Augustine on Psalm XXII
The Sunday next before Easter
Palm Sunday
Augustine on Psalm XXII
Palm Sunday Home
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility; Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
To be said daily, after the Collect appointed for othe day, until Good Friday
Source: Sacramentary of Galesius, Bishop of Rome [494 AD]. "Palms" were carried by people on this Sunday in remembrance of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem.Isaiah 53, Psalm 97, 110 | 22, 23 , Philippians ii. 5. St. Matthew xxvii. 1.
Homilies
For many dogs are come about me, and the council of the wicked layeth siege against me. They pierced my hands and my feet: I may tell all my bones: they stand staring and looking upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O LORD; thou art my succour, haste thee to help me.
READINGS
Isaiah 53
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Philippians ii. 5.
LET this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
St. Matthew xxvii. 1.
WHEN the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: and when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me. And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. When he was set down on the judgment-seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there; and set up over his head his accusation written,
THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS
Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
To the end, for the taking up of the morning, a psalm of David. [595]
1. "To the end," for His own resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself speaketh. [596] For in the morning on the first day of the week
was His resurrection, whereby He was taken up, into eternal life, "Over
whom death shall have no more dominion." [597] Now what follows is
spoken in the person of The Crucified. For from the head of this Psalm
are the words, which He cried out, whilst hanging on the Cross,
sustaining also the person of the old man, whose mortality He bare. For
our old man was nailed together with Him to the Cross. [598]
2. "O God, my God, look upon me, why hast Thou forsaken [599] me far
from my salvation?" (ver. 1). Far removed from my salvation: for
"salvation is far from sinners." [600] "The words of my sins." For
these are not the words of righteousness, but of my sins. For it is the
old man nailed to the Cross that speaks, ignorant even of the reason
why God hath forsaken him: or else it may be thus, The words of my sins
are far from my salvation.
3. "My God, I will cry unto Thee in the daytime, and Thou wilt not hear
(ver. 2). My God, I will cry unto Thee in the prosperous circumstances
of this life, that they be not changed; and Thou wilt not hear, because
I shall cry unto Thee in the words of my sins. "And in the
night-season, and not to my folly." And so in the adversities of this
life will I cry to Thee for prosperity; and in like manner Thou wilt
not hear. And this Thou doest not to my folly, but rather that I may
have wisdom to know what Thou wouldest have me cry for, not with the
words of sins out of longing for life temporal, but with the words of
turning to Thee for life eternal.
4. "But Thou dwellest in the holy place, O Thou praise of Israel" (ver.
3). But Thou dwellest in the holy place, and therefore wilt not hear
the unclean words of sins. The "praise" of him that seeth Thee; not of
him who hath sought his own praise in tasting of the forbidden fruit,
that on the opening of his bodily eyes he should endeavour to hide
himself from Thy sight.
5. "Our Fathers hoped in Thee." All the righteous, namely, who sought
not their own praise, but Thine. "They hoped in Thee, and Thou
deliveredst them" (ver. 4).
6. "They cried unto Thee, and were saved." They cried unto Thee, not in
the words of sins, from which salvation is far; and therefore were they
saved. "They hoped in Thee, and were not confounded" (ver. 5). "They
hoped in Thee," and their hope did not deceive them. For they placed it
not in themselves.
7. "But I am a worm, and no man" (ver. 6). But I, speaking now not in
the person of Adam, but I in My own person, Jesus Christ, was born
without human generation in the flesh, that I might be as man beyond
men; that so at least human pride might deign to imitate My humility.
"The scorn of men, and outcast of the people." In which humility I was
made the scorn of men, so as that it should be said, as a reproachful
railing, "Be thou His disciple:" [601] and that the people despise Me.
8. "All that saw Me laughed Me to scorn" (ver. 7). All that saw Me
derided Me. "And spake with the lips, and shook the head." [602] And
they spoke, not with the heart, but with the lips.
9. For they shook their head in derision, saying, "He trusted in the
Lord, let Him deliver Him:" [603] "let Him save Him, since He desireth
Him" (ver. 8). These were their words; but they were spoken "with the
lips."
10. "Since Thou art He who drew Me out of the womb" (ver. 9). Since
Thou art He who drew Me, not only out of that Virgin womb (for this is
the law of all men's birth, that they be drawn out of the womb), but
also out of the womb of the Jewish nation; by the darkness whereof he
is covered, and not yet born into the light of Christ, whosoever places
his salvation in the carnal observance of the Sabbath, and of
circumcision, and the like. "My hope from My mother's breasts." "My
hope," O God, not from the time when I began to be fed by the milk of
the Virgin's breasts; for it was even before; but from the breasts of
the Synagogue, as I have said, out of the womb, Thou hast drawn Me,
that I should not suck in the customs of the flesh.
