John 19 · The Lantern

Then, therefore, did Pilate take Jesus and scourge him,

But do thou all through observe the lovingkindness of the Lord in these circumstances. Pilate scourged Him perhaps desiring to exhaust and to soothe the fury of the Jews.

Like a lion they roared to seize The life of the lamb, Christ. Pilate, fulfilling their plan, Flogged you, the meek One. So he set to work on your back.… The Redeemer endured the whip. The Deliverer was in chains, Stripped and stretched out on a pillar, He who in a pillar of cloud Previously spoke to Moses and Aaron.

2371 Above, the Evangelist gave us an account of what Christ suffered from the Jews; here he describes what in particular he endured from the Gentiles. He suffered three things, as he had predicted: "They will deliver him to the Gentiles, to be mocked and scourged and crucified" (Matt 20:19).

and the soldiers having plaited a crown of thorns, did place it on his head, and a purple garment they put around him,

The Lord's crown of thorns prophetically pointed to us who once were barren but are placed around him through the church of which he is the head. But it is also a type of faith, of life in respect to the substance of the wood, of joy in respect to the appellation of crown, of danger in respect to the thorn.

He scourges Him unjustly, and suffers the crowd of soldiers to insult Him, and put a crown of thorns about His Head, and throw a purple robe upon Him, and buffet Him with the palms of their hands, and otherwise dishonour Him.

2374 Now the Evangelist shows us Christ being ridiculed: first, the mock honors paid to him; secondly, the real dishonor showed him, and struck him. They pay him mock honors by calling him a king, thus adverting to the charge lodged by the Jews, who said that he made himself king of the Jews. Therefore, they pay him the three honors given to a king, but in a derisive way.

and said, `Hail! the king of the Jews;' and they were giving him slaps.

They dressed him in a purple robe in mockery, of course. But they also fulfilled the prophecy, doing so under inspiration. For he was a King. However much they did it in a spirit of derision, still they did it. His royal dignity was emblematically heralded. So, likewise, though it was with thorns they crowned him, it was still a crown. And it was soldiers who crowned him.

But the soldiers do everything to please the Jews. They had heard Pilate say, "I will release the King of the Jews"; therefore they mock Him as a king. For it was not by Pilate's order that they did this, nor did those who went against Jesus at night do so with the governor's knowledge, but to please the Jews, for the sake of money.

2377 Thirdly, they mock him the way they address him: they came up to him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! It was the custom then, as it is now, for subjects to salute their king when they came into his presence: "And when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, 'Long live the king! Long live the king!'" (2 Sam 16:16).

Pilate, therefore, again went forth without, and saith to them, `Lo, I do bring him to you without, that ye may know that in him I find no fault;'

Jesus, therefore, came forth without, bearing the thorny crown and the purple garment; and he saith to them, `Lo, the man!'

When, therefore, the chief priests and the officers did see him, they cried out, saying, `Crucify, crucify;' Pilate saith to them, `Take ye him--ye, and crucify; for I find no fault in him;'

See in how many ways the judge makes His defense, continually acquitting Him of the charges; but none of these things shamed the dogs from their purpose. For the, "Take ye him and crucify him," is the expression of one clearing himself of the guilt, and thrusting them forward to an action not permitted to them.

The martyr Abel was envied by Cain and later murdered. This is what Christ also endured: Though he desired this envious people, He incited them to anger, while showing affection; He healed those who were sick, and instead of gratitude, he suffers and is crucified, In order that Adam might dance in celebration.

2383 Now we see the effect of this exhibition on the Jews. No matter how disgraced and wretched and beaten he appeared, their hatred did not lessen, but was still burning and growing. When the chief priests and the officers saw him, when Jesus was brought out, they cried out, Crucify him, crucify him! Their desire was so strong that they shouted this twice.

the Jews answered him, `We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, for he made himself Son of God.'

If you will not learn Who Christ is from those that know Him, learn it at least from those that know Him not. So shall the confession, which their ignorance is forced to make, rebuke your blasphemy.… Mark the fellowship with Jewish wickedness in which your denial of the Divine Sonship has involved you!

