1. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be
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SERMON 14: First SUNDAY BEFORE LENT
1. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and scourged and spit upon; and after they have scourged him, they will put him to death. Luke 18:32.
[Protheme] Hear me for I will speak of great things.
Proverbs 8:6. In this second verse selected from the Book of Proverbs, divine wisdom expresses three things, which are necessary to preach the passion of the Lord. And the first is humble reverence in listening on the part of the one hearing, which is noted when it says: Hear me; second, the depth of the matter in understanding on the part of the one preparing, and this is noted when it adds: of great things; third, forceful eloquence on the part of the one announcing, which is noted when it adds: J will speak. Therefore, dearly beloved, let us ask the Lord at the beginning of our sermon on the Lord's passion, in accordance with his grace and piety, that he deign to grant reverence in listening to whomsoever hears and eloquence in expression to me, who announces, so that we may attentively understand something, both concerning the infinite benefit of our redemption and the celestial mystery of the Lord's passion, for the consolation of our souls. And so we may more easily obtain this, let us say, if it pleases, that verse: "Hail, O cross, O only hope."""'
[Sermon] 2. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and scourged and spit upon; and af227 This is taken from the hymn for Vespers on Passion Sunday.
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ter they have scourged him, they will put him to death.
Since a flock of sheep usually disperses when the pastor is struck down,228 Our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing in advance that his disciples, like sheep, would be dispersed by the deviation of error after he was struck down in body by his death, wanted to direct them here in the way of faith and through them, others, lest they believe what came to pass was by accident or ignorance. He deigned to predict, therefore, in the proposed passage that infinite benefit of his passion and celestial mystery of our redemption, whereby the eternal God himself humbly bent over and, moved by desire, accepted death on the cross for the salvation of the human race. In these words then the passion of Christ is explained according to its beginning, middle, and end, in which consists the perfect understanding of a matter. The beginning of his passion in fact was the malignity of his own disciple, which was due to the suggestion of the devil; the middle truly was the contemptibleness of the final opprobrium of scourging and facial spittle; and indeed the end was the bitterness of painful suffering in the body and in the separation of the soul. First, the malevolence of his own disciple is noted when it says: For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, that is, the Son of God by Judas, at the suggestion of the devil. Whence John
13:2 says: When the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, to betray him, etc. Second, the contemptibleness of the final opprobrium is noted when it adds: and he will be mocked and scourged and spit upon; mockery, spittle, and whipping are signs of extreme vilification. Third, the bitterness of painful suffering is noted when it adds: after they have scourged him, they will put him to death; that torment of Christ was certainly bitter, because it killed him so quickly: he even passed away before the others who had been crucified with him.
228 See Matt 26:31.
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3. It says, therefore: he will be delivered, etc. where it noted the malevolence of the particular disciple. That malevolence of the traitor Judas indeed appears more fully if we attentively consider the threefold condition of the traitor's oppressive malignity, namely, confident security and friendship, the excellence of apostolic dignity, and the concupiscence of covetousness and avarice. Given these three conditions, one can see that there [was] no greater malevolence under the sun than in that Judas, who as a false friend betrayed a true friend with the gift of a kiss, who as ungrateful disciple, indeed an apostle, betrayed the kind teacher, and who covetous and avaricious, sold for a trivial price, the just and pious one, indeed the most high Good.
4. First, the malevolence of Judas in betraying the Lord was great because of secure confidence and friendship. Indeed Judas was not treated like an outsider and suspected friend, to the contrary he was treated like a secure friend, for not only did Christ make him part of his family sharing in his table with the other apostles, he even made him the administrator of material goods for the entire family. This is why the Lord lamented that one, saying in Psalm 40:10: The man of my peace, in whom
I hoped, who ate my bread, has raised his heel against me. The man of my peace, behold the false gift of deceitful peace. Whence Luke 22:48 states: Jesus said to him:
Judas, do you betray the son of man with a kiss? Chrysostom: "The peace of heaven is betrayed with a kiss, the one holding is held, the nexus of all is bound, the truthful one is accused by the false."?"° In whom I hoped, behold the confidence of friendship and security; has raised his heel against me, behold the immensity of Judas' malevolence.
Thus, the Lord says of Judas in Matthew 26:21: Amen 229 The critical edition refers to PLS 4: 662.
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I say to you, one of you will betray me, he who eats with me.
5. Second, the malevolence of Judas in betraying the Lord was great because of the excellence of apostolic dignity. Not only was Judas called to the grace and doctrine of faith, but he was even raised to apostolic dignity, when the Lord deemed him worthy to be numbered among the twelve. Whence the Lord says of him in John 13:8: One of you, that is, of the twelve, will betray me. Similarly in Matthew 26:14: One of the twelve who is called Judas.
