78. (Vers. 66.). And when it was day, etc. After he described the insolence of the mockers, here he describes the malice of those lying in wait, and this in a fourfold manner: in assembling, interrogating, replying, and passing sentence.
First, therefore, as regards the malice in assembling, he says: And when it was day, the elders of the people assembled: they assembled, I say, together to consummate one wickedness, according to that passage of the Psalm: "The princes assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ." For concerning Behemoth it is said in Job 41: "His body is like molten shields, compact with scales pressing upon one another."
And because one wicked person draws another to wickedness, therefore he adds: And the chief priests and scribes led him into their council: they led him, I say, not to judge, but to ensnare, according to that passage of the Psalm: "For many dogs have surrounded me, a council of the malignant has besieged me." And in the council their hidden malice, which they had conceived against Christ, was laid bare, according to that passage of Proverbs 26: "He who covers hatred fraudulently, his malice shall be laid bare in the council." And therefore Jeremiah 18: "You, O Lord, know all their counsel against me unto death: do not be propitious to their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from your face." And this is what is said in Mark 14: "The chief priests and the whole council sought testimony against Jesus, that they might deliver him to death."
79. Second, as to the malice in questioning, it is added: Saying: If you are the Christ, tell us. They do not ask this in order to be instructed, but in order to lay snares; whence the Gloss: "They do not desire the truth, but prepare a false accusation, so that, if he were to say: I am the Christ, they might accuse him of arrogating royal power to himself." They were seeking this in John 10: "The Jews surrounded him and said to him: If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
80. (Verse 67.) But this malice did not escape Christ, and therefore it is added: And he said to them: If I tell you, you will not believe me: from which it is apparent that you ask as unbelievers. Whence John 10: "I speak to you, and you do not believe: the works that I do, these bear witness concerning me. But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep."
81. (Verse 68.) But if I shall ask you, you will not answer me nor release me; wherefore it is clear that you ask as rebels. Whence the Gloss: "He had often said that he was the Christ, and he had also asked them how they said the Christ was the son of David: but they were willing neither to believe him when he spoke, nor to answer him when he asked, nor to release him who was innocent"; above in chapter 20: "How do they say that the Christ is the son of David?"
82. (Verse 69.) Lest, however, he should seem to seek evasion, he answers with the truth, when he adds: But from henceforth the Son of man shall be sitting at the right hand of the power of God: from henceforth, that is, after this passion, according to that passage in Philippians 2: "He humbled himself: wherefore God also exalted him," etc. At the right hand, that is, as equal; Psalm: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand"; and Hebrews 1: "Who, being the brightness of glory and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
83. (Verse 70.) Third, as to the malice in replying, it is added: And they all said: Are you then the Son of God? They as it were draw a conclusion and seek a charge, so that, if he should assert this, they might condemn him as a blasphemer, according to that passage in John 5: The Jews persecuted Jesus, "not only because he broke the Sabbath," but also because "he called God his Father, making himself equal to God." Since therefore they were here concluding what was true, and yet regarded it as evidently false, therefore Christ neither entirely asserted nor entirely denied, but answered in a middle way.
On account of which he adds: Who said: You say it, because I am. Whence the Gloss: "He so tempers his response that he speaks the truth, and yet his words are not open to calumny." Whence in John 10, when the Jews said: "We do not stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God," Christ responded through Scripture: "Is it not written in your Law: I said: You are gods? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God was made: do you say that I blaspheme, because I said: I am the Son of God?" Whence, just as there he repressed their madness with a prudent response, so also here; in which Christ instructs us, according to that passage in Matthew 7: "Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast pearls before swine." For, in Proverbs 9, "he who instructs a scoffer brings injury upon himself"; and afterwards: "Teach a just man, and he will hasten to receive." Whence, to the blind man who had been given sight and who asked: "Who is the Son of God, that I may believe in him?" he responded: "You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you"; and in John 4, to the Samaritan woman saying that the Messiah would come, he responded: "I am he, who speaks with you."
84. (Verse 71.). Fourth, as to their malice in passing judgment, he subjoins: But they said: What further testimony do we desire ? For we ourselves have heard it from his mouth. From which their perversity is apparent, because they were seeking with evil intent, namely
" That they might catch him in his speech." It also appears that the perversity of their will perverted their judgment, because what Christ had said tentatively they accused him of having asserted. And thus is verified that saying of Ecclesiasticus 11: "Many are the snares of the deceitful one. Converting good things into evil, he lies in wait, and upon the elect he will place a stain." But this which he had intimated, namely that he was the Son of God, they regarded as blasphemy, and therefore as a blasphemer they judged him worthy even of death; whence Mark 14: "But the high priest, rending his garments, said: What need we any further witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy; what think you?" And then it is added there that "some began to spit upon him and to cover his face and to strike him with blows." — From which it can be gathered that this mockery was inflicted upon him twice, namely both by night and by day. Whence in John 18 it is said that a servant gave him a blow in the house of Annas; and the other Evangelists say that he was mocked in the house of Caiaphas, so that that saying of Jeremiah 20 is verified: "I am made a derision all the day long; all mock me; because I have long since spoken, crying out iniquity, and I proclaim devastation." And therefore now is fulfilled that which he foretold above in chapter 9: "The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes." Whence also in their person is said that word of Isaiah 53: "We desired him despised and the lowest of men, a man of sorrows and knowing infirmity; and his face was as it were hidden and despised, whence we esteemed him not. And we thought him as it were a leper and struck by God and humiliated." In figure of which it is said in 2 Kings 6 that "Michal, the daughter of Saul, despised David as he leapt"; so also the synagogue despised Christ suffering, and therefore she lost her offspring and her inheritance.