Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 2:12-17

"After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and [his] brethren, and his disciples; and there they abode not many days. And the passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 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 2:12-17 (ASV)

1. Previously, the Evangelist presented the sign Christ worked to confirm his disciples, which related to his power to change nature. Now, he discusses the sign of his resurrection. This sign also relates to the same power but was proposed by Christ to convert the people.

   Regarding this miracle, the Evangelist does two things:

   1. He mentions its occasion.
   2. He discusses the prediction of the miracle, beginning with the words, the Jews, therefore, answered (John 2:18).

   Regarding the first point, he does two things:

   1. He describes the place.
   2. He tells of the incident that was the occasion for proposing this miracle, at the words, and he found in the temple merchants selling oxen and sheep.

   The place where this happened was Jerusalem. And so, the Evangelist recounts step by step how the Lord had come to Jerusalem.

   First, he shows how He went down to Capernaum. Second, how He then went up to Jerusalem, at the words, and the Passover of the Jews was at hand.

   Regarding the first point, he does three things:

   1. He mentions the place to which He went down.
   2. He describes His company.
   3. He mentions the length of His stay.

2. The place to which Christ went down was Capernaum; and so he says, after this—that is, after the miracle of the wine—he went down to Capernaum.

   Regarding the historical truth, this seems to conflict with Matthew’s account that the Lord went down to Capernaum after John had been thrown into prison (Matthew 4:12), while the entire series of events the Evangelist refers to here took place before John’s imprisonment.

   I answer that to resolve this question, we should bear in mind what is learned from the Ecclesiastical History: that the other evangelists—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—began their account of Christ’s public life from the time that John was thrown into prison. Thus Matthew, after describing the baptism, fast, and temptation of Christ, immediately began to weave his narrative after John’s imprisonment, saying: when Jesus heard that John had been arrested (Matthew 4:12). And Mark says the same: after John had been arrested, Jesus came into Galilee (Mark 1:14).

   John, who outlived the other three evangelists, approved the accuracy and truth of their accounts when they came to his notice. Yet he saw that certain things had been left unsaid, namely, things which the Lord had done in the very first days of his preaching before John’s imprisonment. And so, at the request of the faithful, John, after he began his own Gospel in a more elevated manner, recorded events that took place during the first year in which Christ was baptized, before John’s imprisonment, as is clear from the order of the events in his Gospel. According to this, then, the evangelists are not in disagreement. Rather, the Lord went down to Capernaum twice: once before John’s imprisonment, which is the one dealt with here, and once after his imprisonment (Matthew 4:13 and Luke 4:31).

3. Now, Capernaum means “very pretty village,” and it signifies this world, which has its beauty from the order and arrangement of divine wisdom: the beauty of the land is mine (Psalms 49:2). So the Lord went down to Capernaum—that is, this world—with his mother, brethren, and disciples. For in heaven, the Lord has a Father without a mother; and on earth, a mother without a father. Thus, he significantly mentions only his mother. In heaven, he does not have brothers either, but is the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18). But on earth, he is the firstborn of many brothers (Romans 8:29). And on earth he has disciples, to whom he can teach the mysteries of the divinity, which were not known to men before: in these days he has spoken to us in his Son (Hebrews 1:1).

   Alternatively, Capernaum means “the field of consolation,” and this signifies every person who bears good fruit: the odor of my son is like the odor of a fruitful field (Genesis 27:27). Such a person is called a field of consolation because the Lord is consoled and rejoices in his achievement—God will rejoice over you (Isaiah 62:5)—and because the angels rejoice over his good: there is joy in the angels of God over one repentant sinner (Luke 15:10).

4. It says, he and his mother.

   His companions were, first of all, his mother. So he says, and his mother, for because she had come to the wedding and had brought about the miracle, the Lord accompanied her back to the village of Nazareth. Nazareth was a village in Galilee, whose chief town was Capernaum.

5. Second, his companions were his brethren; and so he says, and his brethren.

   We must avoid two errors here. First, that of Helvidius, who said that the Blessed Virgin had other sons after Christ; and he called these the brothers of the Lord. This is heretical, because our faith holds that just as the mother of Christ was a virgin before giving birth, so in giving birth and after giving birth, she remained a virgin.