When their false accusation that they had at first contrived proved fruitless, and they established against Him no attempt at revolution or revolt against Caesar's rule (for the Lord parried these charges, saying: My Kingdom is not of this world; if my Kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews), and when Pilate thereupo…

2386 But the Jews repeat Christ's offense: We have a law.... They seemed to understand from Pilate's response that he would not go against Christ because of a charge of claiming a kingdom, although they had thought he would be especially inclined by this to kill him.

When, therefore, Pilate heard this word, he was the more afraid,

For Him it behoved to be made a sacrifice on behalf of all Gentiles, who "was led as a sheep for a victim, and, like a lamb voiceless before his shearer, so opened not His mouth" (for He, when Pilate interrogated Him, spake nothing ); for "in humility His judgment was taken away: His nativity, moreover, who shall declare?

It was not the law that he was afraid of, as he was a stranger: but he was more afraid, lest he should slay the Son of God.

2388 Now the Evangelist mentions the effect the accusation of the Jews had on Pilate. The first was that it produced fear: When Pilate heard these words, that is, that Christ made himself the Son of God, he was the more afraid that it might be true and that it would be disastrous to proceed against him without cause.

and entered again to the praetorium, and saith to Jesus, `Whence art thou?' and Jesus gave him no answer.

Since he willed to suffer on behalf of the world, he is silent when examined and beaten by Pilate. For if he had spoken, he would not have been crucified from weakness, since there is no weakness in the words that the Word speaks.

The Thunderer stood voiceless The Word, without a word; For if he had raised his voice He would not have been overcome, And, victorious, he would not have been crucified, and Adam would not have been saved: Therefore, in order that he might suffer He who captures the wise Conquered by keeping silent.

2389 Secondly, he mentions another effect it produced: doubt and questioning (v 9). First, we have the question Pilate asked; secondly, the silence of Christ; and thirdly, the reproach of Pilate. 2390 In regard to the first he says, he entered the praetorium again, stricken with fear, and said to Jesus, whom he had led back with himself, Where are you from?

Pilate, therefore, saith to him, `To me dost thou not speak? hast thou not known that I have authority to crucify thee, and I have authority to release thee?'

When He was silent, Pilate saith, "Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee?" Seest thou how he condemned himself beforehand; for, "if the whole rests with thee, why dost not thou let Him go, when thou hast found no fault in Him?" When then Pilate had uttered the sentence against himself, then He saith, "He that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin." Showing th…

It turns out that Pilate has no firmness whatsoever, but any chance danger can shake him. He feared the Jews; he also trembled before Jesus, as the Son of God. Let us see, then, how he condemns himself by his own words: "I have power to crucify You and I have power to release You." If everything depended on you, why then did you not release Him whom you found innocent?

2392 Then the Evangelist shows how Pilate reproached him for his silence (v 10): first, we see Pilate boasting of his power; secondly, we have what Christ said about this power. 2393 Pilate was displeased that Jesus did not answer him, and said, You will not speak to me?

Jesus answered, `Thou wouldest have no authority against me, if it were not having been given thee from above; because of this, he who is delivering me up to thee hath greater sin.'

In order, therefore, that their inner wish and thought, being brought to light, may show that God is without blame, and worketh no evil-that God who reveals what is hidden [in the heart], but who worketh not evil-when Cain was by no means at rest, He saith to him: "To thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." Thus did He in like manner speak to Pilate: "Thou shou…

When Jesus says that power was given to Pilate from above, he does not mean that God the Father inflicted crucifixion on his own Son against his will. Rather, he means that the Only-Begotten himself gave himself to suffer for us and that the Father suffered the fulfillment of the mystery in him.

2394 Pilate was boasting about his power, "Men who... boast of the abundance of their riches" (Ps 49:6). So our Lord curbs him, saying, You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.

From this time was Pilate seeking to release him, and the Jews were crying out, saying, `If this one thou mayest release, thou art not a friend of Caesar; every one making himself a king, doth speak against Caesar.'

Accordingly, all the synagogue of Israel did slay Him, saying to Pilate, when he was desirous to dismiss Him, "His blood be upon us, and upon our children; " and, "If thou dismiss him, thou art not a friend of Caesar; " in order that all things might be fulfilled which had been written of Him.

