(Verse 4.) And when He said this, He lifted up His eyes and saw both the persecutors from this side and the spiritual wickednesses gathering together on the other side, and He said: How long will you rush upon man, killing all, that is, why do you hasten to destroy the human race? Do you not know that I have come for the redemption of all? I have offered myself for all, that I might protect all by my offering. Therefore, we accept man either for the entire human multitude, or if we accept him for one, we understand him as the same person. You rush upon man, but because you cannot rush upon God above; just as it says elsewhere: Why do you seek to kill me, a man? (John 8:40). For divinity could not be subject to death, but human nature was. So if you rush upon me and want to arrest me, why do you want to kill those who are with me? It is enough for you to have the one you seek. I do not seek a partner in suffering, for I do not need the help of anyone for the salvation of all. I do not require an envoy, nor do I send a messenger; but I myself have presented myself as a messenger to those who do not seek me: I have surrendered myself to those who do not apprehend me, in order to free those who had been trapped in the snares of death. So you rush in as if to an inclined wall and a shaken wall, unaware that I came not to tilt the wall or shake the wall, but to dissolve. For I came to bring peace, to make both one; and by dissolving the middle wall of the partition that separated flesh and soul, so that they could not feel as one: and therefore the flesh resisted the soul, and could not be subject to its authority; because it could not obey its commands due to the obstacle of the wall.
Therefore, the law of the flesh was opposed to the law of the mind. This wall of ancient enmities, like a barrier, the Lord Jesus removed and made the meetings of the mind and the flesh accessible; so that, coming together as one, they would pursue that which was beneficial to both. Therefore, the wall is a certain height of sins. Hence, Paul says to the high priest of the Jews: God will begin to strike you, you whitewashed wall (Acts 23:3); for the wall is built of mud and cement. Hence the Egyptians built cities when the Jews were forced to make bricks. In Egypt, clay was made, and the people of God worked sin there. Therefore, God groaned, therefore He was heard and freed from sin. Therefore, the Law was given, the promised grace; so that the Law would cut sin in part, and grace would give everything.
(Verse 5.) And when these things were brought to us, when these things were endured for us, we rejected his price. Hence he says: Yet they thought to reject my price; when Judas, the betrayer, returned the price, the Jews refused to put it in the treasury, saying: It is not lawful for us to put it in the treasury, for it is the price of blood (Matth. XXVII, 6). Here the betrayer is condemned by his own judgement, who returned the price he received, weak as a witness to holy office, but strong as a witness to his crime. For each person is a more severe accuser of oneself, and carries within themselves an inexcusable sentence. The leaders of the synagogue condemn themselves by their own judgment. They claim that the price of blood they have given is the cause of accusation, and they accuse themselves of restoring it. For if it should not have been received, it should not have been paid. And I wish they had either not given it, or because they had given it, had not received it. For they have rejected what they did not want to put in a chest, and instead they bought a field with it for the burial of foreigners. Therefore, deservedly the Gentiles, for whom the burial of Him who was bought by the death of Christ has profited, are no longer strangers and foreigners: but have become citizens of the saints, and domestics of God; because they are buried with the Son of God: but the Jews who rejected the price of His passion, wander away from Christ. It is more tolerable for them, even in this, as a traitor, that they confess their error: but they aggravate their crime by making excuses. For confession is more modest after the offense. Therefore, they shamelessly rejected the confession of the common sacrilege, saying, 'What does it matter to us? You seem (to be)'. For what did the traitor say, except this: 'I have sinned in handing over innocent blood'? The crime of the one who hands over, how could it not be a sin for the one who receives it? Since evil is connected to evil, so that they would wickedly kill the one whom they had wickedly acquired.