   We must also avoid the error of those who say that Joseph fathered sons with another wife, and that these are called the brothers of the Lord, for the Church does not admit this. Jerome refutes this opinion, for on the cross the Lord entrusted his virgin mother to the care of his virgin disciple. Therefore, since Joseph was the special guardian of the Virgin, and of the Savior too, in his childhood, one may believe that he was a virgin.

   Consequently, it is a reasonable interpretation to say that the brothers of the Lord were those related to his virgin mother by some degree of blood relationship, or even to Joseph, who was the reputed father. This agrees with the custom of Scripture, which generally refers to relatives as brothers. Thus we read: let us not quarrel, for we are brothers (Genesis 13:8), as Abram said to Lot, who was his nephew.

   Note that he distinguishes between relatives and disciples, because not all of Christ’s relatives were his disciples; hence we read: for neither did his brethren believe in him (John 7:5).

6. Third, his disciples were his companions; hence he says, and his disciples.

   But from this, the question arises of who his disciples were. For it seems, according to Matthew, that the first ones to be converted to Christ were Peter and Andrew, and John and James; but they were called after John’s imprisonment, as is clear from Matthew (Matthew 4:18). Thus it does not seem that they went down to Capernaum with Christ, as it says here, since this was before John’s imprisonment.

   There are two answers to this.

   1. One is from Augustine, in his De Consensu Evangelistarum, namely, that Matthew does not follow the historical order but, in summarizing what he omitted, relates events that occurred before John’s imprisonment as though they happened after. So, without suggesting any time has passed, he says, as Jesus was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers (Matthew 4:18), without adding “after this” or “at that time.”
   2. The other answer, also by Augustine, is that in the Gospel, not only the twelve whom the Lord chose and named apostles are called disciples of the Lord (Luke 6:13), but also all who believed in him and were instructed for the kingdom of heaven by his teaching. Therefore, it is possible that although those twelve did not yet follow him, others who adhered to him are called disciples here.

   But the first answer is better.

7. His stay there was short; hence he says, and they did not remain there many days.

   The reason for this was that the citizens of Capernaum were not eager to accept the teachings of Christ, as they were very corrupt. The Lord rebukes them for not repenting in spite of the miracles done there and of Christ’s teaching: and you Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? You will go down to hell. For if the mighty works that were done in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have stood until this day (Matthew 11:23). But although they were evil, he went there to accompany his mother and to stay there for a few days for her consolation and honor.

8. As for its mystical sense, this signifies that some cannot remain long with the many words spoken by Christ; a few of these words are enough for them, to enlighten them, because of the weakness of their understanding. Hence as Origen said, Christ reveals few things to such persons, according to the verse: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12).

9. Then when he says, and the Passover of the Jews was at hand, he mentions the place to which He went up.

   Concerning this he does two things:

   1. The occasion is given.
   2. The going up is described, at the words, and Jesus went up.

10. The occasion for his going up was the Jewish Passover. For it is commanded that every male be presented to the Lord three times a year (Exodus 23:17), and one of these times was the Jewish Passover. So, since the Lord came to teach everyone by his example of humility and perfection, he wished to observe the law as long as it was in effect. For he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). And so, because the Passover of the Jews was at hand, he went up to Jerusalem.

    So we, after his example, should carefully observe the divine precepts. For if the Son of God fulfilled the decrees of a law he himself had given, and celebrated the great feasts, with what zeal for good works should we both prepare for them and observe them?

11. It should be noted that in John’s Gospel, mention is made of the Passover in three passages: here; when he worked the miracle of the loaves, where it is said, now the Passover, the festival day of the Jews, was near (John 6:4); and again, where it says, before the festival day of the Passover (John 13:1). So, according to this Gospel, we understand that after the miracle of the wine, Christ preached for two years plus the interval between his baptism and this Passover. For what he did here occurred near the Passover, as it says here. Then a year later, near the time of another Passover, he performed the miracle of the loaves, and in the same year John was beheaded. Thus John was beheaded near the time of the Passover, because we read that immediately after John was beheaded, Christ withdrew to the desert, where he worked the miracle of the loaves (Matthew 14:13); and this miracle took place near Passover time (John 6:4). Nevertheless, the feast of the beheading of John is celebrated on the day his head was found. It was later, during another Passover, that Christ suffered.