"Crucify!" the murderer heard the impious crying out, And their will he fulfilled, Handing over, without being compelled to, The One whom he planned to have crucified. For having heard that he would be an enemy of Caesar, The coward was frightened. He would rather be the enemy of the Almighty Than the enemy of Caesar, Preferring his life over the Life.

2397 The effect of all this was that upon this Pilate sought to release him. As we saw before, Pilate tried to release Christ from the very beginning. Thus the upon this indicates he now sought it for another reason, that is, to escape from sinning. Or, he had tried to release him before, but upon this, from now on, he was fully and firmly determined to release him.

Pilate, therefore, having heard this word, brought Jesus without--and he sat down upon the tribunal--to a place called, `Pavement,' and in Hebrew, Gabbatha;

and it was the preparation of the passover, and as it were the sixth hour, and he saith to the Jews, `Lo, your king!'

At that time, then, the Saviour appeared and showed His own body to the world, (born) of the Virgin, who was the "ark overlaid with pure gold," with the Word within and the Holy Spirit without; so that the truth is demonstrated, and the "ark" made manifest. From the birth of Christ, then, we must reckon the years that remain to make up the 6000, and thus the end shall be.

And it was the preparation of the Passover.

2404 The time of the condemnation is given when he says, Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. Among the Jews the Sabbath was in some respects more solemn than any other feast, insofar as out of reverence for that day no food was prepared on the Sabbath; it was prepared on the preceding Friday.

and they cried out, `Take away, take away, crucify him;' Pilate saith to them, `Your king shall I crucify?' the chief priests answered, `We have no king except Caesar.'

If any one, again, will look into Jacob's actions, he shall find them not destitute of meaning, but full of import with regard to the dispensations.

For "the chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified." For he would have every appearance of acting against Caesar if, on their declaration that they had no king but Caesar, he were wishing to impose on them another king by releasing without punishment one whom for these very attempts they had delivered unto him…

2408 This did not lessen the malice of the Jews. In inexhaustible hatred they cried out, doubling their already great malice by repeating the words, Away with him, away with him, crucify him! This shows that they could not stand the sight of him: "They say to God, 'Depart from us!

Then, therefore, he delivered him up to them, that he may be crucified, and they took Jesus and led him away,

"Successes" have terrible power to cast down or draw aside those who take not heed. Thus the Jews, who at first enjoyed the influence of God, sought the law of royalty from the Gentiles, and in the wilderness after the manna remembered the onions. In the same way here, refusing the Kingdom of Christ, they invited to themselves that of Caesar.

"Then at last he handed Him over to them." Madman! He ought to have investigated whether He could actually claim royal power for Himself, but instead you hand Him over, yield out of fear, and conclude the trial in a manner unworthy of a man.

2410 Then the Evangelist mentions the consent of Pilate to the killing of Christ, Then he handed him over to them, to the Jews, who had been subject to the power and the will of the Romans, to be crucified.

and bearing his cross, he went forth to the place called Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha;

Isaac (for the narrative may be interpreted otherwise) is a type of the Lord, a child as a son. For he was the son of Abraham, as Christ was the Son of God, and a sacrifice as the Lord, but he was not immolated as the Lord. Isaac only bore the wood of the sacrifice, as the Lord the wood of the cross.

(de Con. Evang. iii. x) Both bore it; first Jesus, as John says, then Simon, as the other three Evangelists say. On first going forth, He bore His own cross. (Tract. cxvii) Great spectacle, to the profane a laughing-stock, to the pious a mystery.

2411 Now the Evangelist deals with the crucifixion of Christ: first, the dishonor of the cross; secondly, the events surrounding the crucifixion (v 19). The dishonor of the cross is indicated by those who crucified Christ, by the way he was led to his death, by the place where this happened, and by those crucified with him. 2412 Those who crucified him were soldiers.

where they crucified him, and with him two others, on this side, and on that side, and Jesus in the midst.

What matter if the Jews did these things with a different intent. They crucified Him too with thieves, in this also unintentionally fulfilling prophecy; for what they did for insult contributed to the truth, that thou mayest learn how great is its power, since the Prophet had foretold of old, that "He was numbered with the transgressors." (Isa. liii.