I ran, he said, in thirst. Indeed, it is true that our Lord Jesus thirsted. Blessed is the Lord's thirst; for he thirsted for us, especially in his passion. Finally, he said: I thirst (John 19:28). So he was thirsty when from his side he poured out the streams of living water to quench the thirst of all. Finally, it is written: Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). But in Greek, it is in the middle, because it signifies both singular and plural number. Therefore I also ran; and they ran, as we can understand from the Greek. Now we have explained what it means to run, namely, to hasten to receive the thirst of all, so that I may satisfy all with the abundance of the everlasting fountain (for whoever I give water to will not thirst, neither now, nor in the future, as it was said to the Samaritan woman); now let us explain what it means: They ran in thirst. This means that they hastened to dry up the living fountain of their own disbelief, denying it eternal moisture; just as the Lord himself says: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have made for themselves broken cisterns. It is not surprising that they were thirsty, who could not hold the water of the eternal fountain through the leaks of their slippery treachery. Therefore, they were thirsty because they deprived themselves of the spiritual drink, which they had drawn from the giving rock. Hence, Symmachus also says: 'They blessed their own deceit,' that is, they found pleasure in falsehood, when they presented falsities as truths. Every lie has thirst, truth has abundance, which persists forever.
And how quickly he proved, that they ran in falsehood! With their mouth, he said, they blessed, and with their heart, they cursed. Miserable thirst of traitors, who held one thing in their heart and spoke another with their mouth. But where faith overflows with abundance, it is believed in the heart for righteousness, and confession is made with the mouth for salvation. However, the series of the Passion shows how they blessed with their mouth and cursed with their heart, when they said: Let him come down from the cross and we will believe in him (Matthew 15:32). Fools! He rose from the dead, and they did not believe; how then would they have believed if He had descended from the cross? He hoped in the Lord, let Him deliver him; let Him save him, since He desires him (Psalm 22:9); for those who were mocking rather than wishing were saying these things, and they were asking whether He was the Son of God, speaking with peaceful words but thinking in their hearts of sacrilegious accusation.
But these are mystical, let us come to the moral. Indeed, since Christ is desired not once, He was desired once in His body which He received in the Virgin, He is desired frequently in that body which is the Church; for we are the body of Christ and its members. He is also desired in each of His holy and innocent ones who have dedicated themselves to the Lord.
We remember someone (Gratian commands) recently desired by everyone, abandoned and betrayed by his own: who, once placed on the platform of power, suddenly lacking the obedience he had inherited from those very people, began to be pressed upon, with death approaching, with no helper, no longer with any ally of his own, no companion. What else can he say, except that what he had received from the very person to whom he had devoted himself: Shall not my soul be subject to God? This is what you are pursuing; why are you going mad; why are you insulting? You can kill the flesh, but you cannot kill the soul. You can take away the life of the body, but you cannot extinguish its merit. For it is written: Do not fear those who can kill the flesh, but cannot kill the soul; but rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28). Therefore, the soul that is subject to God is not subject to human power; for it hopes for the fruit of eternal life from Him, and the help of perpetual salvation. Therefore, the one to whom I have surrendered myself will defend and save me from being killed, and will resurrect the dead, and will avenge the one who has been killed. The righteous has been taken away, so that wickedness does not change his heart. Therefore, this death is more of an escape from sin than a loss for the one who is dying.
