Charles Ellicott Commentary John 2:16

"and to them that sold the doves he said, Take these things hence; make not my Father`s house a house of merchandise." — John 2:16 (ASV)

My Father’s house. Some among those present now (John 2:18) may have been present in that same house when He, a boy of twelve years, was there at the Passover. After questions and answers, higher and deeper than these doctors could grasp, He claimed God as His true Father (Luke 2:49).

What that repeated claim meant now must have been clear to all. Their own messengers had brought them John’s witness; later reports must have come before this, and also with, the crowd of Galilean pilgrims. The disciples themselves are with Him (John 2:17), and their hearts are too full for silence; but there was more than all this.

Those expounders of the oracles of God who remembered that Elijah was to come before the day of the Lord must also have remembered that the Lord was to come to this Temple, like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap (Malachi 3:1–3; Malachi 4:5). That fire was in their midst, and from that Presence buyers, sellers, and money changers shrank back in awe, none daring to resist. That cleansing was then taking place, and the Son was claiming the sanctity and reverence due to His Father’s house.

He had previously claimed to be Son of Man. Now, the Messianic title was publicly claimed before the official representatives of the people at the great national festival, in the Temple, at Jerusalem. If, while this scene is fresh in our minds, we think again of the marriage at Cana, we will feel how different the manifestations are. We will also see that this latter event was not, and was not intended to be, a public declaration of His person and work.

Now we understand what seemed difficult before: that the assertion Mine hour is not yet come (John 2:4) immediately precedes the first sign. This sign at Cana was at a family gathering, known only to a few—probably not to all who were there, for the ruler knew not whence it was (John 2:9). No effect is described as resulting from it, except that the small band of disciples believed (John 2:11).

The word “forth,” which in the English version seems to mark an effect upon others, is not found in the Greek. This event is within the scope of the other Gospel narratives but is included in none of them. It left no such impression on the mind of St. Peter as to lead him to include it in the Gospel of his interpreter, St. Mark, or upon Mary herself as to lead her to include it in the answers she must have given to the questions of St. Luke. It was, indeed, the first sign in Cana of Galilee, but the scene before us is the announcement to the world.