'Seize them, let these go away' (John 18:8); for no one was able to be seized with him. This was said many…

'Seize them, let these go away' (John 18:8); for no one was able to be seized with him. This was said many times, that in order not to give a suspicion to the unstable, that he himself did not excel, but the one who suffered with him, he did not permit this. And when Peter said: 'I am ready to go with you even to prison' and to lay down 'my soul for you' (Luke 22:33; John 13:37), he says: Cease, 'before the rooster crows you will deny me three times' (Luke 22:34). If he had been suffering with him, it would have become doubtful for what reason this happened. And 'he gave himself for our sins' (Galatians 1:4). And the Father is also said to have given him; for this also happened by the good pleasure of the Father. But if Judas is said to have given him, he gave him in another way; he became his betrayer. Psalm 30:15-16: But I hoped in you, Lord; I said: You are my God. In your hands are my lots. Even if those did thus and were gathered together against me, having counseled to take my soul and having done the other things, yet I did not cease from hoping in you. 'I said: You are my God. In your hands are my lots.' The papal explanations say this, that the lots are in the hands of God, such as the ministry, the presbyter, the episcopate. And it is blessed to have in the hands of God the lots which one has been allotted. Such a one is unplotted against; for 'no one' snatches 'from the hand of the Father' (John 10:29). 'In your hands are my lots,' says the Savior. And that we may agree with the given interpretation, we say: those whom I allotted to serve me, whom I set in the Church as apostles and prophets and teachers, are in your hands. And it is possible — and Israel, when it was called 'my people,' was called his portion and inheritance —; all the nations have been given as inheritance to the Son. Many lots are the nations. These lots are in your hands, secured by your active and covering powers, so that no one is able to snatch from your hand; for 'no one' 'is able to snatch from the hand of the Father.' He did not say: unless someone makes himself outside the hand, he cannot be snatched by anyone. For some will say: and yet the diligent later were dragged into impiety. And that I may not speak from mere images, as Judas himself made himself outside the hand; for when it was night when he was considering the betrayal, he says: 'he went out; for it was night' (John 13:30). 'My lots,' then; each of those believing in me is my lot. He is in your hands, equal to inheritance; for the lot follows the inheritance when it is reckoned among many. We speak this also more amply: the hands of God are the two covenants. If someone is his lot, he is in his hands. Psalm 30:16: Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those persecuting me. Not all enemies persecute; but all who persecute are enemies. That the not persecuting here is not for taking, but for ambushing: 'The enemy said: Having pursued I will overtake' (Exodus 15:9). This persecution is not done for the sake of imitation. But one must love those persecuting righteousness. Those persecuting righteousness persecute it for the sake of sharing in it and becoming according to it, as if someone should pursue knowledge in order to contemplate according to knowledge. So also 'seek peace and pursue it' (Psalm 34:14) must be taken. It can be taken more ethically thus: since the hand of the enemies and of those persecuting me is wickedness, a forbidden action, deliver me from this action, lest I fall under their evils, their action. Psalm 30:17: Make your face shine upon your servant, save me in your mercy. If you raise me and make me outside those persecuting, you made your face shine. And I am your face, the 'exact imprint of your hypostasis' (Hebrews 1:3), your 'image' 'of the invisible God' (Colossians 1:15). But since I took 'the form of a servant' (Philippians 2:7), 'make your face shine upon your servant.' Show that this servant has your form, your face dwelt in this servant, that the 'deliver me' may be said according to the thought of the servant, but the 'face' according to the thought of the truth, of the imprint of the divine hypostasis. 'In your mercy,' then, 'save me.' Raise me from the dead. And perhaps he also calls his own salvation the salvation for those for whom he came, that he might become to them 'a cause of eternal salvation' (Hebrews 5:9). Psalm 30:18: Let me not be ashamed […]