Matthew 26:31
The disciples were troubled not as light people, but because the matter was full of much perplexity and the knowledge of this mystery was hard to grasp — how the one who raised the dead and did countless signs beyond human measure was handed over to so dishonorable a death. This was the one who had said through the prophet, “I will strike the shepherd.” (Zechariah 13:7) (Matthew 26:31) That is why David also says to the Father, “For the one whom you struck, they themselves pursued.” (Psalm 69:26) Yet this did not happen entirely and wholly by the Father’s will; he wanted him not to suffer, if the Jews had accepted him. But since they did not receive him, the Father consented to the Son who chose to suffer this. That is why it is also said that the Father struck “the shepherd,” since he allowed him to suffer though able to prevent his suffering. The word said to Pilate by Christ is also to be understood thus: “You would have no authority at all against me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11) — instead of “the Father did not consent to me who chose to suffer.”
Greek
Ἐταράχθησαν οἱ μαθηταὶ οὐχ ὡς ἐλαφροί τινες, ἀλλ' ὅτι πολλῆς ἔγεμεν ἀπορίας τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ δυσκατάληπτος ἦν ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ μυστη ρίου τούτου, πῶς ὁ τοὺς νεκροὺς ἀναστήσας καὶ μυρία ποιήσας σημεῖα ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον εἰς οὕτως ἄτιμον παρεδόθη θάνατον. οὗτος δὲ ἦν ὁ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου εἰρηκὼς "πατάξω τὸν ποιμένα". διὸ καὶ ὁ ∆αβίδ φησιν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, "ὅτι ὃν σὺ ἐπάταξας, αὐτοὶ κατεδίωξαν". πλὴν οὐ πάντη τοῦτο καὶ πάντως γέγονεν βουλήσει τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλ' ἤθελε μὲν μὴ παθεῖν αὐτόν, εἴγε προσεδέξαντο οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι. ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐ προσήκαντο, ἀλλ' ἠθέλησαν φονεῦσαι, συγκατέθετο ὁ πατὴρ τῷ υἱῷ τοῦτο παθεῖν ἑλομένῳ. διὸ καὶ λέγεται, ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ ἐπάταξε "τὸν ποι μένα", ἐπειδήπερ εἴασεν αὐτὸν παθεῖν δυνάμενος κωλῦσαι μὴ παθεῖν. οὕτω δὲ νοητέον καὶ τὸ εἰρημένον πρὸς Πιλᾶτον ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ, ὅτι "οὐκ εἶχες ἐξουσίαν οὐδεμίαν κατ' ἐμοῦ, εἰ μὴ ἦν σοι δεδομένον ἄνωθεν", ἀντὶ τοῦ μὴ συνῄνεσεν ὁ πατὴρ ἑλομένῳ μοι παθεῖν.