Church Fathers Commentary John 2:14-17

"And he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers` money, and overthrew their tables; and to them that sold the doves he said, Take these things hence; make not my Father`s house a house of merchandise. His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for thy house shall eat me up." — John 2:14-17 (ASV)

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.