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| date | Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:05:42 +0000 |
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13 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in">LECTURE I</p> |
| 35 | 14 <blockquote> |
| 15 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">1 On the | |
| 16 third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of | |
| 17 Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the | |
| 18 feast. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, | |
| 19 “They have no more wine.” 4 Jesus then said to her, | |
| 20 “Woman, what does that have to do with me and you? My time | |
| 21 has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, | |
| 22 “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone | |
| 23 water jars near by for purifications according to Jewish customs, | |
| 24 each holding two or three metretes. 7 Jesus said to them, | |
| 25 “Fill those jars with water.” And they filled them to | |
| 26 the top. 8 Then Jesus said to them, “Now pour out a drink and | |
| 27 take it to the head waiter.” They did as he instructed them. | |
| 28 9 Now when the head waiter tasted the water made wine, and not | |
| 29 knowing where it came from (although the servants knew, since they | |
| 30 had drawn the water), he called the groom over 10 and said to him, | |
| 31 “People usually serve the choice wines first, and when the | |
| 32 guests have had their fill, then they bring out inferior wine; but | |
| 33 you have saved the best wine until now.” 11 This beginning of | |
| 34 signs Jesus worked in Cana of Galilee; and Jesus revealed his | |
| 35 glory, and his disciples believed in him.</p> | |
| 36 </blockquote> | |
| 37 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">335 Above, | |
| 38 the Evangelist showed the dignity of the incarnate Word and gave | |
| 39 various evidence for it. Now he begins to relate the effects and | |
| 40 actions by which the divinity of the incarnate Word was made known | |
| 41 to the world. First, he tells the things Christ did, while living | |
| 42 in the world, that show his divinity. Secondly, he tells how Christ | |
| 43 showed his divinity while dying; and this from chapter twelve | |
| 44 on.</p> | |
| 45 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">As to the | |
| 46 first he does two things. First, he shows the divinity of Christ in | |
| 47 relation to the power he had over nature. Secondly, in relation to | |
| 48 the effects of grace; and this from chapter three on. | |
| 49 Christ’s power over nature is pointed out to us by the fact | |
| 50 that he changed a nature. And this change was accomplished by | |
| 51 Christ as a sign: first, to his disciples, to strengthen them; | |
| 52 secondly, to the people, to lead them to believe (2:12). This | |
| 53 transformation of a nature, in order to strengthen the disciples, | |
| 54 was accomplished at a marriage, when he turned water into wine. | |
| 55 First, the marriage is described. Secondly, those present. Thirdly, | |
| 56 the miracle performed hy Christ.</p> | |
| 57 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">330 In | |
| 58 describing the marriage, the time is first mentioned. Hence he | |
| 59 says. On the <span style="font-weight: bold">third day there was a | |
| 60 wedding,</span> i.e., after the calling of the disciples mentioned | |
| 61 earlier. For, after being made known by the testimony of John, | |
| 62 Christ also wanted to make himself known. Secondly, the place is | |
| 63 mentioned; hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">at Cana | |
| 64 in Galilee.</span> Galilee is a province, and Cana a small village | |
| 65 located in that province.</p> | |
| 66 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">337 As far | |
| 67 as the literal meaning is concerned, we should note that there are | |
| 68 two opinions about the time of Christ’s preaching. Some say | |
| 69 that there were two and a half years from Christ’s baptism | |
| 70 until his death. According to them, the events at this wedding took | |
| 71 place in the same year that Christ was baptized. However, both the | |
| 72 teaching and practice of the Church are opposed to this. For three | |
| 73 miracles are commemorated on the feast of the Epiphany: the | |
| 74 adoration of the Magi, which took place in the first year of the | |
| 75 Lord’s birth; secondly, the baptism of Christ, which implies | |
| 76 that he was baptized on the same day thirty years later; thirdly, | |
| 77 this marriage, which took place on the same day one year later. It | |
| 78 follows from this that at least one year elapsed between his | |
| 79 baptism and this marriage. In that year the only things recorded to | |
| 80 have been done by the Lord are found in the sixth chapter of | |
| 81 Matthew: the fasting in the desert, and the temptation by the | |
| 82 devil; and what John tells us in this Gospel of the testimony by | |
| 83 the Baptist and the conversion of the disciples. After this | |
| 84 wedding, Christ began to preach publicly and to perform miracles up | |
| 85 to the time of his passion, so that he preached publicly for two | |
| 86 and one half years.</p> | |
| 87 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">338 In the | |
| 88 mystical sense, marriage signifies the union of Christ with his | |
| 89 Church, because as the Apostle says: “This is a great | |
| 90 mystery: I am speaking of Christ and his Church” (Eph 5:32). | |
| 91 And this marriage was begun In the womb of the Virgin, when God the | |
| 92 Father united a human nature to his Son in a unity of person. So, | |
| 93 the chamber of this union was the womb of the Virgin: “He | |
| 94 established a chamber for the sun” (Ps 18:6). Of this | |
| 95 marriage it is said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king | |
| 96 who married his son” (Mt 22:2), that is, when God the Father | |
| 97 joined a human nature to his Word in the womb of the Virgin. It was | |
| 98 made public when the Church was joined to him by faith: “I | |
| 99 will bind you to myself in faith” (Hos 2:20). We read of this | |
| 100 marriage: “Blessed are they who are called to the marriage | |
| 101 supper of the Lamb” (Rv 19:9). It will be consummated when | |
| 102 the bride, i.e., the Church, is led into the resting place of the | |
| 103 groom, i.e., into the glory of heaven.</p> | |
| 104 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The fact | |
| 105 that this marriage took place on the third day is not without it | |
| 106 own mystery. For the first day is the time of the law of nature; | |
| 107 the second day is the time of the written law. but the third day is | |
| 108 the time of grace, when the incarnate Lord celebrated the marriage: | |
| 109 “He will revive Lis after two days: on the third day he will | |
| 110 raise us up” (Hos 6:3).</p> | |
| 111 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The place | |
| 112 too is appropriate. For “Cana” means “zeal and | |
| 113 “Galilee” means “passage.” So this marriage | |
| 114 was celebrated in the zeal of a passage, to suggest that those | |
| 115 persons are most worthy of union with Christ who, burning with the | |
| 116 zeal of a conscientious devotion, pass over from the state of guilt | |
| 117 to the grace of the Church. “Pass over to me, all who desire | |
| 118 me” (Sir 24:26). And they pass from death to life, i.e., from | |
| 119 the state of mortality and misery to the state of immortality and | |
| 120 glory: “I make all things new” (Rv 21:5).</p> | |
| 121 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">339 Then the | |
| 122 persons invited are described. Mention is made of three: the mother | |
| 123 of Jesus, Jesus himself, and the disciples.</p> | |
| 124 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">340 The | |
| 125 mother of Jesus is mentioned when he says, <span style= | |
| 126 "font-weight: bold">the mother of Jesus was there</span>. She is | |
| 127 mentioned first to indicate that Jesus was still unknown and not | |
| 128 invited to the wedding as a famous person, but merely as one | |
| 129 acquaintance among others; for as they invited the mother, so also | |
| 130 her son. Or, perhaps his mother is invited first because they were | |
| 131 uncertain whether Jesus would come to a wedding if invited, because | |
| 132 of the unusual piety they noticed in him and because they had not | |
| 133 seen him at other social gatherings. So I think that they first | |
| 134 asked his mother whether Jesus should be invited. That is why the | |
| 135 Evangelist expressly said first that his mother was at the wedding, | |
| 136 and that later Jesus was invited.</p> | |
| 137 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">341 And this | |
| 138 is what comes next: <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus was | |
| 139 invited.</span> Christ decided to attend this wedding, first of | |
| 140 all, to give us an example of humility. For he did not look to his | |
| 141 own dignity, but “just as he condescended to accept the form | |
| 142 of a servant, so he did not hesitate to come to the marriage of | |
| 143 servants,” as Chrysostom says. And as Augustine says: | |
| 144 “Let man blush to be proud, for God became humble.” For | |
| 145 among his other acts of humility, the Son of the Virgin came to a | |
| 146 marriage, which he had already instituted in paradise when he was | |
| 147 with his Father. Of this example it is said: “Learn from me, | |
| 148 for I am gentle and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29).</p> | |
| 149 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">He came, | |
| 150 secondly, to reject the error of those who condemn marriage, for as | |
| 151 Bede says: “If there were sin in a holy marriage bed and in a | |
| 152 marriage carried out with due purity, the Lord would not have come | |
| 153 to the marriage.” But because he did come, he implies that | |
| 154 the baseness of those who denounce marriage deserves to be | |
| 155 condemned. “If she marries, it is not a sin” (1 Cor | |
| 156 7:36).</p> | |
| 157 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">342 The | |
| 158 disciples are mentioned when he says, <span style= | |
| 159 "font-weight: bold">and his disciples.</span></p> | |
| 160 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">343 In its | |
| 161 mystical meaning, the mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, is | |
| 162 present in spiritual marriages as the one who arranges the | |
| 163 marriage, because it is through her intercession that one is joined | |
| 164 to Christ through grace: “In me is every hope of life and of | |
| 165 strength” (Sir 24:25). Christ is present as the true groom of | |
| 166 the soul, as is said below (3:29): “It is the groom who has | |
| 167 the bride.” The disciples are the groomsmen uniting the | |
| 168 Church to Christ, the one of whom it is said: “I betrothed | |
| 169 you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to | |
| 170 Christ” (2 Cor 11:2).</p> | |
| 171 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">344 At this | |
| 172 physical marriage some role in the miracle belongs to the mother of | |
| 173 Christ, some to Christ, and some to the disciples. When he says, | |
| 174 <span style="font-weight: bold">When the wine ran out,</span> he | |
| 175 indicates the part of each. The role of Christ’s mother was | |
| 176 to superintend the miracle; the role of Christ to perform it; and | |
| 177 the disciples were to bear witness to it. As to the first, | |
| 178 Christ’s mother assumed the role of a mediatrix. Hence she | |
| 179 does two things. First, she intercedes with her Son. In the second | |
| 180 place, she instructs the servants. As to the first, two things are | |
| 181 mentioned. First, his mother’s intercession; secondly, the | |
| 182 answer of her Son.</p> | |
| 183 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">345 In | |
| 184 Mary’s intercession, note first her kindness and mercy. For | |
| 185 it is a quality of mercy to regard another’s distress as | |
| 186 one’s own, because to be merciful is to have a heart | |
| 187 distressed at the distress of another: “Who is weak, and I am | |
| 188 not weak?” (2 Cor 11:29). And so because the Blessed Virgin | |
| 189 was full of mercy, she desired to relieve the distress of others. | |
| 190 So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">When the wine ran out, | |
| 191 the mother of Jesus said to him.</span></p> | |
| 192 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Note, | |
| 193 secondly, her reverence for Christ: for because of the reverence we | |
| 194 have for God it is sufficient for us merely to express our needs: | |
| 195 “Lord, all my desires are known by you” (Ps 37:10). But | |
| 196 it is not our business to wonder about the way in which God will | |
| 197 help us, for as it is said: “We do not know what we should | |
| 198 pray for as we ought” (Rom 8:26). And so his mother merely | |
| 199 told him of their need, saying, <span style= | |
| 200 "font-weight: bold">They have no more wine.</span></p> | |
