Mercurial > hg > Aquinas
comparison john/english/John2.html @ 31:25a799388159
originals from http://www.josephkenny.joyeurs.com/CDtexts/SSJohn.htm
| author | ht |
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| date | Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:16:17 +0000 |
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| 4 <body style=text-align:justify><blockquote> | |
| 5 <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 60pt">2</span></p> | |
| 6 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in">LECTURE I</p> | |
| 7 <BLOCKQUOTE><p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 | |
| 8 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the feast. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of | |
| 9 Jesus said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 Jesus then said to her, “Woman, what does that | |
| 10 have to do with me and you? My time has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do | |
| 11 whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars near by for purifications according | |
| 12 to Jewish customs, each holding two or three metretes. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill those jars with | |
| 13 water.” And they filled them to the top. 8 Then Jesus said to them, “Now pour out a drink and | |
| 14 take it to the head waiter.” They did as he instructed them. 9 Now when the head waiter tasted | |
| 15 the water made wine, and not knowing where it came from (although the servants knew, since | |
| 16 they had drawn the water), he called the groom over 10 and said to him, “People usually serve | |
| 17 the choice wines first, and when the guests have had their fill, then they bring out inferior wine; | |
| 18 but you have saved the best wine until now.” 11 This beginning of signs Jesus worked in Cana | |
| 19 of Galilee; and Jesus revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.</p></BLOCKQUOTE> | |
| 20 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">335 Above, the Evangelist showed the dignity of the incarnate Word and gave various evidence | |
| 21 for it. Now he begins to relate the effects and actions by which the divinity of the incarnate Word | |
| 22 was made known to the world. First, he tells the things Christ did, while living in the world, that | |
| 23 show his divinity. Secondly, he tells how Christ showed his divinity while dying; and this from | |
| 24 chapter twelve on.</p> | |
| 25 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">As to the first he does two things. First, he shows the divinity of Christ in relation to the power | |
| 26 he had over nature. Secondly, in relation to the effects of grace; and this from chapter three on. | |
| 27 Christ’s power over nature is pointed out to us by the fact that he changed a nature. And this | |
| 28 change was accomplished by Christ as a sign: first, to his disciples, to strengthen them; secondly, | |
| 29 to the people, to lead them to believe (2:12). This transformation of a nature, in order to | |
| 30 strengthen the disciples, was accomplished at a marriage, when he turned water into wine. First, | |
| 31 the marriage is described. Secondly, those present. Thirdly, the miracle performed hy Christ.</p> | |
| 32 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">330 In describing the marriage, the time is first mentioned. Hence he says. On the <span style="font-weight: bold">third day | |
| 33 there was a wedding, </span>i.e., after the calling of the disciples mentioned earlier. For, after being | |
| 34 made known by the testimony of John, Christ also wanted to make himself known. Secondly, the | |
| 35 place is mentioned; hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">at Cana in Galilee. </span>Galilee is a province, and Cana a small | |
| 36 village located in that province.</p> | |
| 37 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">337 As far as the literal meaning is concerned, we should note that there are two opinions about | |
| 38 the time of Christ’s preaching. Some say that there were two and a half years from Christ’s | |
| 39 baptism until his death. According to them, the events at this wedding took place in the same year | |
| 40 that Christ was baptized. However, both the teaching and practice of the Church are opposed to | |
| 41 this. For three miracles are commemorated on the feast of the Epiphany: the adoration of the | |
| 42 Magi, which took place in the first year of the Lord’s birth; secondly, the baptism of Christ, | |
| 43 which implies that he was baptized on the same day thirty years later; thirdly, this marriage, | |
| 44 which took place on the same day one year later. It follows from this that at least one year elapsed | |
| 45 between his baptism and this marriage. In that year the only things recorded to have been done | |
| 46 by the Lord are found in the sixth chapter of Matthew: the fasting in the desert, and the | |
| 47 temptation by the devil; and what John tells us in this Gospel of the testimony by the Baptist and | |
| 48 the conversion of the disciples. After this wedding, Christ began to preach publicly and to | |
| 49 perform miracles up to the time of his passion, so that he preached publicly for two and one half | |
| 50 years.</p> | |
| 51 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">338 In the mystical sense, marriage signifies the union of Christ with his Church, because as the | |
| 52 Apostle says: “This is a great mystery: I am speaking of Christ and his Church” (Eph 5:32). And | |
| 53 this marriage was begun In the womb of the Virgin, when God the Father united a human nature | |
| 54 to his Son in a unity of person. So, the chamber of this union was the womb of the Virgin: “He | |
| 55 established a chamber for the sun” (Ps 18:6). Of this marriage it is said: “The kingdom of heaven | |
| 56 is like a king who married his son” (Mt 22:2), that is, when God the Father joined a human nature | |
| 57 to his Word in the womb of the Virgin. It was made public when the Church was joined to him | |
| 58 by faith: “I will bind you to myself in faith” (Hos 2:20). We read of this marriage: “Blessed are | |
| 59 they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rv 19:9). It will be consummated when | |
| 60 the bride, i.e., the Church, is led into the resting place of the groom, i.e., into the glory of heaven.</p> | |
