So he set to work on Thy back. . . .

The Redeemer endured the lash; the Deliverer was in chains;

He who established the pillars of the earth, as David said,^[1] is fastened to a pillar.

The rock is on a column and the church is hewn in stone for me. KONTAKION ^[1]

Previous to stating how Pilate delivered him up to be crucified, John has introduced the following passage: Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. . . . This makes it evident that Matthew and Mark have reported this incident in the way of a recapitulation and that it did not take place after Pilate had delivered him up to be crucified. For John informs us distinctly enough that these things took place when he yet was with Pilate. Therefore, we conclude that the other Evangelists have introduced the occurrence at that particular point, just because, having previously passed it by, they recollected it there.

Jesus was scourged unjustly so that he might deliver us from the punishment we deserved. He was beaten and struck so that we might beat Satan, who had beaten us, and that we might escape from the sin that cleaves to us through the original transgression. For if we think correctly, we shall believe that all of Christ’s sufferings were for us and on our behalf and that they have power to release and deliver us from all those calamities we have deserved because of our rebellion against God.

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. For there is no approaching the Word without blood. . . . They crowned Jesus raised up high, testifying to their own ignorance. . . . This crown is the flower of those who have believed on the glorified One, but it covers with blood and chastises those who have not believed. It is a symbol, too, of the Lord’s successful work, he having borne on his head (the princely part of his body) all our iniquities by which we were pierced. For he by his own passion rescued us from offenses and sins and other thorns. And having destroyed the devil, deservedly said in triumph, O Death, where is your sting?^[1]

What patriarch, what prophet, what Levite, or priest or ruler, or at a later period what apostle, or preacher of the gospel or bishop do you ever find the wearer of a crown? . . . If, perhaps, you object that Christ himself was crowned, to that you will get the brief reply: Go ahead and be crowned like he was. You have my full permission.

There are those who still have thorns with which they crown and dishonor Jesus, those, namely, who are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and, though they have received the word of God, do not bring it to perfection.^[1] We must beware, therefore, lest we also, as crowning Jesus with thorns of our own, should be entered in the Gospel . . . and read how he is dishonored and mocked and beaten [by us].

You belong to Christ for you have been enrolled in the books of life.^[1] There the blood of the Lord serves for your purple robe, and your broad stripe is his own cross.

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. Kings are proclaimed by soldiers.

When the soldiers mocked you, O Lord, before your death on the precious cross, the heavenly hosts were struck with wonder. For you who have adorned the earth with flowers were arrayed in a crown of shame. You who have wrapped the firmament in clouds were clothed in a robe of mockery. And so, O Christ, in your providence you have made known your compassion and great mercy.

He confesses the wrong he had done and is not ashamed. For he admitted that he had scourged him without cause and declares that he will show him to them supposing that would satisfy their savage passion by so pitiable a spectacle. In fact, he practically accuses them as well—and that publicly—of putting him to death unjustly and of compelling him openly to be a lawbreaker who, if he transgressed his own laws, could not escape without repercussions. The saying was fulfilled in Christ and shown to be true, that the prince of this world comes and he will find nothing in me.^[1]

Just as in Adam Satan subdued the whole human race demonstrating its subjection to sin, so now Satan is vanquished by humanity. For the one who was truly God and without sin was still also human. And just as all of humanity was condemned under the sentence of sin through one man, the first Adam, in the same way, the blessing of justification by Christ is extended to all through one man, the second Adam.^[1]

Abel was envied by Cain and was later murdered.

moved them to anger, even as He showed affection;

He healed those who were ill, and instead of gratitude, He suffers, and is crucified,

The crowd of the lawless, feeling aversion for the multitude of miracles

They handed over to the court of justice the One who will judge kings and peasants;

Meanwhile He, in order to suffer, endures in silence, standing speechless, KONTAKION

Pilate, because of hearing just a few words, wanted to let Jesus go, but they pressed on, saying, Crucify him. And why did they push for killing him in this way? It was a shameful death. They were afraid that afterward someone might remember him, and so they wanted to bring him to a punishment that came with a curse. They did not know that truth is exalted by hindrances.