    So, according to the opinion of those who say that the miracle worked at the wedding and the events being discussed here occurred in the same year in which Christ was baptized, there was an interval of two and a half years between Christ’s baptism and his passion. According to them, the Evangelist says, and the Passover of the Jews was at hand, to show that Christ had been baptized just a few days before.

    But the Church holds the opposite. For we believe that Christ worked the miracle of the wine on the first anniversary of the day of his baptism. Then a year later, near Passover time, John was beheaded. Then there was another year between the Passover near which John was beheaded and the Passover during which Christ suffered. So between the baptism of Christ and the miracle of the wine, there had to be another Passover which the Evangelist does not mention. And so, according to what the Church holds, Christ preached for three and a half years.

12. He says, the Passover of the Jews, not as if the people of other nations celebrated a Passover, but for two reasons. One is that when people celebrate a feast in a holy and pure way, it is said that they celebrate it for the Lord. But when they celebrate it in neither of these ways, they do not celebrate it for the Lord, but for themselves: my soul hates your new moons and your feasts (Isaiah 1:14). It is as though he said: Those who celebrate for themselves and not for me do not please me: when you fasted, did you fast for me? (Zechariah 7:5). As if to say: you did not do it for me, but for yourselves. And so because these Jews were corrupt and celebrated their Passover in an unbecoming manner, the Evangelist does not say, “the Passover of the Lord,” but the Passover of the Jews.

    Alternatively, he says this to differentiate it from our Passover. For the Passover of the Jews was symbolic, being celebrated by the sacrificing of a lamb which was a symbol. But our Passover is true, in which we recall the true passion of the immaculate Lamb: Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7).

13. The journey was to Jerusalem, and so he says, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

    Note here that according to the historical order, Jesus went up to Jerusalem near the time of the Passover and expelled the merchants from the temple on two occasions. The first, before John’s imprisonment, is the one the Evangelist mentions here. The other is mentioned elsewhere as occurring when the Passover and the hour of his passion were at hand (Matthew 21:13). For the Lord frequently repeated similar works, for example, the two cases of giving sight to the blind (Matthew 9:28 and Mark 10:46). In a similar way, he twice cast merchants from the temple.

14. In the mystical sense, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, which is translated as “the vision of peace,” signifies eternal happiness. It is to here that Jesus ascended, and he took his own with him.

    There is significant mystery in the fact that he went down to Capernaum and later went up to Jerusalem. For if he did not first go down, he would not have been suited to go up, because, as it is said: he who descended is the same as he who ascended (Ephesians 4:10). Furthermore, no mention is made of the disciples in the ascent to Jerusalem because the ascent of the disciples comes from the ascent of Christ: and no man has ascended into heaven, except he who descended from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven (John 3:13).

15. Then when he says, and he found in the temple merchants selling oxen and sheep and doves, and money changers sitting, the Evangelist explains what moved Christ to propose the sign of the resurrection.

    He does three things with this:

    1. He exposes the faulty behavior of the Jews.
    2. He discloses Christ’s remedy, at the words, and when he had made a whip of little cords.
    3. He gives the announcement of the prophecy, at the words, and his disciples remembered that it was written.

16. With respect to the first point, we should note that the devil plots against God’s work and strives to destroy it. Now among the means by which he destroys holy things, the chief is avarice; hence it is said: the shepherds have no understanding. All have turned aside to their own way; everyone after his own gain, from the first one to the last (Isaiah 56:11). And the devil has done this from the earliest times. For the priests of the Old Testament, who had been established to care for divine matters, gave themselves over to greed. God commanded in the law that animals should be sacrificed to the Lord on certain feasts. To fulfill this command, those who lived nearby brought the animals with them. But those who came a long distance were unable to bring animals from their own homes. And so, because offerings of this kind resulted in profit for the priests, and so that animals to offer would not be lacking to those who came from a distance, the priests themselves saw to it that animals were sold in the temple. They had them displayed for sale in the temple, that is, in the courtyard of the temple. This is what he says: in the temple precincts he came upon merchants selling oxen, sheep, and doves: and he found in the temple merchants selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers sitting.

