Church Fathers Commentary John 2

St. John Chrysostom: Since our Lord was known in Galilee, they invited Him to a wedding: And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee.

Alcuin of York: Galilee is a province, and Cana is a village in it.

St. John Chrysostom: They invited our Lord to the wedding not as a great person, but merely as an acquaintance, one of many. For this reason the Evangelist says, And the mother of Jesus was there. As they invited the mother, so they invited the Son. Therefore, Jesus was called, and His disciples to the marriage. He came, caring more for our good than for His own dignity. He who did not disdain to take upon Himself the form of a servant did not disdain to come to the wedding of servants.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Let the proud blush to see the humility of God. Behold, among other things, the Son of the Virgin comes to a wedding; He who instituted marriage when He was with the Father.

The Venerable Bede: His condescension in coming to the wedding, and the miracle He performed there, are a strong confirmation of the faith, even when considered only literally. This event also condemns the errors of Tatian, Marcion, and others who detract from the honor of marriage. For if the undefiled marriage bed, celebrated with due chastity, partook of sin at all, our Lord would never have come to a wedding. As it is, conjugal chastity is good, the continence of widows is better, and the perfection of the virgin state is best. To sanction all these states and to distinguish the merit of each, He deigned to be born of the pure womb of the Virgin, was blessed after His birth by the prophetic voice of the widow Anna, and now, invited in His manhood to a wedding celebration, honors that state also by the presence of His goodness.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Is it any wonder that He went to that house for a wedding, when He came into this world for a wedding? For here He has His spouse, whom He redeemed with His own blood, to whom He gave the pledge of the Spirit, and whom He united to Himself in the womb of the Virgin. The Word is the Bridegroom and human flesh is the bride, and both together are one Son of God and Son of man. That womb of the Virgin Mary is His chamber, from which He went forth as a bridegroom.

The Venerable Bede: Nor is it without some mysterious allusion that the wedding is related as taking place on the third day. The first age of the world, before the giving of the Law, was enlightened by the example of the Patriarchs; the second, under the Law, by the writings of the Prophets; and the third, under grace, by the preaching of the Evangelists, as if by the light of the third day, for our Lord had now appeared in the flesh. The name of the place where the wedding was held, Cana of Galilee, which means "desire of migrating," also has a typical significance—namely, that those most worthy of Christ are they who burn with devotional desires and have known the passage from vice to virtue, from earthly to eternal things. The wine was allowed to run out to give our Lord the opportunity to make better wine, so that the glory of God in man might be brought out of its hiding place: And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no wine.

St. John Chrysostom: But how did it enter His mother’s mind to expect such a great thing from her Son? For He had not yet performed any miracles, as we read later: This beginning of miracles did Jesus. His true nature, however, was now beginning to be revealed by John and by His own conversations with His disciples. Furthermore, His conception and the circumstances of His birth had given rise to high expectations in her mind from the very beginning, as Luke tells us: His mother kept all these sayings in her heart. Why, then, did she never ask Him to perform a miracle before? Because the time had now come for Him to be made known. Previously, He had lived so much like an ordinary person that she had not had the confidence to ask Him. But now that she heard that John had borne witness to Him and that He had disciples, she asked Him with confidence.

Alcuin of York: Here she represents the Synagogue, which challenges Christ to perform a miracle. It was customary for the Jews to ask for miracles.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Some who detract from the Gospel, saying that Jesus was not born of the Virgin Mary, try to draw an argument for their error from this passage. For they ask, how could she be His mother to whom He said, What have I to do with you? Now who is it that gives this account, and on whose authority do we believe it? The Evangelist John. But he himself says, The mother of Jesus was there. Why would he say this, unless both were true? But did He, therefore, come to the wedding to teach people to despise their mothers?

St. John Chrysostom: That He greatly venerated His mother, we know from St. Luke, who tells us that He was subject to His parents. For when parents place no obstacle in the way of God’s commands, it is our duty to be subject to them. But when they demand something at an inopportune time, or cut us off from spiritual things, we should not be deceived into complying.

St. Augustine of Hippo: To mark a distinction between His Godhead and His manhood—that according to His manhood He was inferior and subject, but according to His Godhead supreme—He said, Woman, what have I to do with you?

