Whether Christ Suffered in a Suitable Place?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ did not suffer in a suitable
place. For Christ suffered according to His human nature, which was
conceived in Nazareth and born in Bethlehem. Consequently it seems
that He ought not to have suffered in Jerusalem, but in Nazareth or
Bethlehem.
Obj. 2: Further, the reality ought to correspond with the figure. But
Christ's Passion was prefigured by the sacrifices of the Old Law, and
these were offered up in the Temple. Therefore it seems that Christ
ought to have suffered in the Temple, and not outside the city gate.
Obj. 3: Further, the medicine should correspond with the disease. But
Christ's Passion was the medicine against Adam's sin: and Adam was
not buried in Jerusalem, but in Hebron; for it is written (Josh.
14:15): "The name of Hebron before was called Cariath-Arbe: Adam the
greatest in the land of [Vulg.: 'among'] the Enacims was laid there."
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Luke 13:33): "It cannot be that a
prophet perish out of Jerusalem." Therefore it was fitting that He
should die in Jerusalem.
_I answer that,_ According to the author of _De Qq. Vet. et Nov.
Test.,_ qu. lv, "the Saviour did everything in its proper place and
season," because, as all things are in His hands, so are all places:
and consequently, since Christ suffered at a suitable time, so did He
in a suitable place.
Reply Obj. 1: Christ died most appropriately in Jerusalem. First of
all, because Jerusalem was God's chosen place for the offering of
sacrifices to Himself: and these figurative sacrifices foreshadowed
Christ's Passion, which is a true sacrifice, according to Eph. 5:2:
"He hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God
for an odor of sweetness." Hence Bede says in a Homily (xxiii): "When
the Passion drew nigh, our Lord willed to draw nigh to the place of
the Passion"--that is to say, to Jerusalem--whither He came five days
before the Pasch; just as, according to the legal precept, the
Paschal lamb was led to the place of immolation five days before the
Pasch, which is the tenth day of the moon.
Secondly, because the virtue of His Passion was to be spread over the
whole world, He wished to suffer in the center of the habitable
world--that is, in Jerusalem. Accordingly it is written (Ps. 73:12):
"But God is our King before ages: He hath wrought salvation in the
midst of the earth"--that is, in Jerusalem, which is called "the
navel of the earth" [*Cf. Jerome's comment on Ezech. 5:5].
Thirdly, because it was specially in keeping with His humility: that,
as He chose the most shameful manner of death, so likewise it was
part of His humility that He did not refuse to suffer in so
celebrated a place. Hence Pope Leo says (Serm. I in Epiph.): "He who
had taken upon Himself the form of a servant chose Bethlehem for His
nativity and Jerusalem for His Passion."
Fourthly, He willed to suffer in Jerusalem, where the chief priests
dwelt, to show that the wickedness of His slayers arose from the
chiefs of the Jewish people. Hence it is written (Acts 4:27): "There
assembled together in this city against Thy holy child Jesus whom
Thou hast anointed, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and
the people of Israel."
Reply Obj. 2: For three reasons Christ suffered outside the gate, and
not in the Temple nor in the city. First of all, that the truth might
correspond with the figure. For the calf and the goat which were
offered in most solemn sacrifice for expiation on behalf of the
entire multitude were burnt outside the camp, as commanded in Lev.
16:27. Hence it is written (Heb. 13:27): "For the bodies of those
beasts, whose blood is brought into the holies by the high-priest for
sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might
sanctify the people by His own blood, suffered without the gate."
Secondly, to set us the example of shunning worldly conversation.
Accordingly the passage continues: "Let us go forth therefore to Him
without the camp, bearing His reproach."
Thirdly, as Chrysostom says in a sermon on the Passion (Hom. i De
Cruce et Latrone): "The Lord was not willing to suffer under a roof,
nor in the Jewish Temple, lest the Jews might take away the saving
sacrifice, and lest you might think He was offered for that people
only. Consequently, it was beyond the city and outside the walls,
that you may learn it was a universal sacrifice, an oblation for the
whole world, a cleansing for all."
Reply Obj. 3: According to Jerome, in his commentary on Matt. 27:33,
"someone explained 'the place of Calvary' as being the place where
Adam was buried; and that it was so called because the skull of the
first man was buried there. A pleasing interpretation indeed, and one
suited to catch the ear of the people, but, still, not the true one.
For the spots where the condemned are beheaded are outside the city
and beyond the gates, deriving thence the name of Calvary--that is,
of the beheaded. Jesus, accordingly, was crucified there, that the
standards of martyrdom might be uplifted over what was formerly the
place of the condemned. But Adam was buried close by Hebron and Arbe,
as we read in the book of Jesus Ben Nave." But Jesus was to be
crucified in the common spot of the condemned rather than beside
Adam's sepulchre, to make it manifest that Christ's cross was the
remedy, not only for Adam's personal sin, but also for the sin of the
entire world.
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