Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 26:55-58

"In that hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a robber with swords and staves to seize me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and ye took me not. But all this is come to pass, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him, and fled. And they that had taken Jesus led him away to [the house of] Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. But Peter followed him afar off, unto the court of the high priest, and entered in, and sat with the officers, to see the end." — Matthew 26:55-58 (ASV)

Origen of Alexandria: After commanding Peter to put away his sword—an act of patience—and healing the ear that was cut off—an act of the greatest mercy and divine power, as another Evangelist writesⁱ—it now follows that Jesus spoke to the crowds.

He said this so that if they could not remember his past goodness, they might at least acknowledge his present power: “Are you come out as against a thief with swords and staves to take me?”

Remigius of Auxerre: This is as if to say, “Robbers assault and seek to conceal themselves; I have injured no one, but have healed many, and have always taught in your synagogues.”

St. Jerome: It is foolish, then, to seek with swords and staves for Him who offers Himself to your hands, and to hunt for Him with a traitor, as if He were lurking under the cover of night, when He is one who teaches daily in the temple.

St. John Chrysostom: They did not lay hands on him in the temple because they feared the multitude; therefore, the Lord also went out so that he might give them the place and opportunity to take him. This, then, teaches them that if he had not allowed it of his own free will, they would never have had the strength to take him. The Evangelist then gives the reason why the Lord was willing to be taken, adding, “All this was done that the Scriptures of the Prophets might be fulfilled.”

St. Jerome: “They pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalm 22:16); and in another place, “He is led as a sheep to the slaughter,” and, “By the iniquities of my people was He led to death” (Isaiah 53:7-8).

Remigius of Auxerre: Because all the Prophets had foretold Christ's Passion, he does not cite any specific passage, but says generally that the prophecies of all the Prophets were being fulfilled.

St. John Chrysostom: The disciples who had remained when the Lord was arrested fled when he said these things to the crowds: “Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.” They fled because they then understood that he could not escape but was instead giving himself up voluntarily.

Remigius of Auxerre: In this act, the Apostles' frailty is shown. In the first fervor of their faith, they had promised to die with him, but in their fear, they forgot their promise and fled. We may see the same in those who undertake to do great things for the love of God but fail to fulfill what they have undertaken. They should not despair, but should rise again with the Apostles and recover themselves through repentance.

Rabanus Maurus: Mystically, just as Peter, who washed away the sin of his denial with tears, represents the recovery of those who fall away in a time of martyrdom, so the flight of the other disciples suggests the precaution of fleeing for those who feel they are unfit to endure torture.

St. Augustine of Hippo: “They that had laid hold on Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the High Priest.” But he was first taken to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, as John relates. And he was taken bound, as a tribune and a cohort were with the crowd, which John also records (John 18:12).¹

St. Jerome: But Josephus writesⁱ that this Caiaphas had purchased the priesthood for a single year, even though Moses, at God's command, had directed that high priests should succeed by inheritance and that the priests should likewise follow a succession by birth. It is no wonder, then, that an unrighteous high priest should judge unrighteously.

Rabanus Maurus: And the action suits his name; Caiaphas means “scheming” or “crafty” in executing his villainy, or “vomiting from his mouth” because of his audacity in speaking a lie and bringing about the murder. They took Jesus there so that they might do everything deliberately, as it follows: “Where the Scribes and the Elders were assembled.”

Origen of Alexandria: Where Caiaphas the High Priest is, there the Scribes are assembled—that is, the men of the letterⁱ, who preside over “the letter that killeth”—along with Elders who are old not in truth, but in the obsolete antiquity of the written law.

It follows, “Peter followed Him afar off.” He would neither stay close to him nor leave him altogether, but followed from a distance.

St. John Chrysostom: Great was the zeal of Peter, who did not flee when he saw the others flee, but remained and went inside. For although John also went in, he was known to the High Priest. Peter “followed afar off” because he was about to deny his Lord.

Remigius of Auxerre: For if he had stayed close to his Lord's side, he could never have denied him. This also shows that Peter should follow his Lord's Passion—that is, imitate it.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This also shows that the Church should follow, that is, imitate, the Lord's Passion, but with a great difference: the Church suffers for itself, but Christ suffers for the Church.²

St. Jerome: He went in either out of the devotion of a disciple or out of natural curiosity, seeking to know what sentence the High Priest would pronounce—whether death or scourging.

1. de Cons. Ev., iii, 6
2. Quaest. Ev., i, 46