The Great Commentary (Mossman/Cobb English)

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron , where was a garden , into the which He entered and His disciples . Jesus had now finished that glowing, and long discourse, in which He bade His disciples farewell, and was hastening to His Passion and Death. In fact, He offered Himself to it, voluntarily, by going into the garden, and there waiting for Judas and the Jews, by whom He knew He was to be taken. He gave thus an example of boldness of mind, by first choosing for Himself the very spot in which He was about to contend with death, sin, and the devil, as though sure of victory and triumph. It is hence inferred that Jesus, as soon as He had finished His discourse, crossed the Brook, and that the dispute of the Apostles about precedence (Luke xxii. 24) took place, not after this discourse (as S. Augustine thinks) but before it. When the hymn was sung is uncertain, for S. Matthew seems to intimate that it was sung at the end of the discourse (Matt. xxvi. 30). But reason seems to suggest that it was sung before it, as being a giving of thanks which was sung immediately after the supper, and the Eucharist, and before this discourse. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius on Matt xxvi., and Ribera on this passage. He went forth. From the house, where He began and finished the whole discourse. But F. Lucas and others think that the latter part of the discourse (from xiv. 31) was spoken after He had left the house on the way to the Brook Cedron. But then “went forth ” must be interpreted “ passed over/ Over the Brook Cedron. “The torrent” flowing in winter, drjr Digitized by Google MEANING OF CEDRON. 219 in summer. The torrent signifies the violence of the attack made on Christ at His Passion. And He passed through the torrent, to signify that He was going into a torrent of sufferings, says Jansenius, as the Psalm has it, “ He will drink of the Brook in the way ” (Ps. cx. 7). And hence some think that Jesus was brought back through the Brook, and thrown into it (see Adrichom . num. 207), as in Ps. lxix. Cedron. So called from the cedars growing there. S. Thomas and the Syriac and Arabic version. But it is a Hebrew word signifying darkness. See S. Jerome in Locis Hebr. It was dark as being a shady place, or from the blackness of the waters, or from the smoke from the burning of bodies. Cedron is a singular, and not a plural, word. It lies between Jerusalem and Mount Olivet, and runs through the valley of Jehosaphat. It was the common burialplace, and the Turks are now buried there. And it is in this valley that all men will be gathered together at the last judgment. St. John mentions it, (1.) To establish historical accuracy. (2.) As it was figurative, for as David, fleeing from Absalom, crossed the Brook Cedron, so did Christ cross the same Brook, not indeed as flying from the Jews, but as going forth to meet them. (3.) To show that He was going to expiate, not His own sins, but those of Adam and his posterity, however monstrous, such as those committed in this valley, where parents burnt their children alive in honour of Moloch (4.) That He might turn the place of His suffering into one of triumph : For it was from the neighbouring Mount Olivet that He rose in triumph after His Resurrection. And when He returns to judge the world, it is there that He will be seated as Judge, and recompense all men according to their deserts. Where was a garden . Because Adam sinned in a garden, Christ began to expiate His sin in a garden. “ For all things had to revert to their pristine state,” says S. Cyril. S. Chrysostom adds, “ For He tarries in the garden, as in a prison.” “ To save trouble,” says Theophylact, “to the Jews who were seeking Him;” adding also another reason, “ for He used to seek solitary places which gender silence,” that we should do the same, (See Matt xxvi.) Digitized by Google220 Symbolically . Observe that Christ first went into the desert, afterwards into the corn-fields, and at last into the garden, to teach us to go into the harvest-fields of preaching, and thence to the Passion and the Cross. Hear S. Ambrose in Luc. lib. iv. “Behold,” says he, “by what ways we are brought back to paradise. Christ is first in the desert : He guides, He instructs, He informs, He exercises man. He anoints him with spiritual oil. When He sees that he is stronger He leads him through corn-fields and fruitful places (as when the Jews complained that His disciples plucked the ears of com on the Sabbath day), for He had then placed the Apostles in cultivated ground, and in a profitable work. And afterwards He planted them in paradise, at the time of His Passion, when He crossed the Brook Cedron, where was a garden.”

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him (the word “ knowing ” is added, that no one should suppose that He had fallen without knowing it, and unwillingly, into the hands of the Jews, but that He knowingly and willingly gave Himself up to them, and also went forward to meet them), went forth , and said unto them, Whom seek ye ? Judas had already kissed Jesus, and had thus given a sign to the band that they should take Him. But Jesus did not wish to be taken when that sign was given, lest He should seem to be taken against His will. He then by the almighty power of His Godhead held back the soldiers, and fixed them to the spot, so that when the sign was given they djd not dare to rush forward to take Him, and indeed could not. Christ accordingly boldly stepped forward of His accord to meet them, and challenged them, as it were, to seize Him, by asking, Whom seekye ?

