Luke 18:33

(l. ii. Ep. 212.) I marvel at the folly of those who ask how Christ rose again before the three days. If indeed He rose later than he had foretold, it were a mark of weakness, but if sooner, a token of the highest power. For when we see a man who has promised his creditor that he will pay him his debt after three days, fulfilling his promise on that very day, we are so far from looking upon him as deceitful, that we admire his veracity. I must add, however, that He said not that He should rise again after three days, but on the third day. You have then the preparation, the Sabbath until sun set, and the fact that He rose after the Sabbath was over.

(ubi sup.) Esaias prophesied of this when he said, I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (Isa. 50:5.) The Prophet also foretold the crucifixion, saying, He hath poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors; (Isa. 53:12.) as it is said here, And after they have scourged him, they shall put him to death. But David foretold Christ's resurrection, For thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, (Ps. 16:10.) and so it is here added, And on the third day he shall rise again.

And to convince them that He foreknew His Passion, and of His own accord came to it, that they might not say, "How has He fallen into the hands of the enemy, who promised us salvation?" He relates in order the successive events of the Passion; He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spitted on.

(Hom. 2. in Ev.) The Saviour foreseeing that the hearts of His disciples would be troubled at His Passion, tells them long beforehand both the suffering of His Passion and the glory of His Resurrection.