St. John Chrysostom: He also said this for another reason: namely, to prevent any suspicion from being attached to His miracles. For it was proper that these should be requested by those who needed them, not by His mother. He wished to show them that He would perform everything in its proper time, not all at once, to prevent confusion. For He said, My hour has not yet come. That is, "I am not yet known to the people present; indeed, they do not even know that the wine has run out. Let them find that out first." He who does not perceive his need beforehand will not appreciate it when his need is supplied.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, it was because our Lord as God did not have a mother, though as man He did, and the miracle He was about to perform was an act of His Divinity, not of human infirmity. When His mother, therefore, demanded a miracle, He, as if not acknowledging a human birth when about to perform a divine work, said, Woman, what have I to do with you? It is as if He said, "You did not give birth to that in Me which performs the miracle—My Divinity." (She is called "woman" with reference to the female sex, not to any injury of her virginity.)

But He continued, "Because you gave birth to My infirmity, I will acknowledge you then, when that very infirmity shall hang on the cross." And therefore He adds, My hour has not yet come. This is as if to say, "I will acknowledge you when the infirmity of which you are the mother hangs from the cross." When He was about to die, He commended His mother to the disciple; He would die and rise again before she did.

But note: just as the Manicheans have found an occasion for error and a pretext for their faithlessness in our Lord’s words, What have I to do with you? so also the astrologers find support for their own errors in the words, My hour has not yet come. For they say, "If Christ had not been under the power of fate, He would never have said this." But let them believe what God says later: I have power to lay it [my life] down, and I have power to take it again. Then let them ask why He says, My hour has not yet come. Nor should they, on such grounds, subject the Creator of heaven to fate, seeing that even if there were a fatality in the stars, the Maker of the stars could not be under their dominion.

Not only did Christ have nothing to do with fate, as they call it, but neither do you nor any other person. Why, then, did He say, My hour has not yet come? Because He had the power to die when He pleased but did not yet think it expedient to exert that power. He was first to call the disciples, proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven, perform marvelous works, and prove His divinity by miracles and His humility by partaking of the sufferings of our mortal state. When He had done all this, then the hour had come—not an hour of destiny, but of will; not of obligation, but of power.

St. John Chrysostom: Although He had said, Mine hour is not yet come, He afterward did what His mother told Him, in order to show plainly that He was not subject to the hour. For if He were, how could He have performed this miracle before the hour appointed for it? In the next place, He wished to show honor to His mother and make it appear that He did not ultimately contradict her. He would not put her to shame in the presence of so many, especially since she had sent the servants to Him so that the request would come from a group, and not from herself alone. His mother said to the servants, Whatsoever He says to you, do it.

The Venerable Bede: It is as if she said, "Though He appears to refuse, He will do it nevertheless." She knew His pity and mercifulness. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Hydriae are vessels for holding water, as hydor is the Greek word for water.

Alcuin of York: Vessels to hold water were there, according to the purification customs of the Jews. Among other traditions of the Pharisees, they observed frequent washings.

St. John Chrysostom: Palestine is a dry country with few fountains or wells, so they used to fill waterpots with water. This was to avoid having to go to the river if they became unclean and to have the means for washing readily available. To prevent any unbeliever from suspecting that a very thin wine was made by pouring water over dregs left in the vessels, the text says expressly, According to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, which shows that those vessels were never used to hold wine.

St. Augustine of Hippo: A firkin is a certain measure, like an urn, amphora, and so on. Metron is the Greek word for measure, from which metreta comes. The phrase "two or three" should not be taken to mean that some held two and others three, but that the same vessels held two or three.

St. John Chrysostom: But why did He not perform the miracle before they filled the waterpots? That would have been much more wonderful, since it is one thing to change the quality of an existing substance and another to create that substance from nothing. The latter miracle would be more wonderful, but the former is more easily believed. This principle often serves to moderate the greatness of our Lord’s miracles; He wishes to make them more credible, and therefore He makes them less outwardly marvelous.

This refutes the perverse doctrine of some who claim He was a different Being from the Maker of the world. For we see that He performs most of His miracles on pre-existing matter. If He were opposed to the Creator of the world, He would not use such "alien" material to demonstrate His own power. He did not draw the water Himself that He made into wine, but ordered the servants to do it. This was for the sake of having witnesses to the miracle. And He said to them, Draw out now, and bear to the governor of the feast.

