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).

     After this, Joseph of Arimathea (a disciple of Jesus, but secretly out of fear of the Jews), asked Pilate to take down the body of Jesus; and Pilate allowed it. He went and took down the body of Jesus. Nicodemus also came (who had come to Jesus by night) and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloe, about a hundred liters. So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes with incense, as the Jews usually bury. In the place where He was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid. There they laid Jesus for the sake of the Friday of the Jews, because the tomb was near.

Why did not one of the twelve come to Pilate, but did Joseph, who perhaps belonged to the seventy, dare to do so? If anyone says that the disciples (12) hid themselves from the Jews out of fear, then he was possessed by the same fear. It can be said that he (Joseph) was a very famous man and was also known to Pilate for his fame. Thinking that the wrath of the Jews had been subdued when the hated Jesus had already been crucified, Joseph fearlessly came and together with Nicodemus performed a magnificent burial. Both of them did not imagine anything divine about Him, but were disposed to Him only as a man, because they brought such incense as had the power to preserve the body for a long time and not to allow it to quickly give way to corruption. And this showed that they did not imagine anything great about Him. Yet they show great love for Him, because they bury Him not as a criminal, but magnificently, according to the Jewish custom. Time forced them to hurry. For the death of Jesus followed at the ninth hour. Then, while they went to Pilate and while they were taking off the body, it was naturally evening when it was impossible to build a tomb. Therefore they put Him in the nearest tomb. For "in the place where He was crucified was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre." It is arranged in such a way that the tomb is near; therefore the disciples may come and be spectators and witnesses of what has happened, soldiers may be assigned to guard it, and it will be inappropriate to speak of abduction. All this could not have happened if Jesus had been buried far away. The "coffin" was "new, in which no one had yet been laid." This was done so that it would be impossible to reinterpret the resurrections, as if someone other than Jesus had risen. And it is different. The new sepulchre figuratively showed that through the Lord's sepulchre there would be renewal from death and corruption, and in it we would all be renewed. Notice, I beseech thee, how much the Lord has become impoverished for us. During His lifetime He did not have a home; after death he does not have a tomb, but is laid in a stranger; He is naked, and Joseph clothes Him. Jesus is even now dead when He is killed by people who commit violence, or who are passionate about gain; He also suffers from hunger; there are also naked, for whatever the poor man endures, Christ endures it all. And now imitate Joseph, add good to good (for Joseph means addition), clothe the nakedness of Christ, that is, the poor. Do not do this once, but lay your souls in the grave and always remember, always reflect and take care of such matters. Mix myrrh and scarlet. For one must bear in mind the bitter and severe judgments of this age, and that Voice which shall call the unmerciful accursed, and send them into the fire (Matt. 25:41). In my opinion, there is nothing more terrible than this Voice.

Chapter Twenty

On the very first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, when it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. So he ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." Immediately Peter and the other disciple went out, and went to the tomb. They both ran together; but the other disciple fled faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. 

One of the Sabbaths the Evangelist calls the day which we call the Lord's. For the Sabbath is called the week of days, and the first day is one of the Sabbaths. In fact, there is only one day every day. But one, taken many times and folded, makes many. Thus, the first day is one, twice taken is the second, three times is the third, and so on. Such a day is an image of the age to come, which is one day, which is not cut off by night, nor has half a day. God is his Sun, which never sets. As the Lord rose on this day, making His corruptible body incorruptible, so in the future we will receive incorruption. Thus, on the first day of the week, "Mary Magdalene comes." Since the Sabbath had passed, and the law no longer forbade movement, she departed, wishing to find some consolation from the burial place of the Lord, and, seeing the stone rolled away from the tomb, she went with great haste to Peter and John. The Lord rose when the stone was still lying in place, and the seals were intact. But as it was necessary for someone to be witnesses of the resurrection and enter the tomb, the stone was rolled away by an angel. Mary, who still knows nothing about the resurrection, calls this event a theft and transposition. - Then the disciples come to the tomb and see only swaddling clothes lying down; and this was a sign of the true resurrection. For if anyone were to shift the body, he would not uncover it; and if someone stole, he would not have taken the trouble to twist the cloth and put it separately in a special place, but would have taken the body simply as it was possible. For this reason the Evangelist said beforehand that the body of Christ was buried with much myrrh, which glues the swaddling clothes to the body no worse than pitch, so that when we hear that the cloth was lying in a special place, we would not in the least believe those who say that the body of Christ was stolen. For a thief would not be so foolish as to use so much effort for an unnecessary deed, and not suspect that the longer he does it, the sooner he can be caught. - At what hour the resurrection followed, no one knows, just as the time of the second coming is unknown. If the Evangelist Matthew says that the earthquake occurred in the late evening, and John says that Mary came and saw the rolled stone in the morning, when it was still dark, then there is no disagreement about this. For, in the first place, according to Matthew, the women came late on the Sabbath, and in John now there is no mention of women, when Matthew said this, it would be superfluous to say the same to John; but Mary Magdalene comes in the morning. The comings to the tomb are different: now Mary comes with the other wives, now she alone. Hence the disagreement between the Evangelists, that they speak about different parishes, each about his own. Thus, in the first place, we say that Matthew speaks of one parish, the wives, and John of another, the coming of the wife, the Magdalene. Then, "the late evening and the morning, when it is still dark," which some would call the late morning, coinciding with the same thing, so that all this time is the middle of the night. If you ask how Peter and John and the women entered the tomb when the guards were there, the answer is simple, that when the Lord rose and an angel appeared at the tomb with an earthquake, then the guards went to announce this to the Pharisees, and thus the tomb was freed from the military guards, and the disciples could come fearlessly.