|
1. THE things that were done beside the Lord's cross, when at
length He was now crucified, we would take up, in dependence on His
help, in the present discourse. "Then the soldiers, when they had
crucified Him, took His garments, and made four parts, to every
soldier a part; and also His coat: now the coat was without seam,
woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves,
Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that
the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots." It was done as
the Jews wished; not that it was they themselves, but the soldiers
who obeyed Pilate, who himself acted as judge, that crucified
Jesus: and yet if we reflect on their wills, their plots, their
endeavors, their delivering up, and, lastly, on their extorting
clamors, it was the Jews certainly, more than any else, who
crucified Jesus.
2. But we must not speak in a mere cursory way of the partition and
dividing by lot of His garments. For although all the four
evangelists make mention thereof, yet the others do so more briefly
than John: and their notice of it is obscure, while his is in the
plainest manner possible. For Matthew says, "And after they
crucified Him, they parted His garments, casting lots." Mark:
"And they crucified Him, and parted His garments, casting lots
upon them, what every man should take." Luke: "And they parted
His raiment, and cast lots." But John has told us also how many
parts they made of His garments, namely, four, that they might take
one part apiece. From which it, is apparent that there were four
soldiers, who obeyed the governor's orders in crucifying Him. For
he plainly says: "Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Him,
took His garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and
likewise the coat," where there is understood, they took: so that
the meaning is, they took His garments, and made four parts, to
every soldier a part; and they took also His coat. And he so spoke,
that we might see that there was no lot cast on His other garments;
but His coat, which they took along with the others, they did not
similarly divide. For in regard to it he proceeds to explain, "Now
the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout." And then
telling us why they cast lots on it, he says, "They said therefore
among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it
shall be." Hence it is clear that in the case of the other garments
they had equal parts, so that there was no need to cast lots: but that
as regards this one, they could not have had a part each without
rending it, and thereby possessing themselves only of useless fragments
of it; to prevent which, they preferred letting it come to one of them
by lot. The account given by this evangelist is also in harmony with
the testimony of prophecy, which he likewise immediately subjoins,
saying, "That the scripture might be fulfilled which saith, They
parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots."
For He says not, they cast lots, but "they parted:" nor does He
say, casting lots they parted; but while making no mention whatever of
the lot in regard to the rest of the garments, He afterwards said,
"and for my vesture they did cast lots," in reference solely to the
coat that remained. On which I shall speak as He Himself enables
me, after I have first refuted the calumny, which may possibly
arise, as if the evangelists disagreed with one another, by showing
that the words of none of the others are inconsistent with the narrative
of John.
3. For Matthew, in saying, "They parted His garments, casting
lots," wished it to be understood, that in the whole affair of
parting the garments, the coat was also included, on which they cast
lots; for in course of parting all the garments, of which it also was
one on it alone they cast lots. To the same purpose also are the words
of Luke: "Parting His garments, they cast lots;" for in the
process of parting they came to the coat whereon the lot was cast, that
the entire parting of His garments among them might be completed. And
what difference is there whether it is said, "Parting they cast
lots," according to Luke; or, "They parted, casting the lot,"
according to Matthew: unless it be that Luke, in saying "lots,"
used the plural for the singular number, a form of speech that is not
unusual in the Holy Scriptures, although some copies are found to
have "lot," and not "lots"? Mark, therefore, is the only one
who seems to have introduced any kind of difficulty; for in saying,
"Casting the lot upon them, what every man should take," his words
seem to imply, as if the lot was cast on all the garments, and not on
the coat alone. But here also brevity is the cause of the obscurity;
for the words, "Casting the lot upon them," are as if it were
said, Casting the lot when they were in the process of division;
which was also the case. For the partition of all His garments would
not have been complete, had it not been declared by lot which of them
also should get possession of the coat, so as thereby to bring any
contention on the part of the dividers to an end, or rather prevent any
such from arising. In saying, therefore, "What every man should
take," so far as that has to do with the lot, we must not take it as
referring to all the garments that were divided; for the lot was cast,
who should take the coat: whereof having omitted to describe the
particular form, and how, in the equal division that was made of the
parts, it remained by itself, in order, without being rent, to be
awarded by lot, he therefore made use of the expression, "what every
man should take," in other words, who it was that should take it: as
if the whole were thus expressed, They parted His garments, casting
the lot upon them, who should take the coat, which had remained over
in addition to their equal shares of the rest.
