A Sanctification and a Stone of Stumbling: the Child Set for the Fall and the Rising of Many
Old Testament: Isaias 8:14
And he shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Old Testament, also: Isaias 28:16
Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten.
New Testament: Romans 9:32-33; 1 Peter 2:7-8; Luke 2:34
Why so? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were of works. For they stumbled at the stumblingstone. As it is written: Behold I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and a rock of scandal; and whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded. ... To you therefore that believe, he is honour: but to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner: And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal, to them who stumble at the word, neither do believe, whereunto also they are set. ... And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted;
The connection
Isaias foretold a stone with two edges. The Lord of hosts "shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel" (Isaias 8:14). And He promised a stone to build on: "Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone ... He that believeth, let him not hasten" (28:16). The Apostles name the stone. St Paul joins the two prophecies into one: "they stumbled at the stumblingstone. As it is written: Behold I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and a rock of scandal; and whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded" (Romans 9:32-33). St Peter says the same stone is two things at once: "To you therefore that believe, he is honour: but to them that believe not ... a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal" (1 Peter 2:7-8). And over the infant in the Temple, Simeon spoke it to His mother: "this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted" (Luke 2:34). St John Chrysostom explains the two edges: "to stumble is to disbelieve ... some will believe, and some will stumble," and the stone is called a rock of offence "from the character and end of those that believe not." The Catechism teaches that many of Jesus' words and deeds were a sign of contradiction (CCC 575).
Moral sense
The stone does not change; the one who meets it does. To pride it is an obstacle, to faith a foundation. "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness" (1 Corinthians 1:23), and the Lord Himself says, "blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me" (Matthew 11:6). There is another stumbling block, the one Balaam taught Balac "to cast ... before the children of Israel, to eat, and to commit fornication" (Apocalypse 2:14). That one looks like pleasure and ends in ruin; Christ looks like an obstacle and ends in salvation. The soul that trips over the first must not be afraid to fall on the second.
Anagogical sense
Tertullian sees the two edges as two comings. At the first, in lowliness, Christ was "placed by the Father as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence"; at the second He shall no longer remain so, "but after His rejection become 'the chief corner-stone,' accepted and elevated to the top place of the temple, even His church." Simeon adds that through this sign "out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed" (Luke 2:35). At the end every heart is shown by what it did with the stone.
The Fathers
St John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans XVI, on Romans 9:33: "For to stumble is to disbelieve." And: "so here too he implies that some will believe, and some will stumble." Tertullian, Against Marcion III: "Now these signs of degradation quite suit His first coming, just as the tokens of His majesty do His second advent, when He shall no longer remain “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence,” but after His rejection become “the chief corner-stone,” accepted and elevated to the top place of the temple, even His church."
Warrant
Scriptural, because St Paul quotes Isaias 8:14 and 28:16 together at Romans 9:33, and St Peter quotes Isaias 8:14 beside Psalm 117 at 1 Peter 2:7-8, both naming the stone as Christ. St John Chrysostom (Homilies on Romans XVI) and Tertullian (Against Marcion III) read the two edges of the stone as belief and unbelief, and as Christ's two comings. Checked in the languages: the Hebrew of Isaias 8:14 says the Lord shall be le-miqdash, a sanctuary, and le-even negef u-le-tsur mikhshol, a stone of striking and a rock of stumbling. The Apostles' Greek, lithos proskommatos kai petra skandalou, follows the Hebrew; the Septuagint of Isaias 8:14 turns the verse the other way, promising that those who trust shall not meet Him as a stone of stumbling. Skandalon is also Balaam's stumbling block at Apocalypse 2:14 and the stumblingblock of Christ crucified at 1 Corinthians 1:23. The Stone the Builders Rejected has its own entry. The lead was Dunk's, from Isaias 8:14 read after the clefts of the rocks of Isaias 2:21, with Balaam's stumbling block beside it.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 575.
The verses
Isaias 8:14 · Isaias 28:16 · Romans 9:32 · Romans 9:33 · 1 Peter 2:7 · 1 Peter 2:8 · Luke 2:34
