The soldiers acted according to their own foolishness; He cares for the Mother, teaching us to take care of our parents until our last breath. And look, while there are other wives here, He cares only for the Mother. For parents who hinder in the matter of worship of God should not be paid attention to, and those who do not hinder should be taken care of in every way. In the same way, since He Himself departs from life, and it was natural for the Mother to grieve and seek protection, He entrusts the care of Her to a disciple. The Evangelist hides his name out of modesty. For if he had wanted to boast, he would have given the reason why he was loved, and it was probably some great and wondrous one. Oh! how He honored the disciple by making him His brother. It is so good to be with Christ who suffers, for it leads to brotherhood with Him. Consider how He does everything on the Cross without confusion, cares for His Mother, fulfills the prophecies, opens paradise to the thief, while before the crucifixion He experiences spiritual anguish, exudes sweat. It is clear that the latter belongs to human nature, and the former to the power of God. May Marcion and all the others be put to shame, who talk idly that the Lord appeared to the world in a phantom. For if He was not born and did not have a Mother, why does He take such great care of Her? - Why is Mary of Cleopas called His Mother's sister, while Joachim had no other child? Cleopas was Joseph's brother. When Cleopas died childless, then, according to the legend of some, Joseph took his wife in marriage and bore his brother children. One of them is the now mentioned Maria. She is called the sister of the Mother of God, that is, a relative. For the Scriptures are in the habit of calling relatives brothers. For example, Isaac says of Rebekah that she was his sister, although she was his wife. So here, too, the imaginary daughter of Cleopas is called the sister of the Mother of God by kinship. - In the Gospels there are four Marys: one is the Mother of God, who is called the Mother of James and Josiah, for they were the children of Joseph, born of his first wife, perhaps the wife of Cleopas. The Mother of God is called their Mother, as a stepmother, because She was considered the wife of Joseph. The other is Magdalene, from whom the Lord drove out seven demons; the third is Cleopas, and the fourth is the sister of Lazarus. And so this disciple took Mary to himself, for the pure is entrusted to the pure. See how the female sex is firm in adversity, and the men have all forsaken the Lord. Verily, He has come, Who strengthens the weak and accepts the humiliated.

     After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst." There was a vessel full of vinegar. The soldiers, having drunk a sponge with vinegar and put it on hyssop, brought it to His lips. And when Jesus had tasted the vinegar, he said, It is finished! And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. 

"Knowing," says Jesus, "that all things are already finished," that is, that nothing remains unfulfilled in the plan of God's economy. So free was His death. For the end of His body did not come before He Himself willed, and He willed after He had fulfilled all things. For this reason He said: "I have power to lay down My life" (John 10:18). He says: "I thirst," and in this case again fulfills the prophecy. And they, showing their wicked disposition, will give Him vinegar to drink, as they did with criminals. For hyssop is added because it is harmful. Some say that hyssop is called a reed, because such is the top of the reed. They put their lips to the reed, because Jesus' mouth was high. And thus the prophecy was fulfilled, saying: "In the time of my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink" (Psalm 68:22). After drinking, He said: "It is finished!" that is: and this prophecy with all the rest has come true, nothing remains, everything is over. He does everything without embarrassment and with authority. This is evident from what follows. For when all was accomplished, He "bowed His head," because it was not nailed, "gave up His spirit," that is, gave His last breath. With us, it is the opposite: first our breathing stops, and then our head bows. But he first bowed his head, and then gave up his spirit. From all this it is clearly revealed that He was the Lord of death and did everything according to His own authority.