| 61 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The fact that this marriage took place on the third day is not without it own mystery. For the first | |
| 62 day is the time of the law of nature; the second day is the time of the written law. but the third | |
| 63 day is the time of grace, when the incarnate Lord celebrated the marriage: “He will revive Lis | |
| 64 after two days: on the third day he will raise us up” (Hos 6:3).</p> | |
| 65 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The place too is appropriate. For “Cana” means “zeal and “Galilee” means “passage.” So this | |
| 66 marriage was celebrated in the zeal of a passage, to suggest that those persons are most worthy | |
| 67 of union with Christ who, burning with the zeal of a conscientious devotion, pass over from the | |
| 68 state of guilt to the grace of the Church. “Pass over to me, all who desire me” (Sir 24:26). And | |
| 69 they pass from death to life, i.e., from the state of mortality and misery to the state of immortality | |
| 70 and glory: “I make all things new” (Rv 21:5).</p> | |
| 71 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">339 Then the persons invited are described. Mention is made of three: the mother of Jesus, Jesus | |
| 72 himself, and the disciples.</p> | |
| 73 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">340 The mother of Jesus is mentioned when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">the mother of Jesus was there</span>. She is | |
| 74 mentioned first to indicate that Jesus was still unknown and not invited to the wedding as a | |
| 75 famous person, but merely as one acquaintance among others; for as they invited the mother, so | |
| 76 also her son. Or, perhaps his mother is invited first because they were uncertain whether Jesus | |
| 77 would come to a wedding if invited, because of the unusual piety they noticed in him and because | |
| 78 they had not seen him at other social gatherings. So I think that they first asked his mother | |
| 79 whether Jesus should be invited. That is why the Evangelist expressly said first that his mother | |
| 80 was at the wedding, and that later Jesus was invited.</p> | |
| 81 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">341 And this is what comes next: <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus was invited. </span>Christ decided to attend this wedding, first | |
| 82 of all, to give us an example of humility. For he did not look to his own dignity, but “just as he | |
| 83 condescended to accept the form of a servant, so he did not hesitate to come to the marriage of | |
| 84 servants,” as Chrysostom says. And as Augustine says: “Let man blush to be proud, for God | |
| 85 became humble.” For among his other acts of humility, the Son of the Virgin came to a marriage, | |
| 86 which he had already instituted in paradise when he was with his Father. Of this example it is | |
| 87 said: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29).</p> | |
| 88 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">He came, secondly, to reject the error of those who condemn marriage, for as Bede says: “If there | |
| 89 were sin in a holy marriage bed and in a marriage carried out with due purity, the Lord would not | |
| 90 have come to the marriage.” But because he did come, he implies that the baseness of those who | |
| 91 denounce marriage deserves to be condemned. “If she marries, it is not a sin” (1 Cor 7:36).</p> | |
| 92 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">342 The disciples are mentioned when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and his disciples.</span></p> | |
| 93 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">343 In its mystical meaning, the mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, is present in spiritual | |
| 94 marriages as the one who arranges the marriage, because it is through her intercession that one | |
| 95 is joined to Christ through grace: “In me is every hope of life and of strength” (Sir 24:25). Christ | |
| 96 is present as the true groom of the soul, as is said below (3:29): “It is the groom who has the | |
| 97 bride.” The disciples are the groomsmen uniting the Church to Christ, the one of whom it is said: | |
| 98 “I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2).</p> | |
| 99 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">344 At this physical marriage some role in the miracle belongs to the mother of Christ, some to | |
| 100 Christ, and some to the disciples. When he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">When the wine ran out, </span>he indicates the part | |
| 101 of each. The role of Christ’s mother was to superintend the miracle; the role of Christ to perform | |
| 102 it; and the disciples were to bear witness to it. As to the first, Christ’s mother assumed the role | |
| 103 of a mediatrix. Hence she does two things. First, she intercedes with her Son. In the second place, | |
| 104 she instructs the servants. As to the first, two things are mentioned. First, his mother’s | |
| 105 intercession; secondly, the answer of her Son.</p> | |
| 106 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">345 In Mary’s intercession, note first her kindness and mercy. For it is a quality of mercy to | |
| 107 regard another’s distress as one’s own, because to be merciful is to have a heart distressed at the | |
| 108 distress of another: “Who is weak, and I am not weak?” (2 Cor 11:29). And so because the | |
| 109 Blessed Virgin was full of mercy, she desired to relieve the distress of others. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">When | |
| 110 the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him.</span></p> | |
| 111 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Note, secondly, her reverence for Christ: for because of the reverence we have for God it is | |
| 112 sufficient for us merely to express our needs: “Lord, all my desires are known by you” (Ps 37:10). | |
| 113 But it is not our business to wonder about the way in which God will help us, for as it is said: | |
| 114 “We do not know what we should pray for as we ought” (Rom 8:26). And so his mother merely | |
| 115 told him of their need, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">They have no more wine.</span></p> | |