For He Himself is my God, my helper, my defender; I shall not be moved. Those who waver are shaken, because they flow away from the certain position of their integrity and innocence. Once placed upon the rock of Christ, one should not have a slippery footprint, but should maintain the firmness of their own condition. Hence, one is said to be immovable, who keeps an immovable will, and carries out some intention with a faithful intent of the mind. For we also read the unchangeable will of God, as you have in Hebrews: In which God, being willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed an oath. (Hebrews 6:17). Therefore, the unchangeable will of God is rightly not moved by the allurements of any sin. But men are changeable, prone to sinning, and easy to wander. In fact, it is said of the Jews: And they that passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads. (Matthew 27:39). And the Lord himself says in the psalm: All who saw me, despised me: they spoke with their lips and shook their heads (Ps. XXI, 8). Christ is the head of all. Therefore, it is better for Christ to remain in us, than for any disturbance of ours to shake him. Hence the Jews, shaking their heads, said: Take away from the earth such a man (Act. XXII, 22). The Gerasenes begged him to depart from their borders (Luke, VIII, 37): but the Church held onto him and did not let him go. Therefore, she who held him possesses: those who moved cannot possess. But the evangelist rightly says that when passing by, they moved their heads (Matthew 27:39): passing by, not standing. We stand in holy courts, we pass by in streets. The priest passed by, the Levite passed by; he stood, who cared for the inflicted wounds. And therefore, those who were passing by did not say: 'The Lord's blessing be upon you, we bless you from the house of the Lord' (Psalm 128:8); for those who bless are standing, not passing by. And finally, they pass by the vineyard whose protective walls have been torn down, and they vandalize it, not staying there. As they pass by, they hiss, just as we read in the Lamentations of Jeremiah: 'All who pass by on the road hold their hands against you; they hiss and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem' (Lam. 2:15). Therefore, the priest could not be crowned, he could not be promoted, because they passed by, and they passed by like a shadow. However, Stephen was crowned with martyrdom because he saw the Lord Jesus standing, immovable, not passing by. Therefore, Stephen, being firm in faith, saw Christ being firm: he was not moved by any fear of death. Stephen did not move, Christ did not move. The sons of the betrayer were moved, of whom it is said: Let his sons be moved and beg (Psalm 108:10). For he who is moved needs a physician. The helpless sinner is rich, the just man is rich; for he who always seeks the Lord is never lacking in goodness.
And because of this, the saying came about, which he said: 'I shall not be moved anymore'; which shows that to be moved towards fault, David himself declares, saying: 'He has set my soul unto life, and has not allowed my feet to be moved' (Psalm 65:9). Therefore, to the holy one, it is said by the Lord our God: 'But you stand here with me' (Deuteronomy 5:31); for whoever is close to God cannot be near to a fall. For every fault has the habit of throwing the mind off its place like an opponent's attack, and moving it from its proper state, which seems to be drawn either from an enemy or from a struggle. Anger disturbs, desire inflames, envy incites, greed tortures, fear overthrows, grief afflicts. And it has been said by the Lord Jesus to Peter: Come behind me (Mark 8:33). He did not say: Come behind (for he said this to the devil alone) but: Come behind me; for there is no going back for the one who is after Christ. But because Peter was erring, as the Lord himself says to him: Because you do not understand the things of God, but the things of men (Mark 8:33); therefore come after me, so that you may begin to perceive not human, but divine things. So here the just one must be taken from the earth, saying: I will not be moved anymore. For it is far better to be dissolved and to be with Christ (Philippians 1:23). For the person who has begun to be with Christ will not be able to err, because death is not the end of nature for the just, but of sin.
Meanwhile, among the voices, he suddenly sees the pursuing troops, and being in danger himself, he is not concerned about himself; but about those whom he wanted to free, he says: How long will you rush upon a man, killing everyone (above, verse 4)? If you seek me, why do you want to kill others? I offer myself for many; because for all, only he himself could offer himself, who is the author of all things. Therefore, the follower of Him whom he was following says (John 18:8-9): If you seek me, let these go away; so that the word which Jesus said may be fulfilled: For I have not lost any of them except one (for this sentence of the Lord is recorded in another book); however, he who perished more by his own will than by my severity, says, was punished. And when I offer myself willingly, you rush upon me and attack me like a leaning wall and a tottering fence (Psalm verse 4); that is, the apex of the noble seat once august, and the strong wall of the empire once surrounding the entire Roman world, like a leaning wall or a crumbling wall.