6. Third, the malevolence of Judas in betraying the Lord was great because of the concupiscence of covetousness and avarice. Whence Matthew 26:14-15 says: Judas said to the high priests: What would you give me if I hand him over to you? But they assigned him thirty pieces of silver. The iniquity of this traitor is certainly great, if we consider the price for which he sold the Lord, since it was not a great price but a trivial price, namely, thirty pieces of silver. It is even greater, if we consider to whom he was betrayed and sold, because it was not to friends, but to strangers and enemies, who were seeking his soul.?°°
And it is the greatest, if we consider to what end he was betrayed and sold, since it was not to serve, but to be mocked, scourged, spit upon, and crucified. But surely, if we consider who is sold and betrayed, his iniquity is infinite, since it is the king of kings and Lord of lords.231 This is why the Lord said to Pilate: The one who betrayed me to you has the greater sin.**? And because this malevolence of the traitor in his iniquity is inexplicable to us in words,
230 See Ps 34:4: "Let them be confounded and ashamed who seek after my soul."
231 See Rev 19:16.
232 See John 19:11.
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I do not wish to dwell any more on this, but put an end to this discourse.
7. Second, the contemptibleness of the final opprobrium is noted, when it says: and he will be mocked and scourged and spit upon. It is not in fact without cause, indeed it happens with divine dispensation that the Son of God is mocked and scourged and spit upon, because through these three things, in a marvelous manner, the Son of God himself, restorer of the human race, destroyed the body of sin."** For sin is brazen shamelessness that rejects modesty, complacent pleasure that rejects pain, and the elated pride that rejects fear. And since "contraries heal contraries,""** he first destroyed brazen shamelessness by sustaining modesty when mocked; second, complacent pleasure by sustaining pain when scourged; third, elated pride by sustaining vilification when spit upon.
8. First, he destroyed brazen shamelessness by sustaining modesty when mocked. Matthew 27:28 speaks of that mockery: They put a scarlet cloak on him; and plaiting a crown of thorns, they put it on his head; and bending the knee before him they mocked him. Weep, my eyes and melt my soul, I say, with painful compassion for the crushing of this man;*° because the Son of Man is clothed in a scarlet cloak, not that he be honored, but rather, that he be blamed; a crown of thorns is placed upon his head, so that he be filled with bewildering modesty; a reed is placed in his right hand, and they genuflect before him, so 233 See Rom 6:6: "For we know that our old self has been crucified with him, in order that the body of sin may be destroyed, that we may no longer be slaves to sin."
234 Bonaventure provides the gist of what Gregory says in Homily 32 n. 1 of GGHG. See CCSL cxli, 277-278.
235 See Lam 2:11: "My eyes have failed with weeping ... for the destruction of the daughter of my people."
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the more kingly honor is exhibited before him, the more he can be derided. Dearly beloved, to have the brazen shame of the prostitute, when Christ sustained modesty in his mockery to destroy it, is a great iniquity!
9. Second, he destroyed complacent pleasure by sustaining pain when scourged. Whence Mark 15:15 says: He, that is, Pilate, delivered Jesus to them after the scourging.
Christ wanted to sustain bitterness of pain in the scourging, so he might destroy the sweetness of carnal pleasure.
Dearly beloved, let us not void internally the effect of the divine scourging that he sustained for us, once again, by scourging the Son of God by delighting in sin, because his pain needs to be mitigated, not renewed. Whence Bernard states: "O miserable me! My God is subjected to flogging, and behold now he is struck, the violence of the scourging tears his sacred flesh and the cruel wounds of the knives bruise his entire body."*° 10. Third, he destroyed elated pride by sustaining vilification when spit upon. Whence Matthew 27:30 says:
They spat at him, and took the reed and kept striking his head. In a truly marvelous manner the exalted Son of God confounded pride by sustaining the abomination of the spittle, which is a sign of extreme despisement, so that no one, regardless of nobility and exalted status, find it shameful to humble and lower themselves in order to honor God before other people. "No member, therefore, should be ashamed of humble dejection which he knows already came to pass for the head. One should not think there is anything more glorious than to bear the opprobrium of despisal carried by his head."23"
236 The critical edition refers to PLS 2:1127-1128.
**7 See Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon 25 n. 8 on The Song of Songs in SBOp 1.168.
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11. Finally, it adds the bitterness of painful suffering when it says: after they have scourged him, they will put him to death. The bitterness of this painful suffering displays the nobility of God, that is, of the delicate nature of the one who truly suffers the malevolence of the Jewish people who are cruelly violent, and the atrocity of bitter suffering that swiftly kills.
12. First, the nobility of the tender subject who truly suffers displays the intense bitterness of this painful suffering. The tenderness of this flesh was of optimal natural composition; and to the degree nature is tenderer, then so much more painful the punishment."** By reason of this tenderness, simply imagining death afflicted such great punishment, that sweat became as drops of blood running down upon the ground; therefore, if only imagining caused this, how much more did the taste of the most bitter passion truly add! In him there was complete immunity from sin in the mind: "the penalty that came, however, was unmerited, it came and had to be endured""° as an author said. The painful affliction in him was vehement due to the friendly union of soul and body, as there was nothing of obnoxious corruption in his flesh; therefore, the soul was bound even closer to him in friendship. Where there is, however, a greater bond, there is a greater pain in separation, and for this reason there was no pain like his pain' under heaven. He expressed this
238 Bonaventure contends that Christ's sufferings are intensified due to the perfection of his flesh. On this point see Caroline Walker
Bynum, The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 2001336 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 251-52.
