Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 03-07-2021

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

2:12–13

12. After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.

13. And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxiii) Our Lord being about shortly to go up to Jerusalem, proceeded to Capernaum, that He might not take His mother and brethren every where about with Him: After this he went down to Capernaum, He, and His mother, and His brethren, and His disciples, and they continued there not many days.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. x. in Joan. 1, 2) 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, hiding what was divine. So He hath a mother, hath brethren, hath disciples: whence He hath a mother, thence hath He brethren. Scripture frequently gives the name of brethren, not to those only who are born of the same womb, or the same father, but to those of the same generation, cousins by the father’s or mother’s side. Those who are unacquainted with this way of speaking, ask, Whence hath our Lord brothers? did Mary bring forth again? That could not be: with her commenced the dignity of the virgin state. Abraham was uncle of Lot, and Jacob was nephew to Laban the Syrian. Yet Abraham and Lot are called brethren; and likewise Jacob and Laban.

ALCUIN. Our Lord’s brethren are the relations of Mary and Joseph, not the sons of Mary and Joseph. For not only the blessed Virgin, but Joseph also, the witness of her chastity, abstained from all conjugal intercourse.

AUGUSTINE. (de Cons. Ev. c. ii. c. xvii. [39.]) And His disciples; it is uncertain whether Peter and Andrew and the sons of Zebedee, were of their number or not at this time. For Matthew first relates that our Lord came and dwelt at Capernaum, and afterwards that He called those disciples from their boats, as they were fishing. Is Matthew perhaps supplying what he had omitted? For without any mention that it was at a subsequent time, he says, Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren. (Matt. 4:18) Or is it better to suppose that these were other disciples? For the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles, call not the twelve only, but all who believing in God were prepared for the kingdom of heaven by our Lord’s teaching, disciplesa. (id. cap. 18). How is it too that our Lord’s journey to Galilee is placed here before John the Baptist’s imprisonmentb, when Matthew says, Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee: and Mark the same? Luke too, though he says nothing of John’s imprisonment, yet places Christ’s visit to Galilee after His temptation and baptismc, as the two former do. We should understand then that the three Evangelists are not opposed to John, but pass over our Lord’s first coming into Galilee after his baptism; at which time it was that He converted the water into wine.

EUSEBIUS. (Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. iii. c. 24) When copies of the three Gospels had come to the Evangelist John, he is reported, while he confirmed their fidelity and correctness, to have at the same time noticed some omissions, especially at the opening of our Lord’s ministry. Certain it is that the first three Gospels seem only to contain the events of the year in which John the Baptist was imprisoned, and put to death. And therefore John, it is said, was asked to write down those acts of our Saviour’s before the apprehension of the Baptist, which the former Evangelists had passed over. Any one then, by attending, will find that the Gospels do not disagree, but that John is relating the events of a different date, from that which the others refer to.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxiii. 1) He did not perform any miracle at Capernaum, the inhabitants of which city were in a very corrupt state, and not well disposed to Him; He went there however, and stayed some time out of respect to His motherd.

BEDE. He did not stay many days there, on account of the Passover, which was approaching: And the Jews’ passover was at hand.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. in Joan. c. 14) But what need of saying, of the Jews, when no other nation had the rite of the Passover? Perhapse because there are two sorts of Passover, one human, which is celebrated in a way very different from the design of Scripture; another the true and Divine, which is kept in spirit and in truth. To distinguish it then from the Divine, it is said, of the Jews.

ALCUIN. 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 spoken of; the other in the year of His Passion. Our Lord has set us here an example of careful obedience to the Divine commands. For if the Son of God fulfilled the injunctions of His own law, by keeping the festivals, like the rest, with what holy zeal should we servants prepare for and celebrate them?

ORIGEN. (tom. x. c. 6, 7) In a mystical sense, it was meet that after the marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the banquet and wine, our Lord should take His mother, brethren, and disciples to the land of consolation (as Capernaum signifiesf) to console, by the fruits that were to spring up and by abundance of fields, those who received His discipline, and the mind which had conceived Him by the Holy Ghost; and who were there to be holpen. For some there are bearing fruit, to whom our Lord Himself comes down with the ministers of His word and disciples, helping such, His mother being present. Those however who are called to Capernaum, do not seem capable of His presence long: that is, a land which admitteth lower consolation, is not able to take in the enlightenment from many doctrines; being capable to receive few only.

ALCUIN. Or Capernaum, we may interpret “a most beautiful village,” and so it signifies the world, to which the Word of the Father came down.

BEDE. But He continued there only a few days, because he lived with men in this world only a short time.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. in Joan. c. 16) Jerusalem, as our Saviour Himself saith, is the city of the great King, into which none of those who remain on earth ascend, or enter. Only the soul which has a certain natural loftiness, and clear insight into things invisible, is the inhabitant of that city. Jesus alone goes up thitherg. But His disciples seem to have been present afterwards. The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up. But it is as though in every one of the disciples who went up, it was Jesus who went up.

2:14–17

14. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

15. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

16. And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

17. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

BEDE. Our Lord on coming to Jerusalem, immediately entered the temple to pray; giving us an example that, wheresoever we go, our first visit should be to the house of God to pray. And He found in the temple those that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. (Mat. 21)

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. x. c. 4) Such sacrifices were prescribed to the people, in condescension to their carnal minds; to prevent them from turning aside to idols. They sacrificed sheep, and oxen, and doves.