The devil has never been in as shameful a plight as he was that day. For while he expected to have Christ, he lost even those he had, because when that body was nailed to the cross, the dead arose. There death received his wound, being met with a death stroke from a dead body. . . . For the devil would have done everything to persuade people that Jesus did not die and that instead he [Satan] had the power. For one can see that the time following his resurrection was indeed proof positive [that he had risen from the dead]. But, concerning his death, no other time except when it actually happened could ever furnish proof. Therefore Jesus had to die publicly in the sight of everyone, but [the event] of his resurrection was not public, knowing that the time following it would bear witness to the truth. It is a marvel that, while the world was looking on, the serpent was slain on high on the cross. For look at what the devil did to try to have Christ die in secret. Hear Pilate saying, Take him away and crucify him, for I find no fault in him, and withstanding them in a thousand ways. And again the Jews said to him, If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.^[1] Then further, when he had received a mortal wound and did not come down, he was buried. And yet, it was in his power to have risen immediately—but he did not so that the fact [of his death] might be believed. And yet in cases of private death, indeed, it is possible to say they only swooned, but here, it is not possible to say such a thing.

Here, we may imagine Pilate as saying, If you have a law that subjects the sinless to so fearful a penalty, that chastises the guiltless, execute it with your own hands. I will not endure being a part of it.

See in how many ways the judge makes his defense, continually acquitting Jesus of the charges. . . . For You take 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. They had brought Jesus in order to have the matter decided by the governor. But the contrary happened, and Jesus was acquitted rather than condemned by the governor’s decision.

If you [Arians] will not learn who Christ is from those who know him, learn it at least from those who do not. . . . Can’t you see your fellowship with the . . . Jews [of Jesus’ day] in which your denial of the divine Sonship has involved you! For they have put on record the reason of their condemnation: And by our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God. Isn’t this the same charge that you are blasphemously bringing against him, that, while you pronounce him a creature, he calls himself the Son? He confesses himself the Son, and they declare him guilty of death. You too deny that he is the Son of God. What sentence do you pass on him? You have the same repugnance to his claim as had the Jews. You agree with their verdict. I want to know whether you will quarrel about the sentence. Your offense, in denying that he is the Son of God, is exactly the same as theirs, though their guilt is less, for they sinned in ignorance.

How then, when the judge said, You take him, and judge him according to your law, did you reply, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, while here you flee to the Law? And consider the charge, He made himself the Son of God. Tell me, is this the ground of your accusation, that is, that he who performed the deeds of the Son of God should call himself the Son of God? And so what does Christ do? While they held this dialogue with each other, he held his peace, fulfilling that saying of the prophet that he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away.^[1]

Then Pilate is alarmed when he hears from them that he made himself the Son of God, worrying that he might be administering justice improperly if the assertion might possibly be true. But these men who had learned this, both by his deeds and words, did not shudder. Instead, they are putting him to death for the very reasons for which they ought to have worshiped him.

The malicious design of the Jews had a result they little expected. They wanted to build up an indictment against Christ by saying that he had ventured to sin against the person of God himself. But the weighty character of the accusation itself increased Pilate’s caution, and he was more alarmed and more careful concerning Christ than before. He became more particular in his questions: what Jesus was and where he came from. I think he believed that, though Jesus was a man, he might also be the Son of God. This idea and belief of his was not derived from holy Scripture but the mistaken notions of the Greeks. Greek fables call many men demi-gods and sons of gods. The Romans, too, who in such matters were still more superstitious, gave the name of god to the more distinguished of their own monarchs, and set up altars to them, and allotted them shrines and put them on pedestals. Therefore Pilate was more earnest and anxious than before in his inquiry of who Christ was and where he came from.

It is found, in comparing the narratives of all the Evangelists, that this silence on the part of our Lord Jesus Christ took place more than once, both before the chief priests and before Herod, to whom, as Luke intimates, Pilate had sent him for a hearing, and before Pilate himself.^[1] So it was not in vain that the prophecy regarding him had preceded, As the lamb before its shearer was dumb, so he opened not his mouth,^[2] especially on those occasions when he did not answer his questioners. For although he frequently replied to questions addressed to him, yet because of those questions where he made no reply, the metaphor of the lamb is supplied in order that in his silence he might be accounted not as guilty but innocent. When, therefore, he was passing through the process of judgment, wherever he opened not his mouth it was in the character of a lamb that he did so. In other words, he did so not as one with an evil conscience who was convicted of his sins but as one who in his meekness was sacrificed for the sins of others.