     But since it was Friday then, the Jews, in order not to leave the bodies on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a great day), asked Pilate to break their legs and take them off. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, when they saw Him dead, they did not break His legs; but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

The Lord gave up the spirit to God and the Father in order to show that the souls of the saints do not remain in the tombs, but flow into the hands of the Father of all, and the souls of sinners are brought down to the place of torment, that is, to hell. And those who devour the camel, and strain out the gnat (Matt. 23:24), having committed such a great crime, show special care for the day. For, he says, "in order not to leave bodies on the cross, they asked Pilate," that is, they asked to take them down. Why do they ask that the legs be broken? So that, even if they live, they would not be able to work (for they were robbers). So, they did not want to appear on the day of the holiday as avengers and murderers. Otherwise, the law also commanded that the sun should not set in the wrath of man (Ephesians 4:26). See how prophecies are fulfilled through the inventions of the Jews. Here two prophecies are fulfilled at once, as the Evangelist goes on to say. Though they did not break Jesus' legs, yet they pierce Him to please the Jews, and blood and water flow out. And this is amazing. They thought to mock the dead body as well, but the mockery turned into a miracle for them. It is also surprising that blood flows out of a dead body. However, some of the incredulous will say that there was probably still some vitality in the body. But when the water also flowed out, the miracle was indisputable. This happened for a reason, but because life in the Church begins and continues through these two things: we are born with water, and we are nourished by Blood and Body. And so, when you approach the cup of communion of the Blood of Christ, dispose yourself as if you were drinking from the very side. Notice, perhaps, how the wound of the rib, that is, Eve, is healed by means of a pierced rib. There, Adam, having fallen asleep, lost a rib; and here the Lord, having fallen asleep, gives a rib to the warrior. The spear of the warrior is an image of the sword that turns and drives us out of paradise (Gen. 3:24). And since everything that whirls does not stop in its movement until it strikes something, the Lord, showing that He will stop that sword, puts His own rib to the warrior's sword, so that it may be clear to us that just as the warrior's rib has stopped, so the flaming sword will stop and will no longer frighten with its rotation and bar the entrance to paradise. - Let the Arians be ashamed, who do not add water to wine in the sacrament of communion. For they do not seem to believe that water also flowed out of the rib, which is more surprising, but believe that only blood flowed, and thereby diminish the greatness of the miracle. For the blood shows that the Crucified One is a man, and the water, that He is higher than man, namely, God.

     And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; He knows that he speaks the truth so that you will believe. For these things have come to pass, that the Scripture may be fulfilled: let not His bone be broken (Exodus 12:46). Likewise, in another place the Scripture says: "They shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12:10). 

Not from others, he says, I have heard, but I myself have been here and seen, "and my testimony is true." He rightly notes this. He tells of a reproach, and not of something great and honorable, so that you may suspect this story. For this reason, he says, I describe it in detail, and do not conceal what seems to be dishonorable, so that you may believe that all this is undoubtedly true, and not made up for the benefit of anyone. For whoever speaks in someone's favor puts forth the more glorious. And since Moses was considered more reliable than he, he also brings him as a witness. What Moses said about the lamb slaughtered at the Passover, "The bone shall not be broken" (Exodus 12:10), then, according to the explanation of the Evangelist, was fulfilled in Christ. For that lamb was His image, and there are many similarities between it and the Truth. Another prophecy will also be fulfilled, saying: "They shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12:10), for when He comes to judge, then they will see Him in a better and more God-like body, and those who pierced Him will recognize Him and weep. Moreover, this audacious deed of the enemies of Jesus will be for unbelievers the door of faith and a proof, as, for example, for Thomas. For he was convinced of the resurrection through the touch of the rib. Thus, "the bone shall not be broken" with Jesus; but His side sheds out to us the sources of being and life. Water is the source of existence, for through it we become Christians, and the Blood is the source of life, because we are nourished by it. And the Word of God is the Lamb. Eating Him from head to foot (the head of the divinity, for it is the head, and the feet of the flesh, for it is the lowest part), and also His intestines, that is, the secret and hidden, we reverently take for food, we do not break the bones, that is, difficult to understand and lofty thoughts. For what we cannot understand, we do not crush, that is, we do not try to understand badly and perversely. Thus, when we understand sensibly, then we do not crush, for we preserve the divine in its entirety. And when we strive to understand and accept heretical understanding, then we crush and break firm and inaccessible thoughts. Such objects, that is, those that are incomprehensible, must be burned with fire, that is, given over to the Spirit, and He will work them out and refine them, because He comprehends all things, even the depths of God (2 Corinthians 2:10).