Alcuin of York: The Triclinium is a circle of three couches, as cline signifies a couch; the ancients used to recline on couches. The Architriclinus is the one at the head of the Triclinium—that is, the chief of the guests. Some say that among the Jews, this person was a priest who attended the wedding in order to instruct on the duties of the married state.

St. John Chrysostom: Alternatively, one might argue that the guests were drunk and, in their confused state, could not tell whether it was water or wine. But this objection could not be made against the attendants, who must have been sober, as they were completely occupied with performing their duties properly and in an orderly manner. Our Lord therefore commanded the attendants to take it to the governor of the feast, who would also, of course, be perfectly sober. He did not say, "Give it to the guests to drink."

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Water is poured into the waterpots; wine is drawn from the jars. The senses of the one drawing it out do not align with the knowledge of the one who poured it in. The one who poured it in thinks water is being drawn out; the one drawing it out thinks wine was poured in. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not from where it was, (but the servants who drew the water knew,) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom. It was not a mixture but a creation. The simple nature of water vanished, and the flavor of wine was produced. It was not that a weak dilution was obtained by means of some strong infusion, but that what was, was annihilated, and what was not, came to be.

St. John Chrysostom: Our Lord wished the power of His miracles to be revealed gradually. Therefore, He did not announce what He had done Himself, nor did the ruler of the feast call on the servants to do so (for no one would have believed their testimony about a mere man, which is what our Lord was thought to be). Instead, he called the bridegroom, who was in the best position to see what had happened. Moreover, Christ did not just make wine, but the best wine. And the ruler of the feast said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now.

The effects of Christ's miracles are more beautiful and better than the productions of nature. Thus, the servants could testify that the water was made into wine, while the ruler of the feast and the bridegroom could testify that it was made into good wine. It is probable that the bridegroom gave some reply, but the Evangelist omits it, mentioning only what was necessary for us to know: namely, that the water was made into wine. He adds, This beginning of miracles Jesus did in Cana of Galilee.

It was very necessary to perform miracles at that particular time, when His devoted disciples were all gathered and present, paying close attention to what was happening. Should anyone say there is not sufficient proof of this being the beginning of His miracles—because the text adds, in Cana of Galilee, as if some had been performed elsewhere—we answer as we did before. John says later, that He might be revealed to Israel, therefore I have come baptizing. If He had performed miracles earlier in His life, the Jews would not have needed another person to point Him out.

If our Lord became so distinguished for His many miracles in such a short time that His name was known to everyone, would He not have been much more famous had He worked miracles from His earliest years? For the acts themselves would have been more extraordinary, being performed by a child, and over so long a time they would have become notorious. It was fitting and proper, however, that He should not begin to perform miracles at such an early age. For people would have thought the Incarnation was a fantasy and, in their extreme envy, would have delivered Him to be crucified before the appointed time.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This miracle of our Lord's, turning water into wine, is no surprise to those who know that God performed it. For the same One who made wine in the waterpots that day is the One who makes wine in the vine every year. The latter is no longer wonderful only because it happens so consistently. And for this reason, God keeps some extraordinary acts in store for certain occasions, to rouse people from their lethargy and lead them to worship Him. Thus it follows, He manifested His glory.

Alcuin of York: He was the King of glory, and He changed the elements because He was their Lord.

St. John Chrysostom: He manifests His glory, as it related to His own action. And if at the time many did not know of it, it was nevertheless to be heard and known by all afterward. And His disciples believed in Him. It was probable that they would believe more readily and pay closer attention to what was happening.

St. Augustine of Hippo: If they believed in Him now for the first time, then they were not His disciples when they came to the wedding. This, however, is a figure of speech, like saying that the Apostle Paul was born in Tarsus of Cilicia—not meaning that he was an Apostle at that time. In the same way, when we hear of Christ’s disciples being invited to the wedding, we should understand them not as already being disciples, but as those who were going to be disciples.

But see the mysteries that lie hidden in that miracle of our Lord. It was necessary that all things written about Him should be fulfilled in Christ; those Scriptures were the water. He made the water into wine when He opened to them the meaning of these things and explained the Scriptures. For in this way, what previously had no taste came to have taste, and what did not inebriate before, now inebriated.

The Venerable Bede: At the time of our Lord’s appearance in the flesh, the sweet, wine-like taste of the Law had been weakened by the carnal interpretations of the Pharisees.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Now, if He had ordered the water to be poured out and then produced wine from the hidden recesses of creation, He would have seemed to reject the Old Testament. But by converting the water into wine as He did, He showed us that the Old Testament also comes from Him, for it was by His order that the waterpots were filled. But those Scriptures have no meaning if Christ is not understood in them. Now, we know from what time the Law dates: namely, from the foundation of the world.

