Ruin And Insults

Transeuntes autem blasphemavant eum, moventes capita sua, et dicentes: Vah qui destruis templum Dei, et in triduo reaedificas... Hoc ergo dicebant, quasi dixerit, Possum destruere et reaedificare. Ubi et alii codices habent, qui destruis templum, et in triduo reaedificas, salva temetipsum. Sed unus et sensus, quia saepe interdum insultando, haec ad turbam et ad ipsum loquebantur. Sed quod ait transeuntes, melius in Graeco habet praetereuntes, ut signanter illud de Psalmo intelligamus, ut quid destruxisti maceriam ejus, id est vineae, quam de Aegypto transtulerat, et vindemiant eam, inquit omnes qui praetergrediuntur viam. Praetereuntes autem erant, qui etiam macerie vineae dissoluta, vindemiabant eos qui remanserant in fide, laudantes Deum. Quandiu enim quisque non declinat a via Dei, potest dicere Deo: Statuisti supra petram pedes meos. Et ideo non blasphemat Jesum, qui est caput Ecclesiae, quia in eo, fide fixus stat, nec potest movere caput, sicut qui praeterit, vel transit, vel declinat a via Dei. Quod si fecerit, tunc eum blasphemat, et insultat, dicens: Vah. Juxta illud: Viderunt et moverunt captia sua. Vah enim interjecto est insultantis, vel irridentis. Omnes enim non habentes firmum caput, sed moventes eum sursum atque deorsum, non sunt prudentes, nec habent oculos in capite suo, neque caput firmum in fide tenent, id est mentem, ne moveatur, sed rotatur ut funda mens, et conscientia eroum ad singula. Noluerant igitur hi ambulare recto itinere Scripturarum, neque vias vitae cognoscere, ut starent in via Dei. Et ideo praetergrediebantur, moventes capita sua, quia moverant pedes ne starent in petra, quae Christus est. Et dicebant: Salva temetipsum, si Filius Dei es, descende de cruce. Fatui enim, fatua insultando dicebant: Vah qui destruis templum. Dicebant ergo illud, quod falsi testes supra sibi mendose confinxerant. Non enim dixerat quod ipse destrueret templum Dei, sed Solvite, et ego post triduum reaedificabo illud. Quia quod alii destruunt, ipse reaedificat, sive templum corporis sui, sive templum martyrum suorum, et omnum eorum quo habent testimonium Dei in se. Unde ipse ait: Venit enim hora, quando omnes qui in monumentis sunt audient vocem Filii Dei, et resurgent. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Lib XII, Cap XXVII Source: Migne PL 120.948a-d

Passing by, they blasphemed him, shaking their heads and saying, 'Aha, you who would destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days...' 1 They said this, as if He had said. 'I am able to destroy and rebuild.' Other books have: 'You who would destroy the temple and in three days rebuild it, save yourself.' But the sense is the same, because often while they were casting forth insults, they did so speaking to the crowd, and also to Him. Now when it says 'Passing by' the Greek has 'going by' which indicates that we should understand that Psalm 'Why did you destroy its wall,' that is, of the vine which you brought out of Egypt, 'so that all who are going by along the way may pluck from it.' 2 For they were going by, who with the wall of the vine broken down, plucked at those who remained in the faith praising God. For while someone does not stray from the way of God, he is able to say: 'You have fixed my feet on the rock.' 3 And therefore he does not blaspheme Jesus, who is the head of the Church, because he stands in Him fixed in faith, nor can he shake the head, as those do who go by, or pass by, or stray from the way of God. Because if he had done, than he would blaspheme and insult, saying: 'Aha!' So it is said, 'They saw and they shook their heads.' 4 'Aha,' is an insulting cry, or a mocking one. For all who do not have firm heads, but move them up and down, they are not wise, nor do they have eyes in their head, 5 nor is the head firm in the holding of faith, that is, the mind, lest it be shaken, but it shifts about, just as the mind and the conscience of each one. Therefore these were unwilling to walk rightly in the way of the Scriptures, nor did they know the ways of life, that they might stand in the way of God. So they went by, shaking their heads, because, not standing on the rock, which is Christ, their feet are moved. And they say, 'Save yourself, if you are the son of God, come down from the cross.' For they are fools and they speak foolish insults: 'Aha, you who would destroy the temple...' Therefore they said this because they were false witnesses, having fixed themselves in their lies. For He did not say that He would destroy the temple of God, but 'Destroy it and after three days and I will rebuild it.' 6 Because what others destroy, He rebuilds, that is the temple of His body, or the temple of His martyrs, and all who give witness to God in Him. Whence He says, 'The hour is coming when all those who are in their tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God and rise up.' 7 Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 12, Chap 27 1 Mt 27.39-40 2 Ps 79.13, 9 3 Ps 39.3 4 Ps 113.7 5 Eccl 2.14 6 Jn 2.19 7 Jn 5.28