Matthew 27:34

non occ.: After the Evangelist had narrated what concerned the mocking of Christ, he proceeds to His crucifixion.

This is to be understood to have been done at the end of all when He was led off to crucifixion after Pilate had delivered Him up to the Jews.

It is to be noted, that when Jesus is scourged and spit upon, He has not on His own garments, but those which He took for our sins; but when He is crucified, and the show of His mockery is completed, then He takes again His former garments, and His own dress, and immediately the elements are shaken, and the creature gives testimony to the Creator.

Of the cloak it is mentioned that they took it off Him, but of the crown of thorns the Evangelists have not spoken, so that there are now no longer those ancient thorns of ours, since Jesus has taken them from us upon HiS revered head.

The Lord would not suffer under a roof, or in the Jewish Temple, that you should not suppose that He was offered for that people alone; but without the city, without the walls, that you might know that the sacrifice was common, that it was the offering of the whole earth, that the purification was general.

Let none think that John's narrative contradicts this place of the Evangelist. John says that the Lord went forth from the praetorium bearing His cross; Matthew tells, that they found a man of Cyrene upon whom they laid Jesus" cross. We must suppose that as Jesus went out of the praetorium, He was bearing His cross, and that afterwards they met Simon, whom they compelled to bear it.

Or, as they went out, they laid hold of Simon, but when they drew near to the place in which they would crucify Him, they laid the cross upon Him that He might bear it. Simon obtained not this office by chance, but was brought to the spot by God's providence, that he might be found worthy of mention in the Scriptures of the Gospel, and of the ministry of the cross of Christ. And it was not only meet that the Saviour should carry His cross, but meet also that we should take part therein, filling a carriage so beneficial to us. Yet would it not have so profited us to take it on us, as we have profited by His taking it upon Himself. [marg. note: ]

Figuratively, the nations take up the cross, and the foreigner by obedience bears the ignominy of the Saviour.

For a Jew was not worthy to bear Christ's cross, but it was reserved for the faith of the Gentiles both to take the cross, and to suffer with Him.

For this Simon was not a man of Jerusalem, but a foreigner, and denizen, being a Cyrenean; Cyrene is a town of Lybia. Simon is interpreted "obedient," and a Cyrenean "an heir;" whence he well denotes the people of the Gentiles, which was strange to the testaments of God, but by believing became a fellow-citizen of the saints, of the household, and an heir of God.

Or otherwise; By Simon who bears the burden of the Lord's cross are denoted those who are abstinent and proud; these by their abstinence afflict their flesh, but seek not within the fruit of abstinence. Thus Simon bears the cross, but does not die thereon, as these afflict the body, but in desire of vain-glory live to the world.

"Golgotha" is a Syriac word, and is interpreted Calvary.

[ed. note, b: He probably refers to an anonymous disputant, of whom he speaks more at length in his Commentary on Ephesians 5, 14; but a tradition to the same effect is mentioned by Origen, whose words, as preserved in a MS. Catena quoted by Ruaeus, are, "A tradition has come down to us, preserved by the Hebrews, that the body of Adam is buried in Calvary, so that as in Adam all die, so in Christ may all be made alive." And to the same effect Epiphanius cont. Tatian, and the Pseudo-Cyprian. "De Resur. Christi."] I have heard Calvary expounded as the spot in which Adam was buried, as though it had been so called from the head of the old man being buried there. A plausible interpretation, and agreeable to the ears of the people, yet not a true one. Without the city outside the gate are the places where criminals are executed, and these have got the name of Calvary, that is, of the beheaded. And Jesus was crucified there, that where the plot of criminals had been, there might be set up the flag of martyrdom. But Adam was buried near Ebron and Arbee, as we read in the volume of Jesus the son of Nave. [ed. note: Josh. 14, 15. in the Vulgate, "Adam maximus ibi inter Enacim situs est;" departing from both the Heb. and LXX.]

