When the morning was come. The evangelist is silent with regard to what was transacted during the night, and of the multiplied cruelties and base indignities offered to our divine Redeemer during the whole of the night; for, after his has informed us of Peter's denial, he immediately proceeds to tel... [ Continue Reading ]
In the council Jesus was free; but now all the council rising up, as appears from St. Luke, and binding him, (_ Greek: detantes auton) as one certainly guilty of death, they conduct him to Pilate. All attend to repress by their authority the people, to engage Pilate to pronounce sooner the sentence,... [ Continue Reading ]
Then Judas,... repenting himself. A fruitless repentance, accompanied with a new sin of despair, says St. Leo. (Witham) --- Perceiving that Jesus was delivered up, and remembering what our divine Saviour had said concerning his resurrection, he repented of his atrocious wickedness. Perhaps Satan, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hanged himself, [1] and did not die of the quinsy, (a tumid inflammation in the throat) as some of late expound it. It is true the Greek word may sometimes signify a suffocation with grief; but it signifies also to be strangled with a rope, as Erasmus translated it. So it is in the ancient Syriac v... [ Continue Reading ]
_Corbona. A place in the temple, where the people put in their gifts or offerings. (Challoner)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Burying-place. this the Pharisees did, as a shew of their charity to strangers; but their intention, according to St. Jerome, was to disgrace Jesus; thus to keep alive in the minds of the people, that he was sold by one of his own disciples, and delivered up to a disgraceful death. (Denis the Carth... [ Continue Reading ]
_Haceldama is a Syriac word: it is not the Greek; and some conjecture, that it found its way hither from the first chapter of the Acts, ver. 19. (Bible de Vence)_... [ Continue Reading ]
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias. Jeremias is not in all Latin copies, and the general reading of the Greek; whereas the passage is found in Zacharias xi. 12. Some judge it to have been in some writing of Jeremias, now lost; as St. Jerome says he found it in a writing of Jeremias... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus stood before the governor. By comparing the four evangelists together Pilate condescended to come out to the priests, and asked them, what accusations they brought against this man? They replied first in general terms: (John xviii. 30.) If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered... [ Continue Reading ]
The governor wondered exceedingly at Jesus's patience and silence: and he saw very well that it was envy that excited the Jewish priests against him. (Matthew xxvii. 18.) But they went on charging him, that he stirred up the people, even from Galilee to Jerusalem. Pilate hearing that he was of Galil... [ Continue Reading ]
_Upon the solemn day of the paschal feast, (which began the evening before) it was a custom for the governor to pardon and release to the people any one criminal whose life they should petition for: and to induce them to beg for Jesus, he put in the balance with him one Barabbas a famous malefactor,... [ Continue Reading ]
_In a dream. We must remark, that these kind of dreams were not unusual among the Gentiles, being sent by God for some just and necessary reason; as on this occasion, that there might be a public testimony from the Gentiles, of the justice and innocence of Christ. (St. Jerome)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_That they should ask Barabbas. All, therefore, that resemble the Jews in either theory or practice, desire to have Barabbas loosed to them; all therefore, that seek after iniquity, ask for Barabbas, and put Jesus away. But all who walk in the paths of virtue, ask for Jesus, and destroy Barabbas. Pi... [ Continue Reading ]
Which... of the two, said Pilate to them, will you have released? St. Mark tells us, that at the instigation of the priests, the people petitioned for Barabbas. It was no small disappointment to Pilate. What then, said he, shall I do with Jesus? They all answer, let him be crucified. In St. Luke, cr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Taken water. It was the custom of the ancients, when they wished to shew themselves innocent of any alleged crime, to take water and wash their hands in public. (St. Remigius) --- Because the element of water naturally signifies purity. See Virgil, \'c6neid xi. ver. 718. Me bello e tanto digressum,... [ Continue Reading ]