    Mention is first made of two land animals that, according to the law, could be offered to the Lord: the ox and the sheep. The third land animal offered, the goat, is implied when he says sheep; similarly, the turtledove is included when he says doves.

17. It sometimes happened that some came to the temple not only without animals, but also without money to buy them. And so the priests found another avenue for their avarice: they set up money-changers who would lend money to those who came without it. And although they would not accept usury, because this was forbidden in the law, they nevertheless accepted certain offerings in its place, that is, small items and minor gifts. So this also was turned to the profit of the priests. And this is what he says, moneychangers sitting, that is, in the temple, ready to lend money.

18. This can be understood mystically in three ways.

    1. The merchants signify those who sell or buy the things of the Church, for the oxen, sheep, and doves signify the spiritual goods of the Church and the things connected with them. These goods have been consecrated and authenticated by the teachings of the apostles and doctors, signified by the oxen—when there is an abundant harvest the strength of the ox is evident (Proverbs 14:4); by the blood of the martyrs, who are signified by the sheep—so it is said for them: we are regarded as sheep for the slaughter (Romans 8:36); and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, signified by the doves, for as stated above, the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. Therefore, those who presume to sell the spiritual goods of the Church and the goods connected with them are selling the teachings of the apostles, the blood of the martyrs, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
    2. It happens that certain prelates or heads of churches sell these oxen, sheep, and doves, not openly through simony, but secretly through negligence; that is, when they are so eager for and occupied with temporal gain that they neglect the spiritual welfare of their subjects. This is how they sell the oxen, sheep, and doves, that is, the three classes of people subject to them. First, they sell the preachers and laborers, who are signified by the oxen: happy are you who sow beside all the streams, letting the ox and the donkey range free (Isaiah 32:20). Because prelates ought to arrange the oxen (teachers and wise men) with the donkeys (the simple and uneducated). They also sell those in the active life and those occupied with ministering, signified by the sheep: my sheep hear my voice (John 10:27); and as is said: but these, who are the sheep, what have they done? (2 Samuel 24:17). They also sell the contemplatives, signified by the doves: who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly? (Psalms 55:6).
    3. By the temple of God we can understand the spiritual soul, as it says: the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are (1 Corinthians 3:17). Thus a man sells oxen, sheep, and doves in the temple when he harbors animal-like impulses in his soul, for which he sells himself to the devil. For oxen, which are used for cultivating the earth, signify earthly desires; sheep, which are stupid animals, signify man’s obstinacy; and doves signify man’s instability. It is God who drives these things out of men’s hearts.

19. The Lord’s remedy is at once set forth, at the words, and when he had made a whip of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple. Here the Lord’s remedy consisted in action and in words, to instruct those who have charge of the Church that they must correct their subjects by action and by word.

    He does two things with respect to this:

    1. He gives the remedy Christ applied by his action.
    2. He gives the remedy he applied by word, at the words, and to those who sold doves he said.

20. As to the first, he does three things. First, he drives the men out. Second, the oxen and sheep. Third, he sweeps away the money.

    He drives the men out with a whip; and this is what he says, when he had made a kind of whip from cords: he drove them all out of the temple. This is something that could be done only by divine power. For as Origen says, the divine power of Jesus was as able, when he willed, to extinguish the rising anger of men as to calm the storms of minds: the Lord brings to naught the thoughts of men (Psalms 33:10). He makes the whip from cords because, as Augustine says, it is from our own sins that he forms the material with which he punishes us. For a series of sins, in which sins are added to sins, is called a cord: he is bound fast by the cords of his own sins (Proverbs 5:22); woe to you who haul wickedness with cords (Isaiah 5:18). Then, just as he drove the merchants from the temple, so he swept away the gold of the money-changers and knocked over their tables.