| 201 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Thirdly, | |
| 202 note the Virgin’s concern and care. For she did not wait | |
| 203 until they were in extreme need, but <span style= | |
| 204 "font-weight: bold">When the wine ran out,</span> that is, | |
| 205 immediately. This is similar to what is said of God: “A | |
| 206 helper in times of trouble” (Ps 9:10).</p> | |
| 207 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">346 | |
| 208 Chrysostom asks: Why did Mary never encourage Christ to perform any | |
| 209 miracles before this time? For she had been told of his power by | |
| 210 the angel, whose work had been confirmed by the many things she had | |
| 211 seen happening in his regard, all of which she remembered, thinking | |
| 212 them over in her heart (Lk 2:5 1). The reason is that before this | |
| 213 time he lived like any other person. So, because the time was not | |
| 214 appropriate, she put off asking him. But now, after John’s | |
| 215 witness to him and after the conversion of his disciples, she | |
| 216 trustingly prompted Christ to perform miracles. In this she was | |
| 217 true to the symbol of the synagogue, which is the mother of’ | |
| 218 Christ: for it was customary for the Jews to require miracles: | |
| 219 “The Jews require signs” (1 Cor 1:22).</p> | |
| 220 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">347 She says | |
| 221 to him, <span style="font-weight: bold">They have no more | |
| 222 wine.</span> Here we should note that before the incarnation of | |
| 223 Christ three wines were running out: the wine of justice, of | |
| 224 wisdom, and of charity or grace. Wine stings, and in this respect | |
| 225 it is a symbol of justice. The Samaritan poured wine and oil into | |
| 226 the wounds of the injured man, that is, he mingled the severity of | |
| 227 justice with the sweetness of mercy. “You have made us drink | |
| 228 the wine of sorrow” (Ps 59:5). But wine also delights the | |
| 229 heart, “Wine cheers the heart of man” (Ps 103:15). And | |
| 230 in this respect wine is a symbol of wisdom, the meditation of which | |
| 231 is enjoyable in the highest degree: “Her companionship has no | |
| 232 bitterness” (Wis 8:16). Further, wine intoxicates: | |
| 233 “Drink, friends, and be intoxicated, my dearly beloved” | |
| 234 (Sg 5:1). And in this respect wine is a symbol of charity: “I | |
| 235 have drunk my wine with my milk” (Sg 5:1). It is also a | |
| 236 symbol of charity because of charity’s fervor: “Wine | |
| 237 makes the virgins flourish” (Zec 9:17).</p> | |
| 238 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The wine of | |
| 239 justice was indeed running out in the old law, in which justice was | |
| 240 imperfect. But Christ brought it to perfection: “Unless your | |
| 241 justice is greater than that of the scribes and of the Pharisees, | |
| 242 you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20). The | |
| 243 wine of wisdom was also running out, for it was hidden and | |
| 244 symbolic, because as it says in 1 Corinthians (10:11): “All | |
| 245 these things happened to them in symbol.” But Christ plainly | |
| 246 brought wisdom to light: “He was teaching them as one having | |
| 247 authority” (Mt 7:29). The wine of charity was also running | |
| 248 out, because they had received a spirit of serving only in fear. | |
| 249 But Christ converted the water of fear into the wine of charity | |
| 250 when he gave “the spirit of adoption as sons, by which we | |
| 251 cry: ‘Abba, Father’” (Rom 8:15), and when | |
| 252 “the charity of God was poured out into our hearts,” as | |
| 253 Romans (5:5) says.</p> | |
| 254 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">348 Then | |
| 255 when he says, Jesus said to her, the answer of Christ is given. | |
| 256 This answer has been the occasion for three heresies.</p> | |
| 257 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">349 The | |
| 258 Manicheans claim that Christ had only an imaginary body, not a real | |
| 259 one. Valentinus maintained that Christ assumed a celestial body and | |
| 260 that, as far as his body was concerned, Christ was not related to | |
| 261 the Virgin at all. The source of this error was that he understood, | |
| 262 <span style="font-weight: bold">Woman, what does that have to do | |
| 263 with me and you?</span> as if it meant: “I have received | |
| 264 nothing from you.” But this is contrary to the authority of | |
| 265 Sacred Scripture. For the Apostle says: “God sent his Son, | |
| 266 made from a woman” (Gal 4:4). Now Christ could not be said to | |
| 267 have been made from her, unless he had taken something from her. | |
| 268 Further, Augustine argues against them: “How do you know that | |
| 269 our Lord said, <span style="font-weight: bold">What does that have | |
| 270 to do with me and you?</span> You reply that it is because John | |
| 271 says so. But he also says that the Virgin was the mother of Christ. | |
| 272 So, if you believe the Evangelist when he states that Jesus said | |
| 273 this to his mother, you should also believe him when he says, | |
| 274 <span style="font-weight: bold">and the mother of Jesus was | |
| 275 there</span>.”</p> | |
| 276 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">350 Then | |
| 277 there was Ebion who said that Christ was conceived from a | |
| 278 man’s seed, and Elvidius, who said that the Virgin did not | |
| 279 remain a virgin after childbirth. They were deceived by the fact | |
| 280 that he said, Woman, which seems to imply the loss of virginity. | |
| 281 But this is false, for in Sacred Scripture the word | |
| 282 “woman” sometimes refers merely to the female sex, as | |
| 283 it does in “made from a woman” (Gal 4:4). This is | |
| 284 obvious also by the fact that Adam, speaking to God about Eve, | |
| 285 said: “The woman whom you gave me as a companion, gave me | |
| 286 fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Gn 3:12); for Eve was | |
| 287 still a virgin in Paradise, where Adam had not know her. Hence the | |
| 288 fact that the mother of Christ is here called “woman” | |
| 289 in this Gospel does not imply a loss of virginity, but refers to | |
| 290 her sex.</p> | |
| 291 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">351 The | |
| 292 Priscillianists, however, erred by misunderstanding the words of | |
| 293 Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold">My time has not yet | |
| 294 come.</span> They claimed that all things happen by fate, and that | |
| 295 the actions of men, including those of Christ, are subject to | |
| 296 predetermined times. And that is why, according to them, Christ | |
| 297 said, <span style="font-weight: bold">My time has not yet | |
| 298 come.</span></p> | |
| 299 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">But this is | |
| 300 false for any man. For since man has free choice, and this is | |
| 301 because he has reason and will, both of which are spiritual, then | |
| 302 obviously, as far as choice is concerned, man, so far from being | |
| 303 subject to bodies, is really their master. For spiritual things are | |
| 304 superior to material things, so much so that the Philosopher says | |
| 305 that the wise man is master of the stars. Further, their heresy is | |
| 306 even less true of Christ, who is the Lord and Creator of the stars. | |
| 307 Thus when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">My time has not | |
| 308 yet come,</span> he is referring to the time of his passion, which | |
| 309 was fixed for him, not by necessity, according to divine | |
| 310 providence. What is said in Sirach (33:7) is also contrary to their | |
| 311 opinion: “Why is one day better than another?” And the | |
| 312 answer is: “They have been differentiated by the knowledge of | |
| 313 the Lord,” i.e., they were differentiated from one another | |
| 314 not by chance, but by God’s providence.</p> | |
| 315 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">352 Since we | |
| 316 have eliminated the above opinions, let us look for the reason why | |
| 317 our Lord answered, <span style="font-weight: bold">Woman, what does | |
| 318 that have to do with me and you?</span> For Augustine, Christ has | |
| 319 two natures, the divine and the human. And although the same Christ | |
| 320 exists in each, nevertheless things appropriate to him according to | |
| 321 his human nature are distinct from what is appropriate to him | |
| 322 according to his divine nature. Now to perform miracles is | |
| 323 appropriate to him according to his divine nature, which he | |
| 324 received from the Father; while to suffer is according to his human | |
| 325 nature, which he received from his mother. So when his mother | |
| 326 requests this miracle, he answers, <span style= | |
| 327 "font-weight: bold">Woman, what does that have to do with me and | |
| 328 you?</span> as if saying: I did not receive from you that in me | |
| 329 which enables me to perform miracles, but that which enables me to | |
| 330 suffer, i.e., that which makes it appropriate for me to suffer, | |
| 331 i.e., I have received a human nature from you. And so I will | |
| 332 recognize you when this weakness hangs on the cross. And so he | |
| 333 continues with, <span style="font-weight: bold">My time has not yet | |
| 334 come.</span> As if to say: I will recognize you as my mother when | |
| 335 the time of my passion arrives. And so it was that on the cross he | |
| 336 entrusted his mother to the disciple.</p> | |
| 337 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">353 | |
| 338 Chrysostom explains this differently. He says that the Blessed | |
| 339 Virgin, burning with zeal for the honor of her Son, wanted Christ | |
| 340 to perform miracles at once, before it was opportune; but that | |
| 341 Christ, being much wiser than his mother, restrained her. For he | |
| 342 was unwilling to perform the miracle before the need for it was | |
| 343 known; otherwise, it would have been less appreciated and less | |
| 344 credible. And so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Woman, | |
| 345 what does that have to do with me and you?</span> As if to say: Why | |
| 346 bother me? <span style="font-weight: bold">My time has not yet | |
| 347 come</span>, i.e., I am not yet known to those present. Nor do they | |
| 348 know that the wine ran out; and they must first know this, because | |
| 349 when they know their need they will have a greater appreciation of | |
| 350 the benefit they will receive.</p> | |
| 351 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">354 Now | |
| 352 although his mother was refused, she did not lose hope in her | |
| 353 Son’s mercy. So she instructs the servants, Do whatever he | |
| 354 tells you, in which, indeed, consists the perfection of all | |
| 355 justice. For perfect justice consists in obeying Christ in all | |
| 356 things: “We will do all that the Lord commanded us” (Ex | |
| 357 29:35). Do whatever he tells you, is fittingly said of God alone, | |
| 358 for man can err now and then. Hence in matters that are against | |
| 359 God, we are not held to obey men: “We ought to obey God | |
| 360 rather than men” (Acts 5:29). We ought to obey God, who does | |
| 361 not err and cannot be deceived, in all things.</p> | |
| 362 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">355 Now | |
| 363 Christ’s completion of the miracle is set forth. First, the | |
| 364 vessels in which the miracle was performed are described. Secondly, | |
| 365 the matter of the miracle is stated (v 7). Thirdly, we have how the | |
| 366 miracle was made known and approved (v 8).</p> | |
| 367 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">356 The | |
| 368 miracle was performed in six vessels; <span style= | |
| 369 "font-weight: bold">Now there were six stone water jars near | |
| 370 by.</span> Here we should note, that as mentioned in Mark (7:2), | |
| 371 the Jews observed many bodily washings and the cleansing of their | |
| 372 cups and dishes. So, because they were in Palestine where there wis | |
| 373 a shortage of water, they had vessels in which they kept the purest | |
| 374 water to be used for washing themselves and their utensils. Hence | |
| 375 he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">there were six stone water | |
| 376 jars near by,</span> i.e., vessels for holding water, <span style= | |
| 377 "font-weight: bold">for purifications according to Jewish | |
| 378 customs,</span> i.e., to use for <span style= | |
| 379 "font-weight: bold">purification, each holding two or three | |
| 380 metretes</span> of liquid, that is, two or three measures; for the | |
| 381 Greek “metrete” is the same as the Latin | |
| 382 “mensura.”</p> | |
| 383 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">These jars | |
| 384 were standing there, as Chrysostom says, in order to eliminate any | |
| 385 suspicion about the miracle: both on account of their cleanliness, | |
| 386 lest anyone suspect that the water had acquired the taste of wine | |
| 387 from the dregs of wine previously stored in them, for these jars | |
