The Winging of the Man of Peace

He was handed over, and having gone away, he approached with life as a burden. All my enemies were whispering against me; none of them spoke against me with boldness. And you find the Jews seeking how they might take him secretly; they were whispering to Judas, and he to them; for he did not enter a synagogue and shout this: 'What do you want to give me, and I will hand him over to you?' (Matt 26:14-15). Indeed, they themselves did not come to seize him for forty days.

This is what Jesus himself says: 'I teach every day' (Matt 26:21) in the synagogue, and now 'as if I had come to a robber.' They set a lawless word against me. They were reading the Scriptures 'every Sabbath' so that they might learn the things of the law. And from the opposite, it was necessary for those reading with the law to know who is the one prophesied and testified to by the Scriptures; they set a lawless word against me, saying: 'This one does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub.' 'If this man were from God, he would not have loosed the Sabbath' (John 11:45). 'Is it not bad that we say, "You are a Samaritan and have a demon"?' This is the one against whom they set a lawless word. And it is possible, since even in the legal briefs 'he set' is often taken; voices were set against Pilate concerning him.

Does he who is sleeping not add to rising? Rather, he himself says: since death surrounded me, I slept; for in the Scriptures the name of sleep sometimes signifies death. Sleep is also called slumber, and the union of a man with a woman is called sleep. And death is also called sleep according to the Scripture because of the expectation of the resurrection; for just as he who sleeps, if he suffers no harm to nature, might be raised, so the dying man will be raised. Thus indeed it is said, 'all shall sleep,' and, 'I do not want you to be ignorant concerning those who have slept' (Acts 1:3), that is, concerning mortals. For the Greeks say this.

And indeed the man of my peace, on whom I hoped. The 'I hoped' here means 'I took courage' concerning the man;an;an; for the Gospel also mentioned this, that this one 'the man of my peace lifted up a wing'; for they were saying that even in the fourth Psalm of Pentecost concerning him it says, 'But you, O man, my equal soul' (Ps 41:9). 'If my enemy...

He would have mocked me, or even if the one hating me had magnified himself against me, I would have been hidden from him. But you, my soul's equal—we take this regarding the one of one accord, and again 'the woman in your bosom' is your equal—'my leader and my savior'. They had as leader, not as ruler, but as my leader, running before me. And here: 'the man of my peace, in whom I hoped' (Ps 4:7).

It is nothing wonderful if you whispered against me and set a lawless word against me, if 'the man of my peace' has become the beginning of this evil of yours. Therefore he 'raised up' 'the wing', not the head 'against me'. The one eating my bread magnified a winging against me. 'The man of my peace, in whom I hoped' (Ps 4:7), 'he raised up his wing against me', he wished to wing me. It is a fluttering... and Jacob is called a winger; for he winged Esau when he took the blessing of the elder. To set upon someone with deceit is called a winging. It is someone... to lead them so that he might take his garment. And he who deceives toward the death of someone...

But you, Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up, and I will repay them. Make me outside of the evils and of the bad winging of the lawless word which they set against me. These things again are said more humanly concerning the man Jesus. 'But you, Lord, have mercy, and I will repay them.' I shall be their judge. The one who rises to repay and to judge, as he finds the dispositions, gives back. Many, having experienced harm or seeing that they once condemned him, himself is about to judge them, according to: 'they shall look upon him whom they crucified' (Jn 19:37), they come into knowledge and they know how the due retribution persists toward them.

In this I knew that you willed me. This is knowledge and proof that it is your will to have me; for in this they shall know me. The 'in this I knew' does not refer so much to his own knowledge, but rather that those of mine shall be known in this. Above all, having been condemned, will they know him?—all having received a perception of his greatness, whether they were enemies before or acquaintances. Because my enemy shall by no means be pleased with me. When I am shown as your will, when I rise and...