From: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
The Wisdom of the Cross
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Commentary:
20-25. After stressing the importance of the message of the Cross, St Paul now
contrasts the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world.
By “wisdom of the world” he means the attitude of man when he is not pursuing
his proper goal: this term “world”, which has various meanings in Sacred Scripture
(cf. note on Jn 17:14-16), in St Paul has the pejorative meaning of “all sinful men”,
people estranged from God (cf. 1 Cor 1:27; 2:12; 3:19; 5:10; 11:32). This human
wisdom cannot attain knowledge of God (cf. Rom 1:19-25), either because it de-
mands external signs or because it accepts only rational arguments.
For the Jews only signs will do—miracles which prove God’s presence (cf. Mt
12:38ff; Lk 11:29); they want to base their faith on things the senses can perceive.
For people with this attitude, the cross of Christ is a scandal, that is, a stumbling
block, which makes it impossible for them to gain access to divine things, because
they have in some way imposed limits as to how God may reveal himself and how
he may not.
The Greeks—St Paul is referring to the Rationalists of his time—think that they are
the arbiters of truth, and that anything which cannot be proved by logical argument
is nonsense. “For the world, that is, for the prudent of the world, their wisdom
turned into blindness; it could not lead them to see God [...]. Therefore, since the
world had become puffed up by the vanity of its dogmas, the Lord set in place the
faith whereby believers would be saved by what seemed unworthy and foolish, so
that, all human conjecture being of no avail, only the grace of God might reveal
what the human mind cannot take in” (St Leo the Great, “Fifth Nativity Sermon”).
Christians, whom God has called out from among the Jews and the Gentiles, do
attain the wisdom of God, which consists in faith, “a supernatural virtue. By that
faith, with the inspiration and help of God’s grace, we believe that what he has
revealed is true—not because its intrinsic truth is seen by the natural light of rea-
son, but because of the authority of God who reveals it, who can neither deceive
nor be deceived” (Vatican I, “Dei Filius”, chap. 3). The same council goes on to
teach that faith is in conformity with reason (cf. Rom 12:1) and that, in addition
to God’s help, external signs—miracles and prophecies—and rational argument
do act as supports of faith.
21. “In the wisdom of God ...”: this has been interpreted in two ways, which com-
plement one another. Roughly, the first interpretation is this: according to God’s
most wise designs, since the world could not attain knowledge of God by its own
efforts, through philosophy, through those elaborate systems of thought the
Greeks were so proud of, God decided to save believers through the preaching of
the Cross, which to human eyes seemed foolishness, a stumbling block (v. 22).
The second interpretation, favored by many Fathers and by St Thomas Aquinas,
contrasts divine wisdom—as manifested in creation and in the Old Testament—
with human wisdom. It runs on these lines: since the world, because of its distor-
ted view of things, failed to attain knowledge of God, despite the way he manifes-
ted himself in creation (cf. Rom 1:19-20) and Sacred Scripture, God has decided
to save man in a remarkable, paradoxical way which better reflects divine wisdom
—the preaching of the Cross.
In both interpretations it is clear that the Apostle is trying to squeeze into one
expression a number of truths—that God’s salvific plans are eternal; that human
wisdom, which is capable, on its own, of discovering God through his works, has
become darkened; that the Cross is the climax of the all-wise plans of God; that
man cannot be truly wise unless he accepts “the wisdom of the cross”, no matter
how paradoxical it may seem.
25. In his plan of salvation God our Lord wants to use things which to man’s mind
seem foolish and weak, so that his wisdom and power will shine out all the more.
“All that Jesus Christ did for us has been meritorious for us; it has all been neces-
sary and advantageous to our salvation; his very weakness has been for us no
less useful than his majesty. For, if by the power of his divinity he has released
us from the captivity of sin, he has also, through the weakness of his flesh, des-
troyed death’s rights. As the Apostle so beautifully said, ‘the weakness of God is
stronger than men’; indeed, by this folly he has been pleased to save the world
by combating the wisdom of the world and confounding the wise; for, possessing
the nature of God and being equal to God, he abased himself, taking the form of
a servant; being rich, he became poor for love of us: being great, he became little;
being exalted, humble; he became weak, who was powerful; he suffered hunger
and thirst, he wore himself out on the roads and suffered of his own free will and
not by necessity. This type of folly, I repeat: has it not meant for us a way of wis-
dom, a model of justice and an example of holiness, as the same Apostle says:
‘The foolishness of God is wiser than men’? So true is this, that death has freed
us from death, life has freed us from error, and grace from sin” (St Bernard, “De
Laudibus Novae Militiae”, XI, 27).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: John 2:13-25
The Cleansing of the Temple
[23] Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his
name when they saw the signs which he did; [24] but Jesus did not trust himself
to them, [25] because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of
mail; for he himself knew what was in man.
