O religious leaders [of the Jews], this morning was far from your time of ascendency, as it might have seemed to you. Your sun was in fact beginning to set. The dawn you expected did not come. A night of blackest darkness was brooding over your spiteful hearts. Out of this morning would come the overthrow of the temple and its altars, the surpassing of the law and the prophets, the undoing of the kingship and priesthood, turning youth to continual lament.^[1] For you set out that morning on a mad and bloody course. You offered up to die the Author of life, the Lord of glory. Pilate—that terror-stricken judge—was overcome by your shouts, so that he chose a man for pardon who was a murderer and demanded the crucifixion of the Savior of the world.

Anyone who demands from me a scriptural text concerning the breaking of those fetters with which the chief priests and elders bound Jesus should understand that it was on account of this very event that Jesus said through the prophet, Let us break their bonds.^[1] It was just as though Jesus had said this of the chief priests and elders, or even more so of those rulers who operated through them and of the kings of the world who set themselves, and of those rulers who take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, who also said, let us cast their cords from us.^[2]

Our inquirer will be satisfied still more with scriptural demonstration that Jesus broke the chains of those who took counsel against him and led him away, bound, if he understands the meaning of what was written concerning Samson, who also broke the fetters of those foreigners who bound him, for he was a Nazirite of God and had power in his uncut head of hair.^[3] If therefore he whose power came from the hair on his head was able to break the chains of the oppressors who bound him, how much more will Christ decisively break those chains binding him, who, after performing great signs and miracles, freely delivered himself to be bound (the power of his divine nature lay dormant and still, allowing him to be captured). Samson’s bonds were but a type of Christ’s.

The Lord was led not only to Pilate but also to Herod so that he could be mocked by both. Notice the solicitude with which the priests carried out their evil doing; they remained vigilant throughout the night in preparation for committing murder. And they delivered him bound to Pilate. It was their customary practice to bind a man who had been condemned to death and to hand him over to his judge.

This was a charge both against him and against these others. Against Judas, not because he repented but because he did so late and slowly and became self-condemned. For that he gave himself up, he himself confessed. And it was a charge against the others, in that having the power to reverse the verdict, they did not repent. But observe when it is that Judas feels remorse. When his sin was completed and had been fully accomplished. The devil is like this. He does not permit those that are inattentive to see the evil in due time, lest they might repent. At least when Jesus was saying so many things, Judas was not influenced. But when his offense was completed, then repentance came upon him. And then it was too late to be profitable. For to condemn it and to throw down the pieces of silver and not to regard the Jewish people were all acceptable things. But to hang himself, this again was unpardonable and a work of an evil spirit. For the devil led him out of his repentance too soon, so that he should reap no fruit from it, and carried him off by a most disgraceful death, and one manifest to all, having persuaded him to destroy himself.

The weight of Judas’s impiety overshadowed the magnitude of his avarice. Seeing the Lord condemned to death, he brought the money to the priests as if it were in his power to change the sentence of Christ’s persecutors. Although he would change his mind eventually, he could not change the consequence of his first decision. Yet if he sins who betrays innocent blood, how much more do they sin who purchase innocent blood and provoke a disciple by offering a reward for his apostasy. Those who deny the apostle’s free will and attempt instead to explain Judas’s betrayal by attributing to him an evil nature will need also to explain how a person of evil nature can repent.^[1]

Let us see whether or not, by the grace of God, we can explain the meaning of the following verse, which still remains hidden to many: When Judas his betrayer saw him condemned, he repented and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and so on.^[1]

If this were written after Jesus had been sentenced by Pilate, scourged and delivered to the Jews for crucifixion,^[2] we would not need to inquire any further into the meaning of the report that Judas . . . saw him condemned because we know that Judas was a party to those events.

