The Side of Christ and the Resurrection

A side had to be struck, and this is excused for the soldiers; for the Lord provided one side instead of another. The woman's side and that which is evil from her releases the Lord from suffering; for from her side there proceeded a disastrous counsel for man. But from the holy side water and blood flow, through which the world is cleansed, having its sins removed by the joining of those who were divided according to the law; for there were blood sprinkleings for cleansing and water baptisms for purification. Since all things pertaining to Him were pre-arranged for Christ, the Lord's body provided both to the world: sacred blood and holy water, and already existing as dead according to the human manner; for it holds within itself a great power of life.

The bones of the lamb are not broken (John 19:36), showing by the type that the suffering does not belong to the power of the body; for the power of the body is such that our bones were being said to be broken by men near Hades. But that He did not die in the same way for all men, He showed the change in this, in that the harmony of His bones was not scattered.

After the Sabbath evening (John 20:1), the Lord raised the one previously foretold by Him, bypassing the three days, as it was said that the first day had suffered, but immediately the third was beginning to rise. And the three days seem to endure instead of all the time of the then-past and the then-future, delivering Himself to death instead of all those who were finishing.

Thus, rising to reach those arriving at the tomb, and no one stood by for the resurrection to be happening; for it was a mystery, if indeed something else of those administered by God, which is not manifest to men and does not lie before the eyes. A woman first stands at the tomb and at first announces to the disciples that the Lord is not in the tomb, not implying the resurrection, but thinking that He had been carried away from the tomb by the adversaries and as if calling them to a search.

After these things, seeing the Lord, she announces the blessed sight to the disciples (John 20:14). For it was necessary that the good thing be known and announced through a woman, so that the evil caused by a woman might be undone by the good knowledge which the woman brought. Not being overwhelmed by the brightness of the angels, but being surprised at the sight, she turned back and saw Jesus standing, this being the result of Him having been seen by her.

The Savior wants to show the resurrection and persuade (John 20:17), but he approaches those who have not yet heard of the resurrection in a similar way to how he approached those before the resurrection, not knowing how to fit them, unless he leads them into the same living way, so that having a familiar relationship with him, they might approach him familiarly. He says it is necessary to ascend to the Father, and after doing this second appearance, to receive the known friends and new men already approaching in the time. Do not, he says, grasp me now; for there is another great and salutary work remaining for you which I must fulfill, to ascend to the Father, who will indeed be your Father through me, and especially when I ascend the firstfruits rising from among you. This indeed she, having gone, has made good news to the brothers (John 20:19).

Falling in through the closed doors by the power of divinity, performing a transgression, he gave them the beginning to understand the power and the authority of Christ not according to the flesh nor yet according to the human manner, but beyond the nature of the flesh. And that it might be certain to appear more divine to them, it is clear from the fact that he immediately showed them only those things pertaining to the faith of the resurrection and granted the divinity of the Spirit (John 20:22). For these things were not done while walking with them and eating with them and resting with them and walking along with them, but he begins to accommodate himself similarly to being higher than the human way of life.

We see an inspiration in the first breathing of the soul of man being made with sanctification. For the mission was not of soul alone, even if the thing breathed in is called the spirit of life; it is clear from the prophecy of him who is immediately prophesied by the one who was breathed in; for without the divine Spirit it is not possible for prophecy to exist, as Paul testifies. Therefore, he who from the beginning breathed in, after the soul, gave the Holy Spirit himself to the soul.