Art thou the king of the Jews? St John Chapter xviii. 28-33

St John Chapter xviii : Verses 28-33

Contents

• St John Chapter xviii : Verses 28-33
   Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter xviii : Verses 28-33

Art thou the king of the Jews?  J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

28 Then they led Jesus from Caiphas to the governor's hall. And it was morning; and they went not into the hall, that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the pasch.  

29 Pilate therefore went out to them, and said: What accusation bring you against this man?  

30 They answered, and said to him: If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to thee.

31 Pilate therefore said to them: Take him you, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said to him: It is not lawful for us to put any man to death;  

32 That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he said, signifying what death he should die.  

33 Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and called Jesus, and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews?

28 Ἄγουσιν οὖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ Καϊάφα εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον· ἦν δὲ πρωΐ· καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐκ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον, ἵνα μὴ μιανθῶσιν ⸀ἀλλὰ φάγωσιν τὸ πάσχα.

28 Adducunt ergo Jesum a Caipha in praetorium. Erat autem mane : et ipsi non introierunt in praetorium, ut non contaminarentur, sed ut manducarent Pascha.  

29 ἐξῆλθεν οὖν ὁ Πιλᾶτος ⸀ἔξω πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ ⸀φησίν· Τίνα κατηγορίαν φέρετε ⸀κατὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τούτου;

29 Exivit ergo Pilatus ad eos foras, et dixit : Quam accusationem affertis adversus hominem hunc?  

30 ἀπεκρίθησαν καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Εἰ μὴ ἦν οὗτος ⸂κακὸν ποιῶν⸃, οὐκ ἄν σοι παρεδώκαμεν αὐτόν.

30 Responderunt, et dixerunt ei : Si non esset hic malefactor, non tibi tradidissemus eum. 

31 εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ⸀ὁ Πιλᾶτος· Λάβετε αὐτὸν ὑμεῖς, καὶ κατὰ τὸν νόμον ὑμῶν κρίνατε αὐτόν. ⸀εἶπον αὐτῷ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι· Ἡμῖν οὐκ ἔξεστιν ἀποκτεῖναι οὐδένα·

31 Dixit ergo eis Pilatus : Accipite eum vos, et secundum legem vestram judicate eum. Dixerunt ergo ei Judaei : Nobis non licet interficere quemquam.  

32 ἵνα ὁ λόγος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πληρωθῇ ὃν εἶπεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.

32 Ut sermo Jesu impleretur, quem dixit, significans qua morte esset moriturus.  

33 Εἰσῆλθεν οὖν ⸂πάλιν εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον⸃ ὁ Πιλᾶτος καὶ ἐφώνησεν τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Σὺ εἶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων;

33 Introivit ergo iterum in praetorium Pilatus : et vocavit Jesum, et dixit ei : Tu es rex Judaeorum?

 

Annotations

    28. Then they led Jesus from Caiphas to the governor's hall. And it was morning;  To the house and hall of Pilate; for he was Prætor, that is, both civil and criminal judge of Judæa. S. Augustine reads (inaccurately) unto Caiaphas into the Prœtorium, and therefore was obliged to say either that Caiaphas came to the house of Pilate, or that they both lived in the same house, though the contrary is plain from the Gospel.

    Every magistrate who had an army under him, was called Prætor, a prœeundo. And the place in which he held trials was called Prætorium; a place in which criminals were tried, for which purpose Jesus was brought thither by the Chief Priests.

and they went not into the hall (by entering the house of the heathen governor), that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat (as pure and clean) the pasch.The Passover does not here mean the Paschal Lamb (as SS. Chrysostom and Cyril suppose), for that they had eaten the day before; but the Paschal victims, which were sacrificed during the whole seven days, which could be eaten only by those who were clean. See here the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who wished to appear most religious, though in truth utterly wicked and the murderers of Christ. S. Augustine exclaims, “O impious and foolish blindness! for forsooth they would be defiled by a dwelling which was another’s, and not be defiled by a crime which was their own.” See S. Cyril.

    31. Pilate therefore said to them: Take him you, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said to him: It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. For the Romans, it appears, had deprived the Jews, as a conquered people, of the power of capital punishment, and claimed it for themselves. This is the meaning of the words. See Rupertus, S. Thomas, Jansen, Suarez, and others. You will say the Jews stoned S. Stephen, and threw down S. James headlong. But this was not in course of law, but in a popular tumult. Josephus (Ant. xx. 8, al. 16) says that Annas was deposed from his office by the Roman governor for ordering S. James to be killed, and (Acts xviii) the Jews did not dare to kill Paul, but handed him over to the Proconsul Gallio. But you will urge that Pilate had already given the Chief Priests liberty to judge and to put Him to death, when he said, “Take ye Him and judge Him according to your law.” I answer, that they could have done so, but were unwilling to accept his offer. They said, as it were, in their minds, Ye Romans have taken away from us altogether the power of the sword. We therefore do not wish to exercise it in this particular case. Either restore us this power absolutely, or else take your part in the deed. This they said as wishing Jesus to suffer the most ignominious death, that of crucifixion as a seditious person, and aiming at kingly power. And they wished to transfer from themselves to Pilate the unpopularity of His death. For they feared they should be stoned by the people, who were in favour of Jesus, or else be assailed by their revilings.

    Others reply (as S. Augustine and S. Cyril, and Suarez after them, par iii. Quæst. lxvii. art. 4), that it was not lawful for the Jews to put Him to death at the Passover (being a solemn feast), but that it was lawful at other times. But Ribera replies, that it was specially the practice of the sect of the Pharisees not to condemn any one to death (see Josephus Ben-Gorion, Hist. Jud. iv. 6). They said therefore, “It is not lawful for us,” under the cloak of religion. For many, and the chief of those who aimed at the death of Christ, were Pharisees. And because they had authority with the people, others followed their lead.

    32. That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he said, signifying what death he should die, viz. that He was to be delivered up to the Gentiles, and to be crucified by them. See John xii. 32 and Matt. xx.18.

    33. Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and called Jesus, ? He had gone out, to hear the charges which the Jews brought against Jesus, and then came back again to examine Him.

    and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews? It appears from Luke xxiii. 2, that when the Chief Priests saw that they could not move Pilate by their mere authority to condemn Jesus, they brought against Him the charge of perverting the nation, of forbidding to pay tribute to Cæsar. Pilate caught at this last charge, and put this question. See notes on Matt. xxvii.11.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.