| 388 were standing there <span style="font-weight: bold">for | |
| 389 purifications according to Jewish customs,</span> and so had to be | |
| 390 very pure; and also on account of the capacity of the jars, so that | |
| 391 it would be abundantly clear that the water in such jars could be | |
| 392 changed into wine only by divine power.</p> | |
| 393 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">357 In the | |
| 394 mystical sense, the six water jars signify the six eras of the Old | |
| 395 Testament during which the hearts of men were prepared and made | |
| 396 receptive of God’s Scriptures, and put forward as an example | |
| 397 for our lives.</p> | |
| 398 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The term | |
| 399 <span style="font-weight: bold">metretes</span>, according to | |
| 400 Augustine, refers to the Trinity of persons. And they are described | |
| 401 as <span style="font-weight: bold">two or three</span> because at | |
| 402 times in Scripture three persons in the Trinity are distinctly | |
| 403 mentioned: “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of | |
| 404 the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19), and at other | |
| 405 times only two, the Father and the Son, in whom the Holy Spirit, | |
| 406 who is the union of the two, is implied: “If anyone loves me, | |
| 407 he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come | |
| 408 to him” (below 14:23). Or they are described as two on | |
| 409 account of the two states of mankind from which the Church arose, | |
| 410 that is, Jews and Gentiles. Or three on account of the three sons | |
| 411 of Noe, from whom the human race arose after the deluge.</p> | |
| 412 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">358 Then | |
| 413 when he says that Jesus instructed them, <span style= | |
| 414 "font-weight: bold">Fill those jars with water,</span> he gives the | |
| 415 material of the miracle. Here we might ask why this miracle was | |
| 416 performed with already existing material, and not from nothing. | |
| 417 There are three reasons for this. The first reason is literal, and | |
| 418 is given by Chrysostom: to make something from nothing is much | |
| 419 greater and more marvelous than to make something from material | |
| 420 already existing; but it is not so evident and believable to many. | |
| 421 And so, wishing to make what he did more believable, Christ made | |
| 422 wine from water, thus condescending to man’s capacity.</p> | |
| 423 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Another | |
| 424 reason was to refute wrong dogmas. For there are some (as the | |
| 425 Marcionists and Manicheans) who said that the founder of the world | |
| 426 was someone other than God, and that all visible things were | |
| 427 established by such a one, that is, the devil. And so the Lord | |
| 428 performed many miracles using created and visible substances in | |
| 429 order to show that these substances are good and were created by | |
| 430 God.</p> | |
| 431 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The third | |
| 432 reason is mystical. Christ made the wine from water, and not from | |
| 433 nothing, in order to show that he was not laying down an entirely | |
| 434 new doctrine and rejecting the old, but was fulfilling the old: | |
| 435 “I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” | |
| 436 (Mt 5:17). In other words, what was prefigured and promised in the | |
| 437 old law, was disclosed and revealed by Christ: “Then he | |
| 438 opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” | |
| 439 (Lk 24:45).</p> | |
| 440 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Finally, he | |
| 441 had the servants fill the jars with water so that he might have | |
| 442 witnesses to what he did; so it is said, <span style= | |
| 443 "font-weight: bold">the servants knew, since they had drawn the | |
| 444 water.</span></p> | |
| 445 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">359 Then, | |
| 446 the miracle is made known. For as soon as the jars were filled, the | |
| 447 water was turned into wine. So the Lord reveals the miracle at | |
| 448 once, saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">Now pour out a drink | |
| 449 and take it to the head waiter.</span> First, we have the command | |
| 450 of Christ selecting who is to test the wine; secondly, the judgment | |
| 451 of the head waiter who tasted it.</p> | |
| 452 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">360 | |
| 453 <span style="font-weight: bold">Then Jesus said to them,</span> | |
| 454 i.e., to the servants, <span style="font-weight: bold">Now pour out | |
| 455 a drink,</span> that is, of wine, from the jars, <span style= | |
| 456 "font-weight: bold">and take it to the head waiter</span> (<i>arch | |
| 457 itriclin us</i>)<i>.</i> Here we should note that a | |
| 458 <i>triclinium</i> is a place where there are three rows of tables, | |
| 459 and it is called a <i>trichinium</i> from its three rows of dining | |
| 460 couches: for <i>cline</i> in Greek means couch. For the ancients | |
| 461 were accustomed to eat reclining on couches, ais Maximus Valerius | |
| 462 recounts. This is the reason why the Scriptures speak of lying next | |
| 463 to and lying down. Thus the <i>architriclinus</i> was (fie first | |
| 464 and chief among those dining. Or, according to Chrysostom, the | |
| 465 <i>architriclinus</i> was the one in charge of the whole banquet. | |
| 466 And because he had been busy and had not tasted anything, the Lord | |
| 467 wanted him, and not the guests, to be the judge of what had been | |
| 468 done, so some could not detract from the miracle by saying the | |
| 469 guests were drunk and, their senses dulled, could not tell wine | |
| 470 from water. For Augustine, the <i>architriclinus</i> was the chief | |
| 471 guest, as was inentioned; and Christ wanted to have the opinion of | |
| 472 this person in high position so it would be more acceptable.</p> | |
| 473 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">361 In the | |
| 474 mystical sense, those who pour out the water are preachers: | |
| 475 “With joy you will draw water from the springs of the | |
| 476 Savior” (Is 12:3). And the <i>architriclinus is</i> someone | |
| 477 skilled in the law, as Nicodenius, Gamaliel or Paul. So, when the | |
| 478 word of the Gospel, which was hidden under the letter of the law, | |
| 479 is entrusted to such persons, it is as though wine made from water | |
| 480 is poured out for the <i>architriclinus</i>, who, when he tastes | |
| 481 it, gives his assent to the faith of Christ.</p> | |
| 482 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">362 Then the | |
| 483 judgment of the one examining the wine is given. First, he inquires | |
| 484 into the truth of the fact; secondly, he gives his opinion.</p> | |
| 485 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">He says, | |
| 486 <span style="font-weight: bold">Now when the head waiter tasted the | |
| 487 water made wine, and not knowing where it came from,</span> because | |
| 488 he did not know that the water had miraculously been made wine by | |
| 489 Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold">although the servants | |
| 490 knew,</span> the reason being, <span style= | |
| 491 "font-weight: bold">since they had drawn the water, he called the | |
| 492 groom over,</span> in order to learn the truth and give his opinion | |
| 493 of the wine. Hence he adds: <span style="font-weight: bold">People | |
| 494 usually serve the choice wines first, and when the guests have had | |
| 495 their fill, then they bring out inferior wine.</span></p> | |
| 496 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Here we | |
| 497 should consider, according to Chrysostom, that everything is most | |
| 498 perfect in the miracles of Christ. Thus, he restored most complete | |
| 499 health to Peter’s mother-in-law, so that she arose at once | |
| 500 and waited on them, as we read in Mark (1:30) and Matthew (7:14). | |
| 501 Again, he restored the paralytic to health so perfectly that he | |
| 502 also arose immediately, took up his mat, and went home, as we read | |
| 503 below (5:9). And this is also evident in this miracle, because | |
| 504 Christ did not make mediocre wine from the water, but the very best | |
| 505 possible. And so the head waiter says, <span style= | |
| 506 "font-weight: bold">People usually serve the choice wines first, | |
| 507 and when the guests have had their fill, then they bring out | |
| 508 inferior wine,</span> because they drink less, and because good | |
| 509 wine consumed in quantity along with a quantity of food causes | |
| 510 greater discomfort. It is as though he were saying: Where did this | |
| 511 very good wine come from which, contrary to custom, you saved until | |
| 512 now?</p> | |
| 513 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">363 This is | |
| 514 appropriate to a mystery. For in the mystical sense, he serves good | |
| 515 wine first who, with an intent to deceive others, does not first | |
| 516 mention the error he intends, but other things that entice his | |
| 517 hearers, so that he can disclose his evil plans after they have | |
| 518 been intoxicated and enticed to consent. We read of such wine: | |
| 519 “It goes down pleasantly, but finally it will bite like a | |
| 520 serpent” (Prv 23:3 1). Again, he serves good wine first who | |
| 521 begins to live in a saintly and spiritual manner at the start of | |
| 522 his conversion, but later sinks into a carnal life: “Are you | |
| 523 so foolish as, having begun in the Spirit, to end in the | |
| 524 flesh?” (Gal 3:3).</p> | |
| 525 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Christ, | |
| 526 however, does not serve the good wine first, for at the outset he | |
| 527 proposes things that are bitter and hard: “Narrow is the way | |
| 528 that leads to life” (Mt 7:14). Yet the more progress a person | |
| 529 makes in his faith and teaching, the more pleasant it becomes and | |
| 530 he becomes aware of a greater sweetness: “I will lead You by | |
| 531 the path of justice, and when you walk you will not be | |
| 532 hindered” (Prv 4:11). Likewise, all those who desire to live | |
| 533 conscientiously in Christ stiffer bitterness and troubles in this | |
| 534 world: “You will weep and mourn” (below 16:20). But | |
| 535 later they will experience delights and joys. So he goes on: | |
| 536 “but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” “I | |
| 537 consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to | |
| 538 be compared with the glory to come, which will be revealed in | |
| 539 us,” as is said in Romans (8:18).</p> | |
| 540 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 541 </p> | |
| 542 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">364 Then | |
| 543 when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">This beginning of | |
| 544 signs Jesus worked in Cana of Galilee,</span> he gives the | |
| 545 disciples’ acknowledgment of the miracle. We can see from | |
| 546 this the falsity of the <i>History of the Infancy of the | |
| 547 Savior,</i> which recounts many miracles worked by Christ as a boy. | |
| 548 For if these accounts were true, the Evangelist would not have | |
| 549 said, <span style="font-weight: bold">This beginning of signs Jesus | |
| 550 worked.</span> We have already given the reason why Christ worked | |
| 551 no miracles during his childhood, that is, lest men regard them as | |
| 552 illusions.</p> | |
| 553 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">It was for | |
| 554 the reason given above, then, that Jesus performed this miracle of | |
| 555 turning water into wine at Cana of Galilee; and this was the first | |
| 556 of the signs he did. <span style="font-weight: bold">And Jesus | |
| 557 revealed his glory,</span> i.e., the power by which he is glorious: | |
| 558 “The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory” (Ps | |
| 559 23:10).</p> | |
| 560 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">365 | |
| 561 <span style="font-weight: bold">And his disciples believed in | |
| 562 him.</span> But how did they believe? For they already were his | |
| 563 disciples and had believed before this. I answer that sometimes a | |
| 564 thing is described not according to what it is at the time, but | |
| 565 according to what it will be. For example, we say that the apostle | |
| 566 Paul was born at Tarsus, in Cilicia; not that an actual apostle was | |
| 567 born there, but a future one was. Similarly, it says here that | |
| 568 <span style="font-weight: bold">his disciples believed in | |
| 569 him,</span> i.e., those who would be his disciples. Or, one might | |
| 570 answer that previously they had believed in him as a good man, | |
| 571 preaching what was right and just; but now they believed in him as | |
| 572 God.</p> | |
| 573 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 574 </p> | |
| 575 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 576 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 2</span></p> | |
| 577 <blockquote> | |
