The Lord reproaches the Jews, I made myself poor for you, I suffered for you, and you have raised impious hands, saying, ‘Let us rid ourselves of the righteous one, because he is useless to us.’^[1]

Though they had arrested the all-powerful Lord, they bound him nonetheless,^[1] the very one who came to free us from the snares of the devil and to loose the bonds of sin. They led him to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas,^[2] about whom it can be argued that, in a certain way, he was the designer and instigator of the crime against Christ. It is likely that it was from him that the traitor, who had been paid off with money, requested the cohort to arrest Christ.^[3] Christ was therefore first brought to him. It seemed that he wanted to render true and actually present what had been said through the words of the prophet, Let us bind the righteous one, because he is useless to us.^[4] And in fact Christ truly was useless to the Jews, not because he really was useless but because, lovers of sin and pleasure that they were, it seemed that he brought them nothing good. Rather, he brought a righteousness that exceeded the Law, clearly explaining what was pleasing to God, who loves virtue. The Law offered no such way, only indicating through shadows and darkness,^[5] indirectly and with difficulty, what might be of benefit to its hearers. Thus, as sunlight is in a certain way useless for one with a disease of the eyes, and he receives no benefit because his illness prevents it; and as healthy food seems more useless to sick people than to others, though by it they would recover the health they desire; so also the Lord seemed useless to the Jews, though he was the author of salvation. They, in fact, did not love salvation.

We see that all the powerful manifestations of God’s judgments ring out through the words of the prophets, which, it seems to me, are here called cascades. Deep calls unto deep, in the roar of the cascades.^[1] After the preaching of the prophets came the judgments of God, as though echoing back to the voice that had predicted their coming. The voice of one cascade was, Let us plot against the righteous one, because he is an embarrassment to us and opposes himself to our actions, calling himself a child of the Lord. Another sound of the cascade is, He was like a lamb led to the slaughter, as a sheep mute before his shearers, and he did not open his mouth.^[2] There is another voice, also: They have pierced my hands and my feet, I can count all of my bones.^[3] Then the voice, They divide my garments among them, for my clothing they cast lots, and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink.^[4] And what need is there now to recall all the voices of the cascades, since the prophetic books are full of the insults directed at the Lord and of his passion?

If you . . . want to love the beauty of the house of God and the place where his glory dwells,^[1] seek vessels for noble use. And do not say, I looked for them but did not find them.^[2] If you have sought and have not found them, it means that you have not sought. The similar tends toward the similar, the dissimilar flees the dissimilar. If you are a vessel for common use, it is natural that the vessel for noble use^[3] is annoying to you, even to look at. Have you not heard how some people said of such a one, It is unbearable for us just to look at him? If merely to look at him is unbearable for you, how could he appear to you plainly, so you might find him? Because these vessels are found in the realm of the interior man. Certainly, when someone gives the impression of being righteous, it does not mean that he is righteous. The righteous and the unrighteous both have the same face. Both are human beings, but both are not God’s house, even if they both call themselves Christians. One is a vessel, and so is the other, but both are not for noble use. Rather, one is for noble use, and the other for common.

Since the wicked went away from me, I did not know him.^[1] What, then, does I did not know him mean? Does it refer to the fact that when a scoundrel meets a righteous person on a narrow street, the words from the Wisdom of Solomon run through his mind, It annoys us just to see him, and he crosses the street, so as to not see that undesired person? But how many rascals there are, and how difficult it is for us to see them! They see us, and not only do they not depart from us, but also they run after us, hoping (at least sometimes) to carry out their wicked plans with our collaboration! This happens all the time. In what sense, then, do they go away? The person who is not like you departs from you. What does he departs from you mean? He does not follow you. And what does He does not follow you mean? He does not imitate your conduct. Or, Since the wicked was far from me, that is, since he was not like me, neither did he want to imitate my conduct (he did not want to live according to the model that my life offered for his imitation), and thus, I did not know him. What, then, does I did not know him mean? That I did not approve of him, and not that I did not actually know him.

