Sign of Contradiction - Jesus Christ As Sign of Contradiction

Jesus Christ As Sign of Contradiction

Luke 2:34 refers to Jesus Christ while he is being presented in the temple by his parents. The words were spoken by Simeon to Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, as a prophecy regarding her child and herself.

"Behold this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thought of many hearts may be revealed." (Italics added; Douay Rheims Bible translates the phrase as "sign that will be contradicted.")

The interpretation of the Navarre Bible, a Catholic bible commentary, is the following:

"Jesus came to bring salvation to all men, yet he will be sign of contradiction because some people will obstinately reject him -- for this reason he will be their ruin. But for those who accept him with faith Jesus will be their salvation, freeing them from sin in this life and raising them up to eternal life."

The commentary also says that Mary will be intimately linked with her Son's work of salvation. The sword indicates that Mary will have a share in her son's sufferings. The last words of the prophecy link up with verse 34: uprightness or perversity will be demonstrated by whether one accepts or rejects Christ.

There are three elements then involved in a sign of contradiction, according to Catholic theology: (1) An attack on Christ or people who are said to be "united" with Christ. From this attack, ensues a double-movement: (2) the downfall of those who reject Christ, and (3) the rise of those who accept him.

This double-movement is connected with the division Jesus Christ referred to in Luke 12:51-53, an external division among peoples who either follow him or not, but an internal peace for those who follow him.

"Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Jesus Christ was spoken against during his life: the Gospels claim that Pharisees and other critics said that he was allied with Beelzebub, that he was a drunkard and a glutton, (based upon his participation at banquets and feasts), that he was a blasphemer who made himself equal to God. According to Catholic theologians, these charges led to his torture and execution.

Throughout history, Jesus of Nazareth was also spoken against: Docetists, considered by the Catholic Church to be the first heretics, said that his body was not true but only an appearance. Arians said he was not God. Nestorius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, said Jesus' mother Mary was not the Mother of God, but only the mother of the human being called Jesus. Thus, Nestorius also denied that it is God the Son who became man.

In the 19th century, some questioned the historicity of Jesus, and in contemporary times, novels such as the Da Vinci Code and movies such as the Last Temptation of Christ have portrayed him as romantically linked with Mary Magdalen.

According to the Catholic view, the double-movement that ensued after the attack on Christ is the following: While many of Christ's enemies have fallen (the Roman authorities and their empire fell in 476, the authorities in the Sanhedrin during his time died, their temple in Jerusalem destroyed in 70 AD by Titus), Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead and his religion became the largest religion in the world and the Catholic Church its biggest representation.

Catholic theologians also say that while the devil seemed to have been able to put the Messiah to death, his death turned the tables around and became the very instrument of Christ's victory over evil, death and the devil. His death showed the infinite love of God towards mankind ("Greater love no man has than he who lays down his life for his friend"), thus drawing men back to God. With his death he opened an infinite source of divine life (grace) through the seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick, Confession and the Eucharist, where Jesus Christ himself, both perfect God and perfect man, is present in person.