But how is it that Judas saw Jesus condemned before Jesus had either been sentenced or interrogated by Pilate? Some perhaps will answer that Judas was anticipating in his mind the final result of Jesus having been handed over by the chief priests and elders of the people, which he did witness. Others, however, will say that one whom Judas saw condemned was not Jesus but Judas himself. According to this account, when the chief priests and elders of the people handed Jesus over to Pilate, Judas then realized the evil he had done and understood that such an audacious act was already under the judgment and condemnation of God. Perhaps also Satan, who had entered Judas after the dipping of the morsel of bread, remained present in him until Jesus was delivered to Pilate but departed from him^[3] after he finished accomplishing Satan’s will. Judas then sensed the devil’s departure and at once saw and understood that betraying righteous blood is condemned by God, which he was able to understand only after the devil had ceased working in him. Only then, free from Satan’s influence, was Judas capable of penitence by returning the thirty pieces of silver to those who had paid him. When the devil had left him, he could then say what he had not been able to say earlier, for when his heart was still full of Satan he was unable to confess, I have sinned in betraying righteous blood. We are not saying, however, that the devil ceases to prey upon anyone whom he may have left. Rather, he waits and watches for an opportune moment to apply himself again. Even after his victim has sinned and come to recognize the devil’s influence, he still waits and watches for yet a third opportunity to deceive.

It profits nothing to do an act of penance which is incapable of correcting the sin. If a man sins against his brother in such a way that the wrong he committed can be amended, it is possible for him to be forgiven. If the consequences of his sin remain in force, however, in vain does he attempt to do penance. The psalmist applies this truth to our most miserable Judas when he says, Let his prayer be counted as sin.^[1] Not only was Judas unable to repair the damage of his sinful betrayal, but he even continued to compound the evil of that initial crime by committing suicide. Of such things the apostle speaks in his second epistle to the Corinthians: Let not a brother be overwhelmed by greater sorrow.^[2]

If they had put the blood money into the treasury, their deed might have remained relatively more hidden. But the religious leaders make clear their guilt to all subsequent generations by buying the piece of land for burial. They thereby unconsciously declare their guilt.

So do not imagine that someone might do a good work through murder and use the reward for some supposed good purpose. Such alms are satanic. Such reasoning is twisted. Do not be naive about this. There are still many who imagine that they are permitted to violently take countless things that belong to others. Then they make an excuse for their violence if they give some ten or a hundred gold pieces to charity. Of these the prophet has said, You have covered my altar with tears.^[1] Christ is not willing to be fed by covetousness. He does not accept these gifts. Why do you insult your Lord by offering these unclean things? It is better to leave people to pine with hunger than to feed them from these polluted sources.

Once again they are self-condemned by their own conscience. Don’t you see this? They knew that they had been paying straightaway for a murder. They even bought a field for the burial of strangers. They did not even put the silver into a treasury. So this directness itself became a witness against them and a proof of their treason.

Because the quality of resting places for the dead varies (for many are buried in their ancestral tombs which were secured by a pledge, but those who suffer misfortune are often buried in the graves of the homeless), those who received payment in exchange for the blood of Jesus used it to acquire a potter’s field for the purpose of having a place in which to bury those foreigners who could not supply a pledge to secure a proper tomb. If it is suitable to interpret these foreigners typologically, we can consider those persons to be foreigners who remained strangers to God until the end and alien to his covenants. Vagabonds such as these meet their end buried in a potter’s field acquired with blood money. The righteous are able to say, We are buried with Christ in a new tomb cut from the rock in which no dead body had yet been laid, but those foreigners who remain finally estranged from Christ and alien to God will have to say, We are buried with strangers in the field which is called the ‘Field of Blood.’

They did not make these decisions randomly but took counsel together. This indicates that no one is innocent of the deed. All are guilty. So it is in cases of conspiracy.

Even the very name of the place proclaims more sharply than a trumpet their guilt of murder.

All these things had been foretold from ancient times by prophecy. It was not the apostles alone but the prophets who were also declaring these events precisely as they occurred. Don’t you see how they foresaw in every way the suffering of Christ? How they knew of its chastisement beforehand?

This prophecy does not come from Jeremiah but from a similar passage in Zechariah,^[1] who is almost the last of the twelve prophets. Although the meaning does not differ much, Zechariah’s word order and vocabulary do conflict with Matthew’s quotation.^[2] In a copy of the Hebrew Scriptures given to me by a member of the Nazarene sect, I recently read an apocryphal edition of the book of Jeremiah in which this quotation from Matthew appeared word for word. Nevertheless it still seems more likely to me that Matthew took this prophecy from Zechariah, since it was the ordinary practice of the Evangelists and apostles to communicate only the meaning of texts from the Old Testament while neglecting to observe their word order.

This field then is this entire world, in which we who have been dispersed and scattered bear the fruit of good work for the Lord.