From that time until now, there are six ages: the first from Adam to Noah; the second from Noah to Abraham; the third from Abraham to David; the fourth from David to the Babylonian exile; the fifth from that time to John the Baptist; and the sixth from John the Baptist to the end of the world. The six waterpots, then, denote these six ages of prophecy. The prophecies are fulfilled; the waterpots are full.

But what is the meaning of them holding "two or three firkins apiece"? If He had said only three, our minds would have immediately run to the mystery of the Trinity. Nor, perhaps, can we reject this idea even though it says "two or three." For when the Father and the Son are named, the Holy Spirit can be understood as a consequence, since the Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son. Nor should we overlook another interpretation, which relates the "two" firkins to the two races of humanity—the Jews and the Greeks—and the "three" to the three sons of Noah.

Alcuin of York: The servants are the teachers of the New Testament, who interpret the Holy Scripture for others spiritually. The ruler of the feast is some expert in the Law, such as Nicodemus, Gamaliel, or Saul. When the word of the Gospel, hidden under the letter of the Law, is committed to these teachers, it is like the water made into wine being set before the ruler of the feast. The three rows of guests at the table in the wedding house are also significant, as the Church consists of three orders of believers: the married, the celibate, and the teachers. Christ has kept the good wine until now; that is, He has deferred the Gospel until this, the sixth age.

St. John Chrysostom: Since our Lord was about to go up to Jerusalem shortly, He went to Capernaum so that He would not have to take His mother and brothers everywhere with Him. The Gospel says, After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The Lord our God is He: high, that He might create us; low, that He might create us anew; walking among men, suffering what was human, and hiding what was divine. So He has a mother, brothers, and disciples. Where He has a mother, there He also has brothers.

Scripture frequently gives the name "brothers" not only to those born of the same womb or the same father, but also to relatives of the same generation, such as cousins on the father's or mother's side. Those who are unacquainted with this way of speaking ask, "From where does our Lord have brothers? Did Mary give birth again?" That could not be; with her, the dignity of the virgin state began. Abraham was Lot's uncle, and Jacob was the nephew of Laban the Syrian, yet Abraham and Lot are called brothers, and likewise Jacob and Laban.

Alcuin of York: Our Lord’s brothers are the relatives of Mary and Joseph, not their sons. For not only the blessed Virgin, but also Joseph, the witness of her chastity, abstained from all marital relations.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Regarding His disciples, it is uncertain whether Peter, Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee were among them at this time. For Matthew first relates that our Lord came and lived at Capernaum, and afterwards that He called those disciples from their boats as they were fishing. Is Matthew perhaps supplying what he had previously omitted? For without mentioning that it was at a later time, he says, Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren. Or is it better to suppose that these were other disciples? For the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles call not only the twelve "disciples," but all who believed in God and were prepared for the kingdom of heaven by our Lord’s teaching.

Furthermore, how is it that our Lord’s journey to Galilee is placed here before John the Baptist’s imprisonment, when Matthew says, Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee, and Mark says the same? Luke, too, though he says nothing of John’s imprisonment, still places Christ’s visit to Galilee after His temptation and baptism, as the first two do. We should understand, then, that the three Evangelists are not contradicting John, but are passing over our Lord’s first coming into Galilee after His baptism—the time when He turned the water into wine.

Eusebius of Caesarea: When copies of the three Gospels came to the Evangelist John, he is reported to have confirmed their faithfulness and correctness, while also noticing some omissions, especially concerning the beginning of our Lord’s ministry. It is certain that the first three Gospels seem to contain only the events of the year in which John the Baptist was imprisoned and put to death. Therefore, it is said, John was asked to write down those acts of our Savior before the arrest of the Baptist, which the earlier Evangelists had passed over. Anyone, then, who pays attention will find that the Gospels do not disagree, but that John is relating events from a different period than the others.

St. John Chrysostom: He did not perform any miracles in Capernaum, whose inhabitants were in a very corrupt state and not well-disposed toward Him. He went there, however, and stayed for some time out of respect for His mother.

The Venerable Bede: He did not stay there many days because of the Passover, which was approaching: And the Jews' passover was at hand.

