Mar. 15. 2. believe; and if I put a question, ye will neither answer me, nor 69 acquit me. Hereafter the Son of Man shall be seated at the 70 right hand of Almighty God. They all replied: Thou art 71 then the Son of God? He answered: Ye say the truth. Then they cried: What further need have we of evidence? We have heard enough ourselves from his own mouth. XXIII. AND the assembly broke up, and conducted Jesus to Matt. 27. 11. 2 Pilate. And they accused him, saying: We found this man perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar, 3 calling himself Messiah the King. Then Pilate asking him, said: Thou art the king of the Jews? He answered: Thou 4 sayest right. Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitude: 5 I find nothing criminal in this man. But they became more vehement, adding: He raiseth sedition among the people, by the doctrine which he spreadeth through all Judea, from Gali6 lee, where he began, to this place. When Pilate beard them mention Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilean. 7 And finding that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also then at Jerusalem. Jo. 18. 38. & 19. 4. Mar. 15. 12. 8 And Herod was very glad to see Jesus: it was what he had long desired; having heard much of him, and hoping to see 9 him perform some miracle. He, therefore, asked him many 10 questions; but Jesus returned him no answer. Yet the chief priests and the scribes who were present, accused him with 11 eagerness. But Herod and his military train despised him: and having in derision arrayed him in a shining robe, remanded 12 him to Pilate. On that day Pilate and Herod became friends: for before they had been at enmity. 13 Pilate having convened the chief priests, the magistrates, 14 and the people, said to them: Ye have brought this man before me, as one who exciteth the people to revolt; yet having examined him in your presence, I have not found him guilty of Matt. 27. 21. 15 any of those crimes whereof ye accuse him. Neither hath Herod; for I referred you to him. Be assured, then, that he 16 hath done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore chastise 17 him, and release him. For it was necessary that he should re18 lease one to them at the festival. Then all cried out together: 19 Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas. Now Ba rabbas had been imprisoned for raising sedition in the city, and 20 for murder. Pilate, willing to release Jesus, again expostulat21 ed. But they cried, saying: Crucify, crucify him. A third time he repeated, Why? what evil hath this man done? I do not find him guilty of any capital crime; I will therefore chas23 tise him, and release him. But they persisted, demanding, with 24 much clamor, that he might be crucified. At last their clam ors, and those of the chief priests, prevailed: and Pilate pro 25 nounced sentence, that it should be as they desired. Accordingly he released to them a man who had been imprisoned for sedition and murder, whom they required, and gave up Jesus to their will. Matt. 27. 32. 26 As they led him away, they laid hold of one Simon a Cyre- Mar. 15. 21. nian coming from the country, and laid the cross on him, that 37 he might bear it after Jesus. And a great multitude followed him, amongst whom were many women who lamented and be28 wailed him. But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for 29 your children: for the days are coming wherein they shall say, Happy the barren, the wombs which never bare, and the breasts Isa. 2. 19. 30 which never gave suck:' then they shall cry to the mountains, Rev. 6. 16. 31 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, Cover us :' for if it fare thus 6 32 with the green tree, how shall it fare with the dry? And two malefactors were also led with him to the execution. 33 Hos. 10. 8. Jo. 19. 18. When they were come to the place called Calvary, they there Matt. 27. 35nailed him to the cross, and the malefactors also, one at his 34 right hand, the other at his left. And Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted. 35 his garments by lot. While the people stood gazing, even their Mar. 15. 24. rulers joined them in ridiculing him, and saying: This man saved others; let him save himself, if he be the Messiah, the 36 elect of God. The soldiers likewise mocked him, coming and 37 offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the King of the 38 Jews, save thyself. There was also an inscription over his head, in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 39 Now, one of the malefactors who suffered with him, reviled him, saying: If thou be the Messiah, save thyself and us. 40 The other rebuking him, answered: Hast thou no fear of God, 41 thou who art undergoing the same punishment? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds but 42 this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said to Jesus, Re43 member me, Lord, when thou comest to thy kingdom. Jesus answered: Verily I say unto thee, To-day thou shalt be with me in paradise. 44 And about the sixth hour there was darkness over all the 45 land, which lasted till the ninth. The sun was darkened, and 46 the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And Jesus said P. 31. 5. with a loud voice: Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit; 47 and having thus said, expired. Then the centurion, observing what had happened, gave glory to God, saying: Assuredly 48 this was a righteous man. Nay, all the people who were present at this spectacle, and saw what passed, returned, beating 49 their breasts. And all his acquaintance, and the women who had followed him from Galilee, standing at a distance, beheld these things. Matt. 27. 57.50. Mar. 15. 42. SECTION XV.