11. "I have been strengthened in Thee from the womb" (ver. 10). It is
the womb of the Synagogue, which did not carry Me, but threw Me out:
but I fell not, for Thou heldest me. "From My mother's womb Thou art My
God." "From My mother's womb: My mother's womb did not cause that, as a
babe, I should be forgetful of Thee.
12. "Thou art My God," "depart not from Me; for trouble is hard at
hand" (ver. 11). Thou art, therefore, My God, depart not from Me; for
trouble is nigh unto Me; for it is in My body. "For there is none to
help." For who helpeth, if Thou helpest not?
13. "Many calves came about Me." The multitude of the wanton populace
came about Me. "Fat bulls closed Me in" (ver. 12). And their leaders,
glad at My oppression, "closed Me in."
14. "They opened their mouth upon Me" (ver. 13). They opened their
mouth upon Me, not out of Thy Scripture, but of their own lusts. "As a
ravening and roaring lion." As a lion, whose ravening is, that I was
taken and led; and whose roaring, "Crucify, Crucify." [604]
15. "I was poured out like water, and all My bones were scattered"
(ver. 14). "I was poured out like water," when My persecutors fell: and
through fear, the stays of My body, that is, the Church, My disciples
were scattered from Me. [605] "My heart became as melting wax, in the
midst of my belly." My wisdom, which was written of Me in the sacred
books, was, as if hard and shut up, not understood: but after that the
fire of My Passion was applied, it was, as if melted, manifested, and
entertained in the memory of My Church.
16. "My strength dried up as a potsherd" (ver. 15). My strength dried
up by My Passion; not as hay, but a potsherd, which is made stronger by
fire. "And My tongue cleaved to My jaws." And they, through whom I was
soon to speak, kept My precepts in their hearts. "And Thou broughtest
Me down to the dust of death." And to the ungodly appointed to death,
whom the wind casteth forth as dust from the face of the earth, [606]
Thou broughtest Me down.
17. "For many dogs came about Me" (ver. 16). For many came about Me
barking, not for truth, but for custom. "The council of the malignant
came about Me." The council of the malignant besieged Me. [607] "They
pierced My hands and feet." They pierced with nails My hands and feet.
18. "They numbered distinctly all My bones" (ver. 17). They numbered
distinctly all My bones, while extended on the wood of the Cross. "Yea,
these same regarded, and beheld Me." Yea, these same, that is,
unchanged, regarded and beheld Me.
19. "They divided My garments for themselves, and cast the lot upon My
vesture" [608] (ver. 18).
20. "But Thou, O Lord, withhold not Thy help far from Me" (ver. 19).
But Thou, O Lord, raise Me up again, not as the rest of men, at the end
of the world, but immediately. "Look to My defence." "Look," that they
in no wise hurt Me.
21. "Deliver My soul from the sword." "Deliver My soul" from the tongue
of dissension. "And My only One from the hand of the dog" (ver. 20).
And from the power of the people, barking after their custom, deliver
My Church.
22. "Save Me from the lion's mouth:" save Me from the mouth of the
kingdom of this world: "and my humility from the horns of the unicorns"
[609] (ver. 21). And from the loftiness of the proud, exalting
themselves to special pre-eminence, and enduring no partakers, save My
humility.
23. "I will declare Thy name to My brethren" [610] (ver. 22). I will
declare Thy name to the humble, [611] and to My Brethren that love one
another as they have been beloved by Me. [612] "In the midst of the
Church will I sing of Thee." In the midst of the Church will I with
rejoicing preach Thee.
24. "Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him." "Ye that fear the Lord," seek
not your own praise, but "praise Him." "All ye seed of Jacob, magnify
Him" (ver. 23). All ye seed of him whom the elder shall serve, magnify
Him.
25. "Let all the seed of Israel fear Him." Let all who have been born
to a new life, and restored to the vision of God "fear Him." "Since He
hath not despised, nor disregarded the prayer of the poor man" (ver.
24). Since He hath not despised the prayer, not of him who, crying unto
God in the words of sins was loath to overpass a vain life, but the
prayer of the poor man, not swollen up with transitory pomps. "Nor hath
He turned away His face from Me." As from him who said, I will cry unto
Thee, but Thou wilt not hear. "And when I cried unto Him He heard Me."