Origen of Alexandria: But what need was there to say, "of the Jews," when no other nation had the rite of the Passover? Perhaps it is because there are two kinds of Passover: one is human, which is celebrated in a way very different from the design of Scripture; the other is the true and Divine Passover, which is kept in spirit and in truth. To distinguish it from the Divine, then, the text says, "of the Jews."

Alcuin of York: And he went up to Jerusalem. The Gospels mention two journeys of our Lord to Jerusalem: one in the first year of His preaching, before John was sent to prison, which is the journey now being discussed; and the other in the year of His Passion. Our Lord has set an example for us here of careful obedience to the divine commands. For if the Son of God fulfilled the requirements of His own law by keeping the festivals like everyone else, with what holy zeal should we, His servants, prepare for and celebrate them?

Origen of Alexandria: In a mystical sense, it was fitting that after the marriage in Cana of Galilee, with its banquet and wine, our Lord should take His mother, brothers, and disciples to the "land of consolation" (as Capernaum signifies). There He would console those who received His teaching and the mind that had conceived Him by the Holy Spirit, offering the fruits that were to spring up and an abundance of fields to those who were to be helped there. For there are some who bear fruit, to whom our Lord Himself comes down with the ministers of His word and His disciples, helping them while His mother is present.

Those who are called to Capernaum, however, do not seem capable of His presence for long. That is, a land that admits only a lower level of consolation cannot absorb the enlightenment of many doctrines, being capable of receiving only a few.

Alcuin of York: Alternatively, we may interpret Capernaum as "a most beautiful village," and so it signifies the world, to which the Word of the Father came down.

The Venerable Bede: But He remained there only a few days, because He lived among men in this world for only a short time.

Origen of Alexandria: Jerusalem, as our Savior Himself said, is the city of the great King, into which none of those who remain on earth ascend or enter. Only the soul that has a certain natural loftiness and a clear insight into things invisible is an inhabitant of that city. Jesus alone goes up there.

But His disciples seem to have been present afterwards. He says, The zeal of your house has eaten me up. It is as though in every one of the disciples who went up, it was Jesus who went up.

The Venerable Bede: When our Lord came to Jerusalem, He immediately entered the temple to pray, giving us an example that wherever we go, our first visit should be to the house of God to pray. And in the temple, He found those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers sitting there.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Such sacrifices were prescribed to the people in condescension to their carnal minds, to prevent them from turning to idols. They sacrificed sheep, oxen, and doves.

The Venerable Bede: Those who came from a distance, however, were unable to bring the animals required for sacrifice and so brought money instead. For their convenience, the Scribes and Pharisees ordered that animals be sold in the temple. This allowed the merchants, after the people had bought and offered the animals, to sell them again and thus make great profits.

Money changers also sat at tables to provide change for the buyers and sellers. But our Lord, disapproving of any worldly business in His house—especially one of such a questionable kind—drove out all who were engaged in it.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He who was to be scourged by them was first the scourger. And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He did not cast out only those who bought and sold, but also their goods: The sheep, and the oxen. He also poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables—that is, the tables of the money changers, which were their money boxes.

Origen of Alexandria: Does it seem unusual that the Son of God would make a scourge of small cords to drive them out of the temple? One answer, in which some take refuge, is to point to the divine power of Jesus. When He pleased, He could extinguish the wrath of His enemies, no matter how numerous, and quiet the tumult of their minds. As it is written, The Lord brings the counsel of the heathen to nought.

This act, in fact, exhibits no less power than His more direct miracles—indeed, it shows more power than the miracle by which water was converted into wine. In that miracle, the subject was inanimate matter; here, the minds of so many thousands of men are overcome.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is evident that this was done on two separate occasions: the first is mentioned by John, and the second by the other three evangelists.

Origen of Alexandria: John says here that He drove the sellers from the temple; Matthew says He drove out both the sellers and the buyers. The number of buyers was much greater than the sellers. Therefore, to drive them out would have been beyond the power of the carpenter’s Son (as He was thought to be), if He had not, by His divine power, put all things under His authority, as it is said.

The Venerable Bede: The Evangelist sets before us both natures of Christ: the human, in that His mother accompanied Him to Capernaum; and the divine, in that He said, Make not My Father’s house an house of merchandise.

