the suffering christ 778 He so greatly displeased the free-born Israelites with his hardhearted, insensitive response that they would defect tribe by tribe to Jeroboam, having repudiated forever the house of David. O wicked people! They were not able to bear the scourges of Rehoboam, which were not even inflicted on their backs; indeed, they were only threatened. And now, they nonetheless maltreat with the barbarity of wild beasts the Son of God, the royal offspring of David according to the flesh! Where is that natural precept that teaches one to love one’s neighbor: That you should not to do another what you would not want done to yourself? But, let us leave behind the executors of such incredible savagery: Rather, let us admire the long-suffering of the most innocent and most holy Lord to the end. The torturers were being changed, but not He; the muscles of those [who were] scourging [Him] were becoming weak, but His were strengthening. He was standing more motionless than His own pillar. Cheerful and lighthearted, He pondered in spirit the words of the prophet: “Behold, I am prepared for the whips” (Ps 37:18) [LV].24 O unconquerable fortitude of spirit! O inexplicable ardor and readiness to suffer for us! Eyewitnesses relate, that you may find among Turkish commoners such excellent flatterers, who, in honor of the sultan passing-by, would cut their own body, face, and sometimes chest or would seriously wound their arms. However, they would completely recover soon after by pouring ointment into the open wounds. Indeed, for a very small price, they squandered their blood. I condemn the misers, I condemn the cruelty, intended as flattery, against their own bodies. I kiss the scourged wounds of my Emperor, Christ the Lord, because they bring salvation to me; I embrace the scourges, because they are undertaken for my life, for my honor, for my eternal glory. 3. Nevertheless, I have said nothing, when I have only said that Christ was scourged for us, whomever we may be. Those 24 This verse was translated literally from the Latin Vulgate to best convey the meaning intended by St. Stanislaus.
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