Yet perhaps you would inquire of me, if the field is the world, who the potter might be who could have the ownership of the world. Unless I am mistaken, the potter is the one who made the vessels of our body from clay. Scripture says of him, Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust from the earth.^[1] The potter is the one who, with the warmth of his own breath, made alive the slimy clay of our flesh and with fiery heat put together the fluid and earthly matter of our bodies.

The potter, I say, is the one who fashioned us unto life with his own hands and who is refashioning us unto glory through his Christ. The apostle says, We are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.^[2] That is to say, we who from our previous condition have broken to pieces because of our own misdeeds are restored in a second birth through the loving kindness of this same potter. We who have been struck by death because of Adam’s transgression rise anew through the grace of the Savior. Clearly this potter is the one of whom the blessed apostle says, Will what is molded say to its molder? And again, Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use?^[3] For from the same clay of our body God preserves some persons for the kingdom on account of their individual merits and keeps others for punishment.

The field of this potter, then, was bought with Christ’s blood for travelers. For travelers, I say, who were without home or country and were cast about as exiles throughout the earth, rest is provided by the blood of Christ, so that those who have no possession in the world might have a burial place in Christ. Who do we say that these travelers are if not very devout Christians who, renouncing the world and possessing nothing in the world, rest in the blood of Christ? For the Christian who does not possess the world utterly possesses the Savior. Christ’s burial place then is promised to travelers so that the one who preserves himself from fleshly vices like a traveler and stranger may merit Christ’s rest. For what is Christ’s burial place if not the Christian’s rest? We therefore are travelers, in this world, and we sojourn in this life as passersby, as the apostle says: While we are in this body we are away from the Lord.^[4] We are travelers, I say, and a burial place has been bought for us at the price of the Savior’s blood. We have been buried with him, the apostle says, through baptism in his death.^[5] Baptism therefore is Christ’s burial place for us, in which we die to sins, are buried to evil deeds and are restored to a renewed infancy, the conscience of the old person having been dissolved in us for the sake of another birth.

They led Jesus to Pilate. And they handed him over to the Roman soldiers. Thus the things announced beforehand by the holy prophets were fulfilled to them. For it says, Woe to the lawless man. Evil will be his lot according to his works.^[1] Just as you have done, so shall it be done to you. Your retribution will be paid back upon your own head.^[2]

Truly Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped^[1] and not once but often humbled himself on behalf of humanity. See now, having been made judge of every creature^[2] by the Father, the King of kings and Lord of lords, to what extent he humbled himself. He compliantly stood before the governor of the land of Judea, who asked him perhaps deridingly or doubtingly, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus thought this question was proper, and he replied, It is as you say. Before that, having been adjured by the chief priest to say whether he was the Christ, the Son of God, he answered, You have said it yourself.^[3] Notice the two questions. The first one, If you are the Christ the Son of God, was germane to Christ as a Jew. The Roman governor did not state his question by saying, Are you the Christ? but rather, Are you the king of the Jews?

Do you see what he is asked first? Is this the same charge that they had been continually bringing forward in every circumstance? They could see that Pilate was not ready to take into account subtle matters of Jewish law. So they directed their accusation outwardly to state charges of political disloyalty. They did the same later with the apostles, always charging them with political motivations, always bringing forward some trumped-up idea that they were after worldly power.^[1] They were treating Jesus now as if he were a mere man and as if he were under suspicion of treason. . . . What they were really interested in was finding some charge that would put him to death.

What does Christ answer to Pilate’s question? You have said so. He confessed that he was [indeed] a king, but a heavenly king. This would be made clearer elsewhere when he replied more specifically to Pilate, My kingship is not of this world.^[1] He gives a reason that cannot be doubted: If my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over.^[2] There was, of course, no excuse for even making such accusations, either from the governor or priests. For in order to refute this suspicion he paid a tax and taught others to pay it.^[3] And when others wanted to make him a king, he fled.^[4]

To Pilate’s question as to whether he was king of the Jews, he answered, It is as you say. How different was the statement he had made to the priest! When the latter asked him whether he was the Christ, he said, You have said it yourself.^[1] This answer is given to the priest as though pertaining to the past, for in many places the law had foretold the coming of the Christ.

