Quomodo Dominus Jesus rediit in Bethaniam
Christ's Virtuous Return to Suffering
Christ transitions from prudent withdrawal to courageous self-offering, exercising the four cardinal virtues for our instruction without inconsistency.
Just as in the preceding passages the Lord Jesus used prudence by fleeing for our instruction, showing that we must cautiously avoid the fury of those who pursue us according to the circumstances of time and place, so now he uses fortitude, because when the right time was near he willingly returned, in order to offer himself to the passion and hand himself over into the very hands of those who pursued him, just as on another occasion he used temperance when he fled from honor, when the crowds wanted to make him king. On the contrary, he used justice when he wished to be honored as a king, when the people met him with tree branches; yet he sufficiently willed that very honor, and so he mounted a donkey, as Bernard reports here. Therefore, with these four virtues — namely prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice — the Lord, the one of virtues, used them for our instruction. They are said to be cardinal and principal, because from them all other moral virtues descend. Therefore, he is not to have been considered variable or inconstant, nor anyone else who exercises himself in different virtues according to various occasions.
The Supper at Bethany
Jesus returns to Bethany and is anointed by Mary at a dinner in the house of Simon the leper, where Lazarus, Martha, and Mary are present.
Therefore the Lord Jesus returned on the Sabbath, the day before Palm Sunday, to Bethany, which is near Jerusalem, about two miles away, and there they made him a dinner in the house of Simon the leper; but Lazarus, Martha, and Mary were also there. For they were blood relatives, or very close household members, of this same Simon. Then Mary also, because not everything was yet completed, went and poured a pound of precious ointment over his head, and from it she anointed his head and feet.
Devotion, Contrition, and the Approach of Betrayal
The text moves through fragments of devotion, the approach of Palm Sunday, Judas's objection to Mary's anointing, and Jesus's defense of her.
And what he had done on a previous occasion in that same house out of contrition, he was now doing out of devotion. For he loved him above all things, and from then on was devoted to serving him with eager attentiveness, and so it continued. Comforted. Into the region near the wilderness, into the city of Ephrem, and— So the humble Lord fled before the face, lest— —in the branches of palm trees, —✦ He could not remain silent, but the traitor Judas murmured about this.✦ Because of this the Lord answered, and defended her in the fitting manner.✦
The Shadow of Betrayal and the Mother's Sorrow
Judas turns to betrayal after the anointing, while Jesus and his friends find refuge in Bethany, and the Virgin Mary is pierced by his words about his coming death.
Nevertheless, the betrayer remained indignant, and from that moment seized the occasion for his betrayal; and on the following Wednesday he sold the Lord Jesus for thirty silver pieces.✦✦ So picture him gathering with his own friends and talking with them during those few days — that is, right up to his Passion. But he stayed more often in the house of Lazarus; for that house, and his sister's, was his usual refuge. There he ate during the day and slept at night with his disciples. There also his mother, our Lady, rested with her sisters, and they all honored her greatly — especially Mary Magdalene, always at her side and never leaving her in any way. Consider then the Lady herself, standing in fear, thoroughly shaken on account of her most beloved son, and never separating herself from him at any time.✦ And when the Lord, defending Mary Magdalene from the murmuring of the betrayer, said, 'In pouring this ointment on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial' — don't you believe that the sword of those words pierced the mother's soul?✦✦✦ For what could he have said more clearly about his death? In the same way, all the others stood thoroughly frightened, full of anxious thoughts, talking among themselves — one with another, back and forth — in the manner of people who have harsh and difficult things to deal with. And they were especially afraid whenever he went into Jerusalem, which he did every day.
At the Threshold of the Passion
Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, and the reader is urged to gather their spirit fully for the contemplation of the Passion, dwelling meanwhile in Bethany.
From that Sabbath day all the way to the day of the Supper, Jesus spoke many things to the Jews and worked openly in Jerusalem — matters I don't intend to recount here, except for his arrival on a donkey, so that our meditation on that event not be hindered.✦ We are standing at the doors of the Passion. See to it: gather your whole spirit together, lest you be pulled in different directions. With a mind free from worry and fully alert, you can attend as much to these mysteries that lead up to the Passion as to the Passion itself. And meanwhile, dwell in Bethany with those who preach the word.
