Put up thy sword. St John Chapter xviii. 6-13

St John Chapter xviii : Verses 6-13

Contents

• St John Chapter xviii : Verses 6-13
   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 6-13

Peter, having a sword, drew it.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

6 As soon therefore as he had said to them: I am he; they went backward, and fell to the ground.  

7 Again therefore he asked them: Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.  

8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way.  

9 That the word might be fulfilled which he said: Of them whom thou hast given me, I have not lost any one.  

10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus.

11 Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

12 Then the band and the tribune, and the servants of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound him:  

13 And they led him away to Annas first, for he was father in law to Caiphas, who was the high priest of that year.

6 ὡς οὖν εἶπεν ⸀αὐτοῖς· Ἐγώ εἰμι, ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ ἔπεσαν χαμαί.

6 Ut ergo dixit eis : Ego sum : abierunt retrorsum, et ceciderunt in terram.  

7 πάλιν οὖν ⸂ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτούς⸃· Τίνα ζητεῖτε; οἱ δὲ εἶπαν· Ἰησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖον.

7 Iterum ergo interrogavit eos : Quem quaeritis? Illi autem dixerunt : Jesum Nazarenum.

8 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· Εἶπον ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι· εἰ οὖν ἐμὲ ζητεῖτε, ἄφετε τούτους ὑπάγειν·

8 Respondit Jesus : Dixi vobis, quia ego sum : si ergo me quaeritis, sinite hos abire.  

9 ἵνα πληρωθῇ ὁ λόγος ὃν εἶπεν ὅτι Οὓς δέδωκάς μοι οὐκ ἀπώλεσα ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐδένα.

9 Ut impleretur sermo, quem dixit : Quia quos dedisti mihi, non perdidi ex eis quemquam.  

10 Σίμων οὖν Πέτρος ἔχων μάχαιραν εἵλκυσεν αὐτὴν καὶ ἔπαισεν τὸν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως δοῦλον καὶ ἀπέκοψεν αὐτοῦ τὸ ⸀ὠτάριον τὸ δεξιόν. ἦν δὲ ὄνομα τῷ δούλῳ Μάλχος.

10 Simon ergo Petrus habens gladium eduxit eum : et percussit pontificis servum, et abscidit auriculam ejus dexteram. Erat autem nomen servo Malchus. 

11 εἶπεν οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῷ Πέτρῳ· Βάλε τὴν ⸀μάχαιραν εἰς τὴν θήκην· τὸ ποτήριον ὃ δέδωκέν μοι ὁ πατὴρ οὐ μὴ πίω αὐτό;

11 Dixit ergo Jesus Petro : Mitte gladium tuum in vaginam. Calicem, quem dedit mihi Pater, non bibam illum?

12 Ἡ οὖν σπεῖρα καὶ ὁ χιλίαρχος καὶ οἱ ὑπηρέται τῶν Ἰουδαίων συνέλαβον τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ ἔδησαν αὐτὸν

12 Cohors ergo, et tribunus, et ministri Judaeorum comprehenderunt Jesum, et ligaverunt eum.  

13 καὶ ⸀ἤγαγον πρὸς Ἅνναν πρῶτον· ἦν γὰρ πενθερὸς τοῦ Καϊάφα, ὃς ἦν ἀρχιερεὺς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐκείνου·

13 Et adduxerunt eum ad Annam primum : erat enim socer Caiphae, qui erat pontifex anni illius.

Annotations

    6. As soon therefore as he had said to them: I am he; they went backward, and fell to the ground.  They did not fall forward on their breasts, lest the power which threw them down should seem to have come from behind, but they fell backward, to make it plain that they were thrown down by the power of Christ’s words, and that they could not bear to behold His face or hear His words. For the words “I am” reminded them of what God said to Moses (Ex. iii) “I am that I am: this is My Name;” and I can annihilate you if I will. And therefore ye are those who are not: for all your being ye receive not from yourselves, but directly from Me. The tropological and allegorical meaning I have given Matt. xxvi.50.

    8. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way. Why was this? (1.) That He might by His own death alone redeem the world. “He removed His disciples out of danger,” says S. Cyril, “as knowing that the contest and the work of our salvation pertained to Him alone, as being the work of a ruler and not of one under him.” (2.) Because He destined the Apostles to succeed Him, and spread His truth over the world after His death and Resurrection. (3.) To show His great love and care for them, as a shepherd careth for his sheep, as S. John suggests in the next verse.

    9. That the word might be fulfilled which he said: Of them whom thou hast given me, I have not lost any one, i.e. of the eleven Apostles which Thou gavest Me: for Judas, as the son of perdition, was not given Him absolutely of the Father. But of what loss and death does Christ here speak: of the soul or of the body? Some say one, some another. But I say, both of body and soul. For they would have perished in the body if they had been seized and slain together with Jesus, more especially because Peter had withstood them and had wounded Malchus. They would have also perished in their souls, because they would have denied Christ in their weakness, and from fear of the threats of the Jews, just as Peter denied Him. And so, when killed by the Jews they would have perished both in body and soul. For they would have died in the mortal sin of denial. So Rupertus, Cajetan, Ribera, F. Lucas, Toletus, and others.