All the people answered: _his blood be upon us, and upon our children which continues, saith St. Jerome, to this day. Then Pilate delivered to them Jesus to be crucified. (Witham) --- This blasphemous prayer continues to this day, and will continue a protracted curse upon the Jews, and upon their po... [ Continue Reading ]
_And having scourged Jesus. We must know that Pilate was a subject of the Roman empire; and by the Roman law it was ordained, that whoever was condemned to the cross, should previously suffer the punishment of scourging. (St. Jerome) --- He wished also by this apparent severity to soften the minds o... [ Continue Reading ]
A Roman cohort properly consisted of 625 men; but they were not always complete, nor all equally strong. (Bible de Vence)... [ Continue Reading ]
_A scarlet cloak. St. Mark and St. John call it purple. But these colours are frequently taken promiscuously by writers. Scarlet is a lighter, and crimson a deeper red colour. (Bible de Vence)_... [ Continue Reading ]
The crowning of thorns had preceded the time, when Jesus was made over by Pilate to the Jews. As the Jews have no preterpluperfect tense, we may conjecture that those words, _circumdederunt, posuerunt, are Hebraisms; for circumdederant, posuerant, they had covered him with a cloak; they had placed a... [ Continue Reading ]
_And led him away to crucify him. It was the custom for men condemned to die by crucifixion to carry their cross, which Jesus did through the city; but going out, or being gone out of the city, and, as it is probable, fainting under the weight of it, (his strength as man being exhausted) they forced... [ Continue Reading ]
Cyrene was the capital of a province in Africa, near Lybia. See Acts ii. 10. Some are of opinion that this Simon was a Jew; his name favours that sentiment, and there were many Jews in that province. (Bible de Vence) --- St. John says that Christ went out carrying his own cross, while the other thre... [ Continue Reading ]
_Golgotha, i.e. the place of Calvary, [3] of heads and skulls: perhaps, says St. Jerome, from the skulls of persons executed, and buried there. Several ancient writers would have it so called, from Adam's skull, whom they guess to have been buried there. Some also say that a part of this mountain wa... [ Continue Reading ]
Wine... mingled with gall. [4] The Protestants from the ordinary Greek copies, translate vinegar; but the other Greek copies have wine, which St. Jerome and St. Hilary follow. And in St. Mark all copies, without exception, have wine mixed with myrrh: perhaps myrrh, from its bitterness, is here calle... [ Continue Reading ]
_The divided his garments. This was accounted with the ancients the greatest infamy. It was never done with any but the most vile and worthless wretches; with men who possessed nothing more then their garments. This they did to our blessed Saviour; a punishment they did not think the two thieves des... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. St. Mark has only, this is the King of the Jews; as also St. Luke. St. John, Jesus, of Nazareth, King of the Jews, which might be the whole inscription. It was the custom of the Romans to put such inscriptions with the cause of their being crucified. St. Luke an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Two robbers, or thieves, and Jesus in the midst; as if he had been the greatest malefactor of the three. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_They... blasphemed, reviled, and insulted him with words and gestures. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou be the Son of God. Behold these children of Satan, how they imitate the language of their father. That wicked fiend, tempting our divine Saviour, exclaimed, "if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down:" and these his children say, "if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross:" but... [ Continue Reading ]
_If he be the king of Israel. Pilate having written on the inscription set upon the cross, that Christ was the king of Israel, the Jews endeavoured to persuade him to remove or alter it; but Pilate gave them for answer, according to St. John, " what I have written, I have written." The Jews, therefo... [ Continue Reading ]
_If he will have him: literally, if he will him. In the style of the Scriptures, to will, is to love, or be pleased with any one; and so it is applied, Psalm xxi. 9, from whence these words are taken. See also 1 Kings xviii. 22. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the same things the thieves also: i.e. one of them, the other being converted, as we find Luke xxii. 39. (Witham) --- St. Ambrose, St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, and Ven. Bede say, that at first both of the thieves blasphemed; but one of them seeing the wonderful things that happened, viz. th... [ Continue Reading ]
