Chapter XXIV.

After this, wishing to prove that the occurrences which befell Him were painful and distressing, and that it was impossible for Him, had He wished, to render them otherwise, he proceeds:  “Why does he mourn, and lament, and pray to escape the fear of death, expressing himself in terms like these:  ‘O Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me?’”211    Matt. xxvi. 39.  Now in these words observe the malignity of Celsus, how not accepting the love of truth which actuates the writers of the Gospels (who might have passed over in silence those points which, as Celsus thinks, are censurable, but who did not omit them for many reasons, which any one, in expounding the Gospel, can give in their proper place), he brings an accusation against the Gospel statement, grossly exaggerating the facts, and quoting what is not written in the Gospels, seeing it is nowhere found that Jesus lamented.  And he changes the words in the expression, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me,” and does not give what follows immediately after, which manifests at once the ready obedience of Jesus to His Father, and His greatness of mind, and which runs thus:  “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”212    Matt. xxvi. 39.  Nay, even the cheerful obedience of Jesus to the will of His Father in those things which He was condemned to suffer, exhibited in the declaration, “If this cup cannot pass from Me except I drink it, Thy will be done,” he pretends not to have observed, acting here like those wicked individuals who listen to the Holy Scriptures in a malignant spirit, and “who talk wickedness with lofty head.”  For they appear to have heard the declaration, “I kill,”213    Deut. xxxii. 39. and they often make it to us a subject of reproach; but the words, “I will make alive,” they do not remember,—the whole sentence showing that those who live amid public wickedness, and who work wickedly, are put to death by God, and that a better life is infused into them instead, even one which God will give to those who have died to sin.  And so also these men have heard the words, “I will smite;” but they do not see these, “and I will heal,” which are like the words of a physician, who cuts bodies asunder, and inflicts severe wounds, in order to extract from them substances that are injurious and prejudicial to health, and who does not terminate his work with pains and lacerations, but by his treatment restores the body to that state of soundness which he has in view.  Moreover, they have not heard the whole of the announcement, “For He maketh sore, and again bindeth up;” but only this part, “He maketh sore.”  So in like manner acts this Jew of Celsus who quotes the words, “O Father, would that this cup might pass from Me;” but who does not add what follows, and which exhibits the firmness of Jesus, and His preparedness for suffering.  But these matters, which afford great room for explanation from the wisdom of God, and which may reasonably be pondered over214    καὶ ταῦτα δὲ πολλὴν ἔχοντα διήγησιν ἀπὸ σοφίας Θεοῦ οἷς ὁ Παῦλος ὠνόμασε τελείοις εὐλόγως παραδοθησέμένην. by those whom Paul calls “perfect” when he said, “We speak wisdom among them who are perfect,”215    1 Cor. ii. 6. we pass by for the present, and shall speak for a little of those matters which are useful for our present purpose.

Ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις θέλων παραστῆσαι ὅτι ἀλγεινὰ καὶ ἀνιαρὰ ἦν τὰ συμβάντα αὐτῷ καὶ ὅτι οὐχ οἷόν τε ἦν βουλη θέντα αὐτὸν ποιῆσαι εἶναι αὐτὰ μὴ τοιαῦτα λέγει· Τί οὖν ποτνιᾶται καὶ ὀδύρεται καὶ τὸν τοῦ ὀλέθρου φόβον εὔχεται παραδραμεῖν, λέγων ὧδέ πως· "Ὦ πάτερ, εἰ δύναται τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο παρελθεῖν;" Καὶ ἐν τούτοις δὲ ὅρα τὸ τοῦ Κέλσου κακοῦργον, ὅτι μὴ ἀποδεξάμενος τὸ φιλάληθες τῶν ἀναγραψάντων τὰ εὐαγγέλια, δυνηθέντων μὲν παρασιωπῆσαι τά, ὡς Κέλσος οἴεται, ἔγκλητα οὐ σιωπησάντων δὲ διὰ πολλοὺς λόγους, οὓς ἐν καιρῷ τις ἀποδώσει τὸ εὐαγγέλιον διηγούμενος, κατηγορεῖ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς λέξεως προσεκ τραγῳδῶν καὶ τιθεὶς μὴ τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα· οὐ γὰρ εὑρίσκεται, πῶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὀδύρεται. Καὶ παραφράζει μὲν τὸ "Πάτερ, εἰ δυνατόν ἐστι, παρελθέτω τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο", οὐκέτι δὲ καὶ τὸ αὐτόθεν ἐμφαῖνον τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εὐσέβειαν αὐτοῦ καὶ μεγαλοψυχίαν ἑξῆς δὲ τούτῳ ἀναγεγραμμένον παρατίθεται οὕτως ἔχον· "Πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω, ἀλλ' ὡς σύ." Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὴν πρὸς τὸ βούλημα τοῦ πατρὸς περὶ τῶν κεκριμένων αὐτὸν παθεῖν εὐπείθειαν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ δηλουμένην ἐν τῷ "Εἰ οὐ δύναται τοῦτο παρελθεῖν, ἐὰν μὴ αὐτὸ πίω, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου" προσποιεῖται ἀνεγνωκέναι, ὅμοιόν τι ποιῶν τοῖς κακουργότερον ἀκούουσι τῶν θείων γραφῶν ἀσεβέσι καὶ "ἀδικίαν εἰς τὸ ὕψος" λαλοῦσι. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τοῦ μὲν "Ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ" δοκοῦσιν ἀκηκοέναι καὶ πολλάκις ἡμῖν αὐτὸ ὀνειδίζουσι, τοῦ δὲ "ζῆν ποιήσω" οὐδὲ μέμνηνται· τοῦ ὅλου ῥητοῦ δηλοῦντος τοὺς ἐπὶ κοινῷ κακῷ ζῶντας καὶ ἐνεργοῦντας κατὰ κακίαν ἀποκτείννυσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ζωὴν δ' αὐτοῖς κρείττονα ἀντεισάγεσθαι καὶ ἣν δῴη ἂν ὁ θεὸς τοῖς "τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ" ἀποθανοῦσιν. Οὕτω δ' ἐκεῖνοι ἤκουσαν μὲν τοῦ "Πατάξω" οὐκέτι δὲ ὁρῶσι τὸ "κἀγὼ ἰάσομαι"· ὅ τι ὅμοιόν ἐστι [τῷ] λεγομένῳ ὑπὸ ἰατροῦ, διελόντος σώματα καὶ τραύματα χαλεπὰ ποιήσαντος ἐπὶ τῷ ἐξελεῖν αὐτῶν τὰ βλάπτοντα καὶ ἐμποδίζοντα τῇ ὑγιείᾳ, καὶ οὐ καταλήξαντος εἰς τοὺς πόνους καὶ τὴν διαίρεσιν ἀλλ' ἀποκαθιστῶντος τῇ θεραπείᾳ τὸ σῶμα ἐπὶ τὴν προκειμένην αὐτῷ ὑγίειαν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσαν ὅλου τοῦ "Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἀλγεῖν ποιεῖ καὶ πάλιν ἀποκαθίστησιν" ἀλλὰ μόνου τοῦ "ἀλγεῖν ποιεῖ". Οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος ἐκτεθειμένος τὸ "Ὦ πάτερ, εἴθε δύναιτο τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο παρελθεῖν", οὐκέτι δὲ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς καὶ τὰ παριστάντα τὴν Ἰησοῦ πρὸς τὸ πάθος παρασκευὴν καὶ εὐτονίαν. Καὶ ταῦτα δέ, πολλὴν ἔχοντα διήγησιν ἀπὸ σοφίας θεοῦ οἷς ὁ Παῦλος ὠνόμασε "τελείοις" εὐλόγως παραδοθησομένην, λέγων· "Σοφίαν δὲ λαλοῦμεν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις", ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ὑπερτι θέμενοι ἐπ' ὀλίγον ὑπομιμνησκόμεθα τῶν πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον χρησίμων.