St Matthew Chapter XXVII : Verses 45-53
Contents
- Matt. xxvii. 45-53. Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
- Notes on the text.
- Additional Notes: Note on the darkness over all the earth. Jesus abandoned on the Cross by His heavenly Father. On the “Words on the Cross.”
Matt. xxvii. 45-53
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| My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? |
A sexta autem hora tenebræ factæ sunt super universam terram usque ad horam nonam.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Et circa horam nonam clamavit Jesus voce magna, dicens : Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? hoc est : Deus meus, Deus meus, ut quid dereliquisti me?
47 And some that stood there and heard, said: This man calleth Elias.
Quidam autem illic stantes, et audientes, dicebant : Eliam vocat iste.
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| ....took a sponge...and gave Him to drink. |
Et continuo currens unus ex eis, acceptam spongiam implevit aceto, et imposuit arundini, et dabat ei bibere.
49 And the others said: Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to deliver him.
Ceteri vero dicebant : Sine, videamus an veniat Elias liberans eum.
Jesus autem iterum clamans voce magna, emisit spiritum.
51 And behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top even to the bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent.
Et ecce velum templi scissum est in duas partes a summo usque deorsum : et terra mota est, et petræ scissæ sunt,
Jesus ... yielded up the ghost.
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| Many bodies of the saints...appeared to many. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
et monumenta aperta sunt : et multa corpora sanctorum, qui dormierant, surrexerunt.
53 And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, came into the holy city, and appeared to many.
Et exeuntes de monumentis post resurrectionem ejus, venerunt in sanctam civitatem, et apparuerunt multis.
Notes
45. Now from the sixth hour, etc., — i.e. about noon. Now St John says it was the sixth hour when Pilate condemned Jesus. How are we to reconcile these two statements? Some think that in the Vulgate and other MSS. of St John’s gospel, by a copyist’s error six has been put for three. Others are of opinion that St John used a different method of computation.
The Jews had adopted the same divisions of time as the Romans, who divided the day into four principal divisions called “hours.” These “great” hours at the vernal equinoxes (when the Pasch was celebrated) were as follows : —
First hour, 6- 9 a.m.
Second hour, 9-12 a.m.
Third hour, 12- 3 p.m.
Fourth hour, 3- 6 p.m.
As these “ great ” hours were counted from sunrise to sunset, their length varied with the different seasons. These principal divisions were evidently subdivided, since we read of the “ eleventh ” hour (St Matt. xx. 9).
darkness over the whole earth. This need not be taken literally. The darkness may have extended only over the land of Israel, or over those lands that lay on the same meridian. This darkness was preternatural. It could not have been an ordinary eclipse —
(1) because it was at the time of full moon (the 14th of the lunar month Nisan), when such an phenomenon could not take place naturally.
(2) because it lasted for three hours, whereas a total eclipse of the sun can only last fifteen minutes.
All the Evangelists mention this darkness.
until the ninth hour, — i.e. till 3 o’clock, the hour of the evening sacrifice.
46. cried with a loud voice. Unlike ordinary men, whose vocal powers become enfeebled as life ebbs away.
Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani ? Our Lord here uses the words of the Psalm, Deus, Deus meus, etc. (xxi. 1), which Tertullian says is an epitome of the passion of Christ. St Mark used the Aramaic version, whereas St Matthew gives the Hebrew form, Eli, Eli, etc. This is our Lord’s fourth word on the cross, and the only one given by St Matthew. The Evangelists record seven words in all ; —
(a) Three referring to others —
(1) Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (St Luke xxiii. 34).
(2) Amen, I say to thee, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise (St Luke xxiii. 43).
(3) Woman, behold thy son. Behold thy mother (St John xix. 26, 27).
(b) Four referring to His sufferings, or addressed to His heavenly Father —
(4) Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? (St Mark xxvii. 46).(5) Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit (St Luke xxiii. 46),(6) I thirst (St John xix. 28).(7) It is consummated (St John xix. 30).
forsaken me. Jesus was not really abandoned by God the Father, since the Hypostatic Union could not cease to exist, but He was deprived of its beatific and consolatory effects. It is probable that Jesus on the cross said the whole of this beautiful psalm, which expressed so well what He was undergoing.