BEDE. Those however, who came from a distance, being unable to bring with them the animals required for sacrifice, brought the money instead. For their convenience the Scribes and Pharisees ordered animals to be sold in the temple, in order that, when the people had bought and offered them afterwards, they might sell them again, and thus make great profits. And changers of money sitting; changers of money sat at the table to supply change to buyers and sellers. But our Lord disapproving of any worldly business in His house, especially one of so questionable a kind, drove out all engaged in it.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. x. c. 5) He who was to be scourged by them, was first of all the scourger; And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drore them all out of the temple.

THEOPHYLACT. Nor did He cast out only those who bought and sold, but their goods also: The sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables, i. e. of the money changers, which were coffers of pence.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. in Joan. c. 16) Should it appear something out of the order of things, that the Son of God should make a scourge of small cords, to drive them out of the temple? We have one answer in which some take refuge, viz. the divine power of Jesus, Who, when He pleased, could extinguish the wrath of His enemies however innumerable, and quiet the tumult of their minds: The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought. (Ps. 32, 33:10) This act indeed exhibits no less power, than His more positive miracles; nay rather, more than the miracle by which water was converted into wine: in that there the subject-matter was inanimate, here, the minds of so many thousands of men are overcome.

AUGUSTINE. (de Cons. Ev. l. ii. c. 67) It is evident that this was done on two several occasions; the first mentioned by John, the last by the other three.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. in Joan. c. 17) John says here that He drove out the sellers from the temple; Matthew, the sellers and buyers. The number of buyers was much greater than of the sellers: and therefore to drive them out was beyond the power of the carpenter’s Son, as He was supposed to be, had He not by His divine power put all things under Him, as it is said.

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

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxiii. in Joan. c. 2) Lo, He speaks of God as His Father, and they are not angry, for they think He means it in a common sense. But afterwards when He spoke more openly, and shewed that He meant equality, they were enraged. In Matthew’s account too, (c. 21) on driving them out, He says, Ye have made it (My Father’s house) a den of thieves. (21:13.) This was just before His Passion, and therefore He uses severer language. But the former being at the beginning of His miracles, His answer is milder and more indulgent.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. x. in Joan. c. 4) So that temple was still a figure only, and our Lord cast out of it all who came to it as a market. And what did they sell? Things that were necessary for the sacrifice of that time. What if He had found men drunken? If the house of God ought not to be a house of merchandize, ought it to be a house of drunkenness?

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxiii. 2) But why did Christ use such violence? He was about to heal on the Sabbath day, and to do many things which appeared to them transgressions of the Law. That He might not appear therefore to be acting contrary to God, He did this at His own peril; and thus gave them to understand, that He who exposed Himself to such peril to defend the decency of the house, did not despise the Lord of that house. For the same reason, to shew His agreement with God, He said not, the Holy house, but, My Father’s house. It follows, And His disciples remembered what was written; The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

BEDE. (in loc.) His disciples seeing this most fervent zeal in Him, remembered that it was from zeal for His Father’s house that our Saviour drove the ungodly from the temple.

ALCUIN. Zeal, taken in a good sense, is a certain fervour of the Spirit, by which the mind, all human fears forgotten, is stirred up to the defence of the truth.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. x. c. 9) He then is eaten up with zeal for God’s house, who desires to correct all that he sees wrong there; and, if he cannot correct, endures and mourns. In thine house thou busiest thyself to prevent matters going wrong; in the house of God, where salvation is offered, oughtest thou to be indifferent? Hast thou a friend? admonish him gently; a wife? coerce her severely; a maid-servant? even compel her with stripes. Do what thou art able, according to thy station.

ALCUIN. To take the passage mystically, God enters His Church spiritually every day, and marks each one’s behaviour there. Let us be careful then, when we are in God’s Church, that we indulge not in stories, or jokes, or hatreds, or lusts, lest on a sudden He come and scourge us, and drive us out of His Church.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. in Joan. c. 16) It is possible even for the dweller in Jerusalem to incur guilt, and even the most richly endowed may stray. And unless these repent speedily, they lose the capacity wherewith they were endued. He finds them in the temple, i. e. in sacred places, or in the office of enunciating the Church’s truths, some who make His Father’s house an house of merchandize; i. e. who expose to sale the oxen whom they ought to reserve for the plough, lest by turning back they should become unfit for the kingdom of God: also who prefer the unrighteous mammon to the sheep, from which they have the material of ornament; also who for miserable gain abandon the watchful care of them who are called metaphorically doves, without all gall or bitternessh. Our Saviour finding these in the holy house, maketh a scourge of small cords, and driveth them out, together with the sheep and oxen exposed for sale, scatters the heaps of money, as unbeseeming in the house of God, and overthrows the tables set up in the minds of the covetous, forbidding them to sell doves in the house of God any longer. I think too that He meant the above, as a mystical intimation that whatsoeveri was to be performed with regard to that sacred oblation by the priests, was not to be performed after the manner of material oblations, and that the law was not to be observed as the carnal Jews wished. For our Lord, by driving away the sheep and oxen, and ordering away the doves, which were the most common offerings among the Jews, and by overthrowing the tables of material coins, which in a figure only, not in truth, bore the Divine stamp, (i. e. what according to the letter of the law seemed good,) and when with His own hand He scourged the people, He as much as declared that the dispensation was to be broken up and destroyed, and the kingdom translated to the believing from among the Gentiles.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. x. c. 6) Or, those who sell in the Church, are those who seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. They who will not be bought, think they may sell earthly things. Thus Simon wished to buy the Spirit, that he might 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 of free grace1; for it is called grace.

