Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 26:30-35

"And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended in me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter answered and said unto him, If all shall be offended in thee, I will never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter saith unto him, Even if I must die with thee, [yet] will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples." — Matthew 26:30-35 (ASV)

Origen of Alexandria: When the disciples had eaten the bread of blessing and drunk from the cup of thanksgiving, the Lord instructed them, in return, to sing a hymn to the Father. And they go to the Mount of Olives, so that they may pass from height to height, because the believer can do nothing in the valley.

The Venerable Bede: Beautifully, after the disciples have been filled with the Sacraments of His Body and Blood and commended to the Father in a hymn of pious intercession, He leads them to the Mount of Olives. In this way, He teaches us by example how we ought, through the working of His Sacraments and the aid of His intercession, to ascend to the higher gifts of the virtues and the graces of the Holy Spirit, with which we are anointed in our hearts.¹

Rabanus Maurus: This hymn may be the thanksgiving that, according to John, our Lord offers up to the Father when He lifted up His eyes and prayed for His disciples and for those who would believe through their word. This is what the Psalm speaks of: The poor shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the LORD (Psalm 22:26).

St. John Chrysostom: Let those who rise from the table drunk like swine, with no thought but of eating, hear this; they should have given thanks and closed with a hymn. Let them hear this who will not wait for the final prayer in the sacred mysteries, for the last prayer of the mysteries represents that hymn. He gave thanks before He delivered the holy mysteries to the disciples, so that we also might give thanks. He sang a hymn after He delivered them, so that we also should do the same.

St. Jerome: Following this example of the Savior, whoever is filled and has drunk from the bread and cup of Christ may praise God and ascend the Mount of Olives, where there is refreshment after toil, solace for grief, and knowledge of the true light.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: By this He shows that people, confirmed by the power of the divine mysteries, are exalted to heavenly glory in shared joy and gladness.

Origen of Alexandria: The mount of mercy was also suitably chosen as the place from where to declare the offense of His disciples' weakness. This was done by One who was even then prepared not to reject the disciples who forsook Him, but to receive them when they returned to Him.

St. Jerome: He foretells what they would suffer so that, after it happened to them, they would not despair of salvation, but by repenting might be set free.

St. John Chrysostom: In this we see what the disciples were like both before and after the cross. They who could not stand with Christ while He was crucified became harder than adamant after His death. This flight and fear of the disciples is a demonstration of Christ's death against those infected with the heresy of Marcion. If He had been neither bound nor crucified, from where did the terror of Peter and the rest arise?

St. Jerome: And He adds emphatically, this night, because just as they that are drunk are drunk in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:7), so they that are scandalized are scandalized by night and in the dark.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: The credibility of this prediction is supported by the authority of ancient prophecy: It is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

St. Jerome: This is found in Zechariah in different words. It is said to God in the person of the Prophet, Smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered (Zechariah 13:7). The good Shepherd is smitten that He may lay down His life for His sheep, and so that out of many flocks from diverse errors, one flock and one Shepherd should be made.

St. John Chrysostom: He brings forth this prophecy to teach them to pay attention to the Scriptures and to show that His crucifixion was according to the counsel of God. He does this (as He does throughout) to show that He was not a stranger to the Old Testament, but that it prophesied of Him.

But He did not let them continue in sorrow; instead, He announced good news, saying, When I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. After His resurrection, He does not appear to them immediately from heaven, nor depart into any far country, but in the very same nation in which He was crucified, almost in the very same place. He did this to give them assurance that He who was crucified was the same as He who rose again, thereby cheering their downcast faces. He chooses Galilee so that, being delivered from their fear of the Jews, they might believe what He told them.

Origen of Alexandria: He also foretells this to them, so that those who were now somewhat dispersed because of the offense would afterward be gathered together by Christ, who would rise again and go before them into Galilee of the Gentiles.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: But Peter was carried away by such zeal and affection for Christ that he disregarded both the weakness of his flesh and the truth of the Lord's words, acting as if what He spoke did not have to come to pass. Peter answered and said to him, Though all should be offended because of you, yet will I never be offended.

St. John Chrysostom: What are you saying, Peter? The Prophet says, The sheep shall be scattered abroad, and Christ has confirmed it, yet you say, "Never." When He said, One of you shall betray me, you feared for yourself, although you were not conscious of such a thought. Now when He openly affirms, All you shall be offended, you deny it. But because he was relieved of the anxiety he had concerning the betrayal, he grew confident about the rest and therefore says, I will never be offended.

