CHAPTER 19 VER. 1. _Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him._ That is after he had said (Luke 23:22), "I will chastise Him and let Him go." The tradition is that He was first scourged with thick ropes, then with knotted ropes and iron scorpions, then with chains, and lastly with rods of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they put on Him a purple robe_. See notes on S. Matthew 27:30, also [Pseudo] Athanasius, _de Cruce_, who says that Christ bore in the purple robe the blood of men (because the devil had polluted the earth with murders), in the thorns their sins, in the reed the hand-writing with which the devil... [ Continue Reading ]
_He_ _ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God._ As being a blasphemer, sacrilegious, and opposed to God. S. Augustine says, "See here a greater charge. It seemed but a light thing that He had aimed at sovereign power: and yet He did not falsely claim anything; for He is the Only Begotte... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou wouldest have no power against Me, unless it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin. The best explanation of this passage is that of Jansenius, Cajetan, and Ribera. Thou couldest have no power over Me, both because I am innocent, and because I... [ Continue Reading ]
_And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him._ He had sought to do so before. But he now more especially did so, after he had heard that He was the Son of God; fearing to incur the vengeance of God on condemning Him. The fear of Cæsar, however, prevailed over the fear of God. The Gentiles reck... [ Continue Reading ]
_In_ _a place that was called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew Gabbatha._ That is a High Place, the seat of judgment, being raised on many steps. These steps were sent to Rome, and placed near the Church of S. John Lateran. They are much reverenced by the faithful.... [ Continue Reading ]
_It was the preparation of the Passover._ That is of the Paschal Sabbath, the Sabbath which fell in the octave. On this day great preparations were made for the following Sabbath, on which no work could be done. This was the only Sabbath which had its preparation-day. The Greeks explain it as being... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bearing His cross._ After the Roman custom. Augustine writes, "A noble spectacle: a great jest for the ungodly, but a great mystery to the godly; a great mark of disgrace to the wicked, a great evidence of faith to the godly; ungodliness, as it looks on, laughs at a King bearing His cross of punish... [ Continue Reading ]
_But His coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout._ Euthymius says it was said to have been woven by the Blessed Virgin. _Allegorically._ This was a type of Christ's Church, which it is not lawful to rend, and thus cause a schism. _Tropologically._ S. Bernard regards it as the Divine i... [ Continue Reading ]
_But there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister_ (cousin), _Mary the wife of Cleophas_ (and the mother of S. James the Less and Jude), _and Mary Magdalene_, who was the more enkindled with love for Jesus, when she saw Him washing away with His Blood those very sins which s... [ Continue Reading ]
When Jesus therefore saw His Mother, and His disciple standing by whom He loved, He saith unto His Mother, Woman, behold thy son! Christ pierced her heart with the wound both of love and sorrow, for He meant, Mother, I am, as thou seest, dying on the Cross: I shall not be able to be with thee, to at... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost._ All the suffering, and all the mysteries which the Father decreed from all eternity that I should suffer and carry out, as He ordered from My very birth, and willed, moreover, that... [ Continue Reading ]
The Jews therefore (because it was the preparation) that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the sabbath day (for that sabbath-day was an high day) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. See Deut. xxi. 22. This was done, in order that they might... [ Continue Reading ]
_But one of the soldiers opened His side._ As somewhat doubting, says S. Cyril, whether He were really dead; and if He were not, to hasten His death. For it was the duty of these soldiers to carry out the sentence, and to see that criminals were not taken away before it was certain that they were de... [ Continue Reading ]
And again another scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced. See Zechariah 12:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
But after this Joseph of Arimathæa (being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews) besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. See notes on Matt. xxvii. 58. He took away the Body of Jesus to be bu... [ Continue Reading ]
_And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night._ He came first by night, but afterwards to hear Him, and become His disciple. (See S. Augustine _in loc_.) _Bearing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight._ To embalm and bury nobly so great a prophet.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden_ (for where could Jesus, the Author of all verdure and vigour, be buried, except in a garden?) See notes on Matthew 27:60. _And in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid_; as S. Augustine says, "As no one before or after... [ Continue Reading ]