BEDE. (in loc.) They then are the sellers of doves, who, after receiving the free grace of the Holy Spirit, do not dispense it freely2, as they are commanded, but at a price: who confer the laying on of hands, by which the Holy Spirit is received, if not for money, at least for the sake of getting favour with the people, who bestow Holy Orders not according to merit, but favour.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. x. c. 7) By the oxen may be understood the Apostles and Prophets, who have dispensed to us the holy Scriptures. Those who by these very Scriptures deceive the people, from whom they seek honour, sell the oxen; and they sell the sheep too, i. e. the people themselves; and to whom do they sell them, but to the devil? For that which is cut off from the one Church, (1 Pet. 5:8) who taketh away, except the roaring lion, who goeth about every where, and seeketh whom he may devour?

BEDE. (in loc.) Or, the sheep are works of purity and piety, and they sell the sheep, who do works of piety to gain the praise of men. They exchange money in the temple, who, in the Church, openly devote themselves to secular business. And besides those who seek for money, or praise, or honour from Holy Orders, those too make the Lord’s house a house of merchandize, who do not employ the rank, or spiritual grace, which they have received in the Church at the Lord’s hands, with singleness of mind, but with an eye to human recompense.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. x. c. 5) Our Lord intended a meaning to be seen in His making a scourge of small cords, and then scourging those who were carrying on the merchandize in the temple. Every one by his sins twists for himself a cord, in that he goes on adding sin to sin. So then when men 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: which if they fail to do, they will hear at the last, Bind. him hand and foot. (Mat. 23)

BEDE. (in loco.) With a scourge then made of small cords, He cast them out of the temple; for from the part and lot of the saints are cast out all, who, thrown externally among the Saints, do good works hypocritically, or bad openly. The sheep and the oxen too He cast out, to shew that the life and the doctrine of such were alike reprobate. And He overthrew the change heaps of the money-changers and their tables, as a sign that, at the final condemnation of the wicked, He will take away the form even of those things which they loved. The sale of doves He ordered to be removed out of the temple, because the grace of the Spirit, being freely received, should be freely given.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. in Joan. c. 16) By the temple we may understand too the soul wherein the Word of God dwelleth; in which, before the teaching of Christ, earthly and bestial affections had prevailed. The ox being the tiller of the soil, is the symbol of earthly affections: the sheep, being the most irrational of all animals, of dull ones; the dove is the type of light and volatile thoughts; and money, of earthly good things; which money Christ cast out by the Word of His doctrine, that His Father’s house might be no longer a market.

2:18–22

18. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

19. Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

20. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

21. But he spake of the temple of his body.

22. 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.

THEOPHYLACT. (hoc loco.) The Jews seeing Jesus thus acting with power, and having heard Him say, Make not My Father’s house an house of merchandize, ask of Him a sign; Then answered the Jews and said unto Him, What sign shewest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things?

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxiii. 2) But were signs necessary for His putting a stop to evil practices? Was not the 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 base gains, and wishing to prevent Him from going further. For this dilemma, they thought, would oblige Him either to work miracles, or give up His present course. But He refuses to give them the sign, as He did on a like occasion, when He answers, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign he given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet; (Mat. 12:39) only the answer is more open there than here. He however who even anticipated men’s wishes, and gave signs when He was not asked, would not have rejected here a positive request, had He not seen a crafty design in it. As it was, Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

BEDE. For inasmuch as they sought a sign from our Lord of His right to eject the customary merchandize from the temple, He replied, that that temple signified the temple of His Body, in which was no spot of sin; as if He said, As by My power I purify your inanimate temple from your merchandize and wickedness; so the temple of My Body, of which that is the figure, destroyed by your hands, on the third day I will raise again.

THEOPHYLACT. He does not however provoke them to commit murder, by saying, Destroy; but only shews 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.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. x. in Joan c. 11.) The Father also raised Him up again; to Whom He says, Raise Thou me up, and I shall reward them. (Ps. 41:10) But what did the Father do without the Word? As then the Father raised Him up, so did the Son also: even as He saith below, I and My Father are one. John 10:30.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxiii. 3) But why does He give them the sign of His resurrection? Because this was the greatest proof that He was not a mere man; shewing, as it did, that He could triumph over death, and in a moment overthrow its long tyranny.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. in Joan. c. 20) Both those, i. e. both the Body of Jesus and the temple, seem to me to be a type of the Church, which with lively stones is built up into a spiritual house, into an holy priesthood; according to St. Paul, Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Cor. 12:27) And though the structure of stones seem to be broken up, and all the bones of Christ scattered by adversities and tribulations, yet shall the temple be restored, and raised up again in three days, and stablished in the now heaven and the new earth. For as that sensible body of Christ was crucified and buried, and afterward rose again; so the whole body of Christ’s saints was crucified with Christ, (each glorying in that cross, by which He Himself too was crucified to the world,) and, after being buried with Christ, hath also risen with Him, walking in newness of life. Yet have we not risen yet in the power of the blessed resurrection, which is still going on, and is yet to be completed. Whence it is not said, On the third day I will build it up, but, in three days; for the erection is being in process throughout the whole of the three days.

THEOPHYLACT. The Jews, supposing that He spoke of the material temple, scoffed: Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will Thou rear it up in three days?

ALCUIN. Note, that they allude here not to the first temple under Solomon, which was finished in seven years, but to the one rebuilt under Zorobabel. (Ezra 4:5) This was forty-six years building, in consequence of the hindrance raised by the enemies of the work.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. c. 22) Or some will reckon perhaps the forty and six years from the time that David consulted Nathan the Prophet on the building of the temple. David from that time was busy in collecting materials. But perhaps the number forty may with reference to the four corners of the temple allude to the four elements of the world, and the number six, to the creation of man on the sixth day.