Crucified with Him were also two others. The Jews wished by this to spread a bad rumor, as though He too were a robber. Meanwhile, they involuntarily fulfill the prophecy which says: "And He was numbered with the transgressors" (Isa. 53:12). Observe then the Wisdom of God, how It turned to the glory of the Lord that which they did to His dishonor.

2417 Those who suffered with him also added to his dishonor, for they crucified with him two others, who were criminals, as Luke mentions (Lk 23:33). One on either side, one on the right and one on the left, and Jesus between them, in the middle.

And Pilate also wrote a title, and put it on the cross, and it was written, `Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews;'

this title, therefore, read many of the Jews, because the place was nigh to the city where Jesus was crucified, and it was having been written in Hebrew, in Greek, in Roman.

The chief priests of the Jews said, therefore, to Pilate, `Write not--The king of the Jews, but that one said, I am king of the Jews;'

But the Jews grudged our Lord this title: Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that He said, I am King of the Jews, For as Pilate wrote it, it was a plain and single declaration that He was King, but the addition of, that he said, made it a charge against Him of petulance and vain glory.

The Jews envied Jesus even when He was crucified. For what do they say? Write that He Himself said it. For now the inscription appears as the common opinion of the Jews, but if it were added "He called Himself King," then the blame would be on His audacity and pride.

2423 We now read that this title was not changed (v 21). First we see the Jews trying to have the title changed, The chief priests of the Jews then said to Pilate, Do not write, The King of the Jews, but, This man said, I am King of the Jews.

Pilate answered, `What I have written, I have written.'

The magi were from the Gentiles. Pilate too was a Gentile. They saw a star in the sky; he wrote a title on the tree. Both, however, were looking for or acknowledging the king, not of the Gentiles but of the Jews.

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?"

2424 Secondly, we read that Pilate was insistent on keeping the title. He refused to change it because he wanted to disgrace them. He said, What I have written I have written. This did not happen by chance; it had been arranged by God and predicted long before. Certain Psalms have as a title, "Do not Destroy.

The soldiers, therefore, when they did crucify Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to each soldier a part, also the coat, and the coat was seamless, from the top woven throughout,

On the other hand, Christ, who spoke not guile from His mouth, and who exhibited all righteousness and humility, not only (as we have above recorded it predicted of Him) was not exposed to that kind of death for his own deserts, but (was so exposed) in order that what was predicted by the prophets as destined to come upon Him through your means might be fulfilled; just as, in t…

But we must not speak in a mere cursory way of the partition and dividing by lot of His garments. For although all the four evangelists make mention thereof, yet the others do so more briefly than John: and their notice of it is obscure, while his is in the plainest manner possible.

2425 Now the Evangelist shows the role played by the soldiers (v 23): first, he mentions that Christ's garments were distributed among them; and secondly, we see that lots were cast for his tunic. 2426 He says, When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments.

they said, therefore, to one another, `We may not rend it, but cast a lot for it, whose it shall be;' that the Writing might be fulfilled, that is saying, `They divided my garments to themselves, and upon my raiment they did cast a lot;' the soldiers, therefore, indeed, did these things.

That they cast lots for his tunic alone, "woven from the top without seam," rather than dividing it, demonstrated clearly enough that the visible sacraments, even though they too are the garments of Christ, can still be had by anybody, good or bad.

What the devil contrives in his cunning serves to fulfill the prophecies. And behold the truth. There were three who were crucified, and yet the words of the prophets are fulfilled in Him alone. And note the precision of the prophecy. The prophet spoke not only about what they divided, but also about what they did not divide.

2430 The Evangelist says that lots were cast for Christ's tunic, they said to one another, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be. There is one way of casting lots which is a form of divination; this is unlawful because there is no necessity for it.

And there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleopas, and Mary the Magdalene;

Certain of these heretics brought accusation against Symeon, the son of Clopas, on the ground that he was a descendant of David and a Christian; and thus he suffered martyrdom, at the age of one hundred and twenty years, while Trajan was emperor and Atticus governor... They came, therefore, and took the lead of every church as witnesses and as relatives of the Lord.

(de Con. Ev. iii. 21) If Matthew and Mark had not mentioned by name Mary Magdalen, we should have thought that there were two parties, one of which stood far off, and the other near. But how must we account for the same Mary Magdalen and the other women standing afar off, as Matthew and Mark say, and being near the cross, as John says?