St. John Chrysostom: He speaks of God as His Father, and they are not angry, for they think He means it in a general sense. But afterward, when He spoke more openly and showed that He meant equality with the Father, they were enraged.

In Matthew’s account, when driving them out, He says, You have made it (My Father’s house) a den of thieves. This was just before His Passion, and therefore He uses harsher language. But the first cleansing, being at the beginning of His miracles, prompted a milder and more indulgent response.

St. Augustine of Hippo: So that temple was still only a figure, and our Lord cast out of it all who came to it as a marketplace. And what did they sell? They sold things that were necessary for the sacrifices of that time. What if He had found men drunk? If the house of God ought not to be a house of merchandise, ought it to be a house of drunkenness?

St. John Chrysostom: But why did Christ use such violence? He was about to heal on the Sabbath and do many things that appeared to them to be transgressions of the Law. Therefore, so that He would not seem to be acting contrary to God, He did this at His own peril. He thus gave them to understand that the one who would risk such danger to defend the dignity of the house did not despise the Lord of that house.

For the same reason, to show His agreement with God, He did not say, “the Holy house,” but, “My Father’s house.” It follows, And His disciples remembered what was written; The zeal of your house has eaten me up.

The Venerable Bede: Seeing this most fervent zeal in Him, His disciples remembered that it was from zeal for His Father’s house that our Savior drove the ungodly from the temple.

Alcuin of York: Zeal, taken in a good sense, is a kind of spiritual fervor by which the mind, forgetting all human fears, is stirred up to defend the truth.

St. Augustine of Hippo: A person is consumed with zeal for God’s house who desires to correct all that he sees wrong there; and if he cannot correct it, he endures it and mourns. In your own house, you work to prevent things from going wrong. In the house of God, where salvation is offered, should you be indifferent?

Do you have a friend? Admonish him gently. A wife? Correct her with firm authority. A servant? You must even use strict discipline. Do what you are able, each according to your station.

Alcuin of York: To take the passage mystically, God enters His Church spiritually every day and observes everyone’s behavior there. Let us be careful, then, when we are in God’s Church, that we do not indulge in gossip, jokes, hatred, or lust, lest He suddenly come and scourge us, and drive us out of His Church.

Origen of Alexandria: It is possible even for the dweller in Jerusalem to incur guilt, and even the most richly gifted may stray. Unless they repent quickly, they lose the capacity with which they were endowed. He finds some in the temple—that is, in sacred places or in the office of proclaiming the Church’s truths—who make His Father’s house a house of merchandise.

These are people who offer for sale the oxen they ought to reserve for the plow, lest by turning back they become unfit for the kingdom of God. They are those who prefer unrighteous mammon to the sheep, from which they get the material for adornment. They are those who, for miserable gain, abandon the watchful care of the ones metaphorically called doves, who are without gall or bitterness.

Finding these people in the holy house, our Savior makes a scourge of small cords and drives them out, along with the sheep and oxen offered for sale. He scatters the piles of money as unfitting in the house of God and overthrows the tables set up in the minds of the greedy, forbidding them to sell doves in God’s house any longer.

I also think He intended this as a mystical sign that whatever was to be performed regarding the sacred offering by the priests was not to be done in the manner of physical offerings, and that the law was not to be observed as the carnal Jews wished.

For our Lord, by driving away the sheep and oxen, ordering away the doves (which were the most common Jewish offerings), and overthrowing the tables of physical coins that bore the Divine stamp as a symbol only and not in reality—that is, what seemed good according to the letter of the law—and by scourging the people with His own hand, He essentially declared that this dispensation was to be broken up and destroyed, and the kingdom transferred to believers from among the Gentiles.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Alternatively, those who sell in the Church are those who seek their own interests, not the things of Jesus Christ. Those who are unwilling to be bought think they can sell earthly things. Thus Simon Magus wished to buy the Spirit so that he could sell Him, for he was one of those who sell doves. (The Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove.) The dove, however, is not sold but is given freely by grace, for it is called grace.

The Venerable Bede: The sellers of doves, then, are those who, after receiving the free grace of the Holy Spirit, do not dispense it freely as they are commanded, but for a price. They are those who confer the laying on of hands (by which the Holy Spirit is received) not for money, perhaps, but for the sake of gaining favor with the people. They are those who bestow Holy Orders not according to merit, but according to favoritism.