47. some that stood there. In spite of the darkness some of the people had remained to see the end, besides the soldiers on guard, our Blessed Lady and her companions at the foot of the cross.
This seems to prove that it was not a darkness such as that with which God afflicted the Egyptians, which is described as so thick that it may be felt, and when no man saw his brother, nor moved himself out of the place where he was (Exod. x. 21-23). It is probable that during the three hours of darkness there was comparative silence on Calvary, and that, awed by the preternatural gloom, the people for a time ceased to mock at our Lord.
This man calleth Elias. There was a tradition among the Jews that Elias would accompany the Messias when He came in pomp and majesty, and this great prophet was also invoked as a deliverer in times of peril. We cannot determine whether the standers-by pretended to misunderstand, or if they really thought that our Saviour had invoked Elias. Neither do we know if Jews or Gentiles thus interpreted our Lord’s words. The sound of the word “ Eli” (as St Matt, gives it) was in Hebrew the first syllable of the Hebrew word for Elias, Eli-jahu.
48. one of them running. Possibly it was one of the guards who gave him the vinegar.
filled it with vinegar. A prophecy was thus fulfilled : And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink (Ps. lxviii. 22). If this be the same incident as that which the other Evangelists relate, then it occurred immediately after Jesus had uttered the fifth word on the cross : Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might he fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now there was a vessel set there full of vinegar. And they putting a sponge full of vinegar about hyssop, put it to his mouth (St John xix. 28, 29). The vinegar was the posca or sour wine used by the Roman soldiers and the poor in general. The word “vinegar” means sour wine, “ vin-aigre.”
a reed. St John gives a sponge full of vinegar about hyssop (xix. 29).
The caper plant or hyssop is found in ... . the deserts of Sinai .... Its habit is to grow on the most barren soil or rocky precipice .... It is capable of yielding a stick to which the sponge might be affixed (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 21).
gave him to drink. Jesus accepted it, (a) because the wine was not drugged ; (b) a prophecy was thereby fulfilled ; (c) the end was nigh. This was the second time drink had been offered to Christ. The first was drugged wine and was given when they were crucifying Him. The vinegar was given just before He expired.
49. Let be, let us see whether Elias, etc. Some think that the persons present did not wish Jesus to have even this alleviation, for St Matthew puts the words, Let be, let us see, etc., on their lips. St Mark evidently attributes them to the one who filled the sponge. Perhaps both used the same words, but with a different meaning. The onlookers desired to see whether Elias would come to Christ’s assistance, while the one who gave the drink wished to alleviate our Lord’s thirst till Elias should come.
50. again crying with a loud voice. His last words were. It is consummated.
yielded up the ghost. Bowing His sacred head, He sent forth His soul. Jesus died not as men die, but “ because He willed, when and how He willed” (St Augustine). As He Himself had said, when speaking of His life. No man taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself: and I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again (St John x. 18).
Some commentators have thought that the natural cause of death was the rupture of the vessels of the heart, others are of opinion that there was no lesion of any vital organ, but that death resulted from the exhaustion produced by the loss of blood in the garden, during the scourging, and on the cross, added to the intense mental suffering. At the hour of the evening sacrifice, Jesus, the Lamb of God, consummated the sacrifice of His life for us men and for our salvation, and He “ encountered death, not as conquered, but as conqueror.” From the cross of shame His holy soul, united to the Divinity, went to announce to the souls in limbo that the hour of their deliverance was at hand. St Peter tells us that Jesus, enlivened in the spirit .... preached to those spirits that were in prison (1 Peter iii. 18, 19).
51. the veil of the temple was rent in two. This refers to the beautiful curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies.