| 116 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Thirdly, note the Virgin’s concern and care. For she did not wait until they were in extreme need, | |
| 117 but <span style="font-weight: bold">When the wine ran out, </span>that is, immediately. This is similar to what is said of God: “A | |
| 118 helper in times of trouble” (Ps 9:10).</p> | |
| 119 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">346 Chrysostom asks: Why did Mary never encourage Christ to perform any miracles before this | |
| 120 time? For she had been told of his power by the angel, whose work had been confirmed by the | |
| 121 many things she had seen happening in his regard, all of which she remembered, thinking them | |
| 122 over in her heart (Lk 2:5 1). The reason is that before this time he lived like any other person. So, | |
| 123 because the time was not appropriate, she put off asking him. But now, after John’s witness to | |
| 124 him and after the conversion of his disciples, she trustingly prompted Christ to perform miracles. | |
| 125 In this she was true to the symbol of the synagogue, which is the mother of’ Christ: for it was | |
| 126 customary for the Jews to require miracles: “The Jews require signs” (1 Cor 1:22).</p> | |
| 127 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">347 She says to him, <span style="font-weight: bold">They have no more wine. </span>Here we should note that before the incarnation | |
| 128 of Christ three wines were running out: the wine of justice, of wisdom, and of charity or grace. | |
| 129 Wine stings, and in this respect it is a symbol of justice. The Samaritan poured wine and oil into | |
| 130 the wounds of the injured man, that is, he mingled the severity of justice with the sweetness of | |
| 131 mercy. “You have made us drink the wine of sorrow” (Ps 59:5). But wine also delights the heart, | |
| 132 “Wine cheers the heart of man” (Ps 103:15). And in this respect wine is a symbol of wisdom, the | |
| 133 meditation of which is enjoyable in the highest degree: “Her companionship has no bitterness” | |
| 134 (Wis 8:16). Further, wine intoxicates: “Drink, friends, and be intoxicated, my dearly beloved” | |
| 135 (Sg 5:1). And in this respect wine is a symbol of charity: “I have drunk my wine with my milk” | |
| 136 (Sg 5:1). It is also a symbol of charity because of charity’s fervor: “Wine makes the virgins | |
| 137 flourish” (Zec 9:17).</p> | |
| 138 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The wine of justice was indeed running out in the old law, in which justice was imperfect. But | |
| 139 Christ brought it to perfection: “Unless your justice is greater than that of the scribes and of the | |
| 140 Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20). The wine of wisdom was | |
| 141 also running out, for it was hidden and symbolic, because as it says in 1 Corinthians (10:11): “All | |
| 142 these things happened to them in symbol.” But Christ plainly brought wisdom to light: “He was | |
| 143 teaching them as one having authority” (Mt 7:29). The wine of charity was also running out, | |
| 144 because they had received a spirit of serving only in fear. But Christ converted the water of fear | |
| 145 into the wine of charity when he gave “the spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry: ‘Abba, | |
| 146 Father’” (Rom 8:15), and when “the charity of God was poured out into our hearts,” as Romans | |
| 147 (5:5) says.</p> | |
| 148 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">348 Then when he says, Jesus said to her, the answer of Christ is given. This answer has been | |
| 149 the occasion for three heresies.</p> | |
| 150 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">349 The Manicheans claim that Christ had only an imaginary body, not a real one. Valentinus | |
| 151 maintained that Christ assumed a celestial body and that, as far as his body was concerned, Christ | |
| 152 was not related to the Virgin at all. The source of this error was that he understood, <span style="font-weight: bold">Woman, | |
| 153 what does that have to do with me and you? </span>as if it meant: “I have received nothing from | |
| 154 you.” But this is contrary to the authority of Sacred Scripture. For the Apostle says: “God sent | |
| 155 his Son, made from a woman” (Gal 4:4). Now Christ could not be said to have been made from | |
| 156 her, unless he had taken something from her. Further, Augustine argues against them: “How do | |
| 157 you know that our Lord said, <span style="font-weight: bold">What does that have to do with me and you? </span>You reply that it | |
| 158 is because John says so. But he also says that the Virgin was the mother of Christ. So, if you | |
| 159 believe the Evangelist when he states that Jesus said this to his mother, you should also believe | |
| 160 him when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and the mother of Jesus was there</span>.”<span style="font-weight: bold"></span></p> | |
| 161 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">350 Then there was Ebion who said that Christ was conceived from a man’s seed, and Elvidius, | |
| 162 who said that the Virgin did not remain a virgin after childbirth. They were deceived by the fact | |
| 163 that he said, Woman, which seems to imply the loss of virginity. But this is false, for in Sacred | |
| 164 Scripture the word “woman” sometimes refers merely to the female sex, as it does in “made from | |
| 165 a woman” (Gal 4:4). This is obvious also by the fact that Adam, speaking to God about Eve, said: | |
| 166 “The woman whom you gave me as a companion, gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Gn | |
| 167 3:12); for Eve was still a virgin in Paradise, where Adam had not know her. Hence the fact that | |
| 168 the mother of Christ is here called “woman” in this Gospel does not imply a loss of virginity, but | |
| 169 refers to her sex.</p> | |
| 170 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">351 The Priscillianists, however, erred by misunderstanding the words of Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold">My time has | |
| 171 not yet come. </span>They claimed that all things happen by fate, and that the actions of men, including | |
| 172 those of Christ, are subject to predetermined times. And that is why, according to them, Christ | |
