Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, saying,
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Likewise also the chief priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said. These were more fierce than the people against Christ, for they jest at His miracles, as though wrought not by the power of God, but by Beelzebub; or certainly as not real, but imaginary. For had they been wrought by God, He would certainly have delivered Him from the Cross. But His not doing it was a sign that He was an impostor. "For they wished Him to die as a boastful and arrogant deceiver," says S. Chrysostom, "and to be reviled in the sight of all men," that they might thus utterly stamp out His name and sect, so that no one might afterwards follow his teaching reverence and preach Him as the Messiah.
If Thou be the King of Israel. The King of the Jews, that Isaiah , the Messiah. "What is the connection here?" says S. Bernard (Serm. i. in Pasch.); "that He should descend from the Cross, if He be the King of Israel, and not rather go up on it? Hast thou, then, so entirely forgotten, 0 Jew, that "the L...
“Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him.” What a deceitful promise! Which is greater: to come down from the cross while still alive or to rise from the tomb while dead? He rose, and you do not believe. Therefore, even if he came down from the cross, you would not believe. Further, it seems to me that this would usher in the evil spirits. As soon as the Lord was crucified, they sensed the power of the cross and realized their own strength was broken. They were acting in this way to get him to come down from the cross. But the Lord, knowing the snares of his adversaries, remained on the cross that he may destroy the devil. .