Such is the place of the cross, set up in the centre of the earth, that it might be equally free to all nations to attain the knowledge of God.

"And they gave him to drink wine mingled with gall." Mark says, "mingled with myrrh." [Mark 16:23] Matthew put "gall" to express bitterness, but wine mingled with myrrh is very bitter; though indeed it might be, that gall together with myrrh would make the most bitter.

The bitter vine makes bitter wine; this they gave the Lord Jesus to drink, that that might be fulfilled which was written, "They gave me also gall for my meat." [Ps 69:12] And God addresses Jerusalem, "I had planted there a true vine, how art thou turned into the bitterness of a strange vine?" [Jer 2:21]

"And when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink." That Mark says, "But he received it not," we understand to mean that He would not receive it to drink thereof. For that He tasted it Matthew bears witness; so that Matthew's, "He could not drink thereof," means exactly the same as Mark's, "He received it not;" only Mark does not mention His tasting it. That He tasted but would not drink of it signifies that He tasted the bitterness of death for us, but rose again the third day.

Or, He therefore refused the "wine mingled with gall, because the bitterness of sin is not mingled with the incorruption of eternal glory.

Concerning the last step, plainly, of His passion you raise a doubt; affirming that the passion of the cross was not predicted with reference to Christ, and urging, besides, that it is not credible that God should have exposed His own Son to that kind of death; because Himself said, “Cursed is every one who shall have hung on a tree.” But the reason of the case antecedently explains the sense of this malediction; for He says in Deuteronomy: “If, moreover, (a man) shall have been (involved) in some sin incurring the judgment of death, and shall die, and ye shall suspend him on a tree, his body shall not remain on the tree, but with burial ye shall bury him on the very day; because cursed by God is every one who shall have been suspended on a tree; and ye shall not defile the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee for (thy) lot.” Therefore He did not maledictively adjudge Christ to th …

But when the Jews will not in the least yield to the testimonies of this prophecy, which are so manifest, and are also brought by events to so clear and certain a completion, certainly that is fulfilled in them which is written in that psalm which here follows. For when the things which pertain to His passion are prophetically spoken there also in the person of Christ, that is mentioned which is unfolded in the Gospel: “They gave me gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar for drink.” And as it were after such a feast and dainties in this way given to Himself, presently He brings in [these words]: “Let their table become a trap before them, and a retribution, and an offence: let their eyes be dimmed that they see not, and their back be always bowed down,” etc. Which things are not spoken as wished for, but are predicted under the prophetic form of wishing. …

10. Scripture again witnesses that the space of those three days themselves was not whole and entire, but the first day is counted as a whole from its last part, and the third day is itself also counted as a whole from its first part; but the intervening day, i.e. the second day, was absolutely a whole with its twenty-four hours, twelve of the day and twelve of the night. For He was crucified first by the voices of the Jews in the third hour, when it was the sixth day of the week. Then He hung on the cross itself at the sixth hour, and yielded up His spirit at the ninth hour. But He was buried, “now when the even was come,” as the words of the evangelist express it; which means, at the end of the day. …

84. In Tamar, then, the daughter-in-law of Judah, we see the people of the kingdom of Judah, whose kings, answering to Tamar’s husbands, were taken from this tribe. Tamar means bitterness; and the meaning is suitable, for this people gave the cup of gall to the Lord. The two sons of Judah represent two classes of kings who governed ill, those who did harm and those who did no good. One of these sons was evil or cruel before the Lord; the other spilled the seed on the ground that Tamar might not become a mother. There are only those two kinds of useless people in the world, the injurious and those who will not give the good they have but lose it or spill it on the ground. And as injury is worse than not doing good, the evil-doer is called the elder and the other the younger. …