| 173 said, <span style="font-weight: bold">My time has not yet come.</span></p> | |
| 174 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">But this is false for any man. For since man has free choice, and this is because he has reason and | |
| 175 will, both of which are spiritual, then obviously, as far as choice is concerned, man, so far from | |
| 176 being subject to bodies, is really their master. For spiritual things are superior to material things, | |
| 177 so much so that the Philosopher says that the wise man is master of the stars. Further, their heresy | |
| 178 is even less true of Christ, who is the Lord and Creator of the stars. Thus when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">My time | |
| 179 has not yet come, </span>he is referring to the time of his passion, which was fixed for him, not by | |
| 180 necessity, according to divine providence. What is said in Sirach (33:7) is also contrary to their | |
| 181 opinion: “Why is one day better than another?” And the answer is: “They have been | |
| 182 differentiated by the knowledge of the Lord,” i.e., they were differentiated from one another not | |
| 183 by chance, but by God’s providence.</p> | |
| 184 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">352 Since we have eliminated the above opinions, let us look for the reason why our Lord | |
| 185 answered, <span style="font-weight: bold">Woman, what does that have to do with me and you? </span>For Augustine, Christ has | |
| 186 two natures, the divine and the human. And although the same Christ exists in each, nevertheless | |
| 187 things appropriate to him according to his human nature are distinct from what is appropriate to | |
| 188 him according to his divine nature. Now to perform miracles is appropriate to him according to | |
| 189 his divine nature, which he received from the Father; while to suffer is according to his human | |
| 190 nature, which he received from his mother. So when his mother requests this miracle, he answers, | |
| 191 <span style="font-weight: bold">Woman, what does that have to do with me and you? </span>as if saying: I did not receive from you | |
| 192 that in me which enables me to perform miracles, but that which enables me to suffer, i.e., that | |
| 193 which makes it appropriate for me to suffer, i.e., I have received a human nature from you. And | |
| 194 so I will recognize you when this weakness hangs on the cross. And so he continues with, <span style="font-weight: bold">My | |
| 195 time has not yet come. </span>As if to say: I will recognize you as my mother when the time of my | |
| 196 passion arrives. And so it was that on the cross he entrusted his mother to the disciple.</p> | |
| 197 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">353 Chrysostom explains this differently. He says that the Blessed Virgin, burning with zeal for | |
| 198 the honor of her Son, wanted Christ to perform miracles at once, before it was opportune; but that | |
| 199 Christ, being much wiser than his mother, restrained her. For he was unwilling to perform the | |
| 200 miracle before the need for it was known; otherwise, it would have been less appreciated and less | |
| 201 credible. And so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Woman, what does that have to do with me and you? </span>As if to say: | |
| 202 Why bother me? <span style="font-weight: bold">My time has not yet come</span>, i.e., I am not yet known to those present. Nor do | |
| 203 they know that the wine ran out; and they must first know this, because when they know their | |
| 204 need they will have a greater appreciation of the benefit they will receive.</p> | |
| 205 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">354 Now although his mother was refused, she did not lose hope in her Son’s mercy. So she | |
| 206 instructs the servants, Do whatever he tells you, in which, indeed, consists the perfection of all | |
| 207 justice. For perfect justice consists in obeying Christ in all things: “We will do all that the Lord | |
| 208 commanded us” (Ex 29:35). Do whatever he tells you, is fittingly said of God alone, for man can | |
| 209 err now and then. Hence in matters that are against God, we are not held to obey men: “We ought | |
| 210 to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). We ought to obey God, who does not err and cannot | |
| 211 be deceived, in all things.</p> | |
| 212 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">355 Now Christ’s completion of the miracle is set forth. First, the vessels in which the miracle | |
| 213 was performed are described. Secondly, the matter of the miracle is stated (v 7). Thirdly, we have | |
| 214 how the miracle was made known and approved (v 8).</p> | |
| 215 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">356 The miracle was performed in six vessels; <span style="font-weight: bold">Now there were six stone water jars near by. | |
| 216 </span>Here we should note, that as mentioned in Mark (7:2), the Jews observed many bodily washings | |
| 217 and the cleansing of their cups and dishes. So, because they were in Palestine where there wis | |
| 218 a shortage of water, they had vessels in which they kept the purest water to be used for washing | |
| 219 themselves and their utensils. Hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">there were six stone water jars near by, </span>i.e., | |
| 220 vessels for holding water, <span style="font-weight: bold">for purifications according to Jewish customs, </span>i.e., to use for | |
| 221 <span style="font-weight: bold">purification, each holding two or three metretes </span>of liquid, that is, two or three measures; for | |
| 222 the Greek “metrete” is the same as the Latin “mensura.”</p> | |
| 223 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">These jars were standing there, as Chrysostom says, in order to eliminate any suspicion about the | |
| 224 miracle: both on account of their cleanliness, lest anyone suspect that the water had acquired the | |
| 225 taste of wine from the dregs of wine previously stored in them, for these jars were standing there | |
| 226 <span style="font-weight: bold">for purifications according to Jewish customs, </span>and so had to be very pure; and also on account | |
| 227 of the capacity of the jars, so that it would be abundantly clear that the water in such jars could | |