AUGUSTINE. (iv. de Trin. c. 9. [v.]) Or it may be that this number fits in with 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 that our Lord’s Body was forming in the womb; as we know by authoritative traditions handed down from our fathers, and preserved by the Church. He was, according to general belief, conceived on the eighth of the Kalends of April, (March 24) the day on which He suffered, and born on the eighth of the Kalends of January1. (Dec. 25) The intervening time contains two hundred and seventy-six days, i. e. six multiplied by forty-six.

AUGUSTINE. (b. lxxxiii. Quæst. 2. 5. f.) The process of human conception is said to be this. The first six days produce a substance like milk, which in the following nine is converted into blood; in twelve more is consolidated, in eighteen more is formed into a perfect set of limbs, the growth and enlargement of which fills up the rest of the time till the birth. For six, and nine, and twelve, and eighteen, added together are forty-five, and with the addition of one (which1 stands for the summing up, all these numbers being collected into one) forty-six. This multiplied by the number six, which stands at the head of this calculation2, makes two hundred and seventy-six, i. e. nine months and six days. It is no unmeaning information then that the temple was forty and six years building; for the temple prefigured His Body, and as many years as the temple was in building, so many days was the Lord’s Body in forming.

AUGUSTINE. (in Joan. Tr. x. c. 12) Or thus, if you take the four Greek words, anatole, the east; dysis, the west; arctos, the north; and mesembria, the south; the first letters of these words make Adam. And our Lord says that He will gather together His saints from the four winds, when He comes to judgment. Now these letters of the word Adam, make up, according to Greek figuring, the number of the years during which the temple was building. For in Adam we have alpha, one; delta, four; alpha again, one; and mi, forty; making up together forty-six. The temple then signifies the body derived from Adam; which body our Lord did not take in its sinful state, but renewed it, in that after the Jews had destroyed it, He raised it again the third day. The Jews however, being carnal, understood carnally; He spoke spiritually. He tells us, by the Evangelist, what temple He means; But He spake of the temple of His Body.

THEOPHYLACT. (ad loc. fin.) From this Apollinarius draws an heretical inference: and attempts to shew that Christ’s flesh was inanimate, because the temple was inanimate. In this way you will prove the flesh of Christ to be wood and stone, because the temple is composed of these materials. Now if you refuse to allow what is said, Now is My soul troubled; (John 12:27) and, I have power to lay it (My life) down, (ib. 10:18) to be said of the rational soul, still how will you interpret, Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend My spirit? (Luke 23:46) you cannot understand this of an irrational soul: or again, the passage, Thou shall not leave My soul in hell. (Ps. 16:11)

ORIGEN. (tom. x. in Joan. c. 23) Our Lord’s Body is called the temple, because as the temple contained the glory of God dwelling therein, so the Body of Christ, which represents the Church, contains the Only-Begotten, Who is the image and glory of God.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxiii. in Joan. 3) TWO. things there were in the mean time very far removed from the comprehension of the disciples: one, the resurrection of our Lord’s Body: the other, and the greater mystery, that it was God who dwelt in that Body: as our Lord declares by saying, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And thus it follows, When therefore He had 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. For before the resurrection they did not understand the Scriptures, because they had not yet received the Holy Ghost, Who was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:39) But on the day of the resurrection our Lord appeared and opened their meaning to His disciples; 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 the third day, and the word which Jesus had spoken to them: Destroy this temple, &c.

ORIGEN. (t. x. c. 27) But (in the mystical interpretation) we shall attain to the full measure of faith, at the great resurrection of the whole body of Jesus, i. e. His Church; inasmuch as the faith which is from sight, is very different from that which seeth as through a glass darkly.

2:23–25

23. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.

24. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men.

25. And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

BEDE. (in loc.) The Evangelist has related above what our Lord did on his way to Jerusalem; now He relates how others were affected towards Him at Jerusalem; Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in His Name, when they saw the miracles which He did.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. c. 30) But how was it that many believed on Him from seeing His miracles? for he seems to have performed no supernatural works at Jerusalem, except we suppose Scripture to have passed them over. May not however the act of His making a scourge of small cords, and driving all out of the temple, be reckoned a miracle?

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxiv. 1) Those had been wiser disciples, however, who were brought to Christ not by His miracles, but by His doctrine. For it is the duller sort who are attracted by miracles; the more rational are convinced by prophecy, or doctrine. And therefore it follows, But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xi. in Joan. c. 2. 3) What meaneth this, Many believed in His Name—but Jesus did not commit Himself unto them? Was it that they did not believe in Him, but only pretended that they did? In that case the Evangelist would not have said, Many believed in His Name. Wonderful this, and strange, that men should trust Christ, and Christ trusts not Himself to men; especially considering that He was the Son of God, and suffered voluntarily, or else need not have suffered at all. Yet such are all catechumens. If we say to a catechumen, Believest thou in Christ? he answers, I do believe, and crosses himself. If we ask him, Dost thou eat the flesh of the Son of man? he knows not what we sayk, for Jesus has not committed Himself to him.

ORIGEN. (tom. x. c. 28) Or, it was those who believed in His Name, not on Him, to whom Jesus would not commit Himself. They believe on Him, who follow the narrow way which leadeth unto life; they believe in His Name, who only believe the miracles.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxv. 1) Or it means that He did not place confidence in them, as perfect disciples, and did not, as if they were brethren of confirmed faith, commit to them all His doctrines, for He did not attend to their outward words, but entered into their hearts, and well knew how short-lived was their zeal1. Because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. To know what is in man’s heart, is in the power of God alone, who fashioned the heart. He does not want witnesses, to inform Him of that mind, which was of His own fashioning.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xi. c. 2) The Maker knew better what was in His own work, than the work knew what was in itself. Peter knew not what was in himself when he said, I will go with Thee unto death; (Luke 22:33. ver. 61) but our Lord’s answer shewed that He knew what was in man; Before the cock crow, thou shalt thrice deny Me.

