And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing did they cast lots.
Read Chapter 27
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
But after they had crucified Him (see Vulg.). S. Matthew here studies brevity (as usual), and partly shrinks with horror from the crucifixion, not speaking of it as an actual occurrence, but only by the way. It is a doctrine of the faith that Christ was nailed, not merely tied, to the Cross. (See John xx25 , and Ps. xxii16.) But it is possible that ropes were used as well, so says S. Hilary (Lib. x. de Trin.). The ropes are to be seen in the Church of Santa Croce at Rome. Nonnus, in his paraphrase of S. John , says that Christ"s hands were fastened to the Cross with an iron band as well as by nails. The Cross, he says, was first raised up, and then a huge nail driven through both feet, laid one over the other. Some writers speak of a support for the feet to rest on, or a space hollowed out for the heels; and questions, too, are raised as to the number of the nails, whether three or four (or, as S. Bernard suggests, six), and the direction in which they were driven so as to cause the gr...
They divided his garments: This was accounted with the ancients the greatest infamy. It was never done with any but the most vile and worthless wretches; with men who possessed nothing more then their garments. This they did to our blessed Saviour; a punishment they did not think the two thieves deserving of. (St. Chrysostom)
That they distributed his clothes by casting lots for them rather than by cutting them up signifies the eternal incorruptibility of Christ’s body. The life and salvation of all things was hung from the tree of life with a thief on his left and a thief on his right. This demonstrates that the entire human race is called to the mystery of the Lord’s suffering.