| 228 be changed into wine only by divine power.</p> | |
| 229 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">357 In the mystical sense, the six water jars signify the six eras of the Old Testament during | |
| 230 which the hearts of men were prepared and made receptive of God’s Scriptures, and put forward | |
| 231 as an example for our lives.</p> | |
| 232 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The term <span style="font-weight: bold">metretes</span>, according to Augustine, refers to the Trinity of persons. And they are | |
| 233 described as <span style="font-weight: bold">two or three </span>because at times in Scripture three persons in the Trinity are distinctly | |
| 234 mentioned: “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” | |
| 235 (Mt 28:19), and at other times only two, the Father and the Son, in whom the Holy Spirit, who | |
| 236 is the union of the two, is implied: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father | |
| 237 will love him, and we will come to him” (below 14:23). Or they are described as two on account | |
| 238 of the two states of mankind from which the Church arose, that is, Jews and Gentiles. Or three | |
| 239 on account of the three sons of Noe, from whom the human race arose after the deluge.</p> | |
| 240 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">358 Then when he says that Jesus instructed them, <span style="font-weight: bold">Fill those jars with water, </span>he gives the | |
| 241 material of the miracle. Here we might ask why this miracle was performed with already existing | |
| 242 material, and not from nothing. There are three reasons for this. The first reason is literal, and is | |
| 243 given by Chrysostom: to make something from nothing is much greater and more marvelous than | |
| 244 to make something from material already existing; but it is not so evident and believable to many. | |
| 245 And so, wishing to make what he did more believable, Christ made wine from water, thus | |
| 246 condescending to man’s capacity.</p> | |
| 247 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Another reason was to refute wrong dogmas. For there are some (as the Marcionists and | |
| 248 Manicheans) who said that the founder of the world was someone other than God, and that all | |
| 249 visible things were established by such a one, that is, the devil. And so the Lord performed many | |
| 250 miracles using created and visible substances in order to show that these substances are good and | |
| 251 were created by God.</p> | |
| 252 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The third reason is mystical. Christ made the wine from water, and not from nothing, in order to | |
| 253 show that he was not laying down an entirely new doctrine and rejecting the old, but was | |
| 254 fulfilling the old: “I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” (Mt 5:17). In other words, | |
| 255 what was prefigured and promised in the old law, was disclosed and revealed by Christ: “Then | |
| 256 he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (Lk 24:45).</p> | |
| 257 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Finally, he had the servants fill the jars with water so that he might have witnesses to what he | |
| 258 did; so it is said, <span style="font-weight: bold">the servants knew, since they had drawn the water.</span></p> | |
| 259 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">359 Then, the miracle is made known. For as soon as the jars were filled, the water was turned | |
| 260 into wine. So the Lord reveals the miracle at once, saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">Now pour out a drink and take it | |
| 261 to the head waiter. </span>First, we have the command of Christ selecting who is to test the wine; | |
| 262 secondly, the judgment of the head waiter who tasted it.</p> | |
| 263 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">360 <span style="font-weight: bold">Then Jesus said to them, </span>i.e., to the servants, <span style="font-weight: bold">Now pour out a drink, </span>that is, of wine, from | |
| 264 the jars, <span style="font-weight: bold">and take it to the head waiter </span>(<i>arch itriclin us</i>)<i>. </i>Here we should note that a <i>triclinium | |
| 265 </i>is a place where there are three rows of tables, and it is called a <i>trichinium </i>from its three rows | |
| 266 of dining couches: for <i>cline </i>in Greek means couch. For the ancients were accustomed to eat | |
| 267 reclining on couches, ais Maximus Valerius recounts. This is the reason why the Scriptures speak | |
| 268 of lying next to and lying down. Thus the <i>architriclinus </i>was (fie first and chief among those | |
| 269 dining. Or, according to Chrysostom, the <i>architriclinus </i>was the one in charge of the whole | |
| 270 banquet. And because he had been busy and had not tasted anything, the Lord wanted him, and | |
| 271 not the guests, to be the judge of what had been done, so some could not detract from the miracle | |
| 272 by saying the guests were drunk and, their senses dulled, could not tell wine from water. For | |
| 273 Augustine, the <i>architriclinus </i>was the chief guest, as was inentioned; and Christ wanted to have | |
| 274 the opinion of this person in high position so it would be more acceptable.</p> | |
| 275 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">361 In the mystical sense, those who pour out the water are preachers: “With joy you will draw | |
| 276 water from the springs of the Savior” (Is 12:3). And the <i>architriclinus is </i>someone skilled in the | |
| 277 law, as Nicodenius, Gamaliel or Paul. So, when the word of the Gospel, which was hidden under | |
| 278 the letter of the law, is entrusted to such persons, it is as though wine made from water is poured | |
| 279 out for the <i>architriclinus</i>, who, when he tastes it, gives his assent to the faith of Christ.</p> | |
| 280 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">362 Then the judgment of the one examining the wine is given. First, he inquires into the truth | |
| 281 of the fact; secondly, he gives his opinion.</p> | |
| 282 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Now when the head waiter tasted the water made wine, and not knowing where | |
| 283 it came from, </span>because he did not know that the water had miraculously been made wine by | |