They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. They said not, “We seek Thee,” but they say, “We seek Jesus.” And therefore they did not recognise Him, though pointed out by the traitor’s kiss (because Jesus had smitten them with blindness), and though the officers of the chief Priests had often seen and heard Him before this. So S. Chrysostom says : “ Thou seest His irresistible power, that standing in the midst of them He smote them with blindness.” And S. Cyril, “ His Divine Power shone forth, for though He put Digitized by v^iOOQLe THE SOLDIERS THROWN DOWN. 221 Himself in their way, He was not recognised by those who were seeking Him.” And Judas also , who betrayed Him , stood with them . Judas had preceded the soldiers in order to betray Jesus, but finding that they did not rush forward to take Him, he became conscious of his perfidy, and turned back in obstinate impenitence, not to the disciples, but to the soldiers, in order to be defended by them against Jesus, whose power he feared, and was therefore struck to the ground with them. So S. Augustine. But Euthymius and Ribera think that Judas came up to Christ and kissed Him, after he had been struck down. This is probable, and only proves the greater shamelessness of Judas. As soon then as He had said unto them, / am He , they went backward, They did not fall forward on their breasts, lest the power which threw them down should seem to have come from behind, but they fell backward, to make it plain that they were thrown down by the power of Chrises words, and that they could not bear to behold His face or hear His words. For the words “ I am ” reminded them of what God said to Moses (Ex. iii.) “ I am that I am : this is My Name;” and I can annihilate you if I will. And therefore ye are those who are not : for all your being ye receive not from yourselves, but directly from Me. The tropological and allegorical meaning I have given Matt xxvi. 50

That the saying might be fulfilled , which He spake ; Oj them which Thou gavest Me hovel lost none , i.e. of the eleven Apostles which Thou gavest Me : for Judas, as the son of perdition, was not ►igitizec 222 given Him absolutely of the Father. But of what loss and death does Christ here speak: of the soul or of the body? Some say one, some another. But I say, both of body and soul. For they would have perished in the body if they had been seized and slain together with Jesus, more especially because Peter had withstood them and had wounded Malchus. They would have also perished in their souls, because they would have denied Christ in their weakness, and from fear of the threats of the Jews, just as Peter denied Him. And so, when killed by the Jews they would have perished both in body and soul. For they would have died in the mortal sin of denial. So Rupertus, Cajetan, Ribera, F. Lucas, Toletus, and others. Ver. io. — But there was a servant named Malchus . He mentions the name of the servant to signify the mystery. For Malchus is the same as “ king.” But as the servant of the High Priest he signifies the Jewish people, which was formerly a kingly and free power, but afterwards became subject to the Priesthood, which burdened it with its traditions and ceremonies, and also preyed upon it. See Matt, xxiii. Now this man, when S. Peter and the Apostles preached the Gospel, lost his right ear on account of his unbelief and hatred of Christ : that is, he became deaf to the Gospel, and to those things which were necessary to salvation, till the Lord converted him, and healed his ear. So S. Cyril (in loc. S. Ambrose on Luke xxii., and S. Jerome on Matt. xxvi. S. Ambrose adds that S. Peter wished to imitate the zeal of Phinehas, who slew a prince of Israel who committed fornication with the daughters of Moab : and thus obtained the High Priesthood (Num. xxv.) The love therefore of S. Peter, and his zeal for Christ, lessened his fault. And yet he sinned in drawing his sword without consulting Christ, more especially when he had heard just before from His own lips, that He was going of His own accord to His Passion and Death