BEDE. An admonition to us not to be confident of ourselves, but ever anxious and mistrustful; knowing that what escapes our own knowledge, cannot escape the eternal Judge.

Catena Aurea John 2

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

From: Exodus 20:1-17

The Ten Commandments
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[1] And God spoke all these words, saying, [2] "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

[3] "You shall have no other gods before me.

[4] "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; [5] you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, [6] but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

[7] "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

[8] "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; [10] but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; [11] for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

[12] "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

[13] "You shall not kill.

[14] "You shall not commit adultery.

[15] "You shall not steal.

[16] "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

[17] "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's."

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Commentary:

20:1-21. "Decalogue" comes from the Greek, meaning "ten words" (cf. the literal sense of Deut 4: l3). It consists of the Ten Commandments or moral code, recorded here. and in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The Decalogue is dealt with in a very special way here: for one thing, it is embedded in the account of the theophany, slotted in between 19:19 and 20:18; for another, attached to the concise commandments (identical in Exodus and Deuteronomy) are other more elaborate commandments (giving reasons and explanations) which differ as between the two versions. The fact that the Decalogue (and not any other legal code of the Pentateuch) is repeated practically verbatim in Exodus and Deuteronomy and has from ancient times been reproduced separately, as the Nash papyrus (2nd century BC) shows, indicates the importance the Decalogue always had among the people of Israel as a moral code.

On the supposition that the versions in Exodus and Deuteronomy can be reduced to a single original text, the variations between them can be explained in terms of the applications of the commandments to the circumstances of the period when each version was made; the final redaction, which we have here, is the one held to be inspired. The apodictic form (future imperative, second person: "You shall not kill") is that proper to biblical commandments and it differs from the casuistical type of wording that Israel shares with other Semitic people, as can be seen from the Code of the Covenant (chaps 21-23).

The ten commandments are the core of Old Testament ethics and they retain their value in the New Testament. Jesus often reminds people about them (cf Lk 18:20) and he fills them out (cf. Mt 5:17ff). The Fathers and Doctors of the Church have commented on them at length because, as St Thomas points out, all the precepts of the natural law are contained in the Decalogue: the universal precepts, such as "Do good and avoid evil", "which are primary and general, are contained theirein as principles in their proximate conclusions, while conversely, those which are mediated by the wise are contained in them as conclusions in their principles" (Summa Theologiae, 1-2, 100, 3).

The commandments tend to be divided up in two different ways: thus, Jews and many Christian confessions divide the first commandment into two--the precept to adore only one God (vv. 2-3) and that of not making images (vv. 3-6); whereas Catholics and Lutherans (following St Augustine) make these commandments one and divide into two the last commandments (not to covet one's neighbor's wife: the ninth; and not to covet his goods: the tenth).

There is nothing sacrosanct about these divisions (their purpose is pedagogical); whichever way the commandments are divided, the Decalogue stands. In our commentary we follow St Augustine's division and make reference to the teaching of the Church, because the Ten Commandments contain the core of Christian morality (cf. the notes on Deut 5:1-22).

20:2. Hittite peoples (some of whose political and social documents have survived) used to begin peace treaties with an historical introduction, that is, by recounting the victory of a king over a vassal on whom specific obligations were being imposed. In a similar sort of way, the Decalogue begins by recalling the Exodus. However, what we have here is something radically different from a Hittite pact, because the obligation that the commandments imply is not based on a defeat but on a deliverance. God is offering the commandments to the people whom he has delivered from bondage, whereas human princes imposed their codes on peoples whom they had reduced to vassalage. The commandments are therefore an expression of the Covenant. Acceptance of them is a sign that man has attained maturity in his freedom. "Man becomes free when he enters into the Covenant of God? (Aphraates, Demonstrationes, 12). Jesus stressed the same idea: "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Mt 11:30).

20:3-6 "You shall love God above all things" is the wording of the first commandment given in most catechisms (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2083) summarizing the teaching of Jesus (cf. Mk 12:28-31, which quotes the text of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. In the ten commandments this precept covers two aspects--rnonotheism (v. 3) and the obligation not to adore idols or images of the Lord (vv. 4-6). Belief in the existence of only one God is the backbone of the entire Bible message. The prophets will openly teach monotheism, holding that God is the sovereign Lord of the universe and of time; but this ban on other gods itself implies the sure conviction that there is only one true God. "You shall have no other gods before [or, besides] me", implies a belief in one God, that is monotheism.

The ban on images was something that marked Israel as different from other peoples. The ban not only covered idols or images of other gods, but also representations of the Lord.

The one true God is spiritual and transcendent: he cannot be controlled or manipulated (unlike the gods of Israel's neighbors). On the basis of the mystery of the incarnate Word Christians began to depict scenes from the Gospel and in so doing they knew that this was not at odds with God's freedom nor did it make for idolatry. The Church venerates images because they are representations either of Jesus who, being truly man had a body, or of saints, who as human beings were portrayable and worthy of veneration. The Second Vatican Council recommended the veneration of sacred images, while calling for sobriety and beauty: "The practice of placing sacred images in churches so that they be venerated by the faithful is to be maintained. Nevertheless their number should be moderate and their relative positions should reflect right order. For otherwise the Christian people may find them incongruous and they may foster devotion of doubtful orthodoxy" (Sacrosancturn Concilium, 125).