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,^[1] since there is no weakness in the words that the Word speaks.

The Thunderer stood voiceless—the Word, without a word;

Therefore, He who had caught the wise,^[1] conquered by His silence.

But they answered: He is liable for those things which we question, hence his silence. . . .

Death is a debt I owed, said my Savior KONTAKION ^[1]

Pilate thought this silence of Jesus was the silence of a madman. Therefore, he stretches over him, as it were, the wand of his official power and thought that he could, through fear, induce Jesus to return a fruitless answer against his will. For he says that nothing could hinder his inclining whichever way he chose, either to punish him or to take compassion on him. He [implies] that there was nothing that could make him give a verdict against his will since it was with him alone that the fate of the accused rested. He rebukes Jesus, therefore, as though he felt himself insulted by untimely silence.

There is no authority but God’s.^[1] Jesus also taught that someone is a greater sinner who maliciously delivers up the innocent to be killed by such an authority than the authority itself, if that authority kills him through fear of another authority that is greater still. This was the kind of authority that God had given to Pilate, since Pilate was under the authority of Caesar.

As with Job . . . it is not by accidental attacks that we are assailed, whenever we are visited with any such loss of property. It is not by chance when one of us is taken prisoner or when those who are dear to us are crushed to death in their houses^[1] that fall in ruins. For in each one of these circumstances every believer ought to say, You could have no power at all against me, except it were given you from above. For observe that the house of Job did not fall on his children until the devil had first received power against them. Nor would the horsemen have made a raid in three bands to carry away his camels and oxen and cattle unless they had been instigated by that spirit to whom they had delivered themselves up as servants of his will.

But still, when the ability is given, surely no necessity is imposed. Therefore, although David had received ability to kill Saul, he preferred sparing to striking him.^[1] From this, we understand that bad people receive ability for the condemnation of their depraved will, while good people receive ability for the trying of their good will.

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. It is, then, plainly the consent and approval of the Father that is here said to have been given, and the pleasure of the Son is also clearly signified. For no doubt the force of numbers could never have overcome the power of the Savior.

Jesus told Pilate, You would have no power against me, that is, even the little measure you really have, except this very measure, whatever its amount, were given to you from above. But knowing as I do its amount, for it is not so great as to render you altogether independent, therefore he that delivered me unto you has the greater sin. He, indeed, delivered me to your power at the bidding of envy, while you exercise your power on me through the impulse of fear. And yet not even through the impulse of fear should one person kill another, especially the innocent. Nevertheless to do so by an officious enthusiasm is a much greater evil than under the constraint of fear. And therefore the truth-speaking teacher does not say, Only the one who delivered me to you has sin, as if the other had none. Rather, he says that he has the greater sin, letting him understand that Pilate himself was not exempt from blame. The sin of the latter is not reduced to nothing because the other sin is greater.

This [charge] may very well agree with what Luke records in connection with the said accusation brought by the Jews. For after the words we found this fellow perverting our nation, he has added the clause, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ a king.^[1] This will also offer a solution for the difficulty previously referred to, namely, the occasion that might seem to be given for supposing John to have indicated that no specific charge was laid by the Jews against the Lord, when they answered and said to him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto you.

Pilate ought therefore to have accurately inquired whether Jesus had aimed at sovereignty and set his hand to expel Caesar from the kingdom. But he makes no such exact inquiry, and therefore Christ answered him nothing, because he knew that he asked all the questions idly. Besides, since his works bore witness to him, he would not prevail by word or compose any defense, showing that he came voluntarily to this condition. . . . Pilate, thinking that he might now incur some danger if he were to overlook these words, comes forth as though to inquire into the matter (for the sitting down showed this), but without making any inquiry, he gave Jesus up to them, thinking to shame them.