2434 Thirdly, we see the part played by the friends of Jesus. First, the Evangelist mentions the women who were standing there; secondly, his eagerness for the care of his mother (v 26); thirdly, the ready obedience of the disciple (v 27).

Jesus, therefore, having seen his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he was loving, he saith to his mother, `Woman, lo, thy son;'

What man, then, of sound mind can possibly suppose that they were ignorant of anything, whom the Lord ordained to be masters (or teachers), keeping them, as He did, inseparable (from Himself) in their attendance, in their discipleship, in their society, to whom, "when they were alone, He used to expound" all things which were obscure, telling them that "to them it was given to…

He took thought for His mother, paying no heed to His own bitter agony, for His sufferings affected Him not. He gave her into the charge of the beloved disciple (this was John, the writer of this book), and bade him take her home, and regard her as a mother; and enjoined His own mother to regard him as none other than her true son----by his tenderness, that is, and affection, f…

2439 The Evangelist now mentions Christ's concern for his mother (v 26). But first we see his solicitude for the welfare of his disciple, whom he entrusted to his mother; then we see his concern for his mother, whom he gave into the keeping of his disciple.

afterward he saith to the disciple, `Lo, thy mother;' and from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Therefore, when the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was hanging on the tree fastened by the nails of the cross for the life of the whole world, he saw about the cross his mother standing, and John the Evangelist, whom he peculiarly loved above the rest of the apostles because he alone of them was a virgin in the body.

The virgin mother, when wine was lacking, wanted Jesus to do a miracle. She was at once answered, "Woman, what have I to do with you?" as if to say plainly, The fact that I can do a miracle comes to me from my Father, not my mother. For it was from the nature of his Father that he could do miracles but from the nature of his mother that he could die.

2442 As to the second, he says, Behold, your mother! so that John will care for her as much as a son cares for his mother; and Mary is to love John as a mother loves her son. 2443 The Evangelist shows the obedience of the disciple when he says, and from that hour the disciple took her to his own.

After this, Jesus knowing that all things now have been finished, that the Writing may be fulfilled, saith, `I thirst;'

"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished." That is, "that nothing was wanting to the Dispensation." For He was everywhere desirous to show, that this Death was of a new kind, if indeed the whole lay in the power of the Person dying, and death came not on the Body before He willed it; and He willed it after He had fulfilled all things.

If, on the one hand it was as God that Jesus suffered thirst and when he had tasted would not drink, surely he must be subject to passion also as God. For thirst and taste are passions. But if it was not as God but altogether as man that he was thirsty, similarly as man he must be endowed with will.

2444 After dealing with the crucifixion and the events that accompanied it, the Evangelist now describes the death of Christ, which we should reverence. First, he shows that it was at the appropriate time; secondly its manner, he bowed his head; and thirdly, the piercing of the dead body (v 31). He shows that the time was fitting because all was now finished, accomplished.

a vessel, therefore, was placed full of vinegar, and they having filled a sponge with vinegar, and having put it around a hyssop stalk, did put it to his mouth;

The sour wine perhaps signified the sharp turn and change that happened to Jesus—freedom from suffering instead of suffering, immortality instead of death, incorruption instead of corruption, judging instead of being judged, reigning as king instead of suffering from tyranny.

He said, "I thirst:" as if it were, One thing still you have failed to do, give me what you Are. For the Jews were themselves the vinegar, degenerated as they were from the wine of the patriarchs and prophets; and filled like a full vessel with the wickedness of this world, with hearts like a sponge, deceitful in the formation of its cavernous and tortuous recesses.

2448 This desire could be satisfied because a bowl full of vinegar stood there. This bowl signified the Jewish synagogue, in which the wine of the Patriarchs and Prophets had degenerated into vinegar, that is, into the malice and severity of the chief priests. 2449 Christ is given the vinegar, for they put a sponge full of vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth.

when, therefore, Jesus received the vinegar, he said, `It hath been finished;' and having bowed the head, gave up the spirit.

Nailed upon the cross, he exhibited many notable signs by which his death was distinguished from all others. By his own free will, he dismissed from him his spirit with a word, anticipating the executioner's work.

