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SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #562

Pilate therefore went forth again and saith to them: "Behold, I bring him forth unto you, that you may know that I find no cause in him." (Jesus therefore came forth, bearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment.) And he saith to them: "Behold the Man." When the chief priests, therefore, and the servants had seen him, they cried out, saying: "Crucify him, Crucify him." Pilate saith to them: "Take him you, and crucify him: for I find no cause in him." (John 19:5-6)

ISRAEL IS NO LONGER THE PEOPLE OF GOD: With willful blindness God's chosen and highly-favored people disowned and rejected the Anointed of the Lord, the Messiah, for whom their fathers, the patriarchs and prophets, had yearned. Ever since that accursed cry "Crucify Him" was uttered, Israel has ceased to be the chosen people of God and of the Messiah; for it proved itself unfaithful to its God, its calling, its history, and its past. The fate of Israel has been a very marvelous and striking one. God prepared this people during two thousand long years for the coming of the Messiah. Every type and prophecy pointed to Him, and each day the Israelites prayed that He who was promised might speedily come. And yet when He came, full of grace and truth, to fulfill the law and the prophets, His people disowned, rejected, persecuted and killed Him! However, the delusion and passions of men could not frustrate the loving plans of divine wisdom; on the contrary, under the guidance of providence, they served to carry them out. The chosen people killed the Messiah and would not believe in Him, but Almighty God reserved to Himself a sufficient number of "true Israelites," that through them, that is, through the apostles, salavation might be proclaimed to the whole world. Salvation came out of Israel, and through her gave life to the nations of the world, even though, by their own fault, it turned to the destruction of the unbelieving Jews themselves. The vengeance which they desired and called down, fell upon them. 

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.] 

(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)