For this cause do I in no wise assent to the saying of Xanthias, that the going in of Jesus into Jerusalem was not worthy of him. For, as I judge, he did it for our sakes, and not for his own; yea, and for the sake of the whole world; that it might be on record for ever how that the Son of man, though he were the humblest of men, did nevertheless claim for himself the allegiance of all them that were in the city, yea, and of all that were in the inhabited world; as if he were at once the king and the servant of mankind.
But as touching that other saying (not of Xanthias, but of the Scribe Hezekiah) that, “If Jesus had been a prophet indeed, he should have prophesied unto his disciples the whole manner of his death, and the manner of his resurrection, and the manner of the giving of the Holy Spirit,” concerning this I say nothing, as one doubtful and waiting for the truth. But Quartus is perchance herein too bold (though he speak out of his great love for the Lord Jesus) in saying that our Master “knew not little matters that were to come, but only great matters. And so he knew that the fire of heaven would fall on Jerusalem, but when it would fall, this was hidden from him. Likewise, he knew that he must die; for unless he died his Spirit would not come; but when the Spirit should come, this too was hidden from him.
“Yea and even as touching his own death and rising again; that he should go unto the Father he knew, and that he should come again he knew; but on what day he should come again, and at what hour he should manifest himself to his disciples, this he knew not. And even for this cause, perchance,” saith Quartus (who was not present in Jerusalem when the Lord suffered and rose again), “he was so earnest with you that ye should give your minds to watching and praying in the hour when he should be taken from you; to the intent that, when he came suddenly back to you from the grave (manifesting himself to you in the night, whether in the first watch, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or whensoever it might be) he might not find you given over to surfeit and drunkenness, and to the thoughts and cares of this present world; and so your hearts should be closed against the sight of him, and he should not be able to reveal himself unto you. For if, when Jesus died, ye had given yourselves over to despair and recklessness, then though Jesus himself had stood before you, coming from his grave, yet would ye none the more have seen him.”