MARY, OUR MOTHER

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #544

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." The Jews answered him: "We have a law; and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God." (John 19:4-7)

GOD TURNS EVEN EVIL TO HIS GLORY: The chief priests and scribes were obeying the dictates of hatred when they demanded that our Blessed Lord should be crucified. But while they thought to gratify their evil passions, they were unwillingly and unwittingly carrying out the degrees of God, and were the instruments of His compassionate and divine love. It was the eternal counsel of the Most Holy Trinity that the Incarnate Son of God should die on the Cross to work for us "a plentiful Redemption;" and not only the prophets, but our Blessed Lord Himself foretold distinctly that this was to be. Thus, while His enemies desired to obtain at any price that Jesus should be condemned to the ignominious death of the Cross, believing that they would thereby destroy His work for good and all, they in reality helped to complete it, and to fulfill the prophecies.

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

(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)