| 284 Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold">although the servants knew, </span>the reason being, <span style="font-weight: bold">since they had drawn the water, he | |
| 285 called the groom over, </span>in order to learn the truth and give his opinion of the wine. Hence he | |
| 286 adds: <span style="font-weight: bold">People usually serve the choice wines first, and when the guests have had their fill, | |
| 287 then they bring out inferior wine.</span></p> | |
| 288 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Here we should consider, according to Chrysostom, that everything is most perfect in the | |
| 289 miracles of Christ. Thus, he restored most complete health to Peter’s mother-in-law, so that she | |
| 290 arose at once and waited on them, as we read in Mark (1:30) and Matthew (7:14). Again, he | |
| 291 restored the paralytic to health so perfectly that he also arose immediately, took up his mat, and | |
| 292 went home, as we read below (5:9). And this is also evident in this miracle, because Christ did | |
| 293 not make mediocre wine from the water, but the very best possible. And so the head waiter says, | |
| 294 <span style="font-weight: bold">People usually serve the choice wines first, and when the guests have had their fill, then | |
| 295 they bring out inferior wine, </span>because they drink less, and because good wine consumed in | |
| 296 quantity along with a quantity of food causes greater discomfort. It is as though he were saying: | |
| 297 Where did this very good wine come from which, contrary to custom, you saved until now?</p> | |
| 298 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">363 This is appropriate to a mystery. For in the mystical sense, he serves good wine first who, | |
| 299 with an intent to deceive others, does not first mention the error he intends, but other things that | |
| 300 entice his hearers, so that he can disclose his evil plans after they have been intoxicated and | |
| 301 enticed to consent. We read of such wine: “It goes down pleasantly, but finally it will bite like | |
| 302 a serpent” (Prv 23:3 1). Again, he serves good wine first who begins to live in a saintly and | |
| 303 spiritual manner at the start of his conversion, but later sinks into a carnal life: “Are you so | |
| 304 foolish as, having begun in the Spirit, to end in the flesh?” (Gal 3:3).</p> | |
| 305 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Christ, however, does not serve the good wine first, for at the outset he proposes things that are | |
| 306 bitter and hard: “Narrow is the way that leads to life” (Mt 7:14). Yet the more progress a person | |
| 307 makes in his faith and teaching, the more pleasant it becomes and he becomes aware of a greater | |
| 308 sweetness: “I will lead You by the path of justice, and when you walk you will not be hindered” | |
| 309 (Prv 4:11). Likewise, all those who desire to live conscientiously in Christ stiffer bitterness and | |
| 310 troubles in this world: “You will weep and mourn” (below 16:20). But later they will experience | |
| 311 delights and joys. So he goes on: “but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” “I consider that the | |
| 312 sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which will | |
| 313 be revealed in us,” as is said in Romans (8:18).</p> | |
| 314 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> </p> | |
| 315 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">364 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">This beginning of signs Jesus worked in Cana of Galilee, </span>he gives | |
| 316 the disciples’ acknowledgment of the miracle. We can see from this the falsity of the <i>History of | |
| 317 the Infancy of the Savior, </i>which recounts many miracles worked by Christ as a boy. For if these | |
| 318 accounts were true, the Evangelist would not have said, <span style="font-weight: bold">This beginning of signs Jesus worked. | |
| 319 </span>We have already given the reason why Christ worked no miracles during his childhood, that is, | |
| 320 lest men regard them as illusions.</p> | |
| 321 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">It was for the reason given above, then, that Jesus performed this miracle of turning water into | |
| 322 wine at Cana of Galilee; and this was the first of the signs he did. <span style="font-weight: bold">And Jesus revealed his glory, | |
| 323 </span>i.e., the power by which he is glorious: “The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory” (Ps 23:10).</p> | |
| 324 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">365 <span style="font-weight: bold">And his disciples believed in him. </span>But how did they believe? For they already were his | |
| 325 disciples and had believed before this. I answer that sometimes a thing is described not according | |
| 326 to what it is at the time, but according to what it will be. For example, we say that the apostle | |
| 327 Paul was born at Tarsus, in Cilicia; not that an actual apostle was born there, but a future one | |
| 328 was. Similarly, it says here that <span style="font-weight: bold">his disciples believed in him, </span>i.e., those who would be his | |
| 329 disciples. Or, one might answer that previously they had believed in him as a good man, | |
| 330 preaching what was right and just; but now they believed in him as God.</p> | |
| 331 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> </p> | |
| 332 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 2</span></p> | |
| 333 <BLOCKQUOTE><p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">12 After this he went down to Capernaum together with his mother, his brethren and his | |
| 334 disciples; but they did not remain there many clays. 13 The Jewish Passover was near at hand, | |
| 335 and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple precincts he came upon merchants selling oxen, | |
| 336 sheep and doves, and moneychangers seated at tables. 15 And when he had made a kind of whip | |
| 337 from cords, he drove everyone, including sheep and oxen, out of the temple, swept away the gold | |
| 338 of the money changers, and knocked over their tables. 16 To those selling doves he said, “Get | |
| 339 Out of here! And stop making my Father’s house into a marketplace.” 17 His disciples then | |