But be this as it may, they sought my death, they sought my destruction, saying: Let us take away the just one, let us take away the merciful one; for he is burdensome to us even to behold. And they thought it necessary to wound my reputation, to harm my chastity with false accusations; for this is what they: They planned to reject my worth; for our worth is purity, which separates us from animals and unites us with angels. Our worth is mercy, which, when bestowed upon the needy, redeems us from death. Our price is the faith, which has acquired all men, deceived and oppressed by the error and servitude of the Gentiles, to Christ. Our price is good reputation; for the worth of each of us is valued by the series of our merits. Our price is cleanliness and simplicity; for it is written: The possession of the upright is precious (Prov. XII, 27); for nothing is more precious than a simple man. Hence the Apostle beautifully said: He abounded, he said, in the riches of his simplicity (II Cor. VIII, 2). For what is richer than simplicity? It is like a good father who has enough for himself, content with his own purity, not seeking what is another's, nor gnawing at it; but he fashions others about himself. Indeed, simplicity believes every word, and does not often change itself into various arts; unlike cunning, which, in order to be cautious, fears everything and does not trust itself with its own plans: it turns its own opinions. However, simplicity does not know how to fear anything new. Therefore, they attempted to reject the value of the just in this kind; although it can also be understood that they were receiving its gold in their hands, they were repelling it from their innermost hearts, clinging to the prey and denying faith.
And he says: I ran in thirst; because he sought faith, and could not find it, deserted by his companions, abandoned by his own. Thus we read in the Gospel that the Lord Jesus both hungered and thirsted (Matthew 4:2 and John 19:28); when he hungered, it seemed he thirsted for our faith, he thirsted for our deeds, he seemed to seek what is alien. Or, if we refer it to the thirst of the body, how great an indignity he speaks of: I ran in thirst? That is: I thirsted, while others belched out my wine; and from that high seat of power and royal wealth, I was led down to the lowest depths of thirst and plebeian wretchedness.
And because the Greek word ἔδραμον means both 'I ran' in the singular and 'they ran' in the plural, it can also be understood in this way: They ran with thirst, their throats being parched from excessive heat of my blood. Just as there is a thirst for faith, there is also a thirst for unfaithfulness. The righteous thirsts for that, who says: My soul thirsts for you, O God (Psalm 42:3). The wicked thirsts for that, whose tongue has withered from thirst. How much did that person thirst who, while sitting at a banquet, sought to plot the death of an innocent guest of Augustus, at meals and drinks? Did it not seem to you, impious one, that while you were eating, you were preparing a slaughter, because human bones crackled under your teeth? When you drank wine and contemplated murder, as you poured the innocent one's blood into those cups? Indeed, someone was not only far from imitation, but also from divine reading, so that it would not come to your mind that verse from the Psalms: But you, man of like soul with me, my guide and my familiar friend, who together with me didst get sweet sustenance (Ps. 54:14-15). And that other, of whom the Lord Jesus himself speaks in the Gospel: He who eats bread with me, shall lift up his heel against me.
What should I do to you, Ephraim; what should I do to you, Judah (Hos. VI, 4)? You have left us many heirs of your betrayal and deceit; for this can also be directed to the betrayer Judas through apostrophe. You have betrayed life, kingdom, and the Lord. But Jesus the Lord is betrayed once in himself, often in his servants. For whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me, he says (Matt. XXV, 40). You have accepted the entrusted chests and money of the poor, he has taken the entrusted provinces for himself. You, the apostle, received honor; he, the soldier, obtained dignity; and the other, the administrator, acquired power. I enumerate his honors in order to magnify his crime. Both of you violated the fellowship of the banquet: you, however, arose from the banquet to treachery, he to murder; that is, you, though in wickedness, are more cautious, for you denied what you believed to be the death that you were about to inflict on the Lord whom you were betraying, and you rejected the payment; so that the reward of the crime of parricide might not seem to remain with you. He not only held onto the money that was given, but he also extorted money that was not offered for his act of treachery. Not only was he not deceived by someone else's lie, but he deceived others with his own lie in order to kill. And when that person refused the banquet, who saw himself to be destroyed, this person offered a pledge; lest any part of his crime be lost to him. Finally, the money of the previous traitor was used for the burial of foreigners: this person denied complete burial to his own leader.
