are going to suffer on his right hand, others on his left: on his right, those of
184 SAINT A UG USTINE - SERMONS
The two crucified with Jesus
4. That two others were crucified with him on either side,7 indicated that some are going to suffer on his right hand, others on his left: on his right, those of whom it says, Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice (Mt 5:10); on his left, those of whom it is said, And if I hand over my body so that I am burned, but do not have charity, it profits me nothing (1 Cor 13:3).
The king of the Jews
5. That a title was placed over his cross, on which was written The king of the Jews (Jn 19:19); that showed that not even by killing him could they manage not to have him as the king who is going by his supreme authority to repay them, in the most public way imaginable, according to their works.
Written in three languages
6. That the title was written in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin (Jn 19:20) amounted to a declaratiQn that he was going to reign over the nations as well as the Jews. To the same effect, in one and the same psalm it says But I have been established as king on Zion his holy mountain, where he reigned, that is to say, in the Hebrew language; and then it adds straightaway, as though in Greek and Latin, The Lord said to me, You are my Son, I today have begotten you: ask of me, and / will give you the nations for your inheritance, and as your possession the ends of the earth (Ps 2:6-8).
Not that Greek and Latin are the only languages of the nations; but that they are the most notable ones, Greek because of the classics of its literature, Latin because of the imperial power of the Romans. Although in these three languages the subjection of the totality of the nations to Christ was being suggested, it still wasn't written there "and king of the nations," but only king of the Jews, to remind us of our roots in the people there named. The law, as it says, after all, will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Is 2:3). I mean, who are the people who say in the psalm, He has subjected peoples to us, and nations under our feet (Ps 47:3), but those of whom the apostle says, If the nations have shared in their spiritual goods, they ought at least to attend to their needs with material goods (Rom 15:27)?
King of the Jews and the Gentiles
7. That 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:8 this had Pilate representing the wild olive to be grafted on in place of the broken branches,9 because he was a man from the nations, writing for the nations their confession of faith, so that the Lord himself rightly said about them, The kingdom shall be taken away from you, and given to a nation that does justice