Read the original Latin
Sicut in superioribus ad instructionem nostram Dominus Jesus fugiendo usus est prudentia, ostendens quod pro loco et tempore furorem persequentium caute dechnare debemus; ita nunc uhturfortitudine, quia debito tempore imrainente, sponte redit, ut se offerat passioni, et se in manus ipsorum persequentium tradat: sicut ahas fuit usus temperantia, cum fugit honorem, quando turbae voluerunt eum facere regem. Ete contrario usus est jushtia, cum voluit tanquam rex honorari, quando populus cum ramis arborum occurrit eidem; satis raodesle tamen ipsum honorem voluit, et ideo asellum ascendit, ut hic refert Bernardus ^. istis igitur quatuor virtutibus, scihcet prudentia, forUtudine, temperanUa et justitia usus est Dominus virtutura propter nostram instruchonem. Dicuntur autem cardinales esse ac principales, quia ab eis omnes ahee virtutes morales descendunt. Non igitur aestimandus est fuisse varius, vel inconstans, sicut nec aliquis ahus, qui secundum diversos casus in diversis virtuhbus se exercet. Redit igitur Dominus Jesus die sabbaU * ante diem pahnarum in Bethaniam, quse est prope Hierusalem, quasi ad duo milliaria: et ibi fecerunt ei coenam in domo Simonis leprosi; sed et ibi fuerunt Lazarus, Martha et Maria. Erant enim consanguinei, vel multum domestici ejusdem Siraonis. Tunc autera Maria etiam quia nondum erant omnia completa, abiit fudit super caput ejus libram ungiieuh pretiosi, et ex eo unxit ei caput et pedes.
Et quod aha vice fecit in eadem domo ex contritione, nunc faciebat ex devohone. Diligebat enim eum super omnia, et de obsequendo eidem sahari Ephrem, et sic deinceps. consolatus. in regionem juxta deserlum in civitatem Effrem, et. sic fugit humilis Dominus ante faciem ne• Beru. , in Ramis palmurum, xn. non poterat, Sed murmuravit de hoc proditor Judas. Pro qua Dominus respondit, et eam debito more defendit.
Nihilominus tamen proditor indignatus remansit, et inde proditionis occasionem assumpsit, et die Mercurii sequenti Dominum Jesum pro triginta argenteis vendidit. Conspice igitur eum coeuantem cum illis suis amicis, et conversantem cum eis, illis paucis diebus, scilicet usque ad passionem suam; sed amplius in domo Lazari; domus namque ipsius, et sororis ejus, erat suum refugium generale. Ibi comedebat de die, et dormiebat de nocte cum discipulis suis. Ibi etiam mater ejus Domina nostra cum sororibus quiescebat, et multum honorabant eam omnes, et maxime Magdalena, semper sociando eam nec ab ea ullatenus discedendo. Conspice ergo ipsam Dominam, quae stat timore perterrita de dilectissimo fiUo suo, nec se ab illo ullo tempore separabat. Et cum Dominus defendens Magdalenam a mui^mure proditoris dixit: Mittens hcBC unguentim hoc in corpus meum, ad sepeliendum me fecit; an non credis, quod hujus verbi gladius matris animam pertransierit? Quid enim de morte sua poterat expressius dicere? Simihter et omnes ahi stabant perterriti, et anxiis cogitationibus pleni, coUoquentes ad invicem unus cum aUero hinc inde, more illorum qui habent dura et adversa tractare, et maxime timebant quando ibat in Hierusalem; quod faciebat quohbet die.
Multa enim ab ista die sabbati usque ad diem ccenaj locutus est Judaeis et operatus est palam in Hierusalem, de quibus nonintendo referre nisi dc adventu super aseUo, ne meditatio ipsius impediatur. Sumus enim in januis passionis. Vide, totum tuum recolUge spiritum, ne ad aha sis distracta: ut tam ad hfec mysteria quae preecedunt quam ad ipsam passionem, mente vacua curis, et valde pervigil possis intendere, et interimhbenter converseris in Belhania cum praedicUs
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.12.13 — They took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him, and they were shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!'
- ↩John.12.4-John.12.6 — But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was about to betray him, said, John.12.5 — Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? John.12.6 — He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he held the money bag and used to steal what was put into it.
- ↩Mark.14.6-Mark.14.9 — But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me." Mark.14.7 — For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish, you are able to do good to them; but you do not always have me. Mark.14.8 — She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. Mark.14.9 — And truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be spoken of, in memory of her.
- ↩Matt.26.15 — and he said, 'What are you willing to give me, and I will hand him over to you?' And they weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.
- ↩Zech.11.12-Zech.11.13 — And I said to them, "If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages; but if not, let it go." So they weighed out my wages — thirty pieces of silver. Zech.11.13 — And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter — the magnificent price at which I was valued by them." So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter.
- ↩Luke.2.35 — and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
- ↩Matt.26.12 — For in pouring this perfume on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.
- ↩Mark.14.8 — She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
- ↩Luke.2.35 — and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
- ↩Matt.21.1-Matt.21.11;Zech.9.9 — And when they had come near to Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, Matt.21.2 — saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. Matt.21.3 — And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and he will send them at once. Matt.21.4 — Now this took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, saying, Matt.21.5 — And "Say to daughter Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Matt.21.6 — So the disciples went and did just as Jesus had commanded them. Matt.21.7 — They brought the donkey and the colt, and they laid their garments on them, and he sat on them. Matt.21.8 — And most of the crowd spread their own garments on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. Matt.21.9 — The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed were shouting, saying, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!' Matt.21.10 — And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" Matt.21.11 — And the crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee." Zech.9.9 — Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king comes to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion
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