When this indignity had been added to the rest, the Saviour exclaimed, It is finished; meaning that the measure of the iniquity of the Jews, and of their furious rage against Him, was completed. For what had the Jews left untried, and what extremity of atrocity had they not practised against Him?

2451 The final fulfillment is mentioned when the Evangelist says, When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. This can be understood to refer to the fulfillment accomplished by Christ by dying: "For it was fitting that the author of our salvation be fulfilled by glory through his passion" [Heb 2:10].

The Jews, therefore, that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, since it was the preparation, (for that sabbath day was a great one,) asked of Pilate that their legs may be broken, and they taken away.

He tells us himself clearly enough what he means by "elements," even the rudiments of the law: "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years" -the sabbaths, I suppose, and "the preparations," and the fasts, and the "high days." For the cessation of even these, no less than of circumcision, was appointed by the Creator's decrees, who had said by Isaiah, "Your new moons, and…

The Jews strained out the gnat while they swallowed the camel. They completely discounted the most outrageous and awful of all crimes against God, while they exercised the greatest diligence with reference to the most paltry and insignificant matters, showing their folly in either case.

2454 Now we see the piercing of Christ's body: the act itself; and then the certainty of what the Evangelist tells us (v 35). With respect to the first he does two things: first, we see the intervention and intention of the Jews; secondly, this is partially accomplished; thirdly, how this was accomplished with regard to Christ.

The soldiers, therefore, came, and of the first indeed they did break the legs, and of the other who was crucified with him,

and having come to Jesus, when they saw him already having been dead, they did not break his legs;

Whence, too, it was that there flowed out of the wound in the Lord's side water and blood, the materials of either baptism.

But when they had come to Jesus. Here is noted the opening of Christ's side. And first he says why they did not break his legs, namely because he was dead: and this is what he says: When they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs: because they did this in order to hasten death.

2457 Why does the Evangelist add, but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs? Surely Jesus was crucified between the two others? We should say that one soldier went to one of the criminals and another soldier went to the other one to break their legs, and when they were done with this they both came to Jesus.

but one of the soldiers with a spear did pierce his side, and immediately there came forth blood and water;

Moreover, how could the Lord, with any justice, if He belonged to another father, have acknowledged the bread to be His body, while He took it from that creation to which we belong, and affirmed the mixed cup to be His blood? And why did He acknowledge Himself to be the Son of man, if He had not gone through that birth which belongs to a human being?

It is written that when the side of Jesus was pierced, "he poured out blood and water." This has a mystical meaning. For Jesus himself had said, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

2458 To make sure that Jesus was dead one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. It deserves notice that he does not say "wounded" but "pierced," that is "opened," because in his side the door of eternal life is opened to us: "After this I looked, and lo, in heaven, an open door!" (Rev 4:1).

and he who hath seen hath testified, and his testimony is true, and that one hath known that true things he speaketh, that ye also may believe.

For these things came to pass, that the Writing may be fulfilled, `A bone of him shall not be broken;'

Therefore, because He had laid down His life while fastened to the cross, His executioners did not think it necessary to break His bones (as was their prevailing custom), but they only pierced His side. Thus His unbroken body was taken down from the cross, and carefully enclosed in a tomb.

And since they considered Moses more trustworthy than him, he brings him too as a witness. What Moses said about the lamb slain at Passover: "a bone shall not be broken" (Exod. 12:10, 46), according to the evangelist's explanation, was fulfilled in Christ. For that lamb was a type of Him, and there is much in common between it and the Truth.

2461 This truth is not just guaranteed by the testimony of the apostle; there is also a prophecy of scripture. Thus he says, these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled. Here again, as before, the phrase that the scripture might be fulfilled, indicates the sequence of events. The Evangelist cites two authorities from the Old Testament.

and again another Writing saith, `They shall look to him whom they did pierce.'

Who is it then, that has aroused the Lord, now at God's right hand so unseasonably and with such severity "shake terribly" (as Isaiah expresses it ("that earth," which, I suppose, is as yet unshattered?

"And hath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man." What judgment, what kind of judgment? "Marvel not at this" which I have said, - gave Him authority to execute judgment, - "for the hour is coming." He does not add, "and now is:" therefore He means to make known to us a certain hour in the end of the world.

