Catena Aurea on Mark
Lecture 3
10. And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the Chief Priests, to betray Him unto them.
11. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.
BedeThe unhappy Judas wishes to compensate with the price of his Master for the loss which he thought he had made by the pouring out of the ointment. Where it is said: “And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the Chief Priests to betray Him unto them.”
Chrysostom, de Prod. Jud., Homily 1: Why dost thou tell me of his country? would that I could also have been ignorant of his existence. But there was another disciple called Judas the zealot, the brother of James, and lest by calling him by this name there should arise a confusion between the two, he separates the one from the other. But he says not Judas the traitor, that he may teach us to be guiltless of detraction, and to avoid accusing others. In that however he says, “one of the twelve”, he enhanced the detestable guilt of the traitor; for there were seventy other disciples, these however were not so intimate with Him, nor admitted to such familiar intercourse. But these twelve were approved by Him, these were the regal band, out of which the wicked traitor came forth.
Pseudo-Jerome: But he was one of the twelve in number, not in merit, one in body, not in soul. But he went to the Chief Priests after he went out and Satan entered into him. Every living thing unites with what is like itself.
BedeBut by the words, “he went out”, it is shown that he was not invited by the Chief Priests, nor bound by any necessity, but entered upon this design from the spontaneous wickedness of his own mind.
TheophylactIt is said, to “betray him unto them”, that is, to announce to them when He should be alone. But they feared to rush upon Him when He was teaching, for fear of the people.
Pseudo-Jerome: And he promises to betray Him, as his master the devil said before, “All this power I will give thee.” [Luke 4:6] It goes on, “And when they heard it they were glad, and promised to give him money.” They promise him money, and they lose their life, which he also loses on receiving the money.
ChrysostomOh! the madness, yes, the avarice of the traitor, for his covetousness brought forth all the evil. For covetousness retains the souls which it has taken, and confines them in every way when it has bound them, and makes them forget all things, maddening their minds. Judas, taken captive by this madness of avarice, forgets the conversation, the table of Christ, his own discipleship, Christ’s warnings and persuasion. For there follows, “And he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.”
Pseudo-Jerome: No opportunity for treachery can be found, such that it can escape vengeance here or there.
BedeMany in this day shudder at the crime of Judas in selling his Master, his Lord and his God, for money, as monstrous and horrible wickedness. They however do not take heed, for when for the sake of gain they trample on the rights of charity and truth, they are traitors to God, Who is Charity and Truth.
Lecture 4
12. And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, His disciples said unto Him: Where wilt Thou that we go and prepare that Thou mayest eat the Passover?
13. And He sendeth forth two of His disciples, and saith unto them: Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water - follow him.
14. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples?
15. And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.
16. And His disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as He had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover.
ChrysostomWhilst Judas was plotting how to betray Him, the rest of the disciples were taking care of the preparation of the Passover: where it is said, “And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, His disciples said unto Him, ‘Where wilt thou that we go and prepare where thou mayest eat the Passover?’”
BedeHe means by the first day of the Passover the fourteenth day of the first month, when they throw aside leaven, and were wont to sacrifice, that is, to kill the lamb at even. The Apostle explaining this says, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” [1 Cor 5:7]. For although He was crucified on the next day, that is, on the fifteenth moon, yet on the night when the lamb was offered up, He committed to His disciples the Mysteries of His Body and Blood, which they were to celebrate, and was seized upon and bound by the Jews; thus He consecrated the beginning of His Sacrifice, that is, of His Passion.
Pseudo-Jerome: But the unleavened bread which was eaten with bitterness, that is with bitter herbs, is our redemption, and the bitterness is the Passion of Our Lord.
TheophylactFrom the words of the disciples, “Where wilt thou that we go?”, it seems evident that Christ had no dwelling-place, and that the disciples had no houses of their own; for if so, they would have taken Him thither.
Pseudo-Jerome: For they say, “Where wilt thou that we go?”, to shew us that we should direct our steps according to the Will of God. But the Lord points out with whom He would eat the Passover, and after His custom He sends two disciples, which we have explained above; wherefore it goes on, “And He sendeth forth two of His disciples, and He saith unto them, ‘Go ye into the city.’”
TheophylactHe sent two of His disciples, that is, Peter and John, as Luke says, to a man unknown to Him, implying by this that He might, if He had pleased, have avoided His Passion. For what could not He work in other men, who influenced the mind of a person unknown to Him, so that he received them? He also gives them a sign how they were to know the house, when He adds, “And there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water.”
Augustine, de Con. Evan, ii, 80: Mark says a pitcher, Luke a two-handed vessel; one points out the kind of vessel, the other the mode of carrying it; both however mean the same truth.
BedeAnd it is a proof of the presence of His divinity, that in speaking with His disciples, He knows what is to take place elsewhere; wherefore it follows, “And His disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as He had said unto them; and they made ready the Passover.”
ChrysostomNot our Passover, but in the meanwhile that of the Jews; but He did not only appoint ours, but Himself became our Passover. Why too did He eat it? Because He was “made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law,” [Gal 4:4] and Himself gave rest to the Law. And lest any one should say that He did away with it, because He could not fulfil its hard and difficult obedience, He first Himself fulfilled it, and then set it to rest.
Pseudo-Jerome: And in a mystical sense the city is The Church, surrounded by the wall of faith, the man who meets them is the primitive people, the pitcher of water is the law of the letter.
BedeOr else, the water is the laver of grace, the pitcher points out the weakness of those who were to shew that grace to the world.
TheophylactHe who is baptized carries the pitcher of water, and he who bears baptism upon him comes to his rest, if he lives according to his reason; and he obtains rest, as being in the house. Wherefore it is added, “Follow Him.”
Pseudo-Jerome: That is, him who leads to the lofty place, where is the refreshment prepared by Christ. The lord of the house is the Apostle, Peter, to whom the Lord has entrusted His house, that there may be one faith under one Shepherd. [ref John 21:15] The large upper-room is the wide-spread Church, in which the Name of the Lord is spoken of, prepared by a variety of powers and tongues.
BedeOr else, the large upper-room is spiritually the Law, which comes forth from the narrowness of the letter, and in a lofty place, that is, in the lofty chamber of the soul, receives the Saviour. But it is designedly that the names both of the bearer of the water, and of the lord of the house, are omitted, to imply that power is given to all who wish to celebrate the true Passover, that is, to be embued with the Sacraments of Christ, and to receive Him in the dwelling-place of their mind.
TheophylactOr else, the lord of the house is the intellect, which points out the large upper room, that is, the loftiness of intelligences, and which, though it be high, yet has nothing of vain glory, or of pride, but is prepared and made level by humility. But there, that is, in such a mind Christ’s Passover is prepared by Peter and John, that is by action and contemplation.