20:5-6. "A jealous God": an anthropomorphism emphasizing the uniqueness of God. Since he is the only true God, he cannot abide either the worship of other gods (cf. 34:14) or worship of idols. Idolatry is the gravest and most condemned sin in the Bible (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2113). Those in charge of worship in the temple are described as being "jealous" for the Lord (cf. Num 25:13; 1 Kings 19:10, 14), because they have to watch to ensure that no deviations occur. When expelling the money-changers from the temple (Jn 2:17), Jesus refers to this aspect of priests' responsibility; "Zeal for thy house has consumed me" (Ps 69:9).

On the Lord's merciful retribution, cf. the note on Ex 34:6-7.

20:7. Respect for God's name is respect for God himself. Hence this prohibition on invoking the name of the Lord to gain credence for evil, be it at a trial (by committing perjury), or by swearing to do something evil, or by blasphemy (cf. Sir 23:7-12). In ancient times, Israel's neighbors used the names of their gods in magical conjuration; in such a situation the invoking of the Lord's name is idolatrous. In general, this commandment forbids any abuse, any disrespect, any irreverent use of the name of God. And, to put it positively, "The second commandment 'prescribes respect for the Lord's name'. Like the first commandment, it belongs to the virtue of religion and more particularly it governs our use of speech in sacred matters" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2142).

20:8-11 Israel's history evidently influenced the formulation of the sabbath precept, given that the usual apodictic mode is not used and that the prescriptions concerning this day are very well developed.

The commandment includes three ideas: the sabbath is a holy day, dedicated to the Lord; work is forbidden on it; one reasons for it is to imitate God, who rested from creation on the seventh day.

The sabbath is a holy day, that is, different from ordinary days (cf. Lev 23:3) because it is dedicated to God. No special rites are prescribed but the word "remember" (different from "observe" in Deuteronomy 5:10) is a word with cultic associations. Whatever the etymology or social origin of the sabbath was, in the Bible it is always something holy (cf. 16:22-30).

Sabbath rest implies that there is an obligation to work on the previous six days (v. 9). Work is the only justification for rest. The Hebrew word sabat actually means "sabbath" and "rest". But on this day rest acquires a cultic value, for no special sacrifices or rites are prescribed for the sabbath: the whole community, and even animals, render homage to God by ceasing from their labors.

20:12 The fourth is the first commandment to do with inter-personal relationships (the subject of the second "table" as ancient Christian writers used to term these commandments: cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2197). Like the sabbath precept, it is couched in a positive way, its direct reference is to family members. The fact that it comes immediately after the precepts that refer to God shows its importance. Parents, in effect, represent God within the family circle.

The commandment has to do not only with young children (cf. Prov 19:26; 20:20; 23:22;; 30:17), who have a duty to remain subject to their parents (Deut 21:18-21), but to all children whatever their age, because it is offenses committed by older children that incur a curse (cf. Deut 17:16).

The promise of a long life to those who keep this commandment shows how important it is for the individual, and also the importance the family has for society. The Second Vatican Council summed up the value of the family by calling it the "domestic church" (Lumen Gentium, 11; cf. St John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 21).

20:13. The fifth commandment directly forbids vengeful killing of one's enemy, that is, murder; so it protects the sacredness of human life. The prohibition on murder already comes across in the account of the death of Abel (cf. Gen 4:10) and the precepts given to Noah (cf. Gen 9:6): life is something that belongs to God alone.

Revelation and the teaching of the Church tell us more about the scope of this precept: it is only in very specific circumstances (such as social or personal self-defense) that a person may be deprived of his or her life. Obviously, the killing of weaker members of society (abortion, direct euthanasia) is a particularly grave sin.

The encyclical Evangelium Vitae spells out the Church s teaching on this commandment which "has absolute value when it refers to the 'innocent person'. [...] Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, and in communion with the Bishops of the Catholic Church, 'I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral'" (St John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 57).

Our Lord taught that the positive meaning of this commandment was the obligation to practise charity (cf. Mt 5:21-26): "In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord recalls the commandment, 'You shall not kill' (Mt 5:21), and adds to it the proscription of anger, hatred and vengeance. Going further, Christ asks his disciples to turn the other cheek, to love their enemies (cf. Mt 5:22-28). He did not defend himself and told Peter to leave his sword in its sheath (cf. Mt 26:52)?"(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2262).

20:14. The sixth commandment is orientated to safeguarding the holiness of marriage. In the Old Testament there were very severe penalties for those who committed adultery (cf. Deut 22:23ff; Lev 20:10). As Revelation progresses, it will become clear that not only is adultery grave, because it damages the rights of the other spouse, but every sexual disorder degrades the dignity of the person and is an offense against God (ef., e.g., Prov 7:8-27; 23:27-28). Jesus Christ, by his life and teaching, showed the positive thrust of this precept (cf. Mt 5:27-32): "Jesus came to restore creation to the purity of its origins. In the Sermon on the Mount, he interprets God's plan strictly: 'You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart' (Mt 5:27-28). What God has joined together, let not man put asunder (cf. Mt 19:6). The tradition of the Church has understood the sixth commandment as encompassing the whole of human sexuality?"(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2336).

20:15. Because the Decalogue is regulating inter-personal relationships, this commandment condemns firstly the abducting of persons in order to sell them into slavery (cf. Deut 24:7) but obviously it covers unjust appropriation of another's goods. The Church continues to remind us that every violation of the right to property is unjust (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2409); but this is particularly true if actions of that type lead to the enslavement of human beings, or to depriving them of their dignity, as happens in traffic in children, trade in human embryos, the taking of hostages, arbitrary arrest or imprisonment, racial segregation, concentration camps, etc. "The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason--selfish or ideological, commercial or totalitarian--lead to the "enslavement of human beings", to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personal dignity. It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamental rights to reduce them by violence to their productive value or to a source of profit. St Paul directed a Christian master to treat his Christian slave 'no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother...both in the flesh and in the Lord' (Philem 16)"(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 24 14).

