish History" Bk. IV, ch. vi. Under the guise of religion, therefore, they said, "It is not lawful for us;" for many of the chief men among those who procured the death of Christ were Pharisees, and because they had authority with the people, others followed their lead.
Verse 32: That the Word of Jesus Might Be Fulfilled, Signifying What Death He Should Die
32. THAT THE WORD OF JESUS MIGHT BE FULFILLED WHICH HE SAID, SIGNIFYING WHAT DEATH HE SHOULD DIE, — namely that He should be delivered up to the Gentiles and be crucified by them. For Christ had foretold this in John xii, saying: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself. Now this He said signifying what death He should die." Also Matt. xx, 18, and elsewhere.
Verse 33: Pilate Therefore Went Into the Hall Again, and Said: Art Thou the King of the Jews?
33. PILATE THEREFORE WENT INTO THE HALL AGAIN, — as if to say: Pilate had gone out to the chief priests to hear their accusation against Jesus; and having heard it, he went in again to examine Jesus about it. This is the meaning of the "again" (which, however, the Syriac omits), namely his going back after going out.
AND HE SAID TO HIM: ART THOU THE KING OF THE JEWS?
Supply here from Luke xxiii, 2, that the chief priests, seeing Pilate not to be moved by their mere authority to condemn Jesus, accused Him saying: "We have found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that He is Christ the King;" and Pilate, seizing on this third accusation as more plausible than the others, asked Jesus, "Art Thou the King of the Jews?" I have said the rest at Matt. ch. xxvii, v. 11.
Verse 37: Thou Sayest That I Am a King. For This Was I Born, That I Should Give Testimony to the Truth
37. THOU SAYEST THAT I AM A KING, — that is, I am truly the King of the Jews, as you say; that is, I am the Messiah or Christ, that I may reign in the faithful by faith and grace and lead them to the heavenly kingdom. For this is what this Hebrew idiom means.
FOR THIS WAS I BORN, AND FOR THIS CAME I INTO THE WORLD; THAT I SHOULD GIVE TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH, — that I may preach the Gospel truth, which consists chiefly in three things: First, in the true knowledge of God, namely that the gods of the Gentiles are false, and that the true God is one in essence and three in Persons, namely Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For the true is a property of being, just as the good is. For every being is true, that is, a real thing, not feigned, and in itself good. Therefore God, who is Being itself, according to that saying, "I am Who am," is likewise the true itself and the good itself, because He is essentially entity, truth, and goodness. Again, the Son, who proceeds from the Father as the Word, is Truth itself — not only truth of being, but of mind. Whence S. Augustine says: "When Jesus gives testimony to the truth, He gives testimony to Himself; for He is Himself the Truth."
Secondly, in the knowledge of the Incarnation of the Word: that one may know the Son of God to have been sent by God the Father into flesh and into the world to save it; and therefore that no one can obtain salvation except by faith in Him, according to that saying in ch. xvii, v. 3: "This is eternal life: that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."
Thirdly, in the knowledge of true Beatitude: namely that it consists not in riches, honors, delights, sciences, or earthly kingdoms, as the philosophers taught, but in the kingdom of heaven — that is, in the vision and possession of God. Whence the sum of Christ's preaching was this: "Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Matt. iii.
Christ says that He was born to bear witness to the truth for this end: first, that Pilate might not wonder at His having confessed Himself a King, as if to say: I have confessed this because I am truly a king; and I am bound to bear witness to the truth because I was born for this. Second, that Pilate might recognize the innocence and integrity of Jesus, for innocence consists in truth. Third, that He might admonish him to justice — namely that he should judge His cause truly and justly, and not allow himself to be overcome by the false accusations and clamors of the chief priests, so as to condemn Him against truth and justice.
EVERY ONE THAT IS OF THE TRUTH HEARETH MY VOICE. — Those are said to be "of the truth" who are zealous for the truth and have resisted. Indeed Christ Himself first died as a martyr for the truth.
These are opposed to those "who are of contention," Rom. II, that is, to those who seek nothing but to contend, quarrel, and argue — such as the Philosophers were then. Hence "to be of the truth" is the same as "to be of God:" for he who is a son of God is a son of truth; for God is truth, according to that passage in chapter VIII, verse 47: "He who is of God hears the words of God. Therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God:" for although you are of God by creation, you are not so by election, faith, and grace. "He commended grace, which calls according to His purpose," says St. Augustine. For "he who has received His testimony (that of John the Baptist concerning Jesus) has set his seal to this, that God is true," John III, 33. How true this is, even the voices of enemies show. For Josephus writes, Antiquities, bk. XVIII, ch. IV: "At that 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 gladly receive the truth," etc.
Tacitly Christ answers Pilate's objection: If you bear witness to the truth, why then do the chief priests and Scribes, who are the professors of truth, not listen to you — indeed, why do they persecute you to death? Christ replies: Because they themselves are not of the truth, but of falsehood; for they follow their own false opinions and cravings for wealth and honors, which are suggested to them by their father, the lying devil. Hence Christ says to them: "You are of your father the devil, and you wish to carry out the desires of your father," namely, to kill Me, John VIII, 44.