And there was not lacking someone who washed his hands saying: I am innocent of the blood of this just man (Matthew 27, 24); in which Pilate did not cleanse himself, but polluted himself: and got entangled, did not disentangle himself. For although there is no weight in the judgments of the lost, there is nevertheless a greater bond in confessions. For he does not absolve the just by a sentence not his own, but by his own life: the unjust more vehemently bind themselves with their own words, who cannot bind others. Yet, lest it should seem that this man also lacked his own confession, he swore in order to commit perjury. He washed his hands when he touched the Gospel: so that no example would be lacking. He washed his hands with water, in order to defile more quickly with the blood of the innocent. Nor was Herod absent, whom the other Pilate believed he would please if he had destined the captured prince. What shall I also say, that he also put on a stained garment to mock: afterwards he was clothed in a royal robe to die; so that he would not appear to have lost the due honor? For although he perished by his crime, he still retained the right of the power granted to him, even when dead, from those very people by whom it was denied, either by service or consent.
A funeral procession was added to this great crime; but the one who impatiently lamented those things, having learned what was being prepared, rightly rebuked the proud conqueror, saying that such things were not inflicted upon tyrants, but rather upon kings. Thus, terrified by the horror of the crime, he put aside the preparations for the most wicked crime. Nor was he lacking a petitioner for burial, although that Joseph who was called just was lacking. But Maximus, much more cruel, far denied it, because Pilate himself could not take it away. In which the humanity of the murderer was lacking, yet grace was not lacking to the innocent: and with patience assumed for a time, revenge was temporarily postponed.
(Verse 6, 7.) Therefore he says: Nevertheless, my soul is subject to God; for from him comes my endurance. For he is my God and my savior, my protector, I will not depart. This means, has the denial of burial for my body taken away the eternal dwelling of rest from me? I have my dwelling place in the tabernacle of the Lord, and I will rest on his holy mountain. I will not depart through human wickedness; for I have been welcomed by the favor of the Lord; for neither death, nor the sword, nor tribulation can separate me from the love of Christ. For it is not the innocent who leave the tents of the righteous, but the sinner. The heirs of Judah the traitor migrate, of whom and their likes it is rightly said: Let his children be unsettled and beg; let them be cast out from their dwellings (Ps. 108, 10).
What is well and truly attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ, who, when he descended into the earth to be crucified, to be buried; did not depart from the Father, but remained in the Father. I was handed over, and did not go out (Ps. LXXXVII, 9). Nor did he lay aside what he was, but preserved it: nor did he cease to be in the form of God, but persevered: not changing the glory of God by assuming a body, but by remaining, he acquired triumph, and lost no power. Where He Himself says: 'From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power' (Mark 14:62).
(Verse 9.) He addresses the assembled nations and the individuals acquired for the Father, with his own blood, urging them to faith, saying: Have hope in him, all the assemblies of my people; that is, not only Israel, but all, he says: not only the remnants, but also the fullness of the nations: not only the Gentiles, but also Israel; for when the fullness of the Gentiles enters, then all Israel will be saved. Who can comprehend divine mysteries? Their multitude is so great that rightfully Paul admires and rightfully says: O the depth of the riches of wisdom and knowledge of God (Rom. XI, 33)! The nations were rejected so that Israel might be chosen; Israel then became blind because of the calling of the nations, and the remaining blind Israelites were saved according to the election of grace, after the fullness of the nations had come in. Thus, the fault of Israel benefited the nations: the faith of the nations freed the people of Israel.