Joseph is sent by his father to visit his brothers and the sheep.^[1] Our Joseph, as well, Christ the Lord, says, I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.^[2] It is said, The brothers hated Joseph because of his dreams.^[3] And our Joseph, too—Christ—cried out concerning his brothers the Jews, They hated me without reason.^[4] Seeing Joseph, the brothers said, Here comes the dreamer. Come, let us kill him, and see what becomes of his dreams.^[5] The godless, as Solomon says, said about our Joseph, Come, let us kill the righteous one, because he is displeasing to us. And they continue, He claims to possess knowledge of God and declares himself a son of God. Let’s see if his words are true, and let’s find out what will happen in the end. He confirms what is in the Gospel, when he says about the son sent to the vineyard workers, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.^[6] After seizing Joseph, the brothers stripped him of his many-colored tunic and threw him in a ditch.^[7] Our Joseph, by the mouth of the prophet, says the same of his passion: They threw me in the outer ditch, in darkness and the shadow of death.^[8] By the Gospel’s authority we are told how he was stripped of his tunic, which was woven from top to bottom and which the soldiers refused to divide among themselves, thus confirming the unity of the church. Heretics are excluded from this casting of lots, because it was to be that only one would possess it, that is, unity.^[9] Taking, Scripture says, a kid from the goats, Joseph’s brothers dipped the tunic in its blood^[10] and took it to their father, falsely saying that a wild beast had torn him to pieces.^[11]

My Lord Jesus Christ, when he assumed the flesh of the Virgin for our salvation, was surely glorified, because he came to seek what was lost,^[1] though he was not glorified gloriously.^[2] In fact, it is said precisely of him, We saw him, and he had neither beauty nor splendor, and his face was more to be despised than all the sons of mortals.^[3] He was glorified also when he went to the cross and suffered death. Do you know why he was glorified? He said, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you.^[4] For him, therefore, even the passion of the cross was glory. This glory was not glorious, however, but humble. Finally, it is said of him, He humbled himself even to death, death on a cross,^[5] and of this also the prophet had foretold, Let us condemn him to a shameful death. But Isaiah also says of him, He bore his judgment in humiliation.^[6] Thus in all these events the Lord was glorified, but humbly, so to speak. He was not glorified gloriously.^[7]

Since, when he sees the death of the wise, he will not see death.^[1] He who has wearied himself endlessly and will live to the very end,^[2] will not see death, when he sees the death of the wise. What do these words mean? He will not understand what death is when he sees the wise die. In fact, he says to himself, hasn’t the one who was so wise, who was intimate with Wisdom, who worshiped God with such piety—hasn’t he died also? I will therefore do what I like while I live. Indeed, if those who have wisdom could do something about it, they would not die. He sees the one who dies, yet fails to see what death is. When he sees the death of the wise, he will not see death. In the same way, the Jews saw Christ hanging on the cross and mocked him, saying, If he is the Son of God, he would come down from the cross.^[3] They did not see, in short, what death is. O, if they had seen what death is, they would have understood it! He died in time, so as to live again forever. They lived in time, so as to die forever. But since they saw him die, they did not see death, that is, they did not understand what true death is. What, in fact, do they say in Wisdom? Let us condemn him to a shameful death, because, according to his own words, he will be protected. If he is truly a son of God, God will help him, and free him from the hands of his adversaries. That is, he will not allow his Son to die, if he truly is his Son. But when they saw him on the cross being insulted, and he did not descend from the cross, they said, He was truly a man. It had already been said that one who could rise from the grave certainly could have descended from the cross. He taught us, however, to bear insults, to be patient before the tongues of people, to drink the bitter chalice^[4] now so as to later receive eternal life. You who are sick, drink the bitter chalice if you want to be healthy, because now your viscera are not healthy. Do not tremble with fear, because the doctor drank it first, that you might not tremble.^[5] The Lord, that is, drank the bitterness of the passion first. The one who had no sin drank,^[6] the one who had nothing to be healed of. Drink, therefore, until the bitterness of this world passes, until that world comes where there will be no scandal, no anger, no sickness, no bitterness, no fever, no deceit, no enmity, no old age, no death, no quarrels.

Since, therefore, [Christ] was about to be manifested and to suffer in the flesh, his suffering was foreshown. For the prophet speaks against evil, “Woe to their soul, because they have counseled an evil counsel against themselves” [Is 3:9], saying, “Let us bind the righteous man because he is displeasing to us” [Wis 2:12].