-THE RESURRECTION. NOW from Arimathea, a city of Judea, there was a senator named Joseph, a good and just man, who had not concurred in the resolutions and proceedings of the rest, and who him52 self also expected the reign of God. This man went to Pi53 late, and begged the body of Jesus. And having taken it down, he wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb cut in stone, where54 in no man had ever been deposited. Now that day was the 55 preparation, and the Sabbatht approached. And the women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee, followed Joseph, 56 and observed the monument, and how the body was laid. When they returned, they provided spices and ointments, and then rested the Sabbath,† according to the commandment. Matt. 28. 1. XXIV. But the first day of the week they went by day-break, with some others, to the tomb, carrying the spices which they 2 had provided; and found the stone rolled away from the mon3 ument; and having entered, they found not the body of the 4 Lord Jesus. While they were in perplexity on this account, 5 behold two men stood by them in robes of a dazzling brightness. The women being affrighted, and fixing their eyes on the ground, these said to them: Why seek ye the living among the 6 dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake 7 to you, before he left Galilee, saying, "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinners, and be crucified, and the 8 third day rise again." Then they remembered his words. Mar. 16. 1. ch. 4. 22. Matt. 16. 21. & 17. 23. Mar. 9. 31. Matt. 28. 8. 9 On their return from the monument, they reported the whole Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women with them, who told these things to the 11 apostles but their account appeared to them as idle tales; 12 they gave them no credit. Peter however arose and ran to the monument; and stooping down saw nothing there but the linen lying. And he went away, musing with astonishment on what had happened. Mar. 16. 12. 13 The same day, as two of the disciples were travelling to a 14 village named Emmaus, sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, they 15 conversed together about all these events. While they were conversing and reasoning, Jesus himself joined them, and went 16 along with them. But their eyes were so affected, that they + Sunday. Friday. + Saturday. 17 did not know him. And he said to them: What subjects are these about which ye confer together? and why are ye deject18 ed? And one of them, named Cleopas, answered: Art thou alone such a stranger in Jerusalem, as to be unacquainted with 19 the things which have happened there so lately? What things? said he. They answered: Concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet, powerful in word and deed, before God and 20 all the people; how our chief priests and magistrates have delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 As for us, we trusted that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel. Besides all this, to-day being the third day 22 since these things happened, some women of our company have astonished us; for having gone early to the monument, 23 and not found his body, they came and told us that they had 24 seen a vision of angels, who said that he is alive. Whereupon some of our men went to the monument, and found matters exactly as the women had related; but him they saw not. 25 Then he said to them: O thoughtless men, and backward to believe things which have been all predicted by the prophets! 26 Ought not the Messiah thus to suffer, and so to enter into his 27 glory? Then beginning with Moses, and proceeding through all the prophets, he explained to them all the passages relating 28 to himself. When they came near to the village whither they 29 were travelling, he seemed as intending to go further. But they constrained him, saying: Abide with us; for it groweth late, and the day is far spent. And he went in to abide with them. 30 While they were at table together, he took the loaf, and bles31 sed and broke it, and distributed to them. Then their eyes 32 were opened, and they knew him; and he disappeared. And they said one to another: Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us on the road and expounded to us the Scriptures? 33 Immediately they arose, and returned to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven and the rest of their company, assembled, 34 who said: The Master is actually risen, and hath appeared un35 to Simon. These also recounted what had happened on the road, and how he was discovered to them in breaking the loaf. 36 While they discoursed in this manner, Jesus stood in the Mar. 16. 14. 37 midst of them, and said: Peace be unto you. But they were 38 amazed and affrighted, imagining that they saw a spirit. And he said to them: Why are ye alarmed? And wherefore do 39 suspicions arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet; it is I myself; handle me and be convinced; for a spirit 40 hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. Saying this, he 41 showed them his hands and his feet. While yet they believed not, for joy and amazement, he said to them: Have ye here Jo. 20. 19. Acts. 1. 8. Jo. 15. 26. Acts, 1. 4. 42 any thing to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and of a honey-comb, which he took and ate in their presence. 44 And he said to them: This is what I told you while I remain ed with you, that all the things which are written concerning 45 me, in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be accomplished. Then he opened their minds, that they 46 might understand the Scriptures, and said to them: Thus it is 47 written, and thus it behoved the Messiah to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that reformation, and the re48 mission of sins, should be proclaimed in his name among all 49 nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Now ye are witnesses of these things; and behold I send you that which my Father hath promised; but continue ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be invested with power from above. Mar. 16. 19. 50 He then led them out as far as Bethany, and lifted up his Acts 1. 9. 51 hands and blessed them. And while he was blessing them, he 52 was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And having worshipped him, they returned to Jerusalem with great 53 joy; and were constantly in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. |