Crucify!, the murderer heard the impious cry out,

For having heard that he would be the enemy of Caesar, the coward was frightened;

He will certainly not be blameless, since in answer to the lawless, he killed the Living One. KONTAKION

It was the day of preparation, that is, the sixth holy day of the week,^[1] and it was about the sixth hour. For those who think that the words of the Evangelists are in contradiction, as some say at the third hour, others at about the sixth, it is necessary that we say something in this regard. Matthew and Luke, like John, said that there was darkness at about the sixth hour.^[2] Indeed, Pilate went out immediately and sat at the tribunal and handed Jesus over to be crucified. And after he was fixed to the cross, the darkness began to spread, as the Evangelists said. There are any number of reasons why it is not surprising that Mark said that it was the third hour.^[3] He said this, first of all, because he was not present. Second, he was not a disciple of our Lord but learned these facts from Peter or some other apostle. And finally, everyone has different opinions about times and hours,^[4] and the doubt about the hours does not affect in any way the reported facts. In addition, we especially must notice that Mark did not say that it was the third hour about any specific and well-known fact. But by relating in a simple and general way the things that happened, he rightly said that they took place at the third hour and so designated the entire interval of time in which these facts happened. Then he added, They crucified him.^[5] Therefore the sentence, It was nine in the morning refers to the account of all those events, which happened in the meantime. They crucified him is added concerning the previous events.

What else, then, is the meaning of the Evangelist Mark saying, And it was the third hour, and they crucified him,^[1] but this, that the Lord was crucified at the third hour by the tongues of the Jew, at the sixth hour by the hands of the soldiers?^[2]

On the day of the preparation, then, at the third hour,^[1] Jesus received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen. At the sixth hour he was crucified. At the ninth hour he gave up the ghost. And before sunset he was buried.

Mark says Christ was crucified at the third hour. John says that it was at the sixth hour that Pilate took his seat on the tribunal and tried Jesus. This discrepancy is a clerical error or an earlier copyist. Gamma () signifying the third hour is very close to the episemon ()^[1] denoting the sixth. As Matthew, Mark and Luke agree that the darkness occurred from the sixth hour to the ninth, it is clear that Jesus, Lord and God, was crucified before the sixth hour, i.e. about the third hour, as Mark has recorded. John similarly signified that it was the third hour, but the copyists turned the gamma () to the episemon ().

After his public ministry, Jesus did not eat of the lamb, but he himself suffered as the true Lamb in the Paschal feast, as John, the divine and Evangelist teaches us in the Gospel written by him. . . . And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the third hour,^[1] as the correct books render it and the copy itself that was written by the hand of the Evangelist, which by divine grace has been preserved in the most holy church of Ephesus and is there adored by the faithful. . . . On that day, therefore, on which the Jews were about to eat the Passover in the evening, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was crucified. He was made the victim to those who were about to partake by faith of the mystery concerning him. This is what is written by the blessed Paul, For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.^[2] It is not the case, as some who, carried along by ignorance, confidently affirm that after he had eaten the Passover, he was betrayed. We neither learn this from the holy Evangelists, nor has any of the blessed apostles handed it down to us. At the time, therefore, in which our Lord and God Jesus Christ suffered for us, according to the flesh, he did not eat of the legal Passover. Rather, as I have said, he himself, as the true Lamb, was sacrificed for us in the feast of the typical Passover on the day of the preparation, the fourteenth of the first lunar month. The typical Passover, therefore, then ceased, the true Passover being present: For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, as was said earlier. And he was that chosen vessel, as the apostle Paul teaches.

The inspired Evangelist is induced to signify, for our benefit, the day and hour because of the resurrection itself and his three days’ sojourn among the departed, that the truth of our Lord’s saying to the Jews might appear: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so also shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.^{[1] [2]} THE JEWS GIVE AWAY THEIR BLESSING TO THE CHRISTIANS.^[1] IRENAEUS: [Jacob] received the rights of the firstborn when his brother looked on them with contempt. In the same way, the younger nation [i.e., the Christians] received Christ, the first-begotten, when the elder nation [i.e., the Jews] rejected him, saying, We have no king but Caesar. But in Christ every blessing [is summed up], and therefore the latter people has snatched away the blessings of the former from the Father, just as Jacob took away the blessing of this Esau. This is why his brother suffered the plots and persecutions of a brother, just as the church suffers this self-same thing from the Jews. ^[2]

Of their own will they subjected themselves to punishment. Therefore God also gave them up, because they were the first to cast themselves out from his providence and governance. And since with one voice they rejected his rule, he allowed them to fall by their own expressed wish.

