ACC ~ Matthew 21 v42

CHRIST THE GREAT STONE

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: Christ is called a stone for two reasons. First, because his foundation is solid and no one who stands upon him will fall victim to deceitful charms or be moved by the storms of persecution. Second, Christ is called a stone because in him is the ultimate destruction of the wicked, for just as everything which collides with a stone is shattered while the stone itself remains intact, so also everyone who opposes the Christian faith will himself be ruined, but Christianity will remain untouched. This is the sense in which Christ is the great stone. “Whoever falls on it will be broken to pieces, but it will crush those upon whom it falls.” [1] It is one thing to be broken but something else again to be crushed, for sizeable pieces of whatever is broken remain, but whatever gets crushed is reduced to dust and utterly eliminated. The stone does not break those who fall upon it, but they break themselves who fall on the stone. Their destruction therefore is not attributable to the stone’s strength but to the violence with which they fall upon it. HOMILY 40. [2]

[1] Lk 20:18; cf. Ps 118:22-23 (117:22-23 LXX); Is 8:14-15.

[2] PG 56:858.

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