Pour out, he says, your hearts before him. Whoever puts on faith must first take off deceit, empty his heart of every stain of wickedness; so that his heart may become capable of spiritual grace. Therefore the Apostle says: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (Ephesians IV, 23). For when old wickedness is poured out, new grace is received, by which each person is renewed. Therefore the Son of God says: Pour out your hearts before him; because he knew that the Father would say: I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh (Joel II, 28). There is also that tradition, that we should seem to pour out our heart when we open to someone all our thoughts and the desires of our heart. Therefore, let us cast our thoughts upon God, and let us believe that nothing can be hidden from Him. We pour out our heart before Him, when we unburden human disputes.
(Verse 10.) However, the vain sons of men: the deceitful sons of men weigh out in balances to deceive. If the vain sons of men and the deceitful sons of men can be sons of God, who were not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man; but were born of God. For the sons of men seem to themselves to weigh equity and with the severity of harsh judgment examine justice, harsh to others, lenient to themselves, wicked in deeds, censorious in speech. Where Solomon says: 'An abomination to the Lord is a double weight, and a deceitful scale is not good' (Prov. XX, 23). In this, he signifies those who meditate on robbery with insatiable hearts, and present a facade of sobriety. Such are the scribes of the Jews, who impose heavy burdens of stricter observance on others, not having a right yoke for their own souls; but being bent by inclined iniquity: they themselves are the deserters of their own precepts. Therefore, avarice is found to be like the root of all vices, which is the head of iniquity and the fuel: which a man, renouncing the world and buried with Christ through the sacrament of baptism, who has died to the world, ought to avoid and flee from.
(Verse 11.) Do not, he says, hope in wickedness, and do not covet robbery: if riches flow, do not set your heart on them. You see that they abound, but you do not see that they overflow? You are born naked, you will die naked. What do you seek to receive that you cannot take with you? The flowing things are the ones you marvel at: how they come, they also pass and recede. Only the Jordan river turned back, into which you descended: it reminds you to return to the very source and origin of nature, which brought you forth naked, unadorned with clothing; that you may learn not to seek excess. What you are ashamed of, being naked, is taught by fault, not by nature. For there would be no shame in the genitals if there were no fault. For no other animals dress to cover themselves, nor do they dress to protect themselves. Everything is sufficiently guarded by the covering of its own nature. But while we seek superfluous things, we have lost the covering of nature, we have lost common right. And therefore in this psalm is ascribed teachable instruction; because either Judith, or himself by her name, he instructed, by spiritual exercise, in undergoing temptations, so that when someone is in distress, he may submit himself to God; and if he has sinned before, may cease from sinning and not be moved by recurring error.
(Verse 12.) God spoke once, I heard these two things. God spoke once, and more was heard; because he did not speak by means of letters and syllables. He spoke in enigmas, he spoke through visions, he spoke through the divisions of grace, he spoke through the Spirit of each individual. But we speak many things, and are hardly heard. God spoke once in the Law, he spoke the same things again in the Gospel. Or perhaps, as I think, because he spoke in many ways through the prophets, but finally he spoke through his Son. He spoke once, when he spoke in the Son; and they also heard those things which were not heard before by those to whom he had spoken through the prophets. Therefore, he spoke once in the new Testament, and the old Testament was heard, which was not heard before; because the Lord himself said of the people of the Jews: They will see, and not see: they will hear, and not hear (Mark 4:12). They will hear with their bodily ears, but they will not hear with the hearing of the mind.
Therefore, to us, that is, to the Church, He spoke once, and there were two things heard; for we have heard and understood what they did not understand, who have read: those who have heard have not heard. For Christ alone opened the human ear to the knowledge of mysteries; He alone unlocked the seal of the books, and unraveled the enigmas of the prophets.
(Vers. 13.) Therefore, He Himself will render to each one according to his works, in which He also includes the quality of the works; so that He may either restore the rewards of many and better ones according to the merits of individuals, or, on the other hand, burden us by both the number and severity of our merits.