20:16. Giving false testimony in court can cause one's neighbor irreparable damage because an innocent person may be found guilty. But, given that truth and fidelity in human relationships is the basis of social life (cf. Vatican II, Gaudium Et Spes, 26), this commandment prohibits lying, defamation (cf. Sir 7:12-13), calumny and the saying of anything that might detract from a neighbor's dignity (cf. Jas 3:1-12). "This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidehties to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2464).

20:17. The wording of this precept is different from that in Deuteronomy: there the distinction is made between coveting one's neighbor's wife and coveting his goods (cf. Deut 5:21). "St John distinguishes three kinds of covetousness or concupiscence: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life (cf. 1 Jn 2:16). In the Catholic catechetical tradition, the ninth commandment forbids carnal concupiscence; the tenth forbids coveting another's goods" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2514).

From: 1 Corinthians 1:17-25

An Appeal for Unity (Continuation)
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[17] For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

The Wisdom of the Cross
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[18] For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. [19] For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart." [20] Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? [21] For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. [22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, [23] but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, [24] but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. [25] For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

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Commentary:

17. In the first part of this verse St Paul is giving the reasons for his actions as described in the preceding verses. The second part he uses to broach a new subject--the huge difference between this world's wisdom and the wisdom of God.

"Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel": this is a reminder that preaching is St Paul's main task, as it is of the other Apostles (cf. Mk 3:14). This does not imply a belittling of Baptism: in his mandate to the Apostles to go out into the whole world (cf. Mt 28:19-20), our Lord charged them to baptize as well as to preach, and we know that St Paul did administer Baptism. But Baptism--the sacrament of faith presupposes preaching: "faith comes from what is heard" (Rom 10:17). St Paul concentrates on preaching, leaving it to others to baptize and gather the fruit--a further sign of his detachment and upright intention.

In Christian catechesis, evangelization and the sacraments are interdependent. Preaching can help people to receive the sacraments with better dispositions, and it can make them more aware of what the sacraments are; and the graces which the sacraments bring help them to understand the preaching they hear and to be more docile to it. "Evangelization thus exercises its full capacity when it achieves the most intimate relationship, or better still a permanent and unbroken intercommunication, between the Word and the Sacraments. In a certain sense it is a mistake to make a contrast between evangelization and sacramentalization, as is sometimes done. It is indeed true that a certain way of administering the Sacraments, without the solid support of catechesis regarding these same Sacraments and a global catechesis, could end up by depriving them of their effectiveness to a great extent. The role of evangelization is precisely to educate people in the faith so as to lead each individual Christian to live the Sacraments as true Sacraments of faith--and not to receive them passively or apathetically" (Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 47).

1:18-4:21. St Paul's writings are not an academic study of particular doctrinal subjects, one after the other, logically arranged. The Apostle's lively mind and the letter-form he uses create an interweaving of profound theological ideas, practical applications of teaching and expressions of warm, apostolic affection. In this section of the letter St Paul discusses the causes of divisions among the Corinthian Christians: they have failed to discover where true wisdom lies (1:18-3:3), or what the true mission of Church ministers is (3:4-4:13). He ends this part of the letter with some words of warning (4:14-21).

Human wisdom ought to be in line with the wisdom of God. But it has gone off course and become "wisdom of the world", relying only on miracles or on logic; only grace can make a person truly wise: therefore, no Christian can boast of obtaining wisdom by his own efforts (1:18-31). Even St Paul relied only on the wisdom of the Cross (2:1-5).

Divine wisdom, which men are called to have a share in, is the plan of salvation revealed by God and taught by the Holy Spirit (2:6-16); the Corinthians have not yet attained it (3:1-3).

The Corinthians' second shortcoming is that they fail to understand the role of Church ministers: these are not working for themselves but for the building-up of the whole Church; every Christian--and the entire Church--belongs to God and Christ alone (3:4-23); Christians are not to sit in judgment over God's ministers: God is their judge (4:1-7). Therefore, the important thing is for Christians to be faithful and to abound in the grace of God, even if the holders of Church office are not very impressive (4:8-13).

18-19. The cross of Christ leads the way to true wisdom and prudence. No one may remain indifferent to it. Some people see the message of the Cross, "the word of the cross", as folly: these are on the road to perdition. Others--those who are on the road to salvation—are discovering that the Cross is "the power of God", because it has conquered the devil and sin. The Church has always seen the Cross in this light: "This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world" (Roman Missal, Good Friday liturgy).

The saints have rejoiced in this truth: "O most precious gift of the Cross! How splendid it looks! [...] It is a tree which begets life, without causing death; which sheds light, without casting shadows; which leads to Paradise and does not expel anyone therefrom; it is the wood which Christ ascended, as a king mounting his chariot, to defeat the devil who had usurped the power of death, and to set mankind free from the thrall in which the devil held it. This wood, on which the Lord, valiant fighter in the combat, was wounded in his divine hands and feet and side, healed the effects of sins and the wounds which the pernicious dragon had inflicted on our nature [...]. That supreme wisdom, which, so to speak, burgeoned on the Cross, exposed the boasts and the foolish arrogance of the wisdom of the world" (St Theodore the Studite, Oratio In Adorationem Crucis).

In the Cross the words of Isaiah (29:14) quoted by St Paul are fulfilled. Simplicity and humility are needed if one is to discover the divine wisdom of the Cross. 'The message of Christ's cross", St Thomas says, "contains some- thing which to human wisdom seems impossible--that God should die, or that the Almighty should give himself up into the power of violent men. It also contains things which seem to be contrary to worldly prudence--for instance, someone being able to flee from contradictions and yet not doing so" (Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc.).