| 578 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">12 After | |
| 579 this he went down to Capernaum together with his mother, his | |
| 580 brethren and his disciples; but they did not remain there many | |
| 581 clays. 13 The Jewish Passover was near at hand, and Jesus went up | |
| 582 to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple precincts he came upon merchants | |
| 583 selling oxen, sheep and doves, and moneychangers seated at tables. | |
| 584 15 And when he had made a kind of whip from cords, he drove | |
| 585 everyone, including sheep and oxen, out of the temple, swept away | |
| 586 the gold of the money changers, and knocked over their tables. 16 | |
| 587 To those selling doves he said, “Get Out of here! And stop | |
| 588 making my Father’s house into a marketplace.” 17 His | |
| 589 disciples then remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your | |
| 590 house consumes me.”</p> | |
| 591 </blockquote> | |
| 592 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">366 Above, | |
| 593 the Evangelist presented the sign Christ worked in order to confirm | |
| 594 his disciples; and this sign pertained to his power to change | |
| 595 nature. Now he deals with the sign of his resurrection; a sign | |
| 596 pertaining to the same power, but proposed by Christ to convert the | |
| 597 people.</p> | |
| 598 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The | |
| 599 Evangelist does two things as to this miracle. First, he mentions | |
| 600 its occasion. Secondly, the prediction of the miracle (v 18). As to | |
| 601 the first he does two things. First, he describes the place. | |
| 602 Secondly, he tells of the incident which was the occasion for | |
| 603 proposing this miracle (v 14). Now the place where this happened | |
| 604 was Jerusalem. And so the Evangelist recounts step by step how the | |
| 605 Lord had come to Jerusalem. First, then, he shows how he went down | |
| 606 to Capernaum. Secondly, how he then went up to Jerusalem. As to the | |
| 607 first he does three things. First, he mentions the place to which | |
| 608 he went down. Secondly, he describes his company. Thirdly, he | |
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609 mentions the length of his stay.</p> |
| 35 | 610 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">367 The |
| 611 place to which Christ went down was Capernaum; and so he says, | |
| 612 <span style="font-weight: bold">After this,</span> i.e., the | |
| 613 miracle of the wine, <span style="font-weight: bold">he went down | |
| 614 to Capernaum.</span> Now as far as the historical truth is | |
| 615 concerned, this seems to conflict with Matthew’s account that | |
| 616 the Lord went down to Capernaum after John had been thrown into | |
| 617 prison (Mt 4:12), while the entire series of events the Evangelist | |
| 618 refers to here took place before John’s imprisonment.</p> | |
| 619 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">I answer | |
| 620 that in order to settle this question we should bear in mind what | |
| 621 is learned from the <i>Ecclesiastical History,</i> that is, that | |
| 622 the other Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, began their account | |
| 623 of the public life of Christ from the time that John was thrown | |
| 624 into prison. Thus Matthew (4:12), after describing the baptism, | |
| 625 fast and temptation of Christ, began at once to weave his story | |
| 626 after John’s imprisonment, saying: “When Jesus heard | |
| 627 that John had been arrested.” And Mark (1:14) says the same: | |
| 628 “After John had been arrested, Jesus came into | |
| 629 Galilee.” John, who outlived the other three Evangelists, | |
| 630 approved the accuracy and truth of their accounts when they came to | |
| 631 his notice. Yet he saw that certain things had been left unsaid, | |
| 632 namely, things which the Lord had done in the very first days of | |
| 633 his preaching before John’s imprisonment. And so, at the | |
| 634 request of the faithful, John, after he began his own Gospel in a | |
| 635 loftier manner, recorded events that took place during the first | |
| 636 year in which Christ was baptized before John’s imprisonment, | |
| 637 as is plain from the order of the events in his Gospel. According | |
| 638 to this, then, the Evangelists are not in disagreement. Rather, the | |
| 639 Lord went down to Capernaum twice: once before John’s | |
| 640 imprisonment (which is the one dealt with here), and once after his | |
| 641 imprisonment, which is dealt with in Matthew (4:13) and Luke (4:31 | |
| 642 ).</p> | |
| 643 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">368 Now | |
| 644 “Capernaum” means “very pretty village,” | |
| 645 and signifies this world, which has its beauty from the order and | |
| 646 disposition of divine wisdom: “The beauty of the land is | |
| 647 mine” (Ps 49:2). So the Lord went down to Capernaum, i.e., | |
| 648 this world, with his mother and brethren and disciples. For in | |
| 649 heaven the Lord has a Father without a mother; and on earth a | |
| 650 mother without a father. Thus, he significantly mentions only his | |
| 651 mother. In heaven he does not have brothers either, but is | |
| 652 “the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the | |
| 653 Father” (above 1:18). But on earth he is “the Firstborn | |
| 654 of many brothers” (Rom 8:29). And on earth he has disciples, | |
| 655 to whom he can teach the mysteries of the divinity, which were not | |
| 656 known to men before: “In these days he has spoken to us in | |
| 657 his Son” as we read in Hebrews (1:1).</p> | |
| 658 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Or, | |
| 659 “Capernaum” means “the field of | |
| 660 consolation”; and this signifies every man who bears good | |
| 661 fruit: “The odor of my son is like the odor of a fruitful | |
| 662 field” (Gn 27:27). Such a person is called a field of | |
| 663 consolation because the Lord is consoled and rejoices in his | |
| 664 achievement: “God will rejoice over you” (Is 62:5), and | |
| 665 because the angels rejoice over his good: “There is joy in | |
| 666 the angels of God over one repentant sinner” (Lk 15:10).</p> | |
| 667 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">369 His | |
| 668 companions were, first of all, his mother. So he says, <span style= | |
| 669 "font-weight: bold">with his mother,</span> for because she had | |
| 670 come to the wedding and had brought about the miracle, the Lord | |
| 671 accompanied her back to the village of Nazareth. Nazareth was a | |
| 672 village in Galilee, whose chief town was Capernaum.</p> | |
| 673 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">370 | |
| 674 Secondly, his companions were his brethren; and so he says, | |
| 675 <span style="font-weight: bold">his brethren</span> | |
| 676 (<i>fratres,</i> brothers, brethren). We must avoid two errors | |
| 677 here. First, that of Elvidius, who said that the Blessed Virgin had | |
| 678 other sons after Christ; and he called these the brothers of the | |
| 679 Lord. This is heretical, because our faith maintains that just as | |
| 680 the mother of Christ was a virgin before giving birth, so in giving | |
| 681 birth and after giving birth, she remained a virgin. We must also | |
| 682 avoid the error of those who say that Joseph fathered sons with | |
| 683 another wife, and that these are called the brothers of the Lord; | |
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684 for the Church does not admit this.</p> |
| 35 | 685 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Jerome |
| 686 refutes this opinion: for on the cross the Lord entrusted his | |
| 687 virgin mother to the care of his virgin disciple. Therefore, since | |
| 688 Joseph was the special guardian of the Virgin, and of the Savior | |
| 689 too, in his childhood, one may believe that he was a virgin. | |
| 690 Consequently, it is a reasonable interpretation to say that the | |
| 691 brothers of the Lord were those related to his virgin mother in | |
| 692 some degree of consanguinity, or even to Joseph, who was the | |
| 693 reputed father. And this conforms to the custom of Scripture which | |
| 694 generally refers to relatives as brothers. Thus we read: “Let | |
| 695 us not quarrel, for we are brothers” (Gn 13:8), as Abram said | |
| 696 to Lot, who was his nephew. And note that he distinguishes between | |
| 697 relatives and disciples, because not all of Christ’s | |
| 698 relatives were his disciples; hence we read: “Even his | |
| 699 brethren did not believe in him” (below 7:5) .</p> | |
| 700 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">371 Thirdly, | |
| 701 his disciples were his companions; hence he says, <span style= | |
| 702 "font-weight: bold">and his disciples.</span> But who were his | |
| 703 disciples? For it seems, according to Matthew, that the first ones | |
| 704 to be converted to Christ were Peter and Andrew, John and James; | |
| 705 but they were called after John’s imprisonment, as is clear | |
| 706 from Matthew (4:18). Thus it does not seem that they went down to | |
| 707 Capernaum with Christ, as it says here, since this was before | |
| 708 John’s imprisonment.</p> | |
| 709 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">There are | |
| 710 two answers to this. One is from Augustine, in his <i>De Consensu | |
| 711 Evangelistarum,</i> namely, that Matthew does not follow the | |
| 712 historical order, but in summarizing what he omitted, relates | |
| 713 events that occurred before John’s imprisonment as though | |
| 714 they happened after. So, without any suggestion of a time lapse he | |
| 715 says, “As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two | |
| 716 brothers” (Mt 4:18), without adding “after this” | |
| 717 or “at that time.” The other answer, also by Augustine, | |
| 718 is that in the Gospel not only the twelve whom the Lord chose and | |
| 719 named apostles are called disciples of the Lord (Lk 6:13), but also | |
| 720 all who believed in him and were instructed for the kingdom of | |
| 721 heaven by his teaching. Therefore, it is possible that although | |
| 722 those twelve did not yet follow him, others who adhered to him are | |
| 723 called disciples here. But the first answer is better.</p> | |
| 724 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">372 His stay | |
| 725 there was short; hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">but | |
| 726 they did not remain there many days.</span> The reason for this was | |
| 727 that the citizens of Capernaum were not eager to accept the | |
| 728 teachings of Christ, being very corrupt, so that in Matthew (11:23) | |
| 729 the Lord rebukes them for not doing penance in spite of the | |
| 730 miracles done there and of Christ’s teaching: “And you | |
| 731 Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? You will go down to | |
| 732 hell. For if the mighty works that were done in you had been | |
| 733 performed in Sodom, it would have stood until this day.” But | |
| 734 although they were evil, he went there to accompany his mother, and | |
| 735 to stay there for a few days for her consolation and honor.</p> | |
| 736 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">373 As for | |
| 737 its mystical sense, this signifies that some cannot remain long | |
| 738 with the many words spoken by Christ; a few of these words are | |
| 739 enough for them, to enlighten them, because of the weakness of | |
| 740 their understanding. Hence as Origen said, Christ reveals few | |
| 741 things to such persons, according to “I have many things to | |
| 742 tell you, but you cannot bear them now” (Jn 16:12).</p> | |
| 743 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">374 Then | |
| 744 when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The Jewish Passover | |
| 745 was near at hand,</span> he mentions the place to which he went | |
| 746 tip. And concerning this he does two things. First, the occasion is | |
| 747 given. Secondly, the going up.</p> | |
| 748 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">375 Now the | |
| 749 occasion for his going up was the Jewish Passover. For in Exodus | |
| 750 (13:17) it is commanded that every male be presented to the Lord | |
| 751 three times a year; and one of these times was the Jewish Passover. | |
| 752 So, since the Lord came to teach everyone by his example of | |
| 753 humility and perfection, he wished to observe the law as long as it | |
| 754 was in force. For he did not come to destroy the law, but to | |
| 755 fulfill it (Mt 5:17). And so, because the Passover of the Jews was | |
| 756 at hand, he went up to Jerusalem. So we, after his example, should | |
| 757 carefully observe the divine precepts. For if the Son of God | |
| 758 fulfilled the decrees of a law he himself had given, and celebrated | |
| 759 the great feasts, with what zeal for good works ought we both to | |
| 760 prepare for them and observe them?</p> | |
| 761 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">376 It | |
| 762 should be noted that in John’s Gospel mention is made of the | |
| 763 Passover in three passages: here, and in (6:4), when he worked the | |
| 764 miracle of the loaves, where it is said: “Now the Jewish | |
| 765 Passover was near at hand” , and again in (13:1), where it | |
| 766 says: “Before the feast day of the Passover.” So, | |
| 767 according to this Gospel, we understand that after the miracle of | |
| 768 the wine Christ preached for two years plus the interval between | |
| 769 his baptism and this Passover. For what he did here occurred near | |
| 770 the Passover, as it says here, and then a year later, near the time | |
| 771 of another Passover, he performed the miracle of the loaves, and in | |
| 772 the same year John was beheaded. Thus John was beheaded near the | |
| 773 time of the Passover, because we read in Matthew (14:13) that | |
| 774 immediately after John was beheaded Christ withdrew to the desert, | |
| 775 where he worked the miracle of the loaves; and this miracle took | |
| 776 place near Passover time, as stated below (6:4). Nevertheless, the | |
| 777 feast of this beheading of John is celebrated on the day his head | |
| 778 was found. It was later, during another Passover, that Christ | |
| 779 suffered.</p> | |
| 780 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">So, | |
| 781 according to the opinion of those who say that the miracle worked | |
| 782 at the wedding and the events being discussed here occurred in the | |
| 783 same year in which Christ was baptized, there was an interval of | |
| 784 two and one half years between Christ’s baptism and his | |
| 785 passion. So, according to them, the Evangelist says, <span style= | |
| 786 "font-weight: bold">The Jewish Passover was near at hand,</span> in | |
| 787 order to show that Christ had been baptized just a few days | |
| 788 before.</p> | |
| 789 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">But the | |
| 790 Church holds the opposite. For we believe that Christ worked the | |
| 791 miracle of the wine on the first anniversary of the day of his | |
| 792 baptism; then a year later, near Passover time, John was beheaded; | |
| 793 and then there was another year between the Passover near which | |
| 794 John was beheaded and the Passover during which Christ suffered. So | |
| 795 between the baptism of Christ and the miracle of the wine there had | |
| 796 to be another Passover which the Evangelist does not mention. And | |
| 797 so, according to what the Church holds, Christ preached for three | |
| 798 and one half years.</p> | |
| 799 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">377 He says, | |
| 800 <span style="font-weight: bold">the Jewish Passover,</span> not as | |
| 801 though the people of other nations celebrated a Passover, but for | |
| 802 two reasons. One, because when people celebrate a feast in a holy | |
| 803 and pure way, it is said that they celebrate it for the Lord; but | |
| 804 when they celebrate it in neither of those ways, they do not | |
| 805 celebrate it for the Lord, but for themselves: “My soul hates | |
| 806 your new moons and your feasts” (Is 1:14). It is as though he | |
| 807 said: Those who celebrate for themselves and not for me, do not | |
| 808 please me: “When you fasted, did you fast for me?” (Zec | |
| 809 7:5), as if to say: You did not do it for me, but for yourselves. | |
| 810 And so because these Jews were corrupt and celebrated their | |
| 811 Passover in an unbecoming manner, the Evangelist does not say, | |
| 812 “the Passover of the Lord,” but the Jewish Passover was | |
| 813 at hand.</p> | |
| 814 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Or, he says | |
| 815 this to differentiate it from our Passover. For the Passover of the | |
| 816 Jews Was symbolic, being celebrated by the immolation of a lamb | |
| 817 which was a symbol. But our Passover is true, in which we recall | |
| 818 the true passing [passion] of the Immaculate Lamb: “Christ, | |
| 819 our Passover, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7).</p> | |
| 820 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">378 The | |
| 821 journey was to Jerusalem, and so he says, <span style= | |
| 822 "font-weight: bold">and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.</span> Note | |
| 823 here that according to the historical order, Jesus went up to | |
| 824 Jerusalem near the time of the Passover and expelled the merchants | |
| 825 from the temple on two occasions. The first, before John’s | |
| 826 imprisonment, is the one the Evangelist mentions here; the other is | |
| 827 mentioned by Matthew (21:13) as occurring when the Passover and the | |
| 828 hour of his passion were at hand. For the Lord frequently repeated | |
| 829 works that were similar. For example, the two cases of giving sight | |
| 830 to the blind: one in Matthew (9:28) and another in Mark (10:46). In | |
| 831 like manner he twice cast merchants from the temple.</p> | |
| 832 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">379 In the | |
| 833 mystical sense, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, which is translated as | |
| 834 the “vision of peace,” and signifies eternal happiness. | |
| 835 It is to here that Jesus ascended, and he took his own with him. | |
| 836 There is no lack of mystery in the fact that he went down to | |
| 837 Capernaum and later went up to Jerusalem. For if he did not first | |
| 838 go down, he would not have been suited to go up, because, as it is | |
| 839 said: “He who descended is the same as he who ascended” | |
| 840 (Eph 4:10). Further, no mention is made of the disciples in the | |
| 841 ascent to Jerusalem because the ascent of the disciples comes from | |
| 842 the ascent of Christ: “No one has gone up to heaven except | |
| 843 the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who lives in | |
| 844 heaven” (below 3:13).</p> | |
| 845 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">380 Then | |
| 846 when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">In the temple | |
| 847 precincts he came upon merchants selling oxen, sheep and | |
| 848 doves,</span> the Evangelist sets down what moved Christ to propose | |
| 849 the sign of the resurrection. He does three things with this. | |
| 850 First, he exposes the faulty behavior of the Jews. Secondly, he | |
| 851 discloses Christ’s remedy (v 15). Thirdly, he gives the | |
| 852 announcement of the prophecy (v 22).</p> | |
| 853 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">381 With | |
| 854 respect to the first, we should note that the devil plots against | |
| 855 the things of God and strives to destroy them. Now among the means | |
| 856 by which he destroys holy things, the chief is avarice; hence it is | |
| 857 said: “The shepherds have no understanding. All have turned | |
| 858 aside to their own way; everyone after his own gain, from the first | |
| 859 one to the last” (Is 56:11). And the devil has done this from | |
| 860 the earliest times. For the priests of the Old Testament, who had | |
| 861 been established to care for divine matters, gave free rein to | |
| 862 avarice. God commanded, in the law, that animals should be | |
| 863 sacrificed to the Lord on certain feasts. And in order to fulfill | |
| 864 this command, those who lived nearby brought the animals with them. | |
| 865 But those who came a long distance were unable to bring animals | |
| 866 from their own homes. And so because offerings of this kind | |
| 867 resulted in profit for the priests, and so animals to offer would | |
| 868 not be lacking to those who came from a distance, the priests | |
| 869 themselves saw to it that animals were sold in the temple. And so | |
| 870 they had them shown for sale in the temple, i.e., in the atrium of | |
| 871 the temple. And this is what he says: <span style= | |
| 872 "font-weight: bold">In the temple precincts he came upon merchants | |
| 873 selling oxen, sheep and doves.</span></p> | |
| 874 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Mention is | |
| 875 first made of two land animals, which according to the law could be | |
| 876 offered to the Lord: the ox and the sheep. The third land animal | |
| 877 offered, the goat, is implied when he says “sheep”, | |
| 878 similarly, the turtle-dove is included when he says | |
| 879 “doves.”</p> | |
| 880 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">382 It | |
| 881 sometimes happened that some came to the temple not only without | |
| 882 animals, but also without money to buy them. And so the priests | |
| 883 found another avenue for their avarice; they set up moneychangers | |
| 884 who would lend money to those who came without it. And although | |
| 885 they would not accept a usurious gain, because this was forbidden | |
| 886 in the law, nevertheless in place of this they accepted certain | |
| 887 “<i>collibia</i>”, i.e., trifles and small gifts. So | |
| 888 this also was turned to the profit of the priests. And this is what | |
| 889 he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">moneychangers seated at | |
| 890 tables,</span> i.e., in the temple, ready to lend money.</p> | |
| 891 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">383 This can | |
| 892 be understood mystically in three ways. First of all, the merchants | |
| 893 signify those who sell or buy the things of the Church: for the | |
| 894 oxen, sheep and doves signify the spiritual goods of the Church and | |
| 895 the things connected with them. These goods have been consecrated | |
| 896 and authenticated by the teachings of the apostles and doctors, | |
| 897 signified by the oxen: “When there is an abundant harvest the | |
| 898 strength of the ox is evident” (Prv 14:4); and by the blood | |
| 899 of the martyrs, who are signified by the sheep: so it is said for | |
| 900 them: “We are regarded as sheep for the slatighter” | |
| 901 (Rom 8:36): and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, signified by the | |
| 902 doves, for as stated above, the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of | |
| 903 a dove. Therefore, those who presume to sell the spiritual goods of | |
| 904 the Church and the goods connected with them are selling the | |
| 905 teachings of the apostles, the blood of the martyrs, and the gifts | |
| 906 of the Holy Spirit.</p> | |
| 907 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Secondly, it | |
| 908 happens that certain prelates or heads of churches sell these oxen, | |
| 909 sheep and doves, not overtly by simony, but covertly by negligence; | |
| 910 that is, when they are so eager for and occupied with temporal gain | |
| 911 that they neglect the spiritual welfare of their subjects. And this | |
| 912 is the way they sell the oxen, sheep and doves, i.e., the three | |
| 913 classes of people subject to them. First of all, they sell the | |
| 914 preachers and laborers, who are signified by the oxen: “Happy | |
| 915 are you who sow beside all the streams, letting the ox and the | |
| 916 donkey range free” (Is 32:20);.because prelates ought to | |
| 917 arrange the oxen, i.e., teachers and wise men, with the donkeys, | |
| 918 i.e., the simple and uneducated. They also sell those in the active | |
| 919 life, and those occupied with ministering, signified by the sheep: | |
| 920 “My sheep hear my voice” (below 10:27); and as is said | |
| 921 in 2 Samuel (24:17): “But these, who are the sheep, what have | |
| 922 they done?” They also sell the contemplatives, signified by | |
| 923 the doves: “Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will | |
| 924 fly?” (Ps 54:7).</p> | |
| 925 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Thirdly, by | |
| 926 the temple of God we can understand the spiritual soul, as it says: | |
| 927 “The temple of God is holy, and that is what you are” | |
| 928 (1 Cor 3:17). Thus a man sells oxen, sheep and doves in the temple | |
| 929 when he harbors bestial movements in his soul, for which he sells | |
| 930 himself to the devil. For oxen, which are used for cultivating the | |
| 931 earth, signify earthly desires; sheep, which are stupid animals, | |
| 932 signify man’s obstinacy; and the doves signify man’s | |
| 933 instability. It is God who drives these things out of men’s | |
| 934 hearts.</p> | |
| 935 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">384 The | |
| 936 Lord’s remedy is at once set forth (v 15). Here the | |
| 937 Lord’s remedy consisted in action and in words, in order to | |
| 938 instruct those who have charge of the Church that they must correct | |
| 939 their subjects in deed and in word. And he does two things with | |
| 940 respect to this. First, he gives the remedy Christ applied by his | |
| 941 action. Secondly, the remedy he applied by word (v 16).</p> | |
| 942 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">385 As to | |
| 943 the first he does three things. First, he drives the men out. | |
| 944 Secondly, the oxen and sheep. Thirdly, he sweeps away the | |
| 945 money.</p> | |
| 946 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">He drives | |
| 947 the men out with a whip; and this is what he <span style= | |
| 948 "font-weight: bold">says, when he had made a kind of whip from | |
| 949 cords.</span> This is something that could be done only by divine | |
| 950 power. For as Origen says, the divine power of Jesus was as able, | |
| 951 when he willed, to quench the swelling anger of men as to still the | |
| 952 stornis of minds: “The Lord brings to nought the thoughts of | |
| 953 men” (Ps 32:10). He makes the whip from cords because, as | |
| 954 Augustine says, it is from our own sins that he forms the matter | |
| 955 with which he punishes us: for a series of sins, in which sins are | |
| 956 added to sins, is called a cord: “He is bound fast by the | |
| 957 cords of his own sins” (Prv 5:22); “Woe to you who haul | |
| 958 wickedness with cords” (Is 5:18). Then, just as he drove the | |
| 959 merchants from the temple, so he swept away the gold of the | |
| 960 moneychangers and knocked over their tables.</p> | |
| 961 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">386 And mark | |
| 962 well that if he expelled from the temple things that seemed somehow | |
| 963 licit, in the sense that they were ordained to the worship of God, | |
| 964 how much more if he comes upon unlawful things? The reason he cast | |
| 965 them out was because in this matter the priests did not intend | |
| 966 God’s glory, but their own profit. Hence it is said: | |
| 967 “It is for yourselves that you placed guardians of my service | |
| 968 in my sancturay” (Ez 44:8)</p> | |
| 969 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Further, our | |
| 970 Lord showed zeal for the things of the law so that he might by this | |
| 971 answer the chief priests and the priests who were later to bring a | |
| 972 charge against him on this very point. Again, by casting things of | |
| 973 this kind out of the temple he let it be understood that the time | |
| 974 was coming in which the sacrifices of the law were due to cease, | |
| 975 and the true worship of God transferred to the Gentiles: “The | |
| 976 kingdom of God will be taken away from you” (Mt 21:43). Also, | |
| 977 this shows us the condemnation of those who sell spiritual things: | |
| 978 “May your money perish together with you” (Acts | |
| 979 8:20).</p> | |
| 980 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">387 Then | |
| 981 when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">To those selling | |
| 982 doves he said,</span> he records the treatment which the Lord | |
| 983 applied by word. Here it should be noted that those who engage in | |
| 984 simony should, of course, first be expelled from the Church. But | |
| 985 because as long as they are alive, they can change themselves by | |
| 986 free will and by the help of God return to the state of grace, they | |
| 987 should not be given up as hopeless. If, however, they are not | |
| 988 converted, then they are not merely to be expelled, but handed over | |
| 989 to those to whom it is said: “Bind him hand and foot, and | |
| 990 cast him into outer darkness” (Mt 22:13). And so the Lord, | |
| 991 attending to this, first warns them, and then gives the reason for | |
| 992 his warning, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">stop making my | |
| 993 Father’s house into a marketplace.</span></p> | |
| 994 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">388 He warns | |
| 995 those selling the doves by reproaching them, for they signify those | |
| 996 who sell the gifts of the Holy Spirit, i.e., those who engage in | |
| 997 simony.</p> | |
| 998 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">389 He gives | |
| 999 his reason for this when he says, <span style= | |
| 1000 "font-weight: bold">stop making my Father’s house into a | |
| 1001 marketplace.</span> “Take away your evil from my sight” | |
| 1002 (Is 1:10). Note that Matthew (2 1:13) says: “Do not make my | |
| 1003 house a den of thieves,” while here he says, <span style= | |
| 1004 "font-weight: bold">a marketplace.</span> Now the Lord does this | |
| 1005 because, as a good physician, he begins first with the gentler | |
| 1006 things; later on, he would propose harsher things. Now the action | |
| 1007 recorded here was the first of the two; hence in the beginning he | |
| 1008 does not call them thieves but merchants. But because they did not | |
| 1009 stop such business out of obstinacy, the Lord, when driving them | |
| 1010 out the second time (as mentioned in Mark 11:15), rebukes them more | |
| 1011 severely, calling robbery what he had first called business.</p> | |
| 1012 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">He says, | |
| 1013 <span style="font-weight: bold">my Father’s house,</span> to | |
| 1014 exclude the error of Manicheus, who said that while the God of the | |
| 1015 New Testament was the Father of Christ, the God of the Old | |
| 1016 Testament was not. But if this were true, then since the temple was | |
| 1017 the house of the Old Testament, Christ would not have referred to | |
| 1018 the temple as <span style="font-weight: bold">my Father’s | |
| 1019 house.</span></p> | |
| 1020 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">390 Why were | |
| 1021 the Jews not disturbed here when he called God his Father, for as | |
| 1022 is said below (5:18), this is why they persecuted him? I answer | |
| 1023 that God is the Father of certain men through adoption; for | |
| 1024 example, he is the Father of the just in this way. This was not a | |
| 1025 new idea for the Jews: “You will call me Father, and you will | |
| 1026 not cease to walk after me” (Jer 3:19). However, by nature he | |
| 1027 is the Father of Christ alone: “The Lord said to me: | |
| 1028 ‘You are my Son’ “ (Ps 2:7), i.e., the true and | |
| 1029 natural Son. It is this that was unheard of among the Jews. And so | |
| 1030 the Jews persecuted him because he called himself the true Son of | |
| 1031 God: “the Jews tried all the harder to kill him, because he | |
| 1032 not only broke the Sabbath rest, but even called God his own | |
| 1033 Father, making himself equal to God” (below 5:18). But when | |
| 1034 he called God his Father on this occasion, they said it was by | |
| 1035 adoption.</p> | |
| 1036 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">391 That the | |
| 1037 house of God shall not be made a marketplace is taken | |
| 1038 from-Zechariah (14:21): “On that day there will no longer be | |
| 1039 any merchants in the house of the Lord of hosts”; and from | |
| 1040 the Psalm (70:16), where one version has the reading: | |
| 1041 “Because I was not part of the marketplace, I will enter into | |
| 1042 the strength of the Lord.”</p> | |
| 1043 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">392 Then | |
| 1044 when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">His disciples then | |
| 1045 remembered,</span> he sets down a prophecy which was written in | |
| 1046 Psalm 69 (v 9): “Zeal for your house consumes me.” Here | |
| 1047 we should remark that zeal, properly speaking, signifies an | |
| 1048 intensity of love, whereby the one who loves intensely does not | |
| 1049 tolerate anything which is repugnant to his love. So it is that men | |
| 1050 who love their wives intensely and cannot endure their being in the | |
| 1051 company of other men, as this conflicts with their own love, are | |
| 1052 called “zelotypes.” Thus, properly speaking, one is | |
| 1053 said to have zeal for God who cannot patiently endure anything | |
| 1054 contrary to the honor of God, <span style= | |
| 1055 "font-weight: bold">whoin</span> he loves above all else: “I | |
| 1056 have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts” (1 Kgs | |
| 1057 19:10). Now we should love the house of the Lord, according to the | |
| 1058 Psalm (25:8): “O Lord, I have loved the beauty of your | |
| 1059 house.” Indeed, we should love it so much that our zeal | |
| 1060 consumes us, so that if we notice anything amiss being done, we | |
| 1061 should try to eliminate it, no matter how dear to us are those who | |
| 1062 are doing it; nor should we fear any evils that we might have to | |
| 1063 endure as a result. So the Gloss says: “Good zeal is a fervor | |
| 1064 of spirit, by which, scorning the fear of death, one is on fire for | |
| 1065 the defense of the truth. He is consumed by it who takes steps to | |
| 1066 correct any perversity he sees; and if he cannot, he tolerates it | |
| 1067 with sadness.”</p> | |
| 1068 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1069 </p> | |
| 1070 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 1071 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 3</span></p> | |
| 1072 <blockquote> | |
| 1073 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">18 At this | |
| 1074 the Jews responded and said, “What sign can you show us | |
| 1075 authorizing you to do these things?” 19 Jesus replied, | |
| 1076 “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up | |
| 1077 again.” 20 The Jews then retorted, “This temple took | |
| 1078 forty-six years to build, and you are going to raise it up again in | |
| 1079 three days!” 21 He was speaking, however, of the temple of | |
| 1080 his body. 22 When, therefore, he had risen from the dead, his | |
| 1081 disciples recalled that he had said this; they then believed the | |
| 1082 Scriptures and the statement Jesus had made. 23 While he was in | |
| 1083 Jerusalem during the Passover feast, many people, seeing the signs | |
| 1084 he was working, believed in his name. 24 But Jesus did not trust | |
| 1085 himself to them, for he knew all men, 25 and he did not need anyone | |
| 1086 to give him testimony about men. He was well aware of what was in | |
| 1087 man’s heart.</p> | |
| 1088 </blockquote> | |
| 1089 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">393 Having | |
| 1090 set forth the occasion for showing the sign, the Evangelist then | |
| 1091 states the sign which would be given. First, he gives the sign. | |
| 1092 Secondly, he mentions the fruit of the signs Christ performed (v | |
| 1093 23). As to the first he does three things. First, the request for | |
| 1094 the sign is given. Secondly, the sign itself (v 19). Thirdly, the | |
| 1095 way the sign was understood (v 20).</p> | |
| 1096 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">394 The Jews | |
| 1097 ask for a sign; and this is what he says: <span style= | |
| 1098 "font-weight: bold">What sign can you show us authorizing you to do | |
| 1099 these things?</span></p> | |
| 1100 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">395 Here we | |
| 1101 should note that when Jesus drove the merchants Out of the temple, | |
| 1102 two things could be considered in Christ: his rectitude and zeal, | |
| 1103 which pertain to virtue; and his power or authority. <span style= | |
| 1104 "font-weight: bold">It was not appropriate to</span> require a sign | |
| 1105 from Christ concerning the virtue and zeal with which he did the | |
| 1106 above action, since everyone may lawfully act according to virtue. | |
| 1107 But he could be required to give a sign concerning his authority | |
| 1108 for driving them out of the temple, since it is not lawful for | |
| 1109 anyone to do this unless he has the authority.</p> | |
| 1110 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">And so the | |
| 1111 Jews, not questioning his zeal and virtue, ask for a sign of his | |
| 1112 authority; and so they say, <span style="font-weight: bold">What | |
| 1113 sign can you show us authorizing you to do these things?</span> | |
| 1114 i.e., Why do you drive us out with such power and authority, for | |
| 1115 this does not seem to be your office? They say the same thing in | |
| 1116 Matthew (21:23): “By what authority are you doing these | |
| 1117 things?”</p> | |
| 1118 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">396 The | |
| 1119 reason they ask for a sign is that it was the usual thing for Jews | |
| 1120 to require a sign, seeing that they were called to the law by | |
| 1121 signs: “There did not arise again in Israel a prophet like | |
| 1122 Moses, whom, the Lord knew face to face, with all his signs and | |
| 1123 wonders,” as is said in Deuteronomy (34:10), and “The | |
| 1124 Jews require signs,” as we find in 1 Corinthians (1:22). | |
| 1125 Hence David complains for the Jews saying: “We have not seen | |
| 1126 our signs” (Ps 73:9). However, they asked him for a sign not | |
| 1127 in order to believe, but in the hope that he would not be able to | |
| 1128 provide the sign, and then they could obstruct and restrain him. | |
| 1129 And so, because they asked in an evil manner, he did not give them | |
| 1130 an evident sign, but a sign clothed in a symbol, a sign concerning | |
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1131 the resurrection.</p> |
| 35 | 1132 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">397 Hence he |
| 1133 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus replied,</span> and he | |
| 1134 gives the sign for which they asked. He gives them the sign of his | |
| 1135 future resurrection because this shows most strikingly the power of | |
| 1136 his divinity. For it is not within the power of mere man to raise | |
| 1137 himself from the dead. Christ alone, who was free among the dead, | |
| 1138 did this by the power of his divinity. tie shows them a similar | |
| 1139 sign in Matthew (12:30): “An evil and adulterous generation | |
| 1140 asks for a sign. And a sign will not be given it, except the sign | |
| 1141 of Jonah the prophet.” And although he gave a hidden and | |
| 1142 symbolic sign on both occasions, the first was stated more clearly, | |
| 1143 and the second more obscurely.</p> | |
| 1144 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">398 We | |
| 1145 should note that before the incarnation, God gave a sign of the | |
| 1146 incarnation to come: “The Lord himself will give you a sign. | |
| 1147 A virgin will conceive, and give birth to a son” (Is 7:14). | |
| 1148 And in like manner, before the resurrection he gave a sign of the | |
| 1149 resurrection to come. And he did this because it is especially by | |
| 1150 these two events that the power of the divinity in Christ is | |
| 1151 evidenced. For nothing more marvelous could be done than that God | |
| 1152 become man and that Christ’s humanity should become a | |
| 1153 partaker of divine immortality after his resurrection: | |
| 1154 “Christ, rising froni the dead, will not die again ... his | |
| 1155 life is life with God” (Roin 6:9), i.e., in a likeness to | |
| 1156 God.</p> | |
| 1157 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">399 We | |
| 1158 should note the words Christ used in giving this sign. For Christ | |
| 1159 calls his body a temple, because a temple is something in which God | |
| 1160 dwells, according to “The Lord is in his holy temple” | |
| 1161 (Ps 10:5). And so a holy soul, in which God dwells, is also called | |
| 1162 a temple of God: “The temple of God is holy, and that is what | |
| 1163 you are” (1 Cor 3:17). Therefore, because the divinity dwells | |
| 1164 in the body of Christ, the body of Christ is the temple of God, not | |
| 1165 only according to the soul but also according to the body: | |
| 1166 “In him all the fulness of the divinity dwells bodily” | |
| 1167 (Col 2:9). God dwells in us by grace, i.e., according to an act of | |
| 1168 the intellect and will, neither of which is an act of the body, but | |
| 1169 of the soul alone. But he dwells in Christ according to a union in | |
| 1170 the person; and this union includes not only the soul, but the body | |
| 1171 as well. And so the very body of Christ is God’s temple.</p> | |
| 1172 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">400 But | |
| 1173 Nestorius, using this text in support of his error, claims that the | |
| 1174 Word of God was joined to human nature only by an indwelling, from | |
| 1175 which it follows that the person of God is distinct from that of | |
| 1176 man in Christ. Therefore it is important to insist that God’s | |
| 1177 indwelling in Christ refers to the nature, since in Christ human | |
| 1178 nature is distinct from the divine, and not to the persom, which in | |
| 1179 the case of Christ is the same for both God and man, that is, the | |
| 1180 person of the Word, as was said above.</p> | |
| 1181 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">401 | |
| 1182 Therefore, granting this, the Lord does two things with respect to | |
| 1183 this sign. First, he foretells his future death. Secondly, his | |
| 1184 resurrection.</p> | |
| 1185 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">402 Christ | |
| 1186 foretells his own death when he says, <span style= | |
| 1187 "font-weight: bold">Destroy this temple.</span> For Christ died and | |
| 1188 was killed by others: “And they will kill him” (Mt | |
| 1189 17:22), yet with him willing it: because as is said: “He was | |
| 1190 offered because it was his own will” (Is 53:7). And so he | |
| 1191 says, Destroy this temple, i.e., my body. He does not say, | |
| 1192 “it will be destroyed,” lest you suppose he killed | |
| 1193 himself. He says, Destroy, which is not a command but a prediction | |
| 1194 and a permission. A prediction, so that the sense is, <span style= | |
| 1195 "font-weight: bold">Destroy this temple,</span> i.e., you will | |
| 1196 destroy. And a permission, so that the sense is, <span style= | |
| 1197 "font-weight: bold">Destroy this temple,</span> i.e., do with my | |
| 1198 body what you will, I submit it to you. As he said to Judas: | |
| 1199 “What you are going to do, do quickly” (below 13:27), | |
| 1200 not as commanding him, but as abandoning himself to his | |
| 1201 decision.</p> | |
| 1202 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 1203 "font-weight: bold">He says Destroy,</span> because the death of | |
| 1204 Christ is the dissolution of his body, but in a way different from | |
| 1205 that of other men. For the bodies of other men are destroyed by | |
| 1206 death even to the point of the body’s returning to dust and | |
| 1207 ashes. But Such a dissolution did not take place in Christ, for is | |
| 1208 it is said: “You will not allow your Holy One to see | |
| 1209 corruption” (Ps 15:10). Nevertheless, death did bring a | |
| 1210 dissolution to Christ, because his soul was separated from his body | |
| 1211 as a form from matter, and because his blood was separated from his | |
| 1212 body, and because his body was pierced with nails and a lance.</p> | |
| 1213 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">403 He | |
| 1214 foretells his resurrection when he says, <span style= | |
| 1215 "font-weight: bold">and in three days I will raise it up | |
| 1216 again,</span> that is, his body; i.e., I will raise it from the | |
| 1217 dead. He does not say, “I will be raised up,” or | |
| 1218 “The Father will raise it up,” but <span style= | |
| 1219 "font-weight: bold">I will raise it up,</span> to show that he | |
| 1220 would rise from the dead by his own power. Yet we do not deny that | |
| 1221 the Father raised him from the dead, because as it is said: | |
| 1222 “Who raised Jesus from the dead” (Rom 8:11); and | |
| 1223 “O Lord, have pity on me, and raise me up” (Ps 40:10). | |
| 1224 And so God the Father raised Christ from the dead, and Christ arose | |
| 1225 by his own power: “I have slept and have taken my rest, and I | |
| 1226 have risen, because the Lord has taken me” (Ps 3:6). There is | |
| 1227 no contradiction in this, because the power of both is the same; | |
| 1228 hence “whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” | |
| 1229 (below 5:19). For if the Father raised him up, so too did the Son: | |
| 1230 “Although he was crucified through weakness, he lives through | |
| 1231 the power of God” (2 Cor 13:4).</p> | |
| 1232 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">404 He says, | |
| 1233 <span style="font-weight: bold">and in three days,</span> and not | |
| 1234 “after three days,” because he did not remain in the | |
| 1235 tomb for three complete days; but, as Augustine says, he is | |
| 1236 employing synecdoche, in which a part is taken for the whole.</p> | |
| 1237 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Origen, | |
| 1238 however, assigns a mystical reason for this expression, and says: | |
| 1239 The true body of Christ is the temple of God, and this body | |
| 1240 symbolizes the mystical body, i.e., the Church: “You are the | |
| 1241 body of Christ” (1 Cor 12:27). And as the divinity dwells in | |
| 1242 the body of Christ through the grace of union, so too he dwells in | |
| 1243 the Church through the grace of adoption. Although that body may | |
| 1244 seem to be destroyed mystically by the adversities of persecutions | |
| 1245 with which it is afflicted, nevertheless it is raised up in | |
| 1246 “three days,” namely, in the “day” of the | |
| 1247 law of nature, the “day” of the written law, and the | |
| 1248 “day” of the law of grace; because in those days a part | |
| 1249 of that body was destroyed, while another still lived. And so he | |
| 1250 says, in three days, because the spiritual resurrection of this | |
| 1251 body is accomplished in three days. But after those three days we | |
| 1252 will be perfectly risen, not only as to the first resurrection, but | |
| 1253 also as to the second: “Happy are they who share in the | |
| 1254 second [sic] resurrection” (Rv 20:6).</p> | |
| 1255 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">405 Then | |
| 1256 when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The Jews then | |
| 1257 retorted,</span> we have the interpretation of the sign he gave. | |
| 1258 First, the false interpretation of the Jews. Secondly, its true | |
| 1259 understanding by the apostles (v 21).</p> | |
| 1260 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">406 The | |
| 1261 interpretation of the Jews was false, because they believed that | |
| 1262 Christ was saying this of the material temple in which he then was; | |
| 1263 consequently, they answer according to this interpretation and say: | |
| 1264 <span style="font-weight: bold">This temple took forty-six years to | |
| 1265 build,</span> i.e., this material temple in which we are standing, | |
| 1266 <span style="font-weight: bold">and you are going to raise it up | |
| 1267 again in three days!</span></p> | |
| 1268 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">407 There is | |
| 1269 a literal objection against this. For the temple in Jerusalem was | |
| 1270 built by Solomon, and it is recorded in 2 Chronicles (6:1) that it | |
| 1271 was completed by Solomon in seven years. How then can it be said | |
| 1272 that this temple took forty-six years to build? I answer that | |
| 1273 according to some this is not to be understood of the very first | |
| 1274 temple, which was completed by Solomon in seven years: for that | |
| 1275 temple built by Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. But it is | |
| 1276 to be understood of the temple rebuilt under Zerubbabel, after they | |
| 1277 returned from captivity, as recorded in the book of Ezra (5:2). | |
| 1278 However, this rebuilding was so hindered and delayed by the | |
| 1279 frequent attacks of their enemies on all sides, that the temple was | |
| 1280 not finished until forty-six years had passed.</p> | |
| 1281 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">408 Or it | |
| 1282 could be said, according to Origen, that they were speaking of | |
| 1283 Solomon’s temple: and it did take forty-six years to build if | |
| 1284 the time be reckoned from the day when David first spoke of | |
| 1285 building a temple and discussed it with Nathan the prophet, as we | |
| 1286 find in 2 Samuel (7:2), until its final completion under Solomon. | |
| 1287 For from that first day onward David began preparing the material | |
| 1288 and the things necessary for building the temple. Accordingly, if | |
| 1289 the time in question is carefully calculated, it will come to | |
| 1290 forty-six years.</p> | |
| 1291 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">409 But | |
| 1292 although the Jews referred their interpretation to the material | |
| 1293 temple, nevertheless, according to Augustine, it can be referred to | |
| 1294 the temple of Christ’s body. As he says in <i>The Book of | |
| 1295 Eighty-tnree Questions,</i> the conception and formation of the | |
| 1296 human body is completed in forty-five days in the following manner. | |
| 1297 During the first six days, the conception of a human body has a | |
| 1298 likeness to milk; during the next nine days it is converted into | |
| 1299 blood; then in the next twelve days, it is hardened into flesh; | |
| 1300 then the remaining eighteen days, it is formed into a perfect | |
| 1301 outlining of all the members. But if we add six, nine, twelve and | |
| 1302 eighteen, we get forty-five; and if we add “one” for | |
| 1303 the sacrament of unity, we get forty-six.</p> | |
| 1304 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">410 However | |
| 1305 a question arises about this: because this process of formation | |
| 1306 does not seem to have taken place in Christ, who was formed and | |
| 1307 animated at the very instant of conception. But one may answer that | |
| 1308 although in the formation of Christ’s body there was | |
| 1309 something unique, in that Christ’s body was perfect at that | |
| 1310 instant as to the outlining of its members, it was not perfect as | |
| 1311 to the quantity due the body; and so he remained in the | |
| 1312 Virgin’s womb until he attained the due quantity.</p> | |
| 1313 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">However, let | |
| 1314 us take the above numbers and select six, which was the first, and | |
| 1315 forty-six, which was the last, and let us multiply one by the | |
| 1316 other. The result is two hundred seventy-six. Now if we assemble | |
| 1317 these days into months, allotting thirty days to a month, we get | |
| 1318 nine months and six days. Thus it was correct to say that it took | |
| 1319 forty-six years to build the temple, which signifies the body of | |
| 1320 Christ; the suggestion being that there were as many years in | |
| 1321 building the temple as there were days in perfecting the body of | |
| 1322 Christ. For from March twenty-five, when Christ was conceived, and | |
