Book 16 of <Origen’s> explanations on the gospel according to Matthew.

Matt 20.17-19 - On Jesus’ Third Passion Prediction

1. As Jesus was about to ascend to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve aside in private in the way and said to them, etc., up to, And on the third day he will rise again ^[110]. For his part, Mark has recorded things that are of equivalent force to this passage when he says, “They were ascending to Jerusalem in the way, and Jesus was going before them,” etc., up to, “And on the third day he will rise again” ^[111]. Luke also seems to agree with these things when he writes, “Taking the Twelve aside, he said to them” etc., up to, “And they did not understand the things that were said” ^[112].

When Paul exhorts us to imitate him, even as he himself imitated Christ, and says, “Be imitators of me, just as I myself [am an imitator] of Christ” ^[113], he is thinking of the fact that Christ accepted the present troubles and <willingly> ascended to Jerusalem all the while knowing ahead of time that he will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes and will be condemned to death ^[114], etc., [and that] he^[7] had done something similar. For when Agabas took his “belt” and bound his hands and feet, he said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit: This is how they will bind the man who owns this belt” after he comes to “Jerusalem” ^[115]. After Paul learned these things, he willingly ascended to Jerusalem as though imitating [his] teacher. And after suffering something human^[8] for the sake of those who wept on account of [their] love for him and who were preventing “him from ascending to Jerusalem,” he said: “Why are you crying and crushing my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound for going to Jerusalem, but also to die for the sake of the name of my Lord, Jesus” ^[116]. When we contemplate these things, therefore, knowing that at some point painful trials may press upon [us], may <we ourselves> accept them in a suitable way, receiving the example of those who have gone before us, [namely], the Savior, and after him also his Apostle. You should not consider these things and what we have said about them (i.e., trials) to be opposed to, “If they drive you out of this city, flee to another one” ^[117], etc., and to when Jesus withdrew after hearing “that John was handed over” to prison ^[118]. For we affirm that it is not always fitting to turn away from dangers nor always [fitting] to accept them. Someone who is wise in Christ needs to test whether the time at hand requires withdrawal, or whether [it requires] the willingness for the struggle without any withdrawal. Let these things be said with regard to the intention of the scripture at hand as an exhortation to despise that which concerns the danger of death <at any time>.^[9]

2. Next we must observe that as Jesus was about to ascend to Jerusalem, since he took the twelve aside in private,^[10] Judas was still one of the Twelve, and he took Judas aside in private; for he was still worthy (it seems) to be included in private along with the rest of the eleven [disciples]. And at the time he spoke to them in the way, ‘Behold, we are ascending to Jerusalem’, etc., which makes it clear that the Teacher judged him to be one of those listening to the things He will suffer, not giving up hope because Judas was still ignorant of what he would do, as [is the case for] each of us (for indeed it is said to all of us, “Do not boast of the things of tomorrow, for you do not know what the following [day] will bring forth” ^[119]). For (I think) the devil had not yet cast “into the heart of Judas Simon Iscariot, in order that he might betray” Jesus ^[120].^[11] And since it is Matthew’s account that is before us now for inquiry, let one who is able, giving careful attention from the beginning of the gospel up to the passage at hand, inquire whether Matthew has made any mention of Judas at all, except in the list of the Twelve [where] he says, “<and> Judas Simon Iscariot, who indeed would betray him” ^[121]. We offered an even fuller account in confirmation^[12] of the fact that at first Judas was indeed similar to the rest of the apostles, when we were inquiring into “these Twelve Jesus sent out, after charging them saying” the things there recorded ^[122].^[13] One must compare, then, the things said here with the similar things recorded above,^[14] since there in reference to these words the Savior prophesied “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord. This will never happen to you!’” ^[123], but here the disciples are not recorded as having said or done anything with regard to the things [they] were told pertaining to the quite gloomy things yet to happen. Indeed I think that this is the reason that the disciples are silent now. Since in the passages above, when “Peter took” Jesus “aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord. This will never happen to you!,” Jesus “turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men” ^[124]. It is likely, therefore, that they who remembered the things spoken in response to Peter [would want] to be preserved from hearing these things or worse from the Teacher.

