Quomodo alia vice voluerunt lapidare Jesum
The Wolves Confront the Lamb
At the feast of Dedication, a hostile crowd surrounds Jesus in Solomon's portico, demanding that he plainly declare whether he is the Christ.
On another occasion, at the feast of the Dedication — that is, the feast of the dedication of the temple — when the Lord Jesus was in the portico of Solomon, those rapacious wolves surrounded him with the greatest fury, gnashing their teeth and saying, "How long will you keep taking our lives from us?"✦ "If you are the Christ, tell us openly."✦
The Gentle Answer and the Call to Contemplate
Jesus meekly responds that his works bear witness to him, and the devotional narrator urges the reader to contemplate this scene attentively.
But the most gentle Lamb answered them humbly, saying, "I speak to you, and you do not believe me."✦ The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me.✦ Look at him now carefully, for God's sake, and consider the whole matter.
Hidden Rage and the Raised Stones
Despite Christ's meek words, the crowd's concealed malice erupts as they take up stones against him.
He himself was indeed speaking to them humbly, but they were raging against him with the barking of dogs, making a great noise from every side as they surrounded him, and at last they could not hide the poison in their hearts. So they took up stones to throw at him.✦
Gentle Words Before Stone and Blasphemy Charge
Jesus gently questions which work merits their stones, and the crowd answers by accusing him of blasphemy for making himself God.
But the Lord Jesus, having spoken to them nonetheless with gentle words, said, "I have shown you many good works; for which of their works do you wish to stone me?"✦ And what grief among the sorrows: because you, a human being, make yourself God.✦
Madness, Inexcusable Unbelief, and Withdrawal Beyond the Jordan
The narrator marvels at the crowd's irrational rage and culpable unbelief, then recounts Jesus's escape across the Jordan where he remains with his disciples.
See the astonishing madness. They themselves wanted to know that he was the Christ, and because he proved this by his words and works, they wanted to stone him.✦ They can have no excuse anywhere, because they were able and ought to have believed that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God. Because in fact his hour had not yet come, he escaped from their hands and withdrew across the Jordan to the place where John had baptized, which is ten miles from Jerusalem, and there he stayed with his disciples.✦
Sorrowful Withdrawal and Compassion for Persecutors
Jesus and his disciples withdraw in sorrow, and the text notes his deep compassion even for those who sought to kill him.
Observe therefore how he and his disciples withdrew in sorrow, and sympathized with them with all his power.
Read the original Latin
Cum quadam alia vice in festo Encoeniorum^ id est in festo dedicationis templi, Dominus Jesus esset in porticu Salomonis, circumdederunt eum lupi illi rapaces cum furore maximo, stridentes dentibus, et dicentes: Usquequo tollis animas nostras? Si tu es Christus, dic nobis palam. At mitissimus agnus humiUter respondit eis dicens: Loquor vobis, et non credilis mihi. Opera quce ego facio in nomine patris mei, tcstimonium perhibent de me. Conspice ipsum nunc bene pro Deo, et totum negotium. Ipsc quidem eis humiUtcr loquebatur, ilU vero cum furore caninis latratibus perstrepebant in eum, ex omni parte sicut eum circumdabant, tandcm non potuerunt occuUare venenum cordis. Acceperunt igitiu" lapides, ut jacerent in eum. Sed Dominus Jesus nihilominus blando sermone locutus est eis, dicens: MuUa bonaoperaostendi vobis; propter quod eorum opus vultis me lapidarc?
Et iUi inter aUa: Quia tu, homo cum sis, facis te ipsum Deum. Vide mirabilem insaniam. Ipsi volebant eum scire Christum; et quia verbis et operibus hoc comprobabat, volebant eum lapidare. Ncc aUquam excusaUonem habere possunt, quia potuerunt et debuerunt crederc Dominum Jesum fuisse fiUum Dei. Quia vero necdum vencrat hora ejus, exivit de manibus eorum, et rcccssit trans Jordanera ad locum, ubi Joannes bapUzaverat, qui distat a Jerusalem pcr dccem et oclo miUiaria, et ibi stabat cum discipuUs suis. Conspice ergo tam eum, quam discipulos contristatos recedere, et eis compatere toto posse
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.10.22-John.10.24 — Then the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, John.10.23 — And Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. John.10.24 — So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
- ↩John.10.24 — So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
- ↩John.10.25 — Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name — these testify about me."
- ↩John.10.25 — Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name — these testify about me."
- ↩John.10.31 — Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him.
- ↩John.10.32 — Jesus answered them, 'I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you going to stone me?'
- ↩John.10.33 — The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for a good work, but for blasphemy — and because you, a man, make yourself God."
- ↩John.10.31-John.10.33 — Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him. John.10.32 — Jesus answered them, 'I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you going to stone me?' John.10.33 — The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for a good work, but for blasphemy — and because you, a man, make yourself God."
- ↩John.7.30;John.10.39-John.10.40 — So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. John.10.39 — Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped out of their hands. John.10.40 — And again He went beyond the Jordan to the place where John was at first baptizing, and He remained there.
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion
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