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Commentary:
13. “The Passover of the Jews”: this is the most important religious feast for the
people of the Old Testament, the prefiguring of the Christian Easter (cf. note on
Mt 26:2). The Jewish Passover was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the month
of Nisan and was followed by the festival week of the Azymes (unleavened bread).
According to the Law of Moses, on those days every male Israelite had to “appear
before the Lord God” (Ex 34:23; Deut 16:16)—hence the pious custom of making
a pilgrimage to the temple of Jerusalem for these days, hence the crowd and all
the vendors to supply the needs of the pilgrims; this trading gave rise to abuses.
“Jesus went up to Jerusalem”: by doing this Jesus publicly shows that he ob-
serves the Law of God. But, as we shall soon see, he goes to the temple as the
only-begotten Son who must ensure that all due decorum is observed in the
House of the Father: “And from thenceforth Jesus, the Anointed of God, always
begins by reforming abuses and purifying from sin; both when he visits his
Church, and when he visits the Christian soul” (Origen, “Hom. on St John”, 1).
14-15. Every Israelite had to offer as a passover sacrifice an ox or a sheep, if he
was wealthy; or two turtle-doves or two pigeons if he was not (Lev 5:7). In addi-
tion he had to pay a half shekel every year, if he was twenty or over. The half
shekel, which was the equivalent of a day’s pay of a worker, was a special coin
also called temple money (cf. Ex 30:13); other coins in circulation (denarii, drach-
mas, etc.) were considered impure because they bore the image of pagan rulers.
During the Passover, because of the extra crowd, the outer courtyard of the tem-
ple, the court of the Gentiles, was full of traders, money changers etc., and ine-
vitably this meant noise, shouting, bellowing, manure etc. Prophets had already
fulminated against these abuses, which grew up with the tacit permission of the
temple authorities, who made money by permitting trading. Cf. notes on Mt 21:
12-13 and Mk 11:15-18.
16-17. “Zeal for thy house will consume me”—a quotation from Psalm 69:10. Je-
sus has just made a most significant assertion: “You shall not make my Father’s
house a house of trade.” By calling God his Father and acting so energetically,
he is proclaiming he is the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus’ zeal for his Father’s
glory did not escape the attention of his disciples who realized that what he did
fulfilled the words of Psalm 69.
18-22. The temple of Jerusalem, which had replaced the previous sanctuary
which the Israelites carried around in the wilderness, was the place selected by
God during the Old Covenant to express his presence to the people in a special
way. But this was only an imperfect anticipation or prefiguring of the full expres-
sion of his presence among men—the Word of God became man. Jesus, in whom
“the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 2:9), is the full presence of God
here on earth and, therefore, the true temple of God. Jesus identifies the temple
of Jerusalem with his own body, and by so doing refers to one of the most pro-
found truths about himself—the Incarnation. After the ascension of the Lord into
heaven this real and very special presence of God among men is continued in
the sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist.
Christ’s words and actions as he expels the traders from the temple clearly show
that he is the Messiah foretold by the prophets. That is why some Jews approach
him and ask him to give a sign of his power (cf. Mt 16:1; Mk 8:11; Lk 11:29). Je-
sus’ reply (v. 20), whose meaning remains obscure until his resurrection, the Je-
wish authorities try to turn into an attack on the temple—which merits the death
penalty (Mt 26:61; Mk 14:58; cf. Jer 26:4ff); later they will taunt him with it when
he is suffering on the cross (Mt 27:40; A 15:29) and later still in their case against
St Stephen before the Sanhedrin they will claim to have heard him repeat it (Acts
6:14).
There was nothing derogatory in what Jesus said, contrary to what false witnes-
ses made out. The miracle he offers them, which he calls “the Sign of Jonah” (cf.
Mt 16:4), will be his own resurrection on the third day. Jesus is using a metaphor,
as if to say: Do you see this temple? Well, imagine if it were destroyed, would it
not be a great miracle to rebuild it in three days? That is what I will do for you as
a sign. For you will destroy my body, which is the true temple, and I will rise
again on the third day.
No one understood what he was saying. Jews and disciples alike thought he was
speaking about rebuilding the temple which Herod the Great had begun to con-
struct in 19-20 B.C. Later on the disciples grasped what he really meant.
23-25. Jesus’ miracles moved many to recognize that he had extraordinary, di-
vine powers. But that falls short of perfect theological faith. Jesus knew their faith
was limited, and that they were not very deeply attached to him: they were inte-
rested in him as a miracle-worker. This explains why he did not trust them (cf.
Jn 6:15, 26) “Many people today are like that. They carry the name of faithful,
but they are ickle and inconstant”, comments Chrysostom (”Hom. on St John”,
23, 1).
Jesus’ knowledge of men’s hearts is another sign of his divinity; for example, Na-
thanael and the Samaritan woman recognized him as the Messiah because they
were convinced by the evidence of supernatural power he showed by reading their
hearts (cf. Jn 1:49; 4:29).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.