So why then did he not defend himself reasonably by recalling these acts when he was under accusation of being a usurper of power? Because his acts themselves proved his meekness and gentleness and spiritual power. They were beyond number. The judicial process was corrupt, and his accusers were willfully blind and dealt unfairly. So he chose to reply to nothing. He held his peace. He answered briefly to the authorities so as not to appear arrogant from continuing silence. But he did not say anything in reply to these false accusations. He knew he was not likely to persuade them.

It might seem remarkable to you, brothers, that the Lord should be accused by the chief priests before the procurator Pilate and should be silent and that he should not refute their wickedness by his response, since indeed a defense which follows quickly is the only way to refute a persistent accusation. It might seem remarkable, I say, brothers, that the Savior should be accused and should remain silent. Silence is occasionally understood as avowal, for when a person does not wish to respond to what is asked of him he appears to confirm what is raised against him. Does the Lord then confirm his accusation by not speaking? Clearly he does not confirm his accusation by not speaking; rather he despises it by not refuting it. For one who needs no defense does well to keep silent, but let one who fears to be overcome defend himself and one who is afraid of being vanquished hasten to speak. When Christ is condemned, however, he also overcomes, and when he is judged he also vanquishes, as the prophet says: that you should be justified in your words and should vanquish when you are judged.^[1] Why was it necessary for him therefore to speak before being judged, when for him judgment was a complete victory?

The ministers and elders of western Jewish literature, who are the sons of those chief priests and elders who accused Jesus, still today adopt and repeat these same allegations against him. On this account, since the sins of their forebears go before them and remain in them, their works suffer [God’s] wrath forever,^[1] and they are forsaken along with their entire people like a tent in the vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field and like a city besieged.^[2] Just as Jesus gave no answer^[3] then, neither does he give an answer now to the accusations of the Jewish priests and elders. The Word of God remains silent toward them. Still today they turn a deaf ear to the Word of God, as they previously did to the prophets and to him at the consummation of the ages when he was made flesh and dwelt among us.^[4]

You should not be surprised that shortly after Roman rule had begun [in Palestine], the Jews who came under their yoke were granted the priviledge of asking for [the release of] one [prisoner] whom they wanted, even though he appeared to be guilty of a thousand murders; the pagan nations granted a certain amount of leniency to their subjects until the yoke had been firmly secured around them.

I believe that these events reveal something of a mystery. Barabbas represents the one who enacts dissension, war and murder in human souls, but Jesus is the Son of God who works peace, reason, wisdom and everything good. When the two of them were bound humanly and bodily, the people requested that Barabbas be released. Because of this act, they suffer continual dissention, murder and robbery. Such things afflict the pagans from without but the Jews, who do not believe in Jesus, from within their very souls. Where Jesus is absent, there is dissention and strife and war. Where Jesus is present, however, in such a way that the people can say if Christ is in us, although the body is dead on account of sin, the spirit is alive on account of righteousness,^[1] there is everything good: spiritual riches beyond measure and peace, for he is our peace who has made us both one.^[2] Anything contrary to this should be recognized as the mark of Barabbas struggling to be set free from his bondage within human souls, that is, not only in the historically sinful Israel, considered according to the flesh, but in all who teach like it and live like it. Within everyone who does evil, then, Barabbas is set free and Christ is bound. Within everyone who does good, however, Christ is set free and Barabbas is bound.

Note how far Pilate goes to give the crowd a chance to relieve themselves from blame. Observe how they did not leave themselves so much as a shadow of an excuse. Here was their choice: Let an acknowledged criminal go free, or free one whose guilt was still disputed. If they should choose to let the known offender go free, would it not be even more fitting to allow the innocent to go free? For surely Jesus did not seem to them morally worse than acknowledged murderers. But they instead chose a robber. This was not just any robber but one who was infamous for wickedness in many murders.

This dream was no small event. It should have been enough to stop them in their tracks when viewed in relation to the other proofs seen in other things that occurred. Why didn’t the dream come to Pilate? Perhaps she was more worthy. Or perhaps because, even if he had seen it, he would not have equally believed or perhaps would not have even mentioned it. So it was providentially arranged that the wife should see it, in order that it might become more commonly known. And note that she does not only behold the dream but also suffers from it. One might imagine that Pilate might have been made more reluctant to participate in this murder, even from a feeling of sympathy toward his wife. The time of the dream also is significant, for it happened on that very night.