From the sixth hour. St. Mark says, it was the third hour, and they crucified him. St. John says, it was about the sixth hour, when Jesus was condemned. To reconcile these expressions, we may take notice, that the third greater hour lasted till the sixth hour; and so St. Mark calls it the third hour... [ Continue Reading ]
_This man calleth for Elias. St. Jerome thinks these might be some of the Roman soldiers, who understood not Syriac, but who had heard of the prophet Elias. (Witham) --- But if we understand it of the Jews, who could not possibly be ignorant of this word, we must suppose it was merely a stratagem of... [ Continue Reading ]
_With a loud voice. In this our Redeemer confirms what he had said to Pilate; I have the power to lay down my life, and I have the power to take it up again: for he cried with a loud voice, and at the very hour of the evening sacrifice, to shew that it was by the effect of his own will that he died.... [ Continue Reading ]
The veil of the temple was rent. As there were in the temple two parts of the sanctuary, so there were two veils, or partition walls. The first sanctuary, called the holy, was separated by a veil from that part of the temple called the court of the Israelites. Into this outward sanctuary, called the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Indeed this was the Son of God. St. Mark says, that when they saw Jesus die in that manner, crying out with a loud voice, which could not be natural, and when they saw the other miracles, they were struck with fear. St. Luke says, (xxiii. 47.) that the centurion glorified God, &c. (Witham) --- It i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ministering unto him. It was customary with the Jews, for the women of that country to minister unto their teachers both food and raiment; but because this was liable to abuse, and to cause scandal to the Gentiles, St. Paul dispensed with their assistance. These women ministered to our Lord, hoping... [ Continue Reading ]
When it was evening, &c. St. John tells us, (Chap. xix. 31.) that the day on which Jesus died, being the day of preparation, (literally, the parasceve) that is the Friday or eve of the great sabbath, to wit, of the sabbath-day, which happened in the week of the paschal solemnity, the Jews desired of... [ Continue Reading ]
The Roman laws forbade sepulture to be given to criminals, without an express permission from the judges. (Bible de Vence, and Menochius)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wrapt it up. Behold with admiration the courage and constancy of this disciple of Christ, who, through love for his crucified Saviour, willingly exposed himself not only to the enmity of his countrymen, but even to the danger of death, and daring in the presence of all to beg the body of Jesus, and... [ Continue Reading ]
And Joseph _laid it in his own new monument,... hewed or cut out in a rock, where no one had ever been laid: and rolled a great stone against the entrance, that no on might go in, or take away the body. But Mary Magdalene, and other women that had accompanied Jesus from Galilee, followed at a distan... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sitting over-against. Though St. Matthew makes mention of two women only, who were there, it is nevertheless certain from the other evangelists, that there were more, though these two are here particularized, because they perhaps shewed greater anxiety. They are said to be sitting, because they wer... [ Continue Reading ]
_The next day, which followed that of the perasceve, or preparation, (that is, on the great sabbath-day) the chief priests came to Pilate, to beg him to set a guard at the monument. (Witham) --- The day of the preparation. The eve of the sabbath; so called, because on that day they prepared all thin... [ Continue Reading ]
Sir, we have remembered, that that seducer, this impostor, this cheat; so the called our blessed Redeemer; from whence, says St. Augustine, Christians may learn to be patient under the greatest injuries. --- Said:... after three days I will rise again. This, therefore, must have been well known amon... [ Continue Reading ]
_You have a guard; supposed to be a company of Roman soldiers, destined for the guard of the temple: (Bible de Vence) or, may take a guard; go, and make it secure; which they did, sealing the stone, and placing guards at the monument. Providence ordered this, to make Christ's resurrection more certa... [ Continue Reading ]
They departing. See how beyond the possibility of contradiction these precautions prove the reality of Christ's resurrection, and how the inveterate enemies of Christ become unwilling witnesses of it; for, since the sepulchre was guarded, there was an impossibility of any deceit on the part of the d... [ Continue Reading ]