2462 The second authority refers to his statement, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and is taken from Zechariah: They shall look on him whom they have pierced. Our text of Zechariah reads: "They will look on me whom they have pierced" [Zech 12:10].

And after these things did Joseph of Arimathea--being a disciple of Jesus, but concealed, through the fear of the Jews--ask of Pilate, that he may take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave leave; he came, therefore, and took away the body of Jesus,

For it was not without design that the prophet Moses, when Hur and Aaron upheld his hands, remained in this form until evening. For indeed the Lord remained upon the tree almost until evening, and they buried Him at eventide; then on the third day He rose again.

Observe how often mention is made of the body. See how often the Evangelist shows that it was the body that was nailed to the cross, the body begged by Joseph of Pilate, the body taken down from the tree, the body wrapped in linen clothes with the myrrh and aloes, and then the name of the person given to it. And Jesus is said to have been laid in a tomb.

2463 After the Evangelist has told us about the crucifixion and death of Christ, he now turns to his burial: first, the permission for his burial; secondly, the care in preparing his body (v 40); thirdly, the place where Christ was buried (v 41); and, the burial itself (v 42).

and Nicodemus also came--who came unto Jesus by night at the first--bearing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, as it were, a hundred pounds.

Long before this sepulcher was hewn out by Joseph, its glory was foretold in Isaiah's prediction, "His rest shall be glorious," meaning that the place of the Lord's burial should be held in universal honor.

Nicodemus joined him: And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. We must observe however that it was simple ointment; for they were not allowed to mix many ingredients together. (Exod. 30:34, 38)

2465 In regard to the second he says, So he came and took away his body. Here we see Joseph's concern to prepare the body: first, the things used in the preparation; secondly, the preparation itself (v 40). 2466 The body of Jesus was prepared with a mixture of myrrh and aloes, which Nicodemus had purchased in large quantity.

They took, therefore, the body of Jesus, and bound it with linen clothes with the spices, according as it was the custom of the Jews to prepare for burial;

If you still live to sin, you cannot be buried with Jesus or laid in his new tomb because your old self still lives and cannot walk in newness of life. Therefore the Holy Spirit was careful to hand down through the Scriptures that it was a new sepulcher in which Jesus was buried and that he was wrapped in a clean linen cloth.

It has come down as the custom of the church of consecrating the Lord's body not on silk or gold cloth but in a clean linen cloth.

2467 With the spices ready, they prepared the body of Jesus, they took the body of Jesus. There is a question here, for John says that they bound it in linen cloths, while Matthew (27:59) says that they wrapped it in a linen cloth. One can answer, according to Augustine, that Matthew speaks of one linen cloth because he only mentioned Joseph, and he brought this one cloth.

and there was in the place where he was crucified a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one was yet laid;

Observe whether the harmony of the three Evangelists here is not fitted to make an impression: for they have thought it right to describe the tomb as one that was "quarried or hewn out of the rock." Whoever examines the words of the narrative will see something worthy of consideration, both in them and in the newness of the tomb—a point mentioned by Matthew and John—and in the…

(Tr. cxx) As no one before or after Him was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, so in this grave was there none buried before or after Him.

2468 The place where Christ was buried is then mentioned, Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. Christ was arrested in a garden, underwent his agony in a garden, and was buried in a garden.

there, therefore, because of the preparation of the Jews, because the tomb was nigh, they laid Jesus.

Surely if no one had as yet been laid there, men and women were afterward laid there. For this is the meaning for those who consider carefully.… He who said, "We have been buried with Christ through baptism and have risen with him," has himself been after Christ buried together with Christ in a new and spiritual tomb hewn in the rock.

Time compelled them to hurry. For the death of Jesus occurred at the ninth hour. Then, while they went to Pilate and while they took down the body, evening had naturally already come, when it was impossible to prepare a tomb. Therefore they lay Him in the nearest tomb.

2469 Now follows the burial. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, because evening was approaching when because of the sabbath no work was permitted, as the tomb, the new tomb, was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. Christ died about the ninth hour, but because his body had to be prepared for burial and other things had to be done, the day had grown into evening.

John19