    10. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus. He mentions the name of the servant to signify the mystery. For Malchus is the same as “king.” But as the servant of the High Priest he signifies the Jewish people, which was formerly a kingly and free power, but afterwards became subject to the Priesthood, which burdened it with its traditions and ceremonies, and also preyed upon it. See Matt. xxiii. Now this man, when S. Peter and the Apostles preached the Gospel, lost his right ear on account of his unbelief and hatred of Christ: that is, he became deaf to the Gospel, and to those things which were necessary to salvation, till the Lord converted him, and healed his ear. So S. Cyril (in loc.), S. Ambrose on Luke xxii, and S. Jerome on Matt. xxvi. S. Ambrose adds that S. Peter wished to imitate the zeal of Phinehas, who slew a prince of Israel who committed fornication with the daughters of Moab: and thus obtained the High Priesthood (Num. xxv.) The love therefore of S. Peter, and his zeal for Christ, lessened his fault. And yet he sinned in drawing his sword without consulting Christ, more especially when he had heard just before from His own lips, that He was going of His own accord to His Passion and Death.

    12. Then the band and the tribune, and the servants of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound him: By Whom they should have wished to be set free. And maybe they were of the number of those who, when afterwards set free by Him, said, “Thou hast broken my bonds:” (Ps. cxv. 14), says S. Augustine. Christ, had He so willed, would have broken all the bonds of the Jews more easily than Samson burst the hempen bonds of Delilah (Judges xv. 9). But He would not—(1.) In order to expiate the sin of Adam which he committed with His hands. For since the first Adam too readily stretched forth his hands to the forbidden fruit, Christ the second Adam was willing to be bound in order to expiate the sins of Adam and his posterity, which are most commonly wrought with the hands.

    (2.) To fulfil the type: for Isaac, who was a type of Christ, was bound when about to be offered by Abraham. For the victims were bound, lest they should struggle against being offered (Gen. xxii. 9).

    (3.) That by having taken on Him these bonds from love of us, He might bind us with the cords of love, as is said (Hos. xi. 4), “I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love”

    Moreover, it is clear that the Jews firmly and cruelly bound Christ, both from the intense hatred with which they, and their masters the Chief Priests, burnt against Him, as wishing to avenge their ignominious fall which they had suffered at His hands, and the violence of St. Peter towards Malchus and themselves. See notes on Matt. xxvi. 55.

    13. And they led him away to Annas first, for he was father in law to Caiphas, who was the high priest of that year. But why did Judas and the Jews lead Him first to Annas, and not to Caiaphas, when He had to be judged by Caiaphas (as High Priest), and not by Annas?

    I answer (1.) To pay honour to Annas, as being the elder, and father-in-law to Caiaphas, whom “Caiaphas honoured as father,” says Euthymius, and by whose counsel he governed the people. (2.) The house of Annas was in the way to that of Caiaphas. (3.) Because Annas especially wished and arranged for the seizure of Christ. And hence the soldiers lead Him as it were in triumph, in order to delight him, and that they, in return, themselves might obtain some reward for so doing. (4.) To summon Annas (who on the previous evening had gone to his own house, on account of the cold) to attend the council which was about to be held the next morning at the house of Caiaphas to try Jesus. (5.) And specially, because Annas had promised Judas the reward of his betrayal, Judas therefore takes Jesus to his house, to obtain from him the thirty pieces he had promised, and, as S. Cyril thinks, he then actually received. And this is inferred from the fact that in the first agreement with the Rulers, the money was only promised, not paid (see Matt. xxvi.15). Judas therefore received them this very night at the house of Annas, and shortly afterwards, in sorrow at what he had done, threw them down in the temple (Matt. xxvii. 3). For he could not receive them at the house of Caiaphas, who was so engaged in finding false witnesses, in examining Christ, in summoning the Council, &c., that he had no time to treat with Judas. And Judas does not appear to have gone with the soldiers further than to the house of Annas, or to have entered the house of Caiaphas. For if Judas had been there, Peter would not have gone in, for fear of Judas betraying him. For if Judas had been present in the house of Caiaphas when Peter thrice denied Christ, he would certainly have either publicly convicted him of falsehood, or have secretly informed the servants that Peter was a fellow-disciple of Christ, in order that they might apprehend him.

    The High Priest that same year. Because the Roman Governors often changed the High Priests every year, and created new ones; though it was peculiar to Pilate that he did not remove Caiaphas whom he found High Priest: who accordingly held the High Priesthood for the whole three years of Christ’s ministry.

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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.