Chapter XVIII.
Second, it treats of those things which accompany the passion, in a fourfold manner.
1. When he had said these things, etc. Above he treated of the things antecedent to the passion, namely from the end of the eleventh chapter; here he treats of those things in which the passion is consummated. And because in the passion he was apprehended and judged, slain and buried, therefore this part is divided into four parts. In the first, it treats of Christ's apprehension; in the second, of his condemnation, there: And they led him to Annas; in the third, of his passion, there: Then they took Jesus, etc.; in the fourth, of the manner of burial, at the end of the nineteenth chapter, there: After these things, he asked Pilate.
First, concerning Christ's apprehension.
In the first part, therefore, in which it is shown what Christ's apprehension was like, three things are demonstrated: first, that it was wondrous; second, that it was voluntary, there: Jesus therefore, knowing what things were to come upon him; third, that it was ignominious, there: The band therefore, and the tribune, etc.
In the first part, therefore, he proceeds thus. He shows first the coming of Christ to the place known to the betrayer; second, the coming of the betrayer to that place, there: Judas therefore, etc.
2. (Verse 1.). Continuing therefore what was said with what is to be said, he states: When he had said these things, supply: which were said before; Jesus went out with his disciples across the brook Cedron. This crossing was prefigured in 2 Kings 15: "The king also passed over the brook Cedron." Cedron is a genitive plural, that is, across the brook of cedars, because those trees were there. He went out from the city, because he was apprehended and suffered outside; Hebrews, last chapter: "Christ suffered outside the gate," etc. Where there was a garden, into which he entered, he and his disciples, not as one fleeing or hiding himself, but seeking quiet; Song of Songs 6: "I went down into my garden, that I might see"; Psalm: "In peace is his place made"; whence he adds:
3. (Verse 2.). And Judas also, who betrayed him, knew the place. And the reason is added: Because Jesus often resorted thither with his disciples. Victor: "Judas had noted this place, because the Lord had been accustomed to come to it often." This place was at the foot of the Mount of Olives; Jesus went there frequently; Luke 21: "During the days he was teaching in the temple, but at night going out, he abode on the Mount of Olives."
4. (Vers. 3.). Judas therefore, having received the cohort. Here is noted the arrival of the betrayer with such persons as could seize and hold and lead him away. Therefore, having received the cohort, namely from the Gentiles, and from the chief priests and Pharisees, servants, because he was betraying him to them; in Matthew twenty-six it is said that "he went to the chief priests and said to them: What will you give me, and I will deliver him to you?" He came there, as the leader of the others, with lanterns and torches and weapons, lest he could hide in the night: for since they were walking in darkness, they begged light from torches: Job twenty-four: "If the dawn suddenly appears, they regard it as the shadow of death: and thus they walk in darkness as in light"; or defend himself: and they did this because they believed nothing divine was in him, but only human power.
QUESTIONS.
5. Question I. But it is asked here first concerning what John says, that after the prayer he went out across the torrent Cedron: because, as Augustine says, in the Harmony of the Evangelists, when the discourse was finished, a dispute arose as to which of them seemed to be the greater.
And it must be said that the word of blessed John is not to be understood precisely as meaning that it was immediately after the prayer, but that it was after the prayer and not before.
6. Question II. Likewise, Matthew twenty-six says that Jesus came to the village which is called Gethsemane. Luke twenty-two says that going out, he went according to his custom to the Mount of Olives: John, that it was across the torrent Cedron. There seems to be a contradiction here.
Augustine responds in the third book of the Harmony of the Evangelists: " The Mount, " he says, " of Olives is this place, whose name Matthew and Mark called Gethsemane: and there we understand there to have been a garden, which John commemorates." And Victor says that "that village is situated at the foot of the Mount of Olives."
7. Question III. Likewise it is asked: why did the Lord go out of the city at night?
It seems that he wished to hide.
Chrysostom responds that he did this not only then, but was also accustomed to do so often, so that he might withdraw from the tumult of men and speak about necessary things.
8. Question IV. Likewise, since Judas had left him at home, why did he not lead the cohort there, but to the garden?
Chrysostom responds that he would more gladly have sought him at home, so as to find him sleeping: but he knew that he had the custom of frequently spending the night outside.
9. Question V. Likewise it is asked: since that cohort was of Gentile soldiers, how did they follow Judas?
I respond: They were corrupted by money given or promised. Whence Chrysostom: "They were true soldiers, devising to do all things for the sake of money."
10. Question VI. Likewise the question is: why did they not come to apprehend him by day, since they had so great a cohort?
And Chrysostom responds that they feared the crowds which followed him by day.
11. But Jesus, knowing. Here it is shown that the arrest of Christ was voluntary on Christ's part in four ways: first, in that when he could have hidden, he offered himself: second, that by offering himself he prostrated his enemies: third, that by offering himself he freed his disciples by his command alone: fourth, that he did not permit them to resist.
(Verse 4). It is noted therefore first that he was arrested voluntarily, because he could have hidden: whence it says: But Jesus, knowing all things that were to come upon him, and thereby being able to avoid them before they came: Sirach twenty-three: "The eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun," etc. And yet he offered himself: whence it is said: He went forth and said to them: Whom do you seek? He went forth, that is, he voluntarily offered himself; Isaiah fifty-three: "He was offered, because he himself willed it," etc. In the Psalm: "Let them be confounded and put to shame who seek my soul." Augustine: "They sought him to kill him by raging, but he sought us by dying."