And they led Him away to Annas firsts for he was father - in-law to Caiaphas , which was the High Priest that same year . But why did Judas and the Jews lead Him first to Annas, and not to Caiaphas, when He had to be judged by Caiaphas (as High Priest), and not by Annas ? I answer (1.) To pay honour to Annas, as being the elder, and father-in-law to Caiaphas, whom “ Caiaphas honoured as father,” says Euthymius, and by whose counsel he governed the people. (2.) The house of Annas was in the way to that of Caiaphas. (3.) Because Annas especially wished and arranged for the seizure of Christ. And hence the soldiers lead Him as it were in triumph, in order to delight him, and that they, in return, themselves might obtain some reward for, so doing. (4.) To summon Annas (who on the previous evening had gone to his own house, on account of the cold) to 224 attend the council which was about to be held Ae*next morning at the house of Caiaphas to try Jesus. (5.) And specify, because Annas had promised Judas the reward of his betrayal, Judas therefore takes Jesus to his house, to obtain from him the thirty pieces he had promised, and, as S. Cyril thinks, he then actually received. And this is inferred from the fact that in the first agreement with the Rulers, the money was only promised, not paid (see Matt, xxvi. 15). Judas therefore received them this very night at the house of Annas, and shortly afterwards, in sorrow at what he had done, * threw them down in the temple (Matt, xxvii. 3). For he could not receive them at the house of Caiaphas, who was so engaged in finding false witnesses, in examining Christ, in summoning the Council, &c., that he had no time to treat with Judas. And Judas does not appear to have gone with the soldiers further than to the house of Annas, or to have entered the house of Caiaphas. For if Judas had been there, Peter would not have gone in, for fear of Judas betraying him. For if Judas had been present in the house of Caiaphas when Peter thrice denied Christ, he would certainly have either publicly convicted him of falsehood, or have secretly informed the servants that Peter was a fellow-disciple of Christ, in order that they might apprehend him. The high Priest that same year. Because the Roman Governors often changed the High Priests every year, and created new ones ; though it was peculiar to Pilate that he did not remove Caiaphas whom he found High Priest : who accordingly held the High Priesthood for the whole three years of Christ’s ministry

One of the servants struck Jesus . S. Augustine (in loc.) having enumerated many punishments which a slave deserved, says, “ But which of these could He not have commanded by His power (since the world was made by Him), unless He preferred to teach us patience by which the world is overcome? See on Matt. xxvi. 59. Moreover, Christ turned not the other cheek, lest He should appear to admit His fault. As S. Paul, too, when smitten unjustly said, in his zeal for justice, “ God shall smite thee, thou whited wall” (Acts xxiii.) “ He offered not,” says S. Augustine, “ His other cheek to the Digitized by v^iOOQLe CHRIST IN THE PRCETORIUM. 225 smiter, but made His whole Body ready for being nailed to the Cross, in order to confirm His own teaching, by His example (Matt. V- 39)

Now Annas sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the High Priest '. The Syriac and Arabic versions, as also S. Cyril, read “ had sent Him,” and so too English version. But it seems as if S. John had forgotten to mention the sending of Jesus from Annas to Caiaphas, and here inserted it out of place, whereas it should come in after ver. 13

Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the prcetorium . To the house and hall of Pilate ; for he was Praetor, that is, both civil and criminal judge of Judaea. S. Augustine reads (inaccu rately) unto Caiaphas into the Prcetorium , and therefore was obliged to say either that Caiaphas came to the house of Pilate, or that they both lived in the same house, though the contrary is plain from the Gospel. Every magistrate who had an army under him, was called Praetor, a prceeundo . And the place in which he held trials was called Praetorium; a place in which criminals were tried, for which purpose Jesus was brought thither by the Chief Priests. But they themselves entered not into the judgment-hall lest they should be defiled (by entering the house of the heathen governor), but that they might (as pure and clean) eat the Passover. The Passover does not here mean the Paschal Lamb (as SS. Chrysostom and Cyril suppose), for that they had eaten the day before; but the Paschal victims, which were sacrificed during the whole seven days, which could be eaten only by those who were clean. See here the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who wished to appear most religious, though in truth utterly wicked and the murderers of Christ. S. Augustine exclaims, “O impious and foolish blindness! for forsooth they would be defiled by a dwelling which was another’s, and not be defiled by a crime which was their own.” See S. Cyril

It is not lawful for us to put any one to death . For the Romans, it appears, had deprived the Jews, as a conquered people, of the power of capital punishment, and claimed it for themselves. VOL. V. P Digitized by Google 226 This is the meaning of the words. See Rupertus, S. Thomas, Jansen, Suarez, and others. You will say the Jews stoned S. Stephen, and threw down S. James headlong. But this was not in course of law, but in a popular tumult. Josephus (Ant. xx. 8, al. 16) says that Annas was deposed from his office by the Roman governor for ordering S. James to be killed, and (Acts xviii.) the Jews did not dare to kill Paul, but handed him over to the Proconsul Gallio. But you will urge that Pilate had already given the Chief Priests liberty to judge and to put Him to death, when he said, “Take ye Him and judge Him according to your law.” I answer, that they could have done so, but were unwilling to accept his offer. They said, as it were, in their minds, Ye Romans have taken away from us altogether the power of the sword. We therefore do not wish to exercise it in this particular case. Either restore us this power absolutely, or else take your part in the deed. This they said as wishing Jesus to suffer the most ignominious death, that of crucifixion as a seditious person, and aiming at kingly power. And they wished to transfer from themselves to Pilate the unpopularity of His death. For they feared they should be stoned by the people, who were in favour of Jesus, or else be assailed by their revilings. Others reply (as S. Augustine and S. Cyril, and Suarez after them , par Hi. Quasi. Ixvii art. 4), that it was not lawful for the Jews to put Him to death at the Passover (being a solemn feast), but that it was lawful at other times. But Ribera replies, that it was specially the practice of the sect of the Pharisees not to condemn any one to death (see Josephus Ben-Gorion, Hist. Jud. iv. 6). They said therefore, “It is not lawful for us,” under the cloak of religion. For many, and the chief of those who aimed at the death of Christ, were Pharisees. And because they had authority with the people, others followed their lead