St. Augustine of Hippo: By the oxen, we may understand the Apostles and Prophets, who have delivered the holy Scriptures to us. Those who use these very Scriptures to deceive the people from whom they seek honor are selling the oxen. They also sell the sheep—that is, the people themselves. And to whom do they sell them, but to the devil? For when something is cut off from the one Church, who takes it away, except the roaring lion who goes about everywhere, seeking whom he may devour?

The Venerable Bede: Alternatively, the sheep represent works of purity and piety, and those who sell the sheep are those who do pious works to gain the praise of men. Those who exchange money in the temple are those who, in the Church, openly devote themselves to secular business.

Besides those who seek money, praise, or honor from Holy Orders, those who make the Lord’s house a house of merchandise also include those who do not use the rank or spiritual grace they have received from the Lord in the Church with singleness of mind, but instead for the sake of human reward.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Our Lord intended a deeper meaning to be seen in His making a scourge of small cords and then scourging those who were carrying on business in the temple. Everyone, by his sins, twists a cord for himself by continuing to add sin to sin. So then, when people suffer for their iniquities, let them be sure that it is the Lord making a scourge of small cords and admonishing them to change their lives. If they fail to do this, they will hear at the last, Bind him hand and foot.

The Venerable Bede: With a scourge made of small cords, He cast them out of the temple. For from the company of the saints are cast out all who, while outwardly among the saints, do good works hypocritically or evil works openly. He cast out the sheep and the oxen as well, to show that the life and the doctrine of such people were equally reprobate.

And He overthrew the piles of change and the tables of the money changers as a sign that, at the final condemnation of the wicked, He will take away even the appearance of those things they loved. He ordered the sale of doves to be removed from the temple because the grace of the Spirit, having been freely received, should be freely given.

Origen of Alexandria: We may also understand the temple to be the soul in which the Word of God dwells. Before the teaching of Christ, earthly and animal-like affections prevailed in the soul.

The ox, being a tiller of the soil, is the symbol of earthly affections. The sheep, being among the most irrational of animals, symbolizes dull affections. The dove is the type of light and fickle thoughts, and money represents earthly goods. Christ cast all of these out by the Word of His doctrine, so that His Father’s house might no longer be a marketplace.

Theophylact of Ohrid: When the Jews saw Jesus acting in this way with power, and heard Him say, Make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise, they asked Him for a sign, saying, What sign do You show us, since You do these things?

St. John Chrysostom: But were signs necessary for Him to put a stop to evil practices? Was not having such zeal for the house of God the greatest sign of His virtue? They did not, however, remember the prophecy but asked for a sign, at once irritated at the loss of their shameful profits and wishing to prevent Him from going further.

They thought this dilemma would force Him either to work miracles or to abandon His present course. But He refused to give them a sign, as He did on a similar occasion when He answered, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. The answer is more direct there than here. However, He who even anticipated people's wishes and gave signs when He was not asked would not have rejected a positive request here if He had not seen a crafty design in it. As it was, Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

The Venerable Bede: Since they sought a sign from our Lord for His authority to eject the usual merchants from the temple, He replied that the temple signified the temple of His Body, in which there was no spot of sin. It was as if He said, "Just as I purify your inanimate temple from your commerce and wickedness by My power, so also the temple of My Body—of which that temple is a figure—I will raise again on the third day after it is destroyed by your hands."

Theophylact of Ohrid: However, He does not provoke them to commit murder by saying, Destroy; He only shows that their intentions were not hidden from Him. Let the Arians observe how our Lord, as the destroyer of death, says, I will raise it up—that is to say, by My own power.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The Father also raised Him up, to whom He says in the psalm, Raise me up, and I shall reward them. But what did the Father do without the Word? Just as the Father raised Him up, so did the Son also, just as He said later, I and My Father are one.

St. John Chrysostom: But why does He give them the sign of His resurrection? Because this was the greatest proof that He was not a mere man, for it showed that He could triumph over death and in a moment overthrow its long-standing tyranny.

Origen of Alexandria: Both the Body of Jesus and the temple seem to me to be a type of the Church, which is built up with living stones into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. According to St. Paul, You are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And though the structure of stones may seem to be broken up, and all the bones of Christ scattered by adversities and tribulations, yet the temple will be restored, raised up again in three days, and established in the new heaven and the new earth.