38. Matthew then proceeds in these terms: “And they came unto a place called Golgotha; that is to say, a place of a skull.” So far as the place is concerned, they are most unmistakeably at one. The same Matthew next adds, “and they gave Him wine to drink, mingled with gall; and when He had tasted thereof, He would not drink.” This is given by Mark as follows: “And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh; and He received it not.” Here we may understand Matthew to have conveyed the same sense as Mark, when he speaks of the wine being “mingled with gall.” For the gall is mentioned with a view to express the bitterness of the potion. And wine mingled with myrrh is remarkable for its bitterness. The fact may also be that gall and myrrh together made the wine exceedingly bitter. …

11. But perhaps they will say: Well, as it is a dove, and the dove is one, baptism there cannot be apart from the one dove. Therefore if the dove is with thee, or if thou be thyself a dove, do thou give me, when I come to thee, that which I have not. You know that this is what they say; but you will presently see that it is not of the voice of the dove, but of the clamor of the raven. For attend a little, beloved, and fear their devices; nay, beware of them, and listen to the words of gainsayers only to reject them, not to swallow them and take them into your bowels. Do therein what the Lord did when they offered Him the bitter draught, “He tasted, and spat it out;” so also you hear and cast away. What indeed say they? Let us see. Lo, says he, “Thou art the dove.” O Catholic Church, it is to thee it is said, “My dove is one, the only one of her mother,” to thee certainly is it said. …

3. “Save me, O God, for the waters have entered in even unto my soul” ( ver. 1 ). That grain is despised now, that seemeth to give forth humble words. In the garden it is buried, though the world will admire the greatness of the herb, of which herb the seed was despised by the Jews. For in very deed observe ye the seed of the mustard, minute, dull coloured, altogether despicable, in order that therein may be fulfilled that which hath been said, We have seen Him, and He had neither form nor comeliness. …

24. “And they gave for My food gall, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink” ( ver. 22 ). This was done indeed to the letter. And the Gospel declareth this to us. But we must understand, brethren, that the very fact that I found not comforters, that the very fact that I found not one that together should be made sorrowful, this was My gall, this to Me was bitter, this was vinegar: bitter because of grief, vinegar because of their old man. For we read, that to Him indeed gall was offered, as the Gospel speaketh; but for drink, not for food. …

XVIII. One thing connected with the Birth of Christ I would have you hate…the murder of the infants by Herod. Or rather you must venerate this too, the Sacrifice of the same age as Christ, slain before the Offering of the New Victim. If He flees into Egypt, joyfully become a companion of His exile. It is a grand thing to share the exile of the persecuted Christ. If He tarry long in Egypt, call Him out of Egypt by a reverent worship of Him there. Travel without fault through every stage and faculty of the Life of Christ. Be purified; be circumcised; strip off the veil which has covered thee from thy birth. After this teach in the Temple, and drive out the sacrilegious traders. Submit to be stoned if need be, for well I wot thou shalt be hidden from those who cast the stones; thou shalt escape even through the midst of them, like God. …

And once again, the Gospel tells us that, He, having come into the place, said ‘I thirst’: and they gave Him some vinegar mixed with gall, and when He had tasted it He would not drink . If, then, on the one hand it was as God that He 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 athirst, likewise as man He must be endowed with volition.

9. Let us take pattern, my beloved, from our Saviour, Who though He was rich, made Himself poor; and though He was lofty, humbled His Majesty; and though His dwelling place was in heaven, He had no place to lay His head; and though He is to come upon the clouds, yet rode on a colt and so entered Jerusalem; and though He is God and Son of God, He took upon Him the likeness of a servant; and though He was (for others) rest from all weariness, yet was Himself tired with the weariness of the journey; though He was the fountain that quenches thirst, yet Himself thirsted and asked for water; though He was abundance and satisfied our hunger, yet He Himself hungered when He went forth to the wilderness to be tempted; though He was a Watcher that slumbers not, He yet slumbered and slept in the ship in the midst of the sea; and though He was ministered to in the Tabernacle of His Father, yet let H …