Jesus was delivered up out of jealousy, and plainly out of jealousy. Even Pilate could not ignore it. Furthermore, the Evangelist did not overlook the matter of divine providence regarding the praise of God, who desired to convert Pilate’s wife in a dream. The woman took it upon herself to prevent her husband from passing sentence against Jesus. But Matthew did not explain the dream. All he said was that she had suffered many things in a dream because of Jesus. Therefore she suffered in a dream and did not suffer beyond that, so we may say that Pilate’s wife was fortunate. She suffered many things in a dream because of Jesus and she received in a dream what she would suffer. Hence you may say it is better for someone to receive bad things in a dream than to receive them in life. Who indeed would not choose to receive bad things in a dream [rather than receive them] in life [unless one deserved such things, and it were better to receive bitter things in life than to receive minor troubles in a dream]? He finds comfort indeed and peaceful repose in the bosom of Abraham^[1] who receives bad things in his life (and not those bad things which he receives in his dreams), and because of them he will also be consoled. As to whether he will also have the beginning of conversion to God for having suffered many things in a dream because of Jesus, God only knows.

It is evident how the elders and the mentors of Jewish worship have stirred up the Jewish people and incited them against Jesus, that they might destroy him and have Barabbas released. For the crowds put their belief in their leaders and priests. For his part, the procurator addressed the people and said to them, Which of the two do you wish that I release to you? The crowd—a truly sizable crowd walking, as it were, on the broad path that leads to destruction^[1]—sought and kept crying out to have Barabbas released to them.

When Pilate offered to release Jesus, following the customary practice wherein the people were granted the privilege of gaining the freedom of one prisoner per solemn feast day, they were persuaded by their priests to choose Barabbas instead. Here already the mystery of their future infidelity is contained in Barabbas’s very name, which means son of the father. They preferred this son of the father to Christ. At the instigation of their leaders, they chose the Antichrist, a man of sin and son of the devil.^[1] They chose the one elected for damnation over the author of life.

Since the crowd asked for the other, Pilate said, What shall I do then with the Christ? In this way he was trying to make them embarrassed, by giving them the power to choose, that at least out of shame they might release him and their generosity could be expressed. It made them contentious to hear it said that he had done no wrong. Yet they were being given an opportunity to save him out of humanity. Surely this is an offer whose plausibility cannot be disputed.

By what law is it, my Jewish friends, that what is unlawful to do is lawful to desire? By what standard is it that what defiles the body does not taint the heart? You fear to be contaminated by the shedding of his blood that you would take upon yourselves and your children. Since your wickedness will not commit so great a crime, allow the procurator to pass judgment. But, prevailing upon him impetuously, you do not allow him to swerve from that goal you deceitfully abstain from.

Pilate sinned by doing what he did not want to do. He acquiesced in your judgment, doing whatever your rage wrought by force. Such was your observance of the law that you eschewed placing into the treasury the money which the seller of Christ returned to you, wary lest the blood money pollute the sacred coffers. Whose heart is guilty of this pretense? The conscience of the priests accepts what the money box does not receive. Thus with untold shades of deceit you cover yourselves, and a deal is made with the traitor.

Why then did Pilate allow him to be sacrificed? Why didn’t he rescue him, like the centurion had rescued Paul?^[1] For that man too was aware that he could have pleased the Jews and that a sedition may have taken place and a riot; nevertheless he stood firm against all these. But not so Pilate. He was extremely cowardly and weak. He joined in their corruption. He did not stand firm against the bullying crowd or against the Jewish leadership. In every way he allowed them an excuse. For they cried out exceedingly, that is, cried out the more, Let him be crucified. For they desired not only to put him to death but also that it should be on a trumped-up charge of iniquity. And even though the judge was contradicting them, they continued to cry out against him.

For Christ conquers when he is judged, because in this way he is proven innocent. Hence Pilate says, I am innocent of the blood of this just man. It is a better case which is not defended and still is proved. It is a fuller righteousness that is not supplemented by words but is still supported by the truth. It must be that the tongue should keep silent when justice itself is present to itself. Let the human tongue keep silent in a good affair, inasmuch as it has also been accustomed to speak out in favor of bad causes. I do not want righteousness to be defended in the same manner that wickedness is usually excused. It is not by reason of speech but because of virtue that Christ vanquishes, for the Savior, who is wisdom, knows how to vanquish by keeping silent and how to overcome by not responding. Therefore he prefers to establish the truth of his case rather than to speak about it. What in fact would compel him to speak when silence is enough to conquer? But perhaps fear would compel him, lest he lose his life. Yet this was precisely the reason for his victory. He lost his own life in order to gain life for all; he preferred to be conquered in himself in order to be the victor in everyone.