For just as that physical body of Christ was crucified and buried, and afterward rose again, so the whole body of Christ’s saints was crucified with Christ (each one glorying in that cross, by which he himself was also crucified to the world). After being buried with Christ, this body has also risen with Him, walking in newness of life. Yet we have not yet risen in the power of the blessed resurrection, which is still going on and is yet to be completed. This is why it is not said, "On the third day I will build it up," but in three days. For the construction is in process throughout the whole of the three days.

Theophylact of Ohrid: The Jews, supposing that He spoke of the physical temple, scoffed: Then said the Jews, “Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days?”

Alcuin of York: Note that they are not alluding here to the first temple under Solomon, which was finished in seven years, but to the one rebuilt under Zerubbabel. This one took forty-six years to build because of the opposition raised by enemies of the work.

Origen of Alexandria: Alternatively, some might reckon that the number forty, in reference to the four corners of the temple, alludes to the four elements of the world, and the number six alludes to the creation of man on the sixth day.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Alternatively, it may be that this number corresponds to the perfection of the Lord’s Body. For six times forty-six are two hundred and seventy-six days, which make up nine months and six days, the time our Lord’s Body was forming in the womb, as we know from authoritative traditions handed down from our ancestors and preserved by the Church. According to general belief, He was conceived on the eighth of the Kalends of April (the same date on which He suffered) and born on the eighth of the Kalends of January. The intervening time contains two hundred and seventy-six days, which is forty-six multiplied by six.

The process of human conception is said to be as follows: The first six days produce a substance like milk, which in the next nine days is converted into blood. In twelve more days it is consolidated, and in another eighteen days it is formed into a complete set of limbs. The growth and enlargement of these limbs fills the rest of the time until birth. For six, nine, twelve, and eighteen, added together, make forty-five. With the addition of one (which represents the sum, as all these numbers are collected into one), the total is forty-six. This number, multiplied by six (which stands at the head of this calculation), makes two hundred and seventy-six—that is, nine months and six days.

Therefore, it is not meaningless information that the temple was forty-six years in building. The temple prefigured His Body, and for as many years as the temple was being built, the Lord’s Body was that many days in forming.

Alternatively, if you take the four Greek words for the cardinal directions—anatole (east), dysis (west), arktos (north), and mesembria (south)—their first letters spell ADAM. Our Lord says that He will gather His saints from the four winds when He comes to judgment. Now, according to Greek gematria, the letters of the word ADAM add up to the number of years the temple was in building. For in ADAM, we have alpha (1), delta (4), alpha (1), and mu (40), which together make forty-six.

The temple, then, signifies the body derived from Adam. Our Lord did not take this body in its sinful state but renewed it, raising it again on the third day after the Jews had destroyed it. The Jews, however, being carnal, understood in a carnal way; He spoke spiritually. The Evangelist tells us which temple He meant: But He spoke of the temple of His Body.

Theophylact of Ohrid: From this, Apollinarius draws a heretical inference, attempting to show that Christ’s flesh was inanimate because the temple was inanimate. By this logic, you could prove the flesh of Christ to be wood and stone, because the temple is composed of these materials. Now, if you refuse to allow the statements, Now is My soul troubled, and, I have power to lay it [my life] down, to refer to the rational soul, how will you then interpret, Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend My spirit? You cannot understand this to be about an irrational soul. Or again, how do you interpret the passage, You shall not leave My soul in hell?

Origen of Alexandria: Our Lord’s Body is called the temple because, just as the temple contained the glory of God dwelling within it, so the Body of Christ—which represents the Church—contains the Only-Begotten, who is the image and glory of God.

St. John Chrysostom: In the meantime, there were two things far beyond the disciples' comprehension. One was the resurrection of our Lord’s Body. The other, and the greater mystery, was that it was God who dwelt in that Body, as our Lord declared by saying, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And so it follows, When therefore He was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Alcuin of York: For before the resurrection, they did not understand the Scriptures, because they had not yet received the Holy Spirit, who was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. But on the day of the resurrection, our Lord appeared and opened the meaning of the Scriptures to His disciples, so that they might understand what was said of Him in the Law and the Prophets. And then they believed the prediction of the Prophets that Christ would rise on the third day, and also the word that Jesus had spoken to them: Destroy this temple...

Origen of Alexandria: But (in the mystical interpretation), we will attain to the full measure of faith at the great resurrection of the whole body of Jesus—that is, His Church. This is because the faith that comes from sight is very different from the faith that now sees as through a glass, darkly.