| 340 remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house consumes me.”</p></BLOCKQUOTE> | |
| 341 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">366 Above, the Evangelist presented the sign Christ worked in order to confirm his disciples; and | |
| 342 this sign pertained to his power to change nature. Now he deals with the sign of his resurrection; | |
| 343 a sign pertaining to the same power, but proposed by Christ to convert the people.</p> | |
| 344 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">The Evangelist does two things as to this miracle. First, he mentions its occasion. Secondly, the | |
| 345 prediction of the miracle (v 18). As to the first he does two things. First, he describes the place. | |
| 346 Secondly, he tells of the incident which was the occasion for proposing this miracle (v 14). Now | |
| 347 the place where this happened was Jerusalem. And so the Evangelist recounts step by step how | |
| 348 the Lord had come to Jerusalem. First, then, he shows how he went down to Capernaum. | |
| 349 Secondly, how he then went up to Jerusalem. As to the first he does three things. First, he | |
| 350 mentions the place to which he went down. Secondly, he describes his company. Thirdly, he | |
| 351 mentions the length of his stay.</p> | |
| 352 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">367 The place to which Christ went down was Capernaum; and so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">After this, </span>i.e., the | |
| 353 miracle of the wine, <span style="font-weight: bold">he went down to Capernaum. </span>Now as far as the historical truth is | |
| 354 concerned, this seems to conflict with Matthew’s account that the Lord went down to Capernaum | |
| 355 after John had been thrown into prison (Mt 4:12), while the entire series of events the Evangelist | |
| 356 refers to here took place before John’s imprisonment.</p> | |
| 357 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">I answer that in order to settle this question we should bear in mind what is learned from the | |
| 358 <i>Ecclesiastical History, </i>that is, that the other Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, began their | |
| 359 account of the public life of Christ from the time that John was thrown into prison. Thus | |
| 360 Matthew (4:12), after describing the baptism, fast and temptation of Christ, began at once to | |
| 361 weave his story after John’s imprisonment, saying: “When Jesus heard that John had been | |
| 362 arrested.” And Mark (1:14) says the same: “After John had been arrested, Jesus came into | |
| 363 Galilee.” John, who outlived the other three Evangelists, approved the accuracy and truth of their | |
| 364 accounts when they came to his notice. Yet he saw that certain things had been left unsaid, | |
| 365 namely, things which the Lord had done in the very first days of his preaching before John’s | |
| 366 imprisonment. And so, at the request of the faithful, John, after he began his own Gospel in a | |
| 367 loftier manner, recorded events that took place during the first year in which Christ was baptized | |
| 368 before John’s imprisonment, as is plain from the order of the events in his Gospel. According to | |
| 369 this, then, the Evangelists are not in disagreement. Rather, the Lord went down to Capernaum | |
| 370 twice: once before John’s imprisonment (which is the one dealt with here), and once after his | |
| 371 imprisonment, which is dealt with in Matthew (4:13) and Luke (4:31 ).</p> | |
| 372 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">368 Now “Capernaum” means “very pretty village,” and signifies this world, which has its beauty | |
| 373 from the order and disposition of divine wisdom: “The beauty of the land is mine” (Ps 49:2). So | |
| 374 the Lord went down to Capernaum, i.e., this world, with his mother and brethren and disciples. | |
| 375 For in heaven the Lord has a Father without a mother; and on earth a mother without a father. | |
| 376 Thus, he significantly mentions only his mother. In heaven he does not have brothers either, but | |
| 377 is “the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father” (above 1:18). But on earth he is | |
| 378 “the Firstborn of many brothers” (Rom 8:29). And on earth he has disciples, to whom he can | |
| 379 teach the mysteries of the divinity, which were not known to men before: “In these days he has | |
| 380 spoken to us in his Son” as we read in Hebrews (1:1).</p> | |
| 381 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Or, “Capernaum” means “the field of consolation”; and this signifies every man who bears good | |
| 382 fruit: “The odor of my son is like the odor of a fruitful field” (Gn 27:27). Such a person is called | |
| 383 a field of consolation because the Lord is consoled and rejoices in his achievement: “God will | |
| 384 rejoice over you” (Is 62:5), and because the angels rejoice over his good: “There is joy in the | |
| 385 angels of God over one repentant sinner” (Lk 15:10).</p> | |
| 386 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">369 His companions were, first of all, his mother. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">with his mother, </span>for because she | |
| 387 had come to the wedding and had brought about the miracle, the Lord accompanied her back to | |
| 388 the village of Nazareth. Nazareth was a village in Galilee, whose chief town was Capernaum.</p> | |
| 389 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">370 Secondly, his companions were his brethren; and so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">his brethren </span>(<i>fratres, </i>brothers, | |
| 390 brethren). We must avoid two errors here. First, that of Elvidius, who said that the Blessed Virgin | |
| 391 had other sons after Christ; and he called these the brothers of the Lord. This is heretical, because | |
| 392 our faith maintains that just as the mother of Christ was a virgin before giving birth, so in giving | |
| 393 birth and after giving birth, she remained a virgin. We must also avoid the error of those who say | |
| 394 that Joseph fathered sons with another wife, and that these are called the brothers of the Lord; | |
| 395 for the Church does not admit this.</p> | |