239 See Luke 22:44.
240 See Ovid, Heroides V, v. 7-8 in Heroides and Amores, trans.
Grant Showerman. LCL (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1947), 59: "Softly must we bear whatever suffering is our desert; the penalty that comes without deserving brings us dole."
241 See Lam 1:12.
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by calling out and crying when he died; his horrible cry appeared to produce horror even among those insensible objects, since not only the veil of the temple, but even the rocks were shattered and the sun darkened." But people, who are harder than these rocks, did not hear this tearful voice. Isaiah 53:7 describes the very occasion to the letter:
He will be led like a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be as mute as a lamb before his shearer. Christ is the sheep due to tractability and patience, but the Jamb because of purity and innocence, which is why he takes away the sins of the world.? Thus it follows: Because he delivered his soul unto death and was reputed with the wicked, and he has borne the sins of many and prayed for transgressors."**
13. Second, the malevolence of the Jewish people, who are cruelly violent, displays the intense bitterness of this painful suffering. The cruel Jews were violent in many ways; for they filled his ears with acclamations of opprobrium, they dirtied his face with the abominations of spittle, they tore his head with pointed thorns, they made him carry the ignominy of his cross on his own shoulders, they struck his jaw with sacrilegious hands, they gave him gall and vinegar to drink when he thirsted, and what is the worst of all, they killed him with zealous envy alone, as was prefigured in the murder of Abel, of which 1 John 3:12 speaks: Why did Cain, who was of the evil one, kill him? Because his own works were evil, but his brother's were just. Perverse Cain, who killed his just brother only because of zealous envy, signifies through malevolence the Jewish people, who killed Christ, born of the people and race of Judah, because they were envious of his good works. And this is what the Lord said to them:
242 See Matt 27:50.
243 See John 1:35.
244 See Isa 53:12.
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I have done many good works for you. For which of these works do you wish to kill me?* Here it is Christ in fact, who fulfilled the mysteries of the Old Testament in everyway. For in the side of Adam he is opened and the Church is born, in Noah he is nude, in Abraham he is multiplied, and in Isaac, he is sacrificed. All the sacrifices of the Old
Testament had labored up to this single, symbolized sacrifice. He was a pilgrim in Jacob, sold in Joseph, hidden in Moses, persecuted in David, and exonerated in the prophets. If, therefore, each of these, with the exception of Adam, had to bear a certain tribulation, how much more did Christ have to bear, he to whom all these singular afflictions led, and in whom they were completed!*"* Given this cruelty and violence, which the Jews realized against him, Job 20:16 can say of them: He will suck the head of the asp, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.
14, Third, the atrocity of bitter suffering that swiftly kills displays the intense bitterness of this painful suffering.""' His suffering was certainly cruel and bitter, because all his members were naked and stretched, he was afflicted in every part of his body without any mercy; with holes through his feet and hands, he suffered at every moment without respite; even if his executioner spared his feet, he crucified the hands, if he spared the hands, he crucified the feet. Since there is the greatest collection of nerves there, the affliction of the punishment was the greatest; and since natural vitality thrives the greatest where the nerves are collected, he felt the punishment the most when, with immense bitterness and punish245 See John 10:32. o* Cf, PaoTs.
247 On the painful intensity of Christ's passion, see Bonaventure's Commentary on the Sentences III Sent d. 16, a. 1, q. 2 (III, 348a-349b) and Brev p. 4, c. 9 (V, 249b-250b). For an English translation see WSB
IX, 163.
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ment, the soul was separated so swiftly from the body: he died before the others who were crucified with him, and when he was struck in the side to hasten death, blood and water flowed.*** This makes apparent that the soul was separated from the body since up to that point there was blood in the heart, which is the fountain of life. If the soul naturally longs to dwell in the body inasmuch as blood abounds in the domicile of life: then it cannot be torn from such a suitable domicile without the maximum pain. Such a punishment is expressed in with loud cries he gave up his spirit.2*° Aets 10:39 speaks of this: We are witnesses to all the Jesus did in the region of the Jews and in Jerusalem, he whom the Jews killed, hanging him on the tree of the cross. Given the angle, he was not able to rest his head," nor a place where he could support his bodily members; indeed, he sometimes supported himself on the nails of the feet and sometimes on the nails of the hands; and therefore at every moment, without interruption, he suffered most intensely. Let us ask, etc.
248 See John 19:34.
49 Bonaventure combines Hebr 5:7 ("with loud cries") and Matt 27:50 ("he gave up his spirit").
°° See Matt 8:20: "But Jesus said to him: The foxes have dens, and the birds of the air have nests. But the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."