21. Mark well that if he expelled from the temple things that seemed somewhat permissible, in the sense that they were intended for the worship of God, how much more would he do if he comes upon unlawful things? The reason he cast them out was because in this matter the priests did not intend God’s glory, but their own profit. Hence it is said: it is for yourselves that you placed guardians of my service in my sanctuary (Ezekiel 44:8). Furthermore, our Lord showed zeal for the things of the law so that he might by this answer the chief priests and the priests who were later to bring a charge against him concerning the law.

    Again, by casting things of this kind out of the temple, he let it be understood that the time was coming in which the sacrifices of the law were to cease, and the true worship of God transferred to the Gentiles: the kingdom of God will be taken away from you (Matthew 21:43). This also shows us the condemnation of those who sell spiritual things: may your money perish together with you (Acts 8:20).

22. Then when he says, to those who sold doves he said, he records the treatment which the Lord applied by word.

    Here it should be noted that those who engage in simony should, of course, first be expelled from the Church. But because as long as they are alive, they can change through their own free will and by the help of God return to the state of grace, they should not be given up as hopeless. If, however, they are not converted, then they are not merely to be expelled, but handed over to those to whom it is said: bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness (Matthew 22:13).

    And so the Lord, attending to this, first warns them, and second, he gives the reason for his warning, at the words, and do not make the house of my Father a marketplace.

23. He warns those selling the doves by rebuking them, for they signify those who sell the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that is, those who engage in simony.

24. He gives his reason for this when he says, and do not make the house of my Father a marketplace. Take away your evil from my sight (Isaiah 1:16).

    Note what is said elsewhere: do not make my house a den of thieves (Matthew 21:13), while here he says, a marketplace. The Lord does this because, like a good physician, he begins first with gentler things; later on, he would propose harsher things. The action recorded here was the first of the two; hence in the beginning he does not call them thieves but merchants. But because they did not stop such business due to their obstinacy, the Lord, when driving them out the second time (Mark 11:17), rebukes them more severely, calling robbery what he had first called business.

    He says, the house of my Father, to refute the error of Manichaeus, who said that while the God of the New Testament was the Father of Christ, the God of the Old Testament was not. But if this were true, then since the temple was the house of the God of the Old Testament, Christ would not have referred to the temple as his Father’s house.

25. Why were the Jews not disturbed here when he called God his Father? For as is said elsewhere, this is why the Jews sought all the more to kill him (John 5:18).

    I answer that God is the Father of certain men through adoption; for example, he is the Father of the just in this way. This was not a new idea for the Jews: you will call me Father, and you will not cease to walk after me (Jeremiah 3:19). However, by nature he is the Father of Christ alone: the Lord said to me: ‘you are my Son’ (Psalms 2:7), that is, the true and natural Son. It is this that was unheard of among the Jews. And so the Jews persecuted him because he called himself the true Son of God: therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal to God (John 5:18). But when he called God his Father on this occasion, they assumed he meant it was by adoption.

26. That the house of God shall not be made a marketplace is taken from Zechariah: on that day there will no longer be any merchants in the house of the Lord of hosts (Zechariah 14:21); and from the Psalm, where one version has the reading: because I was not part of the marketplace, I will enter into the strength of the Lord (Psalms 71:16).

27. Then when he says, and his disciples remembered, he sets down a prophecy: zeal for your house consumes me (Psalms 69:9).

    Here we should remark that zeal, properly speaking, signifies an intensity of love, whereby the one who loves intensely does not tolerate anything which is opposed to his love. So it is that men who love their wives intensely and cannot endure their being in the company of other men, as this conflicts with their own love, are called jealous husbands. Thus, properly speaking, one is said to have zeal for God who cannot patiently endure anything contrary to the honor of God, whom he loves above all else: I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts (1 Kings 19:10). Now we should love the house of the Lord: O Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house (Psalms 26:8). Indeed, we should love it so much that our zeal consumes us, so that if we notice anything wrong being done, we should try to eliminate it, no matter how dear to us are those who are doing it; nor should we fear any evils that we might have to endure as a result. So the Gloss says: “Good zeal is a fervor of spirit, by which, scorning the fear of death, one is on fire for the defense of the truth. He is consumed by it who takes steps to correct any perversity he sees; and if he cannot, he tolerates it with sadness.”