| 396 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Jerome refutes this opinion: for on the cross the Lord entrusted his virgin mother to the care of | |
| 397 his virgin disciple. Therefore, since Joseph was the special guardian of the Virgin, and of the | |
| 398 Savior too, in his childhood, one may believe that he was a virgin. Consequently, it is a | |
| 399 reasonable interpretation to say that the brothers of the Lord were those related to his virgin | |
| 400 mother in some degree of consanguinity, or even to Joseph, who was the reputed father. And this | |
| 401 conforms to the custom of Scripture which generally refers to relatives as brothers. Thus we read: | |
| 402 “Let us not quarrel, for we are brothers” (Gn 13:8), as Abram said to Lot, who was his nephew. | |
| 403 And note that he distinguishes between relatives and disciples, because not all of Christ’s | |
| 404 relatives were his disciples; hence we read: “Even his brethren did not believe in him” (below | |
| 405 7:5) .</p> | |
| 406 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">371 Thirdly, his disciples were his companions; hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and his disciples. </span>But who were | |
| 407 his disciples? For it seems, according to Matthew, that the first ones to be converted to Christ | |
| 408 were Peter and Andrew, John and James; but they were called after John’s imprisonment, as is | |
| 409 clear from Matthew (4:18). Thus it does not seem that they went down to Capernaum with Christ, | |
| 410 as it says here, since this was before John’s imprisonment.</p> | |
| 411 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">There are two answers to this. One is from Augustine, in his <i>De Consensu Evangelistarum, | |
| 412 </i>namely, that Matthew does not follow the historical order, but in summarizing what he omitted, | |
| 413 relates events that occurred before John’s imprisonment as though they happened after. So, | |
| 414 without any suggestion of a time lapse he says, “As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he | |
| 415 saw two brothers” (Mt 4:18), without adding “after this” or “at that time.” The other answer, also | |
| 416 by Augustine, is that in the Gospel not only the twelve whom the Lord chose and named apostles | |
| 417 are called disciples of the Lord (Lk 6:13), but also all who believed in him and were instructed | |
| 418 for the kingdom of heaven by his teaching. Therefore, it is possible that although those twelve | |
| 419 did not yet follow him, others who adhered to him are called disciples here. But the first answer | |
| 420 is better.</p> | |
| 421 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">372 His stay there was short; hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">but they did not remain there many days. </span>The | |
| 422 reason for this was that the citizens of Capernaum were not eager to accept the teachings of | |
| 423 Christ, being very corrupt, so that in Matthew (11:23) the Lord rebukes them for not doing | |
| 424 penance in spite of the miracles done there and of Christ’s teaching: “And you Capernaum, will | |
| 425 you be lifted up to heaven? You will go down to hell. For if the mighty works that were done in | |
| 426 you had been performed in Sodom, it would have stood until this day.” But although they were | |
| 427 evil, he went there to accompany his mother, and to stay there for a few days for her consolation | |
| 428 and honor.</p> | |
| 429 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">373 As for its mystical sense, this signifies that some cannot remain long with the many words | |
| 430 spoken by Christ; a few of these words are enough for them, to enlighten them, because of the | |
| 431 weakness of their understanding. Hence as Origen said, Christ reveals few things to such persons, | |
| 432 according to “I have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now” (Jn 16:12).</p> | |
| 433 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">374 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The Jewish Passover was near at hand,</span> he mentions the place to | |
| 434 which he went tip. And concerning this he does two things. First, the occasion is given. Secondly, | |
| 435 the going up.</p> | |
| 436 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">375 Now the occasion for his going up was the Jewish Passover. For in Exodus (13:17) it is | |
| 437 commanded that every male be presented to the Lord three times a year; and one of these times | |
| 438 was the Jewish Passover. So, since the Lord came to teach everyone by his example of humility | |
| 439 and perfection, he wished to observe the law as long as it was in force. For he did not come to | |
| 440 destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Mt 5:17). And so, because the Passover of the Jews was at hand, | |
| 441 he went up to Jerusalem. So we, after his example, should carefully observe the divine precepts. | |
| 442 For if the Son of God fulfilled the decrees of a law he himself had given, and celebrated the great | |
| 443 feasts, with what zeal for good works ought we both to prepare for them and observe them?</p> | |
| 444 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">376 It should be noted that in John’s Gospel mention is made of the Passover in three passages: | |
| 445 here, and in (6:4), when he worked the miracle of the loaves, where it is said: “Now the Jewish | |
| 446 Passover was near at hand” , and again in (13:1), where it says: “Before the feast day of the | |
| 447 Passover.” So, according to this Gospel, we understand that after the miracle of the wine Christ | |
| 448 preached for two years plus the interval between his baptism and this Passover. For what he did | |
| 449 here occurred near the Passover, as it says here, and then a year later, near the time of another | |
| 450 Passover, he performed the miracle of the loaves, and in the same year John was beheaded. Thus | |
| 451 John was beheaded near the time of the Passover, because we read in Matthew (14:13) that | |
| 452 immediately after John was beheaded Christ withdrew to the desert, where he worked the miracle | |
| 453 of the loaves; and this miracle took place near Passover time, as stated below (6:4). Nevertheless, | |
| 454 the feast of this beheading of John is celebrated on the day his head was found. It was later, | |
| 455