signified that his sacraments were going to traverse the four comers of the world.
SERMON 218 185
(Mt 21:43). That does not mean, however, that he is not the king of the Jews. The root, after all, carries the wild olive, not the wild olive the root.10 And although those branches were broken off for unbelief, that does not mean that God has repudiated his people, whom he foreknew; I too, he says, am an Israelite (Rom 11:1). And although the sons of the kingdom, who did not wish the Son of God to reign over them,11 go off into the outer darkness; all the same, many shall come from East and West, and sit down, not with Plato and Cicero, but with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Mt 8:11-12).
Pilate, certainly, wrote king of the Jews, not "king of the Greeks or the Latins"; although he is going to reign over the nations. And what he has written, he has written,12 and he didn't change it at the urging of unbelievers. He had been told not to do this such a long time before in the psalms: Do not corrupt the inscription of the title .13 All the nations believe in the king of the Jews, he reigns over all the nations, but he is still 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.14
The garments divided
8. That the soldiers took away his garments and divided them into four parts,15 signified that his sacraments were going to traverse the four comers of the world.
The tunic without seam
9. That they cast lots for his tunic alone, woven from the top without seam (Jn 19:23-24), rather than dividing it, demonstrated clearly enough that the visible sacraments, even though they too are the garments of Christ, can still be had by anybody, good or bad; but that sincere and genuine faith, which works through love (Gal 5:6) to achieve the integrity of unity—because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5)—that this faith does not belong to anybody at all, but is given by God's hidden grace as by lot. Thus to Simon, who had baptism, and didn't have this, Peter could say, You have no lot or part in this faith (Acts 8:21).
Mary entrusted to the beloved disciple
10. That on the cross he knew his mother, and entrusted her to the beloved disciple,16 aptly indicated his human affection at the time when he was dying as a man. This hour had not yet arrived when, as he was about to turn water into wine, he had said to this same mother, What have I to do with you, woman ? My hour has not yet come (Jn 2:4). You see, he had not received from Mary the power he had in his divinity, as he had received from Mary what was hanging on the cross.17