That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spake signifying by what death He should die, viz. that He was to be delivered up to the Gentiles, and to be crucified by them. See John xii. 32 and Matt. xx. 18

Then Pilate entered into the judgment- hall again. He Digitized by Google CHRIST’S WITNESS TO THE TRUTH. 227 had gone out, to hear the charges which the Jews brought against Jesus, and then came back again to examine Him. And said unto Him , Art Thou the King of the Jews? It appears from Luke xxiii. 2, that when the Chief Priests saw that they could not move Pilate by their mere authority to condemn Jesus, they brought against Him the charge of perverting the nation, of forbidding to pay tribute to Caesar. Pilate caught at this last charge, and put this question. See notes on Matt, xxvii. 11

Thou sayest that l am a King i.e. I am in truth the King of the Jews, to rule in the faithful by faith and grace, and bring them to My heavenly Kingdom. To this end was 1 bom , and for this cause / came into the world , that 1 should bear witness unto the truth. To evangelical truth, which mainly consists in these things — (1.) In the true knowledge of God, namely, that He is One in Essence, and threefold in Person. For every being is true, that is a true and not an imaginary thing, and is true in itself. Wherefore God, who is Very Being (I am that I am) is also truth, and good itself. Because His essential Being is Truth and Goodness. Again, the Son who proceedeth from the Father, as His Word, is Truth Itself, not merely of existence but of mind. Whence S. Augustine says, when Jesus bears witness to the truth, He bears witness to Himself, for He Himself is truth. (2.) In the knowledge of the Incarnation ; namely, to know that the Son was sent into the world in the flesh, that He might save the world, and that no one can be saved, except by faith in Him (see John xvii. 3). (3.) In the knowledge of true blessedness : viz., that it consists not in wealth, honours, &c., but in the kingdom of heaven, i.e. in the vision and possession of God. For the sum of Christ’s preaching was, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ” (Matt. iii. 2). Christ says that He was born to bear witness to the Truth. (1.) To keep Pilate from wondering that He owned Himself to be a King, for it was but speaking the truth. (2.) That Pilate might learn the innocence and candour of Jesus; for in this truth consists. Digitized by v^iOOQLe 228 (3.) To remind him of the justice with which he ought to decide His cause, and that he should not be so moved by the false charges and clamours of the Chief Priests, so as to condemn Him against truth and justice. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice. Those, /.<?., who are studious and desirous of the truth ; who earnestly and with their whole heart seek the Truth, i.e. the true God and the true Messiah, true happiness and salvation. And who when they have found it embrace it before all things beside. They are opposed to those who are “ of contention ” (Rom. ii. 8), who, like the philosophers of that time, are ever striving to contend, dispute, and argue. To be, then, “ of the truth ” is the same as being “ of God.” For the Son of God is the Son of the Truth ; for God is truth, according to John viii. 47, “He that is of God heareth God’s words. Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” Because, though ye are “ of God ” by creation, yet ye are not “ of Him ” by election, faith, and grace. “ He commended,” says S. Augustine (in toe.), “that grace which calls according to His purpose.” For he that hath received his testimony (the testimony of the Baptist) “ hath set to his seal that God is true” (John iii. 33). And how true it is, is shown by the statements of enemies. For Josephus (Antiq. xiv. 8) writes, “At that time lived a wise man called Jesus, if indeed it is allowable to call Him a man, for He performed wonderful works, and taught those who willingly received the truth.” Christ tactily answers Pilate’s objection, viz. “ If Thou bearest witness to the truth, why do the Scribes and Pharisees, who profess the truth, hear Thee not — nay more, persecute Thee even to the death ? ” He answers, “ Because they themselves are not of the truth, but of a lie. For they follow the false opinions of wealth, honours, &c., which the devil suggests to them.” See John viii. 44