We cannot acquit Pilate of his complicity in the iniquity of those who committed this impious crime against Christ. Pilate shared their responsibility inasmuch as when he might have delivered and rescued him from the madness of his murderers, he did not merely refrain from releasing him but even gave him up to them to be crucified.

It was not said then he delivered him to them so that they might crucify him but so that he might be crucified, that is, that Jesus might be crucified by the judicial sentence and power of the governor. But the Evangelist has said that Jesus was delivered to them so that he might show that they [i.e., the Jewish leaders] were implicated in the crime from which they tried to hold themselves aloof. For Pilate would have done no such thing except to implement what he perceived was their determined desire.

When Christ was condemned, they laid his cross on him. However, on the way out to Golgotha, they met Simon of Cyrene and transferred it on to him.^[1] In this way there is no disagreement among the Evangelists.

But it was fitting not only that the Savior should take his own cross but that we also should bear it, fulfilling our being pressed into service in the cause of salvation. But yet again, we do not profit from taking his cross as much as we do when Jesus himself takes his cross and bears it.

For indeed, O just man, you are clearly my figure in relief.^[1]

Do you wish to know what is to come after you as a result of your deeds?

Just as you did not spare your son because of me,

In the same way that your Isaac has carried the wood on his shoulders,

Your great love has revealed to you the future.

See now the battering ram attached to the wood;

It is by the horns that it holds in the bonds; KONTAKION ^[1]

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. And he laughed mystically,^[1] prophesying that the Lord should fill us with joy, who have been redeemed from corruption by the blood of the Lord. Isaac did everything but suffer, as was right, yielding the precedence of suffering to the Word. Furthermore, there is an intimation of the divinity of the Lord with his not being slain. For Jesus rose again after his burial, having suffered no harm, like Isaac released from sacrifice.

And now, [the Jews] laid the cross on him as a malefactor. For they even abhorred the wood and would not even touch it. This was also the case in the type. For Isaac bore the wood, but then the matter stopped because his father wanted it to, for it was the type. Here there was no stopping it because it was the reality [and not the type].

Isaac the son of Abraham personally carried the wood for his own sacrifice when God had enjoined that he should be made a victim to God himself. But these had been mysteries that were being kept for perfect fulfillment in the times of Christ. Therefore Isaac, with his wood, was preserved when the ram that was caught by the horns in the bramble was offered in his place.^[1] Christ, however, carried his wood on his own shoulders, adhering to the horns of the cross with a thorny crown encircling his head. For he chose to be made a sacrifice on behalf of all.

They led away the author of life to die—to die for our sake. In a way beyond our understanding, the power of God brought from Christ’s passion an end far different from that intended by his enemies. His sufferings served as a snare for death and rendered it powerless. The Lord’s death proved to be our restoration to immortality and newness of life. Condemned to death though innocent, he went forward bearing on his shoulders the cross on which he was to suffer. He did this for our sake, taking on himself the punishment that the law justly imposed on sinners. He was cursed for our sake according to the saying of Scripture: A curse is on everyone who is hanged on a tree.^[1] . . . We who have all committed many sins were under that ancient curse for our refusal to obey the law of God. To set us free he who was without sin took that curse on himself. Since he is God who is above all, his sufferings sufficed for all, his death in the flesh was the redemption of all. And so, Christ carried the cross, a cross that was rightfully not his but ours, who were under the condemnation of the law. . . . Indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ has warned us that anyone who does not take up his cross and follow him is not worthy of him.^[2] And I think taking up the cross means simply renouncing the world for God’s sake and, if this is required of us, putting the hope of future blessings before the life we now live in the body. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not ashamed to carry the cross we deserved, and he did so because he loved us.

