John XIX. 23, 24.
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
spake, that we might see that there was no lot cast on His other garments;
but His coat, whichthey 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 spake 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.
