The Cross as a Sign of Contradiction and Revelation

He spoke of the rising of many in Israel. This was concerning whom Peter, having taken up Isaiah’s prophecy, sent to the churches. ‘Behold, I place in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, elect and honored, and whoever believes on him shall not be put to shame.’ Then he added the prophecy, interpreting it in agreement with Simeon as he spoke: ‘To you, therefore, belongs honor if you believe; but the unbelievers reject the stone which the builders threw away—this very stone has become the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Those who stumble over it do so because they disobey the word.’ Therefore, it was not laid for the fall of the unbelievers and the rising of the faithful. For those who thought they stood by the law cast themselves down by their unbelief. But these others, amid the multitude of their sins and existing among the fallen, rushed to the staff of faith and raised themselves up.

‘Behold, this one lies for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is contradicted.’ What is this? It is the cross. For this sign, after being filled with sufferings and wonders, was contradicted. He was naked, and he hid the sun; he fastened the nails and shook the stones; he opened his side with a spear and opened the tombs of the dead. From this, the sign became one that is contradicted. The unbelievers indeed left these things and looked away, but the faithful, after the sufferings, beheld the wonders. Thus, at that time, the crowd of the Pharisees wandered about him, but the centurion declared him to be the Son of God, and having spoken, he worshipped.

To these things belong the following corresponding matters.

And a sword shall pierce your own soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare.

This sword is the discernment that will pass through your soul according to the time of the cross.

For you will marvel to see upon the cross him who was begotten without corruption, seized without man, who did not open the womb and whose own birth acted impassibly and incorruptibly.

What then will come to pass from here? 'So that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare.'

Perhaps indeed this will happen among others, but much more surely among those who had been disciples of the Lord, who had beheld his sufferings and the deeds he performed, and who had endured the winter of reasonings from both sides— for example, Cleopas, who suffered from the things that the Christ, upon meeting him on the way to Emmaus, revealed to him.

For when Cleopas was asked why he was sad and his heart was confused, he spoke little about Christ and what the time allowed, not knowing to whom he was speaking; having spoken, he added: 'We had hoped that he was the one about to redeem Israel'— that is, our hope had become foreign to him and had gone out.

And the reasoning of Mary Magdalene was also revealed, being weak.

This happened of the Christ having been crucified.