(Verse 46.) Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
126. And the spirit that is reserved is well commended; for what is commended is certainly not lost. Therefore, the spirit is a good pledge, a good deposit. Hence it says there: O Timothy, guard the good deposit (2 Timothy 1:14). For the spirit is commended to the Father; and therefore it says: For you will not abandon my soul in Hades (Psalm 16:10). But observe the great mystery. Now he commends his spirit into the hands of the Father, now he sits in the lap of the Father; for no one else can fully contain Christ. Finally: 'I am in the Father, and the Father is in me' (John 14:10). Therefore, the spirit is commended to the Father. But since it is in higher things, it illuminates both the heavens and the depths, so that all things may be redeemed; for indeed, Christ is all and in all, although Christ works in each individual (Colossians 3:11). The flesh dies so that it may rise again; the spirit is commended to the Father so that even heavenly things may be released from the bondage of iniquity, and peace may be made in heaven, which earthly things may follow.
(Ibid.) And saying this, he gave up the spirit.
127. And he handed over well, who did not unwillingly breathe out his spirit. Finally Matthew says: He breathed out his spirit (Matt. XXVII, 50); for what is breathed out is voluntary: what is lost is necessary. Therefore he added: With a loud voice. In which either there is a glorious declaration that he descended for our sins even to death (so, should I be ashamed to confess what Christ was not ashamed to proclaim with a loud voice), or there is a clear manifestation of God testifying to the separation of divinity and body. For thus you have it: Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying: My God, My God, look at me: why have you forsaken me? A man about to die separated from divinity cried out. For since divinity is free from death, death could not possibly exist unless life departed; for life is divinity.
128. (Verses 44-47.) Now, what follows shows that the end of the age will come because of the impiety of men. Therefore, the present is signified by the Lord's passion, so that the future may arise. Darkness is therefore cast over the eyes of the faithless, so that the light of faith may rise. The sun sets or retreats from the sacrilegious, so that the horrifying spectacle of crime may be obscured. The rocks split, so that through the steep rocks, it may be shown that the power of the word penetrates the hard hearts of sinners; thus, more easily, those hunters, whom Jeremiah predicted, would hunt for the Lord in the hollows of the rocks. But the opening of the monuments (Matthew 27:52) signifies nothing else than the breaking open of the gates of death, the resurrection of the dead, whose faith in appearance and their example in process, by going forth into the holy city, declared in the sight of those present, that eternal dwelling which will be the abode of the risen. Also, the veil is torn, by which the separation of the two peoples or the desecration of the mysteries of the Synagogue is declared. Therefore, the old veil is torn apart; so that the new Church may hang the sails of its faith. The covering of the synagogues is removed; so that we may see the internal mysteries of religion, with the mind's gaze revealed. Finally, even the centurion who crucified the Son of God confesses. O, the hearts of the Jews are harder than stones! The rocks are split, but their hearts remain hardened. The judge condemns, the executioner believes, the traitor condemns his own crime with death, the elements flee, the earth quakes, the tombs are opened: Yet the hard-heartedness of the Jews remains unchanged amidst a shaken world.
129. (Verse 49.) And there were also standing women who were seeing this: the mother was also standing, when her piety put aside her own dangers. But the Lord, hanging on the cross, who despised his own dangers, commendeth his mother with pious affection. This was not without purpose that John followed Him in many things (John 19:25); for others described the world shaken, the sky covered in darkness, the sun fleeing. Matthew and Mark added, who more fully pursued the human and moral aspects: My God, my God, look upon me (Matthew 27:46); why hast thou forsaken me (Mark 15:34)? But in order to believe that we have reached the acceptance of the cross of Christ, Luke clearly asserts that forgiveness was granted to the thief through priestly intercession, and that the same mercy was requested for the persecuting Jews (Luke 23:45).
Therefore, John, who more deeply penetrated the divine mysteries, rightly labored to declare that she who gave birth to God remained a virgin. He alone teaches me what others did not teach, how, while on the cross, he called her mother (John 19:26), considering it of greater value that, as the victor over tortures and punishments, the victor over the devil, he divided the obligation of piety than that he bestowed the heavenly kingdom. For if it is pious that the thief is granted forgiveness by the Lord, it is much more pious that the mother is honored by the Son.