4. Some one, perhaps, may inquire what is signified by the division
that was made of His garments into so many parts, and of the casting
of lots for the coat. The raiment of the Lord Jesus Christ parted
into four, symbolized His quadripartite Church, as spread abroad
over the whole world, which consists of four quarters, and equally,
that is to say, harmoniously, distributed over all these quarters.
On which account He elsewhere says, that He will send His angels to
gather His elect from the four winds: and what is that, but from the
four quarters of the world, east, west, north, and south? But the
coat, on which lots were cast, signifies the unity of all the parts,
which is contained in the bond of charity. And when the apostle is
about to speak of charity, he says, "I show you a more excellent
way;" and in another place, "To know also the love of Christ,
which far excelleth knowledge;" and still further elsewhere, "And
above all these things charity@ which is the bond of perfectness."
If, then, charity both has a more excellent way, and far excelleth
knowledge, and is enjoined above all things, it is with great
propriety that the garment, by which it is signified, is represented
as woven from the top. And it was without seam, that its sewing might
never be separated; and came into the possession of one man, because
He gathereth all into one. Just as in the case of the apostles, who
formed the exact number of twelve, in other words, were divisible into
four parts of three each, when the question was put to all of them,
Peter was the only one that answered, "Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God;" and to whom it was said, "I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," as if he alone received
the power of binding and loosing: seeing, then, that one so spoke in
behalf of all, and received the latter along with all, as if
personifying the unity itself; therefore one stands for all, because
there is unity in all. Whence, also, after here saying, "woven
from the top," he added, "throughout." And this also, if
referred to its meaning, implies that no one is excluded from a share
thereof, who is discovered to belong to the whole: from which whole,
as the Greek language indicates, the Church derives her name of
Catholic. And by the casting of lots, what else is commended but the
grace of God? For in this way in the person of one it reached to
all, since the lot satisfied them all, because the grace of God also
in its unity reacheth unto all; and when the lot is cast, the award is
decided, not by the merits of each individual, hut by the secret
judgment of God.
5. And yet let no one say that such things had no good signification
because they were done by the bad, that is to say, not by those who
followed Christ, but by those who persecuted Him. For what could we
have to say of the cross itself, which every one knows was in like
manner made and fastened to Christ by enemies and sinners? And yet it
is to it we may rightly understand the words of the apostle to be
applicable, "what is the breadth, and the length,and the height,and
the depth." For its breadth lies in the transverse beam, on which
the hands of the Crucified are extended; and signifies good works in
all the breadth of love: its length extends from the transverse beam to
the ground, and is that whereto the back and feet are affixed; and
signifies perseverance through the whole length of time to the end: its
height is in the summit, which rises upwards above the transverse
beam; and signifies the supernal goal, to which all works have
reference, since all things that are done well and perseveringly, in
respect of their breadth and length, are to be done also with due
regard to the exalted character of the divine rewards: its depth is
found in the part that is fixed into the ground; for there it is both
concealed and invisible, and yet from thence spring up all those parts
that are outstanding and evident to the senses; just as all that is
good in us proceeds from the depths of the grace of God, which is
beyond the reach of human comprehension and judgment. But even though
the cross of Christ signified no more than what was said by the
apostle, "And they who are Jesus Christ's have crucified the flesh
with the passions and lusts," how great a good it is! And yet it
does not this, unless the good spirit be lusting against the flesh,
seeing that it was the opposing, or, in other words, the evil spirit
that constructed the cross of Christ. And lastly, as every one
knows, what else is the sign of Christ but the cross of Christ? For
unless that sign be applied, whether it be to the foreheads of
believers, or to the very water out of which they are regenerated, or
to the oil with which they receive the anointing chrism, or to the
sacrifice that nourishes them, none of them is properly administered.
How then can it be that no good is signified by that which is done by
the wicked, when by the cross of Christ, which the wicked made,
every good thing is sealed to us in the celebration of His sacraments?
But here we stop; and what follows we shall consider at another time
in the course of dissertation, as God shall grant us assistance.
|
|