Or Gabbatha is interpreted as ornamentation or polishing and signifies the same as Lithostrotos, that is, the judicial place, painted or polished.
15. (Verse 14.). Now it was the preparation. Behold, the time is added, because it was the sixth day of the week, which is called the preparation of the Passover, that is, the preparation of the Passover, because the preparation was made on Friday for the Sabbath day, as is said in Exodus 16, that on that day they gathered for two days. About the sixth hour. Here the specific time is touched upon, and he says about, because it is difficult to determine the exact hour of time.
And he says to the Jews. Here is noted the cause of Christ's condemnation, and this was not his fault, but the hardness of perversity in the Jews and the denial of truth:
the hardness of perversity in this, that they seek him to be condemned by a most cruel death: whence he says: Behold, your king, as if Pilate were saying: you have nothing else to object against him.
16. (Verse 15.). But they cried out: Away, away, crucify him. The doubling signifies the intensity of desire for Christ's death: Jeremiah twenty-six, "The priests and prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying: The judgment of death is upon this man." And because the hardness of perversity would not suffice unless the denial of truth were added, therefore there follows Pilate's inquiry: Shall I crucify your king? as if by this word noting to them their perverse will in this, that they were seeking their own disgrace. But the reproach of a king redounds upon the people, and therefore, so that they might seem to flee reproach, they deny the truth: whence: The chief priests answered, saying: We have no king but Caesar; and thus this man is not our king, nor is his disgrace ours. And for this reason Pilate condemned him: whence he says:
17. (Verse 16.). Then he handed him over to them, to be crucified. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the sentence itself, by which he was condemned to the punishment of the cross: and rightly he says: He handed him over to them, because he did it at their request: Acts three: "God glorified his Son Jesus, whom you indeed handed over and denied before the face of Pilate, when he judged that he should be released"; and Luke twenty-three: "Pilate adjudged that their request be carried out," namely the Jews'. Pilate acted against the Law; Exodus twenty-three: "You shall not follow the crowd to do evil, nor in judgment shall you acquiesce to the sentence of the many, so as to deviate from the truth."
QUESTIONS.
18. Question I. But it is asked here concerning that custom which they had of releasing a prisoner, whether it was praiseworthy.
And it seems that it was, because the Lord accepts mercy more than judgment, as is evident from the adulterous woman, above in chapter eight.
But then it is objected: because it was commanded by the Law that evildoers be put to death; therefore to absolve the guilty was against the Law and a bad custom.
It must be said that the custom was good, provided that he who was more fitting was released: because, even if it was then the time of justice, nevertheless they ought to have been mindful of the mercy done to them and yet to come at the Passover: and therefore as a sign this was permitted to them.
As to the objection from the Law, it must be said that the excellence of the solemnity outweighed the severity of the Law.
19. Question II. Likewise it is asked whether they sinned by requesting Barabbas. — That they did, it seems: in Acts three it is reproached to them: " You asked for a murderer to be given to you, but the author of life you killed. "
But that they did not sin, it seems: because it was permitted to them to request whomever they wished without distinction.
I respond that they did not sin in this, that they freed one who was worthy of death; but in this, that they preferred him to an innocent man: hence there was there partiality of persons. Hence Augustine: "We do not reproach you, O Jews, because at the Passover you release a guilty man, but because you kill an innocent one."
20. Question III. Likewise it is asked concerning this, that the soldiers so mocked Christ, when nevertheless they are not said to have had a command from Pilate. Whence was this?
Chrysostom responds that they did this for money, because they had been bribed by the chief priests.
21. Question IV. Likewise it is asked concerning this, that here John says Christ was mocked by the soldiers before the sentence of condemnation, whereas in Matthew twenty-seven it is said that the soldiers mocked the Lord after the condemnation: He delivered Jesus to them to be crucified: and then it is said that the soldiers mocked him.
It can be said that it happened twice: both before the condemnation and after.
Or Matthew says this by way of recapitulation, because it had been done before.
22. Question V. Likewise it is asked: why did the Lord not respond to Pilate asking: Where are you from?
This seems to have been from arrogance.
I respond that he did not answer that question because he could not grasp it: hence the Lord said to his disciples above in the sixteenth chapter: I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. So also here.
23. Question VI. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says: You would have no power over me unless it had been given to you from above. — Therefore it seems that he did not sin in this, that he crucified Christ, because this was given to him by God.
It must be said that in power two things are considered, namely the authority itself and the exercise. The first is from God, as the Apostle says, but the exercise is not always from God. Hence the Lord wished to tell Pilate that he did not have power of himself: therefore he ought not to glory in it. But the exercise was from God permissively, as Chrysostom says.