It was a costly material of gold and purple, embroidered with figures of cherubim. It measured 60 by 30 feet, and is said to have been woven in seventy-two separate squares, which were joined together. This veil was rent at 3 p.m., the hour when the priest offered incense in the Holy Place. There were two curtains before the Holy of Holies. The outer one must have been rent, otherwise the tear might not have been perceived at once. Perhaps both were torn, since the rending of the veil signified that humanity, in virtue of Christ’s merit, could now have a confidence in entering into the Holies by the blood of Christ ; a new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh (Heb. x. 19, 20). The veil was rent from the top to the bottom, a proof that it was not rent by human hands. Possibly there were eye-witnesses of the rending among the great multitude of priests who after Pentecost obeyed the faith (Acts vi. 7).
the earth quaked. There was a local earthquake in this awful moment, as if the very earth shuddered at the terrible crime of deicide, which had just been completed.
the rocks were rent. Pilgrims are shewn a rent in the rock between the traditional spot where the cross of our Lord stood, and that of the impenitent thief. The fissure measures about two yards in length and a foot in width. The split is remarkable because it cuts the grain of the rock transversely, instead of running, as is usual, in a parallel line with it. This rending of the hard rock was a symbol that Jesus by His death would move the hardest hearts to repentance, while it shewed forth the awful crime of the Jews, and proved the Divinity of Christ, for the triple phenomena which occurred could not be accounted merely fortuitous. St Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of this fissure in the rock, which he had himself seen.
52. graves were opened. Jewish sepulchres were in general hewn out of the solid rock, hence the opening of the graves resulted from the earthquake, which dislodged the stones that closed the entrance to the tombs.
many bodies of the saints that had slept arose. St Matthew anticipates, as the next verse proves, for it is clear that the dead did not rise until Jesus had first risen from the grave on Easter Sunday. It was meet that the saints should rise after Him, who is the first-fruits of them that slept (1 Cor. XV. 25). It is the opinion of most modern commentators that these “ saints” rose glorified, and that, as the first-fruits of our Lord’s victory over death, they ascended with Him on Ascension-day.
53. came into. The tombs were without the city walls.
the holy city. Although the most awful crime that earth has ever witnessed was committed in Jerusalem, yet it was the centre of the true religion, and there our Redemption was accomplished. To the Christian as to the Jew, Jerusalem will ever be the Holy City, as the Crusades testify.
appeared to many. It is probable that these “ saints ” appeared to the disciples, and to those whose testimony might be useful in defence of our Lord’s teaching.
Additional Notes
Note on the darkness over all the earth.
Various reasons have been assigned to shew its fitness. Among these may be cited the following : —
(1) It was a proof of the divinity of Christ, since Nature was thus convulsed when He died.
(2) It typified the blindness of the Jews.
(3) It was meet the earth should be in darkness when the “ Sun of Justice” was setting
(4) It symbolized the interior desolation of Christ.
(5) As when Christ was born, a bright star proclaimed His advent, so when He died, the earth was darkened.
Jesus abandoned on the Cross by His heavenly Father.
(1) This abandonment was the fulfilment of a prophecy, “ O God, my God, look upon me : why hast thou forsaken me?” (Ps. xxi. 1). Our Saviour’s intense desolation of soul wrung from Him this piercing cry. This, like the seventh “ word ” uttered on the cross, is a quotation from Scripture.
(2) The Fathers teach us that our Lord spoke thus, “not on His own account, but as holding the place of humanity with regard to God estranged from it by sin.”
(3) In the midst of this desolation Jesus shews His full confidence in His heavenly Father. He calls Him “ my God,” and the whole psalm, from which these words are taken, expresses the suppliant’s firm confidence in God.
(4) It is probable that Jesus uttered these words because, in the extreme desolation of His soul, He suffered as though He were abandoned by God, for these words were said when the bodily anguish was at its climax and death near, also when His sacred soul was overwhelmed with bitterness, sadness, and tedium.
(5) It is also possible that the devil caused new sufferings and trials to our Lord, and that the interior Passion begun in Gethsemani, continued, with even greater intensity, until the moment when our Redemption was consummated, and Jesus yielded up the ghost.
On the “Words on the Cross.”
The exact order in which the seven words were uttered is as follows : —
1. “ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do ” (St Luke xxiii. 34).2. “ Amen, I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise ” (St Luke xxiii. 43).3. “Woman, behold thy son . . . Behold thy mother.” (St John xix. 26-7)4. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (St Matt, xxviii. 40 ; St Mark xv. 34).5. ‘‘I thirst” (St John xix. 28).6. “It is consummated ” (St John xix. 30).7. “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (St Luke xxiii. 46).
Of these 7 “ Words,”
3 are peculiar to St Luke,
3 are peculiar to St John,
1 is common to St Matthew and St Mark.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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