When our Lord was handed over to the will of his cruel foes, they ordered him, in mockery of his royal dignity, to carry the instrument of his own torture. This was done to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: A child is born for us, a son is given to us; sovereignty is laid on his shoulders.^[1] To the wicked, the sight of the Lord carrying his own cross was indeed an object of derision. But to the faithful a great mystery was revealed, for the cross was destined to become the scepter of his power. Here was the majestic spectacle of a glorious conqueror mightily overthrowing the hostile forces of the devil and nobly bearing the trophy of his victory. On the shoulders of his invincible patience he carried the sign of salvation for all the kingdoms of the earth to worship, as if on that day he would strengthen all his future disciples by the symbol of his work and say to them, Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.^[2]

The place of the skull is said to have some special appropriateness for the death of him who was to die for humankind. A Hebraic tradition has come down to us that says that the body of Adam the first man was buried just where Christ was crucified. And so, as in Adam all die, so in Christ all should be made alive. In the place that is called the place of the skull or head, the head of the human race should find resurrection along with the whole people through the resurrection of the Lord and Savior who suffered there and rose again. For it was unfitting that when many born from him received remission of sins and attained the blessing of resurrection, the very father of all people should not also attain this grace.

[The tradition that Adam died at Calvary is] an apt connection and smooth to the ear but not true. For the place where they cut off the heads of people condemned to death, called in consequence Calvary, was outside the city gates, whereas we read in the book of Jesus [i.e., Joshua] the son of Nave [Nun], that Adam was buried by Hebron and Arbah.^[1]

Well, then, to bring forward something still more out of place, we must go back to yet remoter times. Tradition has it that in this city, in fact, on this very spot, Adam lived and died. The place where our Lord was crucified is called Calvary,^[1] because the skull of the first man was buried there. So it came to pass that the second Adam, that is, the blood^[2] of Christ, as it dropped from the cross, washed away the sins of the buried one who was first formed,^[3] the first Adam, and thus the words of the apostle were fulfilled: Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.^[4]

Now Golgotha is interpreted the place of a skull. Who were they, then, who prophetically named this spot Golgotha in which Christ the true head endured the cross? The apostle calls him the image of the invisible God, and a little after, the head of the body, the church.^[1] And again, The head of every man is Christ.^[2] And again, [He] is the head over all principalities and powers.^[3] The head suffered in the place of the skull. O wondrous prophetic appellation! The very name also reminds you, saying, Do not think of the Crucified as a mere man. He is the head of all principalities and powers. That head that was crucified is the head of all power and has for his head the Father, for the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God.^[4]

Who cares 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 you may learn how great its power is, since the prophet of old had foretold, He was numbered with the transgressors.^[1] The devil therefore wished to cast a veil over what was done but was unable. For the three were crucified, but Jesus alone was glorious, that you may learn that his power affected all. Yet the miracles took place when the three had been nailed to the cross. But no one attributed anything of what was done to either of those others but to Jesus only. This is how the plot of the devil was rendered so entirely impotent and how everything rained back on his own head. For even of these two, one was saved. He therefore did not insult the glory of the cross but contributed to it not a little. For it was not a lesser matter than shaking the rocks to change a thief on the cross and to bring him into paradise.

The two criminals who hung by Christ’s side symbolize the two nations who were about to be brought into close contact with him, namely, the children of Israel and the Gentiles. And why do we take condemned criminals as the type? Because the Jews were condemned by the Law, for they were guilty of transgressing it. And the Greeks were condemned by their idolatry, for they worshiped the creature more than the Creator. . . . Therefore, the crucifixion of the two robbers, side by side with Christ, signifies . . . the juxtaposition of the two nations, dying together, as it were, with the Savior Christ by bidding farewell to worldly pleasures, refusing any longer to live after the flesh and preferring to live with their Lord, as far as possible, by fashioning their lives according to him and consecrating them to his service. And the meaning of the figure is in no way affected by the fact that the men who hung by his side were criminals. For we were by nature children of wrath^[1] before we believed in Christ and were all doomed to death.

Even the cross, if you consider it well, was a judgment seat. For the Judge was set up in the middle with the thief who believed and was pardoned on one side and the thief who mocked and was damned on the other. Already then he signified what he would do with the living and the dead: some he will place on his right hand, others on his left.

Whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed king, and every letter bears witness of his reign, whether of Greeks, or Romans, or Hebrews. And for a crown above his head was written, This is Jesus the King of the Jews. And since no other cause is found for his death (for there was none), this alone is put forward, He was king of the Jews.^[1]. . . And the high priest according to the letter of the law used to carry on his head the form of the sign and the sanctification of the Lord written on the plate. But the true high priest and king, Jesus, on the cross has it written, This is the King of the Jews. But ascending to the Father and receiving the Father into himself, he has for letters and for a name what he [God] is named and has him [the Father] as a crown.

The title placed over his cross, on which was written The King of the Jews, showed that they could not keep him from being their king even by his death.

Pilate wrote a title that both requited the Jews and made a defense for Christ. They had given him up as worthless and attempted to confirm his sentence by making him share the punishment of the robbers. He does this in order that, in the future, it might be in no one’s power to bring evil charges against Jesus or accuse him of being a worthless and wicked person. He closes their mouths and the mouths of all who might desire to accuse him and shows that they had risen up against their own king. Pilate, however, places those letters almost as if he were placing them on a trophy—letters that proclaim in a clear voice Jesus’ victory and kingdom.

He wrote this title not in a single tongue but in three languages. It was likely that there would be a mixed crowd among the Jews because of the feast. And so, in order that no one might be ignorant of the defense, he publicly recorded^[1] the charges . . . in all the languages.

These three languages were conspicuous in that place beyond all others: the Hebrew because of the Jews who gloried in the law of God; the Greek, because of the wise people among the Gentiles; and the Latin, because of the Romans who at that very time were exercising sovereign power over many, in fact, over almost all countries.

It was providential and the fruit of God’s inexpressible purpose that the title was written in three languages: one in Hebrew, another in Latin and another in Greek. For it lay in plain view, proclaiming the kingdom of our Savior Christ in the most widely known of all languages . . . fulfilling the prophecy that had been spoken concerning him. For the wise Daniel said that there was given him glory and a kingdom and that all nations and languages shall serve him.^[1] Similarly the holy Paul teaches us, crying out that every knee shall bow; of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth. And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.^[2] Therefore the title proclaiming Jesus king was, as it were, the true firstfruits of the confession of tongues.^[3]

The leaders of the Jews urged Pilate not to write without qualification that he is the king of the Jews, but that he himself said he was the king of the Jews, to which he replied, What I have written, I have written. This had Pilate representing the wild olive to be grafted on, while the leaders of the Jews represented the broken-off branches. He was, you see, a man of the nations, writing for the nations their confession of faith, convicting the Jews of their denial of it, so that the Lord himself rightly said to them, The kingdom shall be taken away from you and given to a nation that does justice.^[1] . . . Pilate, certainly, wrote king of the Jews, not king of the Greeks or the Latins, although Jesus was going to reign over the nations. And what he has written, he has written, and he did not change it at the urging of unbelievers, as had been foretold such a long time before in the psalm, Do not corrupt the inscription of the title.^[2] All the nations believe in the king of the Jews. He reigns over all the nations but reigns nonetheless as the king of the Jews. Such was the worth and potency of that root that it could change the engrafted wild olive into itself, while the wild olive could not eliminate the name of the olive.

What Pilate has written, he has written. But the high priests, who wanted it to be corrupted, what did they say? Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews.’ But that he said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’ What is it you are saying, madmen? Why do you oppose the doing of what you are utterly unable to alter? Will it become any less true that Jesus said, I am King of the Jews? If that cannot be tampered with which Pilate has written, can that be tampered with which the truth has uttered?

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. Thus already there was a prefiguring of what the Lord himself spoke about later, Many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will go into outer darkness.^[1] The magi, you see, had come from the east, Pilate from the west. So they bore witness to the king of the Jews rising, that is, to his being born. Pilate bore witness to the king of the Jews setting, that is, to his dying. In this way, they could take their seats in the kingdom of heaven with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, from whom the Jews derived their descent. They were not descended from them, of course, in the flesh but grafted into them by faith. Thus the wild olive the apostle talks about, that was to be grafted into the olive, was already being prefigured.