131. Nor should it be considered out of order that I wrote the absolution of the thief before the mention of the mother; for he who had come to save sinners, it is not absurd if he first fulfilled his mission in my writings to redeem the salvation of the sinner. Finally, he himself says: 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' (Matth. XII, 48). For he had not come to call the righteous, but sinners. But there, in that place; here, even on the cross, not forgetful of his mother, he addresses her, saying: 'Behold, your son'; and to John: 'Behold, your mother' (Joan. XIX, 26 and 27). Christ was being tested on the cross, and John proclaimed his testament, worthy to bear witness to such a testator. The good testament is not of money, but of life: it is written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God: My tongue is the pen of a swiftly writing scribe (Psalm 45:3).
But neither did it befit Mary, who was not less than the mother of Christ, to flee from the cross; she stood by, and with pious eyes beheld the wounds of her Son; for she looked not for His death as the payment, but the salvation of the world. Or perhaps because she knew that through the death of her Son the redemption of the world would come, she considered herself and her death as adding something to the public gift. But Jesus needed no assistance for the redemption of all, who said: I am become like a man without assistance, free among the dead. He did indeed receive his mother's affection, but he did not seek the help of man. Therefore, we have a master of kindness: the reading teaches what maternal affection should imitate, what reverence should follow from children; so that those mothers offer themselves in the dangers of their children, that their maternal concern for them should be more than their own grief for their own death.
133. In this passage, the most abundant testimony is given to the virginity of Mary. For a wife is not separated from her husband, since it is written: What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate (Matthew 19:6); but she who, on account of the mystery of marriage, put on a veil, no longer needed marriage after the completion of the mysteries. Or if we follow moral teachings, purity is commanded in times of mourning.
134. However, it is a mysterious thing that is commended to John among the others who are younger: that we should not receive it with idle ears. For the union of a young man with a woman is dangerous, as is the appearance of youth; lest perhaps some inquisitive woman, neglectful of the mysteries, desiring to luxuriate in Christ, may present the appearance of Mary but not imitate her devotion, as the common people now malignantly speak ill of women who, abandoning their older husbands, follow younger ones. Therefore let the Church learn that it is a mystery, which, having been joined to the elder people in appearance before, not in practice, after giving birth to the Word, and having sown in the bodies and minds of men through the faith of the cross and the burial of the body of the Lord, has chosen the society of the younger people by the command of God.
135. I also wonder why before death we do not find that he was struck, but after death we find it (John 19:34). Unless perhaps it is taught that his death was voluntary rather than necessary, and we know the mystical order; for not before the sacraments of the altar, but before baptism: and likewise the cup. Then let us observe that although his body had a mortal nature, although it had a similar quality, it had a different grace. For surely after death the blood freezes in our bodies; but from that incorruptible yet dead body, the life of all flowed forth. For water and blood came forth: the one to cleanse, the other to redeem. Let us therefore drink our redemption, that by drinking we may be redeemed.
136. (Verse 50.) What does it mean that it is not the apostles, but Joseph and Nicodemus who bury Christ? One is righteous and steadfast, the other in whom there was no deceit (John 19:38-39); for such is the burial of Christ, which has no deceit or wickedness. Therefore, the opportunity for evasiveness is closed, and they are refuted by the testimony of their own Jewish people; for if it had been buried by the apostles, they would surely say that he was not buried, whom they said was buried and taken away.
Just as the body of Christ is covered with a shroud, innocence anoints with ointment (John 19:40); for we find these things distinct not without purpose; because righteousness clothes the Church, innocence supplies grace. Therefore, clothe yourself with the glory of the Lord's body, so that you may also be righteous: even if you believe it to be dead, still anoint it with the fullness of its divinity. Anoint it with myrrh and aloes, so that you may be the good odor of Christ. Joseph, that righteous man, sent the good linen cloth, and perhaps that which Peter saw descending from heaven to him, in which were depicted the species of quadrupeds, wild animals, and birds, in the likeness of the nations (Acts 10:11). Therefore, the Church, which has united the diversity of peoples in the communion of its faith, is buried with that mysterious and sacred ointment.
138. Concerning this, in the Gospel of John alone, I find that Joseph came secretly to Pilate out of fear of the Jews (John 19:38). How did the righteous seek refuge? However, I think that he sought it secretly in order to obtain the body, not to avoid danger. And yet, what is surprising if the righteous were hidden, when the apostles, the masters of the righteous, were also hidden? Come, you as well: whether late or at night, or at whatever hour you come, you will find Jesus ready to receive you, not delaying to give a generous reward even to those who come late; for even the one who comes at the sixth hour is not cheated of his reward, and the one who comes at the eleventh hour receives the fullness of the reward (Matthew 20:4ff). But Nicodemus also came by night (John 3:2). It was night, because the resurrection had not yet occurred. Finally, Christ arose, and the righteous one said: The night has passed, and the day is approaching (Romans 13:12).