Verse 38: Pilate Saith to Him: What Is Truth?
38. PILATE SAITH TO HIM: WHAT IS TRUTH? — Pilate thought that Christ was some Philosopher or Prophet who was speculating and speaking about truth, knowledge, and wisdom after the philosophical manner. So he asks Jesus what that truth is to which He had said He was born to bear witness. But since this had little to do with the business Pilate was dealing with, in order to free himself from Jesus — whom he saw to be a man of gravity, wisdom, and innocence — he devised a fitting means to release Him: namely, since at Passover he was about to release one condemned man according to custom, he would set Jesus alongside the notorious robber Barabbas, so that the Jews would ask for Jesus rather than Barabbas to be freed. Leaving Jesus therefore in the praetorium, he went out in order to propose this very thing to the Jews.
Symbolically: what is truth? St. Augustine answers in Sentences, sent. 386: Truth is God Himself, "who is the first life and the first essence, as He is the first wisdom. For this is that unchangeable truth, which is rightly called the law of all arts, and the art of the almighty Artificer." The same, epistle 9: "Incomparably," he says, "more beautiful is the truth of Christians than the Helen of the Greeks. For our Martyrs fought more bravely for her against this Sodom than those heroes did for that other against Troy." Indeed, Christ Himself first died as a martyr for the truth.
What is truth? Hear Lactantius, De Ira Dei, ch. II, who assigns three degrees of it: The first degree, he says, is to understand false religions and to cast off the impious worship of gods fashioned by human hand. The second, to perceive in mind that there is one supreme God, whose power and providence made the world from the beginning and will govern it in the future. The third, to know His minister and messenger whom He sent into the earth; by whose teaching He will free us from the error in which we were entangled, and having been shaped for the worship of the true God, we might learn righteousness.
What is truth? "I am the way, the truth, and the life," says Christ, John XIV.
What is truth? "It is the most excellent good," says St. Basil, cited in Antonius, Melissa, ch. XXI. "What is truth?" It is God, says St. Dionysius, "inasmuch as He is one and not many by nature. For the true is one, but falsehood is manifold."
What is truth? "It is the faculty which brings hidden things into the light," says Philo, in the same place.
What is truth? "Truth is the strongest of all things," says Nazianzen, oration 13.
What is truth? "It is a firm apprehension of being in the mind," says St. Chrysostom, in the same place. Hence that saying of Zerubbabel: "Strong is the king, strong is wine, strong are women, but strongest of all is truth," III Esdras III. In the same place Zerubbabel adds, ch. IV, vers. 36: "All the earth calls upon the truth, heaven also blesses her, and all works are moved and tremble before her." And vers. 40: "And there is nothing unjust in her judgment, but strength, and kingdom, and power, and majesty of all ages. Blessed be the God of truth." For this reason Alphonsus, king of Aragon: "Truth," he says, "ought indeed to be innate in all; yet it ought to be the special ornament of princes, so that to establish trust a single word of a prince should have as much weight as the oath of private men." So Panormitanus, bk. I De Gestis Alphonsi. Hence the Aaronic high priest bore written on the Rational: "Urim vethummim," that is, doctrine and truth, Exodus XXVIII.
The Gentiles saw the same thing dimly, as in Stobaeus, discourse 11. Hence Menander: What is truth? "Truth," he says, "is a citizen of heaven, and alone enjoys the company of the gods."
Plato used to say that truth is the sweetest of narratives. Jamblichus: "Truth," he says, "as its Greek etymology indicates, is concerned with the gods and the incorruptible action of the gods." Aeschines: "So strong is truth, that it surpasses all human thoughts." Plato again, bk. V De Legibus: "Truth," he says, "is the guide to all good for both gods and men. Whoever is to be happy and blessed must be a partaker of it, so that he may pass as much of his life as possible in truthfulness." Trismegistus: "Truth is found only in eternal bodies, whose very bodies are also true. Therefore all things upon the earth are not truth, but imitations and shadows of truth. Truth is the most absolute virtue and the supreme good itself, which is neither troubled by matter nor surrounded by body — a naked, conspicuous, august good, free from change and alteration."
Plutarch, cited in Antonius, Melissa, ch. XXI: "Equality," he says, "is weighed by the balance, but truth by the reasoning of philosophy." In the same place Evagrius: "To be silent about the truth," he says, "is to bury gold." And Democritus: "Piety must be openly declared, and truth constantly defended." And Epictetus: "Nothing should be held more precious than truth — not even friendship, which is subject to affections that disturb and obscure what is just." Hence the saying: "Plato is a friend, but truth is a greater friend." The same: "Truth," he says, "is an immortal and eternal thing. It does not bestow on us beauty that gradually fades, nor take away the confidence of speaking that proceeds from justice; rather, it sets forth what is just and lawful, discerning the unjust from them and refuting it."
Demosthenes, when asked "What do men have that is like God?" answered: "To act kindly and to love the truth." So Valerius Maximus, discourse 8.
Pythagoras used to say that "these two things given to men by divine gift are by far the most beautiful: to embrace the truth and to devote oneself to acts of kindness; for both can be compared to the works of the immortal gods." So Aelianus, bk. XII De Varia Historia.