Do you see how many things Christ did in order to give them a chance to do right? Do you remember how many times he had checked Judas? So likewise did he restrain these men too, both throughout all his ministry and at the very time of his condemnation. For surely when they saw the governor and judge washing his hands of it, saying, I am innocent of this man’s blood, they should have been moved to compassion both by what was said and by what was done. The same is true when they saw Judas had hanged himself as when they saw Pilate himself offering them the choice of another in the place of Christ.

Pilate accepted the water in line with that prophetic saying, I will wash my hands among the innocent,^[1] that he might cleanse the works of the Gentiles by the washing of his hands and in some way separate us from the wickedness of the Jews who cried out Crucify him! What he intimated was this: I truly wanted to release an innocent man, but a riot is breaking out and the charge of treason against Caesar has been brought against me. So I am innocent of the blood of this just man.

The judge who was induced to pass judgment against the Lord does not condemn the defendant but puts the blame on the plaintiffs. He declares him to be a just man who was meant to be crucified. See to it yourselves, he says. I am the administrator of the laws. It is according to your word that his blood is being shed.

Look how high the contrary evidence is piling up. The accuser and traitor condemns himself. The judge who sentences tries to absolve himself of guilt. The dream of warning comes that very night. Even at the point of his condemnation Jesus is evidently innocent. What kind of plea will his murderers have? Even if they were not willing to let him be acknowledged as innocent, at least they should not have preferred a robber to him, and especially a notorious robber, known to be such.

What then did they do? When they saw the judge washing his hands and saying, I am innocent, they cried out, His blood be on us and on our children. They were rendering a sentence against themselves. He was yielding himself up that all should be done.

Note how great is their madness. For passion and evil desire work on us like this. They did not permit anyone to see anything of what was right. They not only curse themselves, they draw down the curse upon their own children as well. They acted with unutterable madness. They acted both against themselves and against their children!

Yet this lover of humanity did not hold their own sentence against them. He did not confirm it upon their children or even upon them. Rather he received both from them and from their children those who repented. He counted them worthy of good things beyond number. Think of who might have been among them! Even Paul perhaps. Even some among the thousands that believed in Jerusalem, for it is said, You see, brothers, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed.^[1] And if some continued in their sin, to themselves let them impute their punishment.

Why did Pilate have Jesus whipped? Either as one presumably condemned, or to please the crowd, or as if he were willing to give their judgment some sort of standard legal expression. And yet he ought to have resisted them. For indeed even before this he had said, Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.^[1] There were many reasons that Pilate and the others might have held back: the signs and the miracles, the great patience of the one who was suffering these things, and above all his benign silence. For since both by his defense of himself and by his prayers, he had shown his humanity, again he now shows his glory and the greatness of his nature, both by his silence and by his indifference to what they said. This might have led them to marvel. But neither Pilate nor the crowd takes sufficient note of these evidences.

Barabbas the robber, who had provoked a riot among the crowds and committed murder, was released to the Jewish people. . . . Now Jesus, having been delivered up by the Jews, was absolved of guilt by Pilate’s wife and was called a just man by the governor himself. Moreover, the centurion declared that he was truly the Son of God.^[1] The learned reader may be hard pressed to explain the fact that Pilate washed his hands and said, I am innocent of the blood of this just man,^[2] and later handed over the scourged Jesus to be crucified. It is important to realize that Jesus was dealt with according to Roman law, which decreed that whoever is to be crucified must first be beaten with whips. Thus Jesus was handed over to the soldiers for scourging, and their whips did their work on that most sacred body and that bosom which held God. This came about so that, in keeping with the words many cords of sins^[3] and with the whipping of Jesus, we might be free from scourging. As holy Scripture says to the just man: The whip did not draw near to your tabernacle.^[4]

The floggings [are] for the sins of the world, because the sinner is flogged many times, according to the prophecy that says, I gave my back to the whips.^[1] And so is fulfilled [the saying] that the righteous [will give himself] for sinners. The height of goodness is also fulfilled when the righteous [suffered] for the unrighteous,^[2] so that by his wounds we might be healed, as Isaiah says.^[3]