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 demands 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 reason, 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 complement 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 distorted view of things, failed to attain knowledge of God, despite the way he manifested 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 necessary 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, destroyed 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 wisdom, 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).

From: John 2:13-25

The Cleansing of the Temple
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[13] The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [14] In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. [15] And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. [16] And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade." [17] His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for thy house will consume me." [18] The Jews then said to him, "What signs have you to show us for doing this?" [19] Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." [20] The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" [21] But he spoke of the temple of his body. [22] When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

[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 observes 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 addition 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, drachmas, 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 temple, the court of the Gentiles, was full of traders, money-changers etc., and inevitably 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. Jesus 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 expression 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 profound 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). Jesus' reply (v. 20), whose meaning remains obscure until his resurrection, the Jewish 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 witnesses 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 construct 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, divine 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 interested 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 fickle and inconstant", comments Chrysostom (Hom. on St John, 23, 1).

Jesus' knowledge of men's hearts is another sign of his divinity; for example, Nathanael 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).

Daily Word For Reflection—Navarre Bible Commentary

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John
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	John 2
13.	And the pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.	Et prope erat Pascha Judæorum, et ascendit Jesus Jerosolymam :	και εγγυς ην το πασχα των ιουδαιων και ανεβη εις ιεροσολυμα ο ιησους
14.	And he found in the temple them that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting.	et invenit in templo vendentes boves, et oves, et columbas, et numularios sedentes.	και ευρεν εν τω ιερω τους πωλουντας βοας και προβατα και περιστερας και τους κερματιστας καθημενους
15.	And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew.	Et cum fecisset quasi flagellum de funiculis, omnes ejecit de templo, oves quoque, et boves, et numulariorum effudit æs, et mensas subvertit.	και ποιησας φραγελλιον εκ σχοινιων παντας εξεβαλεν εκ του ιερου τα τε προβατα και τους βοας και των κολλυβιστων εξεχεεν το κερμα και τας τραπεζας ανεστρεψεν
16.	And to them that sold doves he said: Take these things hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of traffic.	Et his qui columbas vendebant, dixit : Auferte ista hinc, et nolite facere domum patris mei, domum negotiationis.	και τοις τας περιστερας πωλουσιν ειπεν αρατε ταυτα εντευθεν μη ποιειτε τον οικον του πατρος μου οικον εμποριου
17.	And his disciples remembered, that it was written: The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up.	Recordati sunt vero discipuli ejus quia scriptum est : Zelus domus tuæ comedit me.	εμνησθησαν δε οι μαθηται αυτου οτι γεγραμμενον εστιν ο ζηλος του οικου σου καταφαγεται με
18.	The Jews, therefore, answered, and said to him: What sign dost thou shew unto us, seeing thou dost these things?	Responderunt ergo Judæi, et dixerunt ei : Quod signum ostendis nobis, quia hæc facis ?	απεκριθησαν ουν οι ιουδαιοι και ειπον αυτω τι σημειον δεικνυεις ημιν οτι ταυτα ποιεις
19.	Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.	Respondit Jesus, et dixit eis : Solvite templum hoc, et in tribus diebus excitabo illud.	απεκριθη ιησους και ειπεν αυτοις λυσατε τον ναον τουτον και εν τρισιν ημεραις εγερω αυτον
20.	The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this temple in building; and wilt thou raise it up in three days?	Dixerunt ergo Judæi : Quadraginta et sex annis ædificatum est templum hoc, et tu in tribus diebus excitabis illud ?	ειπον ουν οι ιουδαιοι τεσσαρακοντα και εξ ετεσιν ωκοδομηθη ο ναος ουτος και συ εν τρισιν ημεραις εγερεις αυτον
21.	But he spoke of the temple of his body.	Ille autem dicebat de templo corporis sui.	εκεινος δε ελεγεν περι του ναου του σωματος αυτου
22.	When therefore he was risen again from the dead, his disciples remembered, that he had said this, and they believed the scripture, and the word that Jesus had said.	Cum ergo resurrexisset a mortuis, recordati sunt discipuli ejus, quia hoc dicebat, et crediderunt scripturæ et sermoni quem dixit Jesus.	οτε ουν ηγερθη εκ νεκρων εμνησθησαν οι μαθηται αυτου οτι τουτο ελεγεν και επιστευσαν τη γραφη και τω λογω ω ειπεν ο ιησους
23.	Now when he was at Jerusalem, at the pasch, upon the festival day, many believed in his name, seeing his signs which he did.	Cum autem esset Jerosolymis in Pascha in die festo, multi crediderunt in nomine ejus, videntes signa ejus, quæ faciebat.	ως δε ην εν τοις ιεροσολυμοις εν τω πασχα εν τη εορτη πολλοι επιστευσαν εις το ονομα αυτου θεωρουντες αυτου τα σημεια α εποιει
24.	But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all men,	Ipse autem Jesus non credebat semetipsum eis, eo quod ipse nosset omnes,	αυτος δε ο ιησους ουκ επιστευεν εαυτον αυτοις δια το αυτον γινωσκειν παντας
25.	And because he needed not that any should give testimony of man: for he knew what was in man.	et quia opus ei non erat ut quis testimonium perhiberet de homine : ipse enim sciebat quid esset in homine.	και οτι ου χρειαν ειχεν ινα τις μαρτυρηση περι του ανθρωπου αυτος γαρ εγινωσκεν τι ην εν τω ανθρωπω

The Law given at Sinai

The crucified Christ, the power and wisdom of God

Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas