Pseudo-Jerome: The foal of Judah has been tied to the vine, and his clothes dyed in the blood of the grape, [[Gen 49:11]] and the kids tear the vine, blaspheming Christ, and wagging their heads.
Wherefore it is said: "And they that passed by railed on Him, wagging their heads and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple."
Theophylact: For the passers by blasphemed Christ, reproaching Him as a seducer. But the devil moved them to bid Him come down from the Cross; for he knew that salvation was being won by the Cross, therefore he again proceeded to tempt Christ, so that if He came down from the Cross, he might be certain that He is not truly the Son of God, and so the salvation, which is by the Cross, might be done away. But He being truly the Son of God, did not come down; for if He ought to have come down, He would not have ascended there at all; but since He saw that in this way salvation must be effected, He underwent the crucifixion, and many other sufferings, unto the finishing of His work.
It goes on: "Likewise also the Chief Priests mocking said among themselves with the Scribes, He saved others, himself he cannot save."
They said this, to do away with His miracles, as though those which He had done were but the semblance of them, for by working miracles He saved many.
Bede: Thus also they confess, though against their will, that He saved many. Therefore your words condemn you, for He who saved others could have saved Himself.
It goes on: "Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."
Pseudo-Jerome: Afterwards they saw Him arise from the grave, though they would not believe that He could come down from the tree of the Cross. Where, O Jews, is your lack of faith? Your own selves I appeal to; your own selves I bring as judges. How much more wonderful is it that a dead man should arise, than that one yet living should choose to come down from the cross. Ye asked but small things, till greater should have come to pass; but your want of faith could not be healed by signs much greater than those for which you sought. Here "all have gone out of the way, all are become abominable." [[Psa 13:3]]
Wherefore it goes on: And they that were crucified with Him reviled."
Augustine, de. Con. Evan. 3, 16: How can this be, when according to Luke one only reviled Him, but was rebuked by the other who believed on God; unless we understand that Matthew and Mark, who touched but slightly on this place, put the plural for the singular number?
Theophylact: Or else, both at first reviled Him, then one recognizing Him as innocent, rebukes the other for blaspheming Him.
Ver. 33. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.34. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?35. And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, "Behold, he calleth Elias."36. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, "Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down."37. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
Bede: This most glorious light took away its rays from the world, lest it should see the Lord hanging, and lest the blasphemers should have the benefit of its light.
Wherefore it goes on: "And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour."
Augustine, de. Con. Evan. 3, 17: Luke added to this account the cause of the darkness, that is, the darkening of the sun.
Theophylact: If this had been the time for an eclipse, some one might have said that this which happened was natural, but it was the fourteenth moon, when no eclipse can take place.
There follows: "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani."
Pseudo-Jerome: At the ninth hour, the tenth piece of money which had been lost is found, by the overturning of the house.
Bede: For when Adam sinned, it is also written that he heard the voice of the Lord, walking in paradise, in the cool after mid-day [[Gen 3:8]]; and in that hour when the first Adam by sinning brought death into the world, in that same hour the second Adam by dying destroyed death. And we must observe, that our Lord was crucified, when the sun was going away from the center of the world; but at sunrise He celebrated the Mysteries of His Resurrection; because He died for our sins, but rose again for our justification.
Nor need you wonder at the lowliness of His words, at the complaints as of one forsaken, when you look on the offense of the cross, knowing the form of a servant. For as hunger, and thirst, and fatigue were not things proper to the Divinity, but bodily afflictions; so His saying, "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" was proper to a bodily voice, for the body is never naturally wont to wish to be separated from the life which is joined to it. For although our Saviour Himself said this, He really shewed the weakness of His body; He spoke therefore as man, bearing about with Him my feelings, for when placed in danger we fancy that we are deserted by God.
Theophylact: Or, He speaks this as man crucified by God for me, for we men have been forsaken by the Father, but He never has. For hear what He says; "I am not along, because the Father is with me." [[Joh 16:32]] Though He may also have said this as being a Jew, according to the flesh, as though He had said, Why hast thou forsaken the Jewish people, so that they have crucified Thy Son? For as we sometimes say, God has put on me, that is, my human nature, so here also we must understand "Thou hast forsaken me," to mean my nature, or the Jewish people.
It goes on: "And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias."
Bede: These however I suppose were Roman soldiers who did not understand the peculiarity of the Hebrew tongue, but, from His calling Eloi, thought that Elias was called by Him. But if the Jews are understood to have said this, they must be supposed to do this, as accusing Him of folly in calling for the aid of Elias.
It goes on: "And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let along; let us see whether Elias will come to take Him down."
John shews more fully the reason why the vinegar was given to the Lord to drink, saying, that Jesus said, "I thirst," [[Joh 19:28]] that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. They however applied a sponge full of vinegar to His mouth.
Pseudo-Jerome: Here he points out a similitude for the Jews; a sponge on a reed, weak, dry, fit for burning; they fill it with vinegar, that is, with wickedness and guile.
Augustine: Matthew has not related, that the man who brought the sponge filled with vinegar, but that the others spoke about Elias; from whence we gather that both said it.
Pseudo-Jerome: Though the flesh was weak, yet the heavenly voice, which said, "Open me the gates of righteouness," [[Psa 117:19]] waxed strong.
Wherefore there follows: "And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost."
We who are of the the earth die with a very low voice, or with no voice at all; but He who descended from heaven breathed His last with a loud voice.
Theophylact: He who both rules over death and commands it dies with power, as its Lord. But what this voice was is declared by Luke: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit." For Christ would have us understand by this, that from that time the souls of the saints go up into the hands of God. For at first the souls of all were held in hell, till He came, who preached the opening of the prison to the captives.
Ver. 38. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.39. And when the centurion, which stood over against Him, saw that He so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God."40. There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;41. (Who also, when He was in Galilee, followed Him, and ministered unto Him;) and many other women which came up with Him unto Jerusalem.
Gloss: After the Evangelist has related the Passion and the death of Christ, he now goes on to mention those things which followed after the death of our Lord.
Wherefore it is said: "And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom."
Pseudo-Jerome: The veil of the temple is rent, that is, the heaven is opened.
Theophylact: Again, God by the rending of the veil implied that the grace of the Holy Spirit goes away and is rent from the temple, so that the Holy of holies might be seen by all; [Source note: ed. note: The sense of the passage by reference to Theophylact appears to be, that as the Jews used to rend their clothes as a sign of grief, so the temple by the rending of its veil might be said to mourn.] also that the temple will mourn amongst the Jews, when they shall deplore their calamities, and rend their clothes.
This also is a figure of the living temple, that is, the body of Christ, in whose Passion His garment is torn, that is, His flesh.
Again, it means another thing; for the flesh is the veil of our temple, that is, of our mind. But the power of the flesh is torn in the Passion of Christ, from the top to the bottom, that is, from Adam even down to the latest man; for also Adam was made whole by the Passion of Christ, and his flesh does not remain under the curse, nor does it deserve corruption, but we all are gifted with incorruption.
"And when the centurion who stood over against Him saw." He who commands a hundred soldiers is called a centurion. But seeing that He died with such power as the Lord, he wondered and confessed.
Bede: Now the cause of the centurion’s wonder is clear, that seeing that the Lord died in that way, that is, sent forth His Spirit, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God." For no one can send forth his own spirit, but He who is the Creator of souls.
Augustine: This also he most of all wondered at, that after that voice which He sent forth as a figure of our sin, He immediately gave up His Spirit. For the Spirit of the Mediator shewed that no penalty of sin could have had power to cause the death of His flesh; for it did not leave the flesh unwillingly, but as it willed, for it was joined to the Word of God in the unity of person.Pseudo-Jerome: But the last are now made the first. The Gentile people confesses. The blinded Jew denies, so that their error is worse than the first.
Theophylact: And so the order is inverted, for the Jew kills, and the Gentile confesses; the disciples fly, and the women remain.
For there follows: "There were also women looking on afar off, amongst whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome."
Origin, in Matt. Tract. 35: But it seems to me, that here three women are chiefly named, by Matthew and Mark. Two indeed are set down by each Evangelist, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James; the third is called by Matthew, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, but by Mark she is called Salome.
Bede: He means by James the Less, the son of Alphaeus, who was also called the brother of our Lord, because he was the son of Mary, our Lord’s mother’s sister, whom John mentions, saying, "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." [[Joh 19:25]]