Mark 14:58

The Evangelist had related above how our Lord had been taken by the servants of the Priests. Now he begins to relate how He was condemned to death in the house of the High Priest. Wherefore it is said: "And they led Jesus away to the High Priest."

He means by the High Priest, Caiaphas, who (as John writes) was High Priest that year, of whom Josephus relates that he bought his priesthood of the Roman Emperor. There follows: "And with him were assembled all the Chief Priests and the elders and the scribes."

Then took place the gathering together of the bulls among the heifers of the people. [Ps 67:31, Vulgate] It goes on: "And Peter followed Him afar off, even into the palace of the High Priest." For though fear holds him back, love draws him on.

But rightly does he follow afar off, who is just about to betray Him; for he could not have denied Christ if he had remained close to Him. There follows: "And he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire."

He warms himself at the fire in the hall, with the servants. The hall of the High Priest is the enclosure of the world, the servants are the devils, with whom whosoever remains cannot weep for his sins; the fire is the desire of the flesh.

For charity is the fire of which it is said, "I am come to send fire on the earth," [Luke 12:49] which flame coming down on the believers, taught them to speak with various tongues the praise of the Lord. There is also a fire of covetousness, of which it is said, "They are all adulterers as an oven:" [Hosea (Osee) 7:4] this fire, raised up in the hall of Caiaphas by the suggestion of an evil spirit, was arming the tongues of the traitors to deny and blaspheme the Lord. For the fire lit up in the hall amidst the cold of the night was a figure of what the wicked assembly was doing within; for because of the abounding of iniquity the love of many waxes cold. [Matt 24:12] Peter, who for a time was benumbed by this cold, wished as it were to be warmed by the coals of the servants of Caiaphas, because He sought in the society of traitors the consolation of worldly comfort. It goes on: "And the Chief Priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death."

Though the law commanded that there should be but one High Priest, there were then many put into the office, and stripped of it, year by year, by the Roman emperor. He therefore calls chief priests those who had finished the time alloted to them, and had been stripped of their priesthood. But their actions are a sign of their judgment, which they carried on as they had prejudged, for they sought for a witness, that they might seem to condemn and destroy Jesus with justice.

But iniquity lied as the queen did against Joseph, and the priests against Susannah, but a flame goes out, if it has no fuel. Wherefore it goes on: "And found none. For many bare false witness against Him, but their witness agreed not together." For whatever is not consistent is held to be doubtful. There follows: "And there arose certain, and bare false witness against Him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands." It is usual with heretics out of the truth to extract the shadow; He did not say what they said, but something like it, of the temple of His body, which He raised again after two days.

For the Lord had not said, I will destroy, but, "Destroy", nor did He say, made with hands, but, "this temple."

He had said also, "I will raise up," meaning a thing with life and soul, and a breathing temple. He is a false witness, who understands words in a sense, in which they are not spoken.

In the second book of Kings: “And the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in; but it shall be, when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall come from thy bowels, and I will make ready his kingdom. He shall build me an house in my name, and I will raise up his throne for ever; and I will be to him for a father, and he shall be to me for a son: and his house shall obtain confidence, and his kingdom for evermore in my sight.” Also in the Gospel the Lord says: “There shall not be left in the temple one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” And “After three days another shall be raised up without hands.”

What I have said is not alien to the passage now engaging us, dealing as it does with the temple and those cast out from it, of which the Saviour says, “The zeal of thy house shall devour Me;” and with the Jews who asked that a sign should be showed them, and the Saviour’s answer to them, in which He combines the discourse on the temple with that on His own body, and says, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” For from this temple, which is the body of Christ, everything that is irrational and savours of merchandise must be driven away, that it may no longer be a house of merchandise. …

20. Then Matthew’s report goes on thus: “Now the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus, to put Him to death, but found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none.” Mark comes in here with the explanation, that “their witness agreed not together.” But, as Matthew continues, “At the last came two false witnesses, and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.” Mark states that there were also others who said, “We have heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. …

6. Observe also the very lie of the false witnesses in the Gospel, and see how it is about Resurrection. For when to the Lord had been said, “What sign showest Thou to us, that Thou doest these things?” besides that which He had spoken about Jonah through another similitude of this same thing also He spake, that ye might know this peculiar sign had been especially pointed out: “Destroy this Temple,” He saith, “and in three days I will raise it up.” And they said, “In forty and six years was builded this temple, and wilt Thou in three days raise it up?” And the evangelist explaining what it was, “But this,” he saith, “spake Jesus of the Temple of His Body.” Behold this His power He said He would show to men in the same thing as that from whence He had given the similitude of a Temple, because of His flesh, which was the Temple of the Divinity hidden within. …