| 1323 (as is believed) when he suffered, to December twenty-five, there | |
| 1324 are this number of days, namely, two hundred seventy-six, a number | |
| 1325 that is the result of multiplying forty-six by six.</p> | |
| 1326 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">411 | |
| 1327 Augustine (as is plain from the Gloss) has another mystical | |
| 1328 interpretation of this number. For he says that if one adds the | |
| 1329 letters in the name “Adam,” using for each the number | |
| 1330 it represented for the Greeks, the result is forty-six. For in | |
| 1331 Greek, A represents the number one, since it is the first letter of | |
| 1332 the alphabet. And according to this order, D is four. Adding to the | |
| 1333 sum of these another one for the second A and forty for the letter | |
| 1334 M, we have forty-six. This signifies that the body of Christ was | |
| 1335 derived from the body of Adam.</p> | |
| 1336 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Again, | |
| 1337 according to the Greeks, the name “Adam” is composed of | |
| 1338 the first letters of the names of the four directions of the world: | |
| 1339 namely, Anathole, which is the east; Disis, which is the west; | |
| 1340 Arctos, which is the north; and Mensembria, the south. This | |
| 1341 signifies that Christ derived his flesh from Adam in order to | |
| 1342 gather his elect from the four parts of the world: “He will | |
| 1343 gather his elect from the four winds” (Mt 24:31).</p> | |
| 1344 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">412 Then, | |
| 1345 the true interpretation of this sign as understood by the apostles | |
| 1346 is given (v 2 1). First, the way they understood it is given. | |
| 1347 Secondly, the time when they understood it (v 22).</p> | |
| 1348 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">413 He says | |
| 1349 therefore: The Jews said this out of ignorance. But Christ did not | |
| 1350 understand it in their way; in fact, he meant the temple of his | |
| 1351 body, and this is what he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">He | |
| 1352 was speaking, how</span>ever, of <span style= | |
| 1353 "font-weight: bold">the temple of his body.</span> We have already | |
| 1354 explained why the body of Christ could be called a temple.</p> | |
| 1355 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Apollinaris | |
| 1356 misunderstood this and said that the body of Christ was inanimate | |
| 1357 matter because the temple was inanimate. He was mistaken in this | |
| 1358 for when it is said that the body of Christ is a temple, one is | |
| 1359 speaking metaphorically. And in this way of speaking a likeness | |
| 1360 does not exist in all respects, but only in some respect, namely, | |
| 1361 as to indwelling, which is referred to the nature, as was | |
| 1362 explained. Further, this is evident from the authority of Sacred | |
| 1363 Scriptuire. when Christ himself said: “I have the power to | |
| 1364 lay down my life,” as we read below (10:18).</p> | |
| 1365 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">414 The time | |
| 1366 when the apostles acquired this true understanding is then shown by | |
| 1367 the Evangelist when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">When, | |
| 1368 therefore, he had risen from the dead, his disciples recalled that | |
| 1369 he had said this.</span> Prior to the resurrection it was difficult | |
| 1370 to understand this. First, because this statement asserted that the | |
| 1371 true divinity was in the body of Christ; otherwise it could not be | |
| 1372 called a temple. And to understand this at that time was above | |
| 1373 human ability. Secondly, because in this statement mention is made | |
| 1374 of the passion and resurrection, when he says, <span style= | |
| 1375 "font-weight: bold">I will raise it up again;</span> and this is | |
| 1376 something none of the disciples had heard mentioned before. | |
| 1377 Consequently, when Christ spoke of his resurrection and passion to | |
| 1378 the apostles, Peter was scandalized when he heard it, saying, | |
| 1379 “God forbid, Lord” (Mt 16:22). But after the | |
| 1380 resurrection, when they now clearly understood that Christ was God, | |
| 1381 through what he had shown in regard to his passion and | |
| 1382 resurrection, and when they had learned of the mystery of his | |
| 1383 resurrection, <span style="font-weight: bold">his disciples | |
| 1384 recalled that he had said this</span> of his body, and <span style= | |
| 1385 "font-weight: bold">they then believed the Scriptures,</span> i.e., | |
| 1386 the prophets: “He will revive us after two days; on the third | |
| 1387 day he will raise us up” (Hos 6:3), and “Jonah was in | |
| 1388 the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jon 2:1). | |
| 1389 So it is that on the very day of the resurrection he opened their | |
| 1390 understanding so that they might understand the Scriptures | |
| 1391 <span style="font-weight: bold">and the statement Jesus had | |
| 1392 made,</span> namely, <span style="font-weight: bold">Destroy this | |
| 1393 temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.</span></p> | |
| 1394 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">415 In the | |
| 1395 anagogical sense, according to Origen, we understand by this that | |
| 1396 in the final resurrection of nature we will be disciples of Christ, | |
| 1397 when in the great resurrection the entire body of Jesus, that is, | |
| 1398 his Church, will be made certain of the things we now hold through | |
| 1399 faith in a dark manner. Then we shall receive the fulfillment of | |
| 1400 faith, seeing in actual fact what we now observe through a | |
| 1401 mirror.</p> | |
| 1402 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">416 Then (v | |
| 1403 23) he sets forth the fruit which resulted from the signs, namely, | |
| 1404 the conversion of certain believers. Concerning this he does three | |
| 1405 things. First, he mentions those who believed on account of the | |
| 1406 miracles. Secondly, he shows the attitude of Christ to them (v 24). | |
| 1407 Thirdly, he gives the reason for this (v 25).</p> | |
| 1408 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">417 The | |
| 1409 fruit which developed from the signs of Jesus was abundant, because | |
| 1410 many believed and were converted to him; and this is what he says, | |
| 1411 <span style="font-weight: bold">While he was in Jerusalem during | |
| 1412 the Passover feast, many people, seeing the signs he was working, | |
| 1413 believed in his name,</span> i.e., in him.</p> | |
| 1414 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">418 Note | |
| 1415 that they believed in two ways: sorne on account of the iniracles | |
| 1416 they saw, and sonic oil account of the revelation and prophecy | |
| 1417 of’ hidden things. Now those who believe oil account of | |
| 1418 doctrine are more commendable, because they are more spiritual than | |
| 1419 those who believe on account of signs, which are grosser and on the | |
| 1420 level of sense. Those who were converted are shown to be more on | |
| 1421 the level of sense by the fact that they did not believe on account | |
| 1422 of the doctrine, as the disciples did, but <span style= | |
| 1423 "font-weight: bold">seeing the signs he was working:</span> | |
| 1424 “Prophecies are for those who believe” (1 Cor | |
| 1425 14:22).</p> | |
| 1426 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">419 One | |
| 1427 might ask which signs worked by Jesus they saw, for we do not read | |
| 1428 of any sign worked by him in Jerusalem at that time. According to | |
| 1429 Origen, there are two answers to this. First, Jesus did work many | |
| 1430 miracles there at that time, which are not recorded here; for the | |
| 1431 Evangelist purposely omitted many of Christ’s miracles, since | |
| 1432 he worked so many that they could not easily be recorded: | |
| 1433 “Jesus did many other signs, and if every one was written, | |
| 1434 the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books | |
| 1435 that would be written” (below 21:25). And the Evangelist | |
| 1436 expressly shows this when he says, <span style= | |
| 1437 "font-weight: bold">seeing the signs he was working,</span> without | |
| 1438 mentioning them, because it was not the intention of the Evangelist | |
| 1439 to record all the signs of Jesus, but as many as were needed to | |
| 1440 instruct the Church of the faithful. The second answer is that | |
| 1441 among the miracles the greatest could be the sign in which Jesus by | |
| 1442 himself drove from the temple a crowd of men with a whip of small | |
| 1443 cords.</p> | |
| 1444 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">420 The | |
| 1445 attitude of Jesus to those who believed in him is shown when he | |
| 1446 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">But Jesus did not trust | |
| 1447 himself to them,</span> i.e., those who had believed in him. What | |
| 1448 is this, men entrust themselves to God, and Jesus himself does not | |
| 1449 entrust himself to them? Could they kill him against his will? Some | |
| 1450 will say that he did not trust himself to them because he knew that | |
| 1451 their belief was not genuine. But if this were true, the Evangelist | |
| 1452 would surely not have said that many believed in his name, and yet | |
| 1453 he did not trust himself to them. According to Chrysostom, the | |
| 1454 reason is that they did believe in him, but imperfectly, because | |
| 1455 they were not yet able to attain to the profound mysteries of | |
| 1456 Christ, and so <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus did not trust | |
| 1457 himself to them,</span> i.e., he did not yet reveal his secret | |
| 1458 mysteries to them; for there were many things he would not reveal | |
| 1459 even to the apostles: “I still have many things to say to | |
| 1460 you, but you cannot bear them now” (below 16:12), and | |
| 1461 “I could not speak to you as spiritual persons, but as | |
| 1462 sensual” (1 Cor 3:1). And so it is significant that in order | |
| 1463 to show that they believed imperfectly, the Evangelist does not say | |
| 1464 that they believed “in him,” because they did not yet | |
| 1465 believe in his divinity, but he says, <span style= | |
| 1466 "font-weight: bold">in his name,</span> i.e., they believed what | |
| 1467 was said about him, nominally, i.e., that he was just, or something | |
| 1468 of that sort.</p> | |
| 1469 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Or, | |
| 1470 according to Augustine, these people represent the catechumens in | |
| 1471 the Church, who, although they believe in the name of Christ, Jesus | |
| 1472 does not trust himself to them, because the Church does not give | |
| 1473 them the body of Christ. For just as no priest except one ordained | |
| 1474 in the priesthood can consecrate that body, so no one but a | |
| 1475 baptized person may receive it.</p> | |
| 1476 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">421 The | |
| 1477 reason Jesus did not trust himself to them arises from his perfect | |
| 1478 knowledge; hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">for he | |
| 1479 knew all men.</span> For although one must ordinarily presume good | |
| 1480 of everyone, yet after the truth about certain people is known, one | |
| 1481 should act according to their condition. Now because nothing in man | |
| 1482 was unknown to Christ and since he knew that they believed | |
| 1483 imperfectly, he did not trust himself to them.</p> | |
| 1484 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">422 The | |
| 1485 universal knowledge of Christ is then described: for he knew not | |
| 1486 only those who were on close terms with him, but strangers too. And | |
| 1487 therefore he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">for he knew all | |
| 1488 men;</span> and this by the power of his divinity: “The eyes | |
| 1489 of the Lord are far brighter than the sun” (Sir 23:28). Now a | |
| 1490 man, although he may know other people, cannot have a sure | |
| 1491 knowledge of them, because he sees only what appears; consequently, | |
| 1492 he must rely on the testimony of others. But Christ knows with the | |
| 1493 greatest certainty, because he beholds the heart; and so | |
| 1494 <span style="font-weight: bold">he did not need anyone to give | |
| 1495 testimony about men.</span> In fact, he is the one who gives | |
| 1496 testimony: “Look, my witness is in heaven” (Jb | |
| 1497 16:20)</p> | |
| 1498 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">His | |
| 1499 knowledge was perfect, because it extended not only to what was | |
| 1500 exterior, but even to the interior; thus he says, <span style= | |
| 1501 "font-weight: bold">He was well aware of what was in man’s | |
| 1502 heart,</span> i.e., the secrets of the heart: “Hell and | |
| 1503 destruction are open to the Lord: how much more the hearts of the | |
| 1504 children of men” (Prv 15:11).</p> | |
| 1505 </blockquote> | |
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