26. "With Thee is My praise" (ver. 25). For I seek not Mine own praise,
[613] for Thou art My praise, who dwellest in the holy place; and,
praise of Israel, Thou hearest The Holy One now beseeching Thee. "In
the great Church I will confess Thee." In the Church of the whole world
"I will confess Thee." "I will offer My vows in the sight of them that
fear Him." I will offer the sacraments of My Body and Blood in the
sight of them that fear Him.
27. "The poor shall eat, and be filled" (ver. 26). The humble and the
despisers of the world shall eat, and imitate Me. For so they will
neither desire this world's abundance, nor fear its want. "And they
shall praise the Lord, who seek Him." For the praise of the Lord is the
pouring out of that fulness. "Their hearts shall live for ever and
ever." For that food is the food of the heart.
28. "All the borders of the earth shall remember themselves, and be
turned to the Lord" (ver. 27). They shall remember themselves: for, by
the Gentiles, born in death and bent on outward things, God had been
forgotten; and then shall all the borders of the earth be turned to the
Lord. "And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship in His sight."
And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship in their own
consciences.
29. "For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall rule over the nations"
(ver. 28). For the kingdom is the Lord's, not proud men's: and He shall
rule over the nations.
30. "All the rich of the earth have eaten, and worshipped" [614] (ver.
29). The rich of the earth too have eaten the Body of their Lord's
humiliation, and though they have not, as the poor, been filled even to
imitation, yet they have worshipped. "In His sight shall fall all that
descend to earth." For He alone seeth how all they fall, who abandoning
a heavenly conversation, make choice, on earth, to appear happy to men,
who see not their fall.
31. "And My Soul shall live to Him." And My Soul, which in the contempt
of this world seems to men as it were to die, shall live, not to
itself, but to Him. "And My seed shall serve Him" (ver. 30). And My
deeds, or they who through Me believe on Him, shall serve Him.
32. "The generation to come shall be declared to the Lord" (ver. 31).
The generation of the New Testament shall be declared to the honour of
the Lord. "And the heavens shall declare His righteousness." And the
Evangelists shall declare His righteousness. "To a people that shall be
born, whom the Lord hath made." To a people that shall be born to the
Lord through faith.
Let us pray in the words of Augustine.
Turn we to the Lord God, the Father Almighty, and with pure hearts offer to him, so far as our
meanness can, great and true thanks, with all our hearts praying his exceeding kindness, that of
his good pleasure he would deign to hear our prayers, that by his Power he would drive out the
enemy from our deeds and thoughts, that he would increase our faith, guide our understandings,
give us spiritual thoughts, and lead us to his bliss, through Jesus Christ his Son our Lord, who
liveth and reigneth with him, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[A prayer which he was wont to use after his Sermons and Lectures.]
NPNF (V1-08) St. Augustine
Notes:
[595] [This was read on the anniversary of our Lord's passion, as
appears from the (omitted) Second Exposition.--C.]
[596] John xx. 1-17.
[597] Rom. vi. 9.
[598] Rom. vi. 6.
[599] Vid. Ps. xxxvii. S: 6 and xliii. S: 2, and Enarr. i. Ps. lviii.
S: 2, and Ep. 149. [Opp. S. August. ed Migne, tom. iv. pp. 399, 483,
691, etc.--C.]
[600] Ps. cxix. 155.
[601] John ix. 28.
[602] Matt. xxvii. 39.
[603] Matt. xxvii. 43.
[604] John xix. 6.
[605] Matt. xxvi. 56.
[606] Ps. i. 4.
[607] These seven words from the Oxford ms.
[608] [The garments he elsewhere makes the sacraments, his vesture the
undivided unity of the Church. See his Second Exposition, here
omitted.--C.]
[609] [The original Hebrew seems to me a foreshadowing of the Romans,
as Peres (Dan. v. 28) points to the Persians.--C.]
[610] [Here he makes Part II. to begin; i.e., the triumph over death
and the grave.--C.]
[611] Or, "to My Brethren that are humble, and," etc.
[612] John xvii. 6, 21.
[613] John viii. 50.
[614] [Here the African Psalter reads, "divites terrae," the
counterpart of pauperes in ver. 26. Would this had been followed in our
English, which makes a ludicrous transition in this sublime
prophecy.--C.]