139. Joseph, a just man, is called a rich man in Luke (23:50), while Matthew calls him a rich man (Matthew 27:57). And rightly is he called rich in this place where he received the body of Christ; for by receiving the rich man, he did not know the poverty of faith. Therefore, he is rich who is just. Therefore, the just man wraps him in a linen cloth (John 19:39): but the Israelite mixes various fragrances of virtues, and sends aloes as if a hundred pounds, that is, the quantity of perfect faith. And they bound the body of Jesus according to the custom of the spiritual Jews, not with knots of treachery, but with ties of faith. And they placed it in the garden (Ibid., 41), which is often compared to the Church, which has various fruits of merits and flowers of virtues.
140. And another new monument he said, the monument of Joseph (Ibid. and Matthew 27:60). Therefore, Christ did not have his own tomb; for tombs are prepared for those under the law of death: the victor over death does not have his own tomb. For what communion does a tomb have with God? Finally, Ecclesiastes says of the one who meditates on good things: 'And he has no burial' (Ecclesiastes 6:3). Therefore, the death of Christ is special besides the common death of all: and therefore he is not buried with others, but is enclosed alone in a tomb; for the incarnation of the Lord had everything in likeness to men, but with a difference. He was born of a Virgin, similar in nature, dissimilar in conception. He healed the sick, but commanded. John baptized with water, but He with the Spirit (Luke III, 16). And therefore, the death of Christ is common according to the nature of the body, but special according to His power.
141. (Verse 53.) But who is Joseph, in whose tomb is he placed? Surely he is the righteous one. Therefore, Christ is fittingly believed to be in the tomb of the righteous one, so that the Son of Man may have a place to rest his head and find repose in the dwelling of righteousness. And it is fitting that, according to the literal sense, it is not said that another raised from the dead was spoken of by the unfaithful ones; mystically, truly, what can we understand if not perhaps because we read: Their throat is an open sepulcher (Psalm 5, 11)? Therefore, the open tomb is the throat of man, in which deadly treachery and lifeless words are buried, which through age and the attack of some beasts weaken and fall apart. Therefore, on the other hand, it is a monument in the secrets of men, which righteous hardness in their hearts is penetrated by the penetrating word of the Gentiles, polished by the works of faith and doctrine, so that it may present the virtue of Christ among the nations.
142. To whom a most beautiful stone was placed (Matt. XXVII, 60), so that it would not be open; for whoever has buried Christ within themselves, should carefully guard him; so as not to lose him, nor enter into faithlessness. For you see that Peter and John deserved to enter first. Finally, John himself entered before he believed (John. XX, 6 and 8).
143. And it is said that it was carved well in rock (Matt. 27:60), that is, in the firmament of faith, from which the true Israelites sucked the sweetness of honey and the spiritual oil. But the just man, and he who has seen God, burial Christ; for Christ is not buried except by those who believe in God.
Finally, not all were able to bury Christ: although religious women stood from afar, they diligently observed the place in order to bring ointments and pour them out. However, they are both anxious and depart from the tomb and return to the tomb: although constancy is lacking, diligence is not. The gender falters, devotion burns.
Finally, at the time of the resurrection, they are present, and while the men were fleeing, only the women are admonished by the angel to not be afraid (John 20:1-2). The disciples call Peter and the others in earnest, but the later ones come with confidence. Finally, he comes without fear, and the one who came later enters first, as if he had received the keys of the kingdom to open them for others.
146. The shaking of the earth (Matthew 28:2) is a resurrection for the faithful, but a fear for the wicked: for the former, because the lazy body stirs from the sleep of death; for the latter, because they are disturbed by the shaking of the body and the earthly movement, they turn away from the faith and trust in the resurrection.
But early on the sabbath, they came to the tomb.
147. There is a great doubt that arises from this passage; for although the evangelists do not seem to have said contradictory things, they have said different things. For here: 'In the morning, very early' (Mark 16:1); Matthew, 'In the evening of the Sabbath' (Matthew 28:1); John, 'Early in the morning, while it was still dark' (John 20:1), they said that the women came to the tomb. Then here, Mark mentioned two men, one young man sitting in white clothes (Mark 16:5); Matthew mentioned one angel (Matthew 28:2); John mentioned two angels sitting in white clothes (John 20:12) who were seen. Lastly, what seems scarcely explicable, John wrote that Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, 'Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father' (John 20:17). Matthew wrote that the Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, and that they came and held his feet, and worshiped him, as he described in the clearest terms (Matthew 28:9).