3. It would do no harm to set out the first text that is similar to the passage at hand which runs as such: “Then he expressly commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he is the Christ,” etc., up to, “and be raised up on the third day” ^[125]. After these things it is said that “Peter took him aside,” etc. ^[126]. Yet it was said above that the Savior was about “to be killed” ^[127], but here <indeed> the form of execution is written “to be crucified” ^[128]. So long, then, as Jesus was not handed over to the chief priests and scribes in Jerusalem ^[129], and was not mocked, or scourged, or crucified, Jerusalem endured and the so-called sanctuary was not cast down. But when they dared to do these things to Jesus, then those who delivered him over were forsaken and the chief priests ceased being chief priests since there are no chief priests after them. Then also those scribes who condemned Jesus to death, being sluggish in mind and blind in thought,^[15] did not see the intention of the holy writings. And all these <who> condemned Jesus to death were delivered over to the hostile death of Christ, and those who mocked Jesus became the object of mockery when “Jerusalem” was surrounded “by armies” at the time and “her desolation drew near” ^[130]. But all those who scourged Jesus were themselves scourged and are being scourged until “the fullness of the gentiles comes in” ^[131]. For “he who casts a stone to the heights casts [it] upon his own head” ^[132]. Indeed all these things took place so that the providential care (ἡ ἐπισκοπή) might be removed from them and turned over to those from the gentiles, those being saved for the remnant “according to election” ^[133]. For “unless the Lord Sabaoth had left” to them “a seed,” they would have become “as Sodom,” and they would have been made like “unto Gomorrah” ^[134]. I myself think that just as <the> ancient worship performed “with a copy and shadow of heavenly things” ^[135] is abrogated on account of the heavenly things [themselves], and when <the> true high priest comes [then] the symbolic high priest ceases, and when the true sacrifices for sins are performed the symbolic <sacrifices> are rescinded, so also in the same way when the true Jerusalem received Jesus as he ascended on his own body as a beast of burden (about whom indeed the daughter of Zion rejoiced exceedingly and the daughter of the Jerusalem above proclaimed) ^[136], then the Jerusalem that is a shadow was rescinded and the temple [made] from dead stones fell down on account of the temple of living stones <that will be raised up>. And the altar below was razed to the ground, since it corresponded to the heavenly one, with Jesus himself performing the re-consecration with the true worship.

If according to one way of signifying things the city is the men [who live in it], even now in Jerusalem [Ἱεροσολύμοις^[16]] (and in this way I am referring to those who have their hope set on the place on earth) Jesus is being handed over by the Jews who profess the service of God, and <those> who are, as it were, priests and the scribes who boast of explaining the divine letters are condemning Jesus to death through the things they say of him in malice. In fact there is no time when they are not delivering Jesus to the nations, mocking [both] him and his teaching to them, and are continually scourging with their tongues the divine religion through Jesus Christ.^[17] Indeed they crucify him through those whom they curse and desire to destroy his teaching. But he who is better than <all> of them is raised up after a brief interval and is shown as alive to the <gentiles who> have received sight. For now “who is blind (as Isaiah says from the person of God^[18]) <more> than my children. And who is deaf, more than those who rule over them?” ^[137]. For he speaks with a great and prophetic character and spirit: “Hear, O deaf ones, and O blind ones, look up to see. Who indeed is blind more than my servants, and who is deaf more than those who rule over them? Indeed the servants of God have been blinded” ^[138]. For Jesus came “into the world for judgment, in order that those who do not see (that is the nations) might see and those who see (Israel) might become blind” ^[139]. When indeed a light so great and true as this dawned and showed forth his own word which said, “Behold a man, East is his name” ^[140], they did not see the light, since “their vice blinded them, and they did not understand God’s mysteries” ^[141], and something unexpected happened to this nation and to the gentiles. For the nation [Israel] was looking at each of the prophets who were a lamp, but they did not understand the sun of righteousness when he dawned ^[142]. Wherefore even if they seemed to have some light, it has been taken away from them. But “the nation” of the gentiles “who was sitting in darkness saw a light,” not that small one which Israel [saw] (for each of the prophets was a small light), but “the people sitting in darkness saw a great light” ^[143], our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose greatness is displayed stretching “mightily from one end of the earth to the other end, and ordering” the churches “well” ^[144]. Then his Spirit filled the inhabited world, with that which was said by the prophet being fulfilled, “in the last days the mountain of God” will become “visible” ^[145]. Even now “all the gentiles are coming unto it” ^[146], and this [mountain] is Christ Jesus.