St. Jerome: It is not willfulness or falsehood, but the Apostle's faith and ardent attachment toward the Lord his Savior.

Remigius of Auxerre: From this we can learn a practical lesson: the more confident we are in the warmth of our faith, the more we should fear the weakness of our flesh. Peter seems culpable, first, because he contradicted the Lord's words; second, because he set himself before the rest; and third, because he attributed everything to himself, as if he had the power to persevere steadfastly. His fall, then, was permitted to heal this in him. It was not that he was driven to deny, but that he was left to himself and so became convinced of the frailty of his human nature.ⁱ

Origen of Alexandria: This is why the other disciples were offended by Jesus, but Peter was not only offended but, what is much more, was allowed to deny Him three times.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Perplexity may be caused for some by the great difference—not only in words, but in substance—of the speeches in which our Lord forewarns Peter, which occasion Peter's presumptuous declaration of dying with or for the Lord. Some would have us understand that he expressed his confidence three times, and that the Lord answered him three times that he would deny Him three times before the cock crowed. This would be similar to how, after His resurrection, He asked him three times if he loved Him and three times commanded him to feed His sheep.²

For what does Matthew have in language or substance that is like Peter's expressions in either Luke or John? Mark, indeed, relates it in nearly the same words as Matthew, only noting more precisely in the Lord's words how it would happen: Truly, I say to you, that this day, in this night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times (Mark 14:30).

This is why some inattentive people think there is a discrepancy between Mark and the others. The total number of Peter's denials is three. If the first one had been after the first cock-crow, then the other three Evangelists must be wrong when they have the Lord say that Peter would deny Him before the cock crowed. But on the other hand, if he had made all three denials before the cock began to crow, it would be redundant for Mark to say, "Before the cock crows twice." Since this threefold denial began before the first cock-crow, the three Evangelists noted not when it was to be concluded, but how often it was to happen and when it was to begin—that is, before the cock crowed.

Indeed, if we understand this in terms of Peter's heart, we may well say that the entire denial was complete before the first cock-crow, seeing that before then his mind was seized with the great fear that drove him to the third denial. Therefore, it should trouble us much less how the threefold denial, in three distinct speeches, was begun but not finished before the cock crowed. It is just as if one were to say, "Before the cock crows, you will write me a letter in which you will revile me three times." If the letter were begun before any cock crowed but not finished until after the first, we would not therefore say the prediction was false.

Origen of Alexandria: But you will ask whether it was possible for Peter not to have been offended, once the Savior had said, All of you will be offended in me. To this, one person will answer that what is foretold by Jesus must necessarily come to pass. Another will say that He who, at the prayer of the Ninevites, turned away the wrath He had pronounced through Jonah, might also have averted Peter's offense at his plea. But Peter's presumptuous confidence—prompted by zeal, indeed, but not a cautious zeal—became the cause not only of his offense but also of a thrice-repeated denial.

And since He confirmed it with an oath, someone will say that it was not possible for him not to have denied Him. For Christ would have spoken falsely when He said, Truly, I say to you..., if Peter's assertion, I will not deny you, had been true.

It seems to me that the other disciples, focusing not on what was first said (All of you will be offended), but on what was said to Peter (Truly, I say to you... etc.), made a similar promise because they were not included in the prophecy of denial. Peter said to him, Though I should die with you, yet will I not deny you. Likewise also said all the disciples.

Here again, Peter does not know what he is saying. He could not die with Him who was to die for all mankind, since all were in sin and needed someone to die for them, not for them to die for others.

Rabanus Maurus: Peter understood the Lord to have foretold that he would deny Him under the terror of death. Therefore, he declares that even if death were imminent, nothing could shake him from his faith. The other Apostles, in the warmth of their zeal, similarly did not fear the infliction of death. But human presumption is vain without divine aid.

St. John Chrysostom: I suppose also that Peter fell into these words through ambition and boastfulness. They had disputed at supper which of them would be greatest, from which we see that the love of empty glory greatly disturbed them. And so, to deliver him from such passions, Christ withdrew His aid from him.

Moreover, observe how after the resurrection, taught by his fall, he speaks to Christ more humbly and no longer resists His words. All this his fall accomplished for him. Before, he had attributed everything to himself, when he ought to have said, "I will not deny You if You help me with Your aid." But afterward, he shows that everything is to be ascribed to God: Why do you look so earnestly at us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk? (Acts 3:12).

From this, then, we learn the great doctrine that a person's will is not enough unless he enjoys divine support.

1. Luc., 22, 39
2. de Cons. Ev., iii, 4