33. (Verse 21.). The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate. Here is noted the contradiction of the Jews, by which they wanted to erase the title, since it was to their disgrace; whence they say: Do not write: King of the Jews, but that he said: I am King of the Jews, so that, namely, there would be shown not dignity but presumption, by which he would claim to be king: against which it is said in Hebrews five: "Christ did not glorify himself to be made a high priest," etc.
34. (Verse 22.). Pilate answered. Here is set forth the affirmation or approval of the title against the malice of the Jews: whence Pilate does not erase it but approves it: What I have written, I have written. What I have written, truthfully, I have written, indelibly, as an irrevocable truth. Augustine: "If what Pilate wrote cannot be corrupted, can what Truth has said be corrupted?"
35. When the soldiers therefore had crucified him. Here is noted the third principal point, namely the cruelty or cupidity of those who crucified him, in this, that they stripped Christ and thus divided his garments. And three things are noted here, namely the division of the garments by parts: second, by lot: third, the confirmation of both by authority, lest anything in the death of Christ should seem to happen by chance.
(Verse 23.). They divide therefore by parts: whence he says: They took his garments and made four parts, a part for each soldier. In this it appears, as Augustine says, that there were four soldiers who crucified the Lord. And the tunic, supply: they took.
36. (Vers. 24.). Here is noted the division of the tunic made by lot: and the reason is given: Now the tunic was seamless, woven from the top throughout, that is, entirely continuous: and because it could not be conveniently divided, the soldiers said to one another : Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be: because, as is said in Proverbs 18, "the lot suppresses contradictions and judges even among the powerful."
And lest it be thought that this happened by chance, it is shown that this was foretold by the Prophet, when he says:
That the Scripture might be fulfilled, saying, in Psalm 21: "O God, my God, look upon me": They divided my garments, as to the first, and upon my vesture they cast lots, as to the division of the tunic. And this Scripture was understood not of the Jews, but of the soldiers: therefore he says: And the soldiers indeed did these things.
Spiritually, the tunic of Christ, which is undivided, signifies charity, which is a garment, because it covers shame: 1 Peter 4: Because charity covers a multitude of sins: and adorns, whence it is called the wedding garment, without which no one enters into the joy of the nuptials of the Lamb: whence Matthew 22: Friend, how did you come in here not having a wedding garment? This tunic is seamless, because it is not bound by another thing, but is itself the bond of others: Colossians 3: But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection.
This tunic is not to be divided by tearing: whence 1 Corinthians 1: I beseech you, brethren, that you all say the same thing: and Ephesians 4: Being solicitous to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
Those who divide this tunic are worse than the soldiers who crucified him, who were unwilling to divide the seamless garment of the Lord.
37. Now there stood by the cross etc. Here is noted the paucity of those who shared in his suffering: because out of all his dear ones, three women were present, among whom was also the Mother of the Lord, for whom the Lord also felt compassion. And four things are noted here: the compassion of the women toward the Lord, the Lord's solicitude toward his Mother, and from that solicitude, his commendation, and lastly, the acceptance of the commendation .
(Vers. 25.). Therefore the compassion of the women is noted in this that he says: They stood near the cross of Jesus: they drew near in body because the feeling of compassion drew them. Others indeed had withdrawn far away through lack of compassion; whence it is said in the Psalm: "Those who were near me stood afar off." But these women stood near, who loved more, namely his Mother, who suffered with him above all others: whence Luke chapter two: "A sword shall pierce through your own soul"; and the sister of his Mother, Mary of Cleophas: she was the mother of James. It should be noted that Anne is said to have had three husbands: Joachim, Cleophas, and Salome, and from these three husbands she had three Marys, namely the Mother of the Lord, who was the daughter of Joachim; the mother of James, who was the daughter of Cleophas; the mother of Simon and Jude, who was the daughter of Salome. - And Mary Magdalene, who was so called from the town of Magdala. These three women, as being more compassionate, stood near the cross of the Lord.
38. (Vers. 26.). When Jesus therefore had seen. Here the second point is noted, namely the Lord's solicitude toward his Mother, in this, that he looked upon her and considered to whom he might commend her: whence he says: When Jesus therefore had seen his Mother: when he had seen, as one who was solicitous: First Timothy chapter five: "If anyone does not have care of his own and especially of those of his household," etc. And Chrysostom says: "Here the Lord shows great love toward his Mother and commends her to the disciple, teaching us to exercise all diligence toward those who begot us, even unto our last breath." Exodus chapter twenty: "Honor your father and your mother," etc. What he commanded, he fulfilled. And the disciple standing there, whom he loved: and therefore he was able to commend her to him intimately. John was standing there, he had not withdrawn: whence he was one of those to whom it is said in Luke chapter twenty-two: "You are they who have continued with me in my trials."
He says to his Mother. Here the third point is noted, namely the loving commendation; whence he says: Woman, behold, your son: as if to say: trust in him as in a son.
39. (Vers. 27.). Then he says to the disciple: Behold, your mother: as if to say: guard her as a mother.
And from that hour the disciple took her into his own. Here is noted the acceptance of the commendation; into his own, that is, as his mother, he received her, so that he might honor, guard, and keep her, as a son does a mother.
But Augustine reads that text as: into his own things, so that it is an accusative plural: and he asks: How into his own things, when he had no possessions of his own?
And he answers: into his own, namely duties, services, and acts of kindness, not into possessions, which he did not have.
QUESTIONS.
40. Question I. But it is asked here first concerning what was said above, that Jesus went out bearing his own cross: because in Matthew chapter twenty-seven it is said that they compelled a certain Simon to carry his cross.
Augustine responds in the third book of On the Harmony of the Evangelists : "Jesus was carrying the cross when he went out to Calvary; but that Simon was pressed into service along the way, to whom the cross was afterward given to be carried to the place. Thus we read that both things happened: first what John says, then what Matthew says."
41. Question II. Likewise it is asked concerning the inscription, whether Pilate wrote it sincerely or mockingly.
That he wrote it sincerely seems evident from the text, because when the Jews requested it, he refused to erase it, but responded: What I have written, I have written.
But that he wrote it mockingly seems evident, because he permitted him to be mocked by the soldiers as a fool, not as a true king—soldiers who had placed a crown of thorns on him and were striking him.
To this it must be responded that Pilate had some illumination by which he recognized that he was innocent; hence he knew that they had handed him over out of envy, Matthew twenty-seven; by which he also recognized that he was the king promised to the Jews: hence he always called him king. Hence Augustine says: "It could not be torn from the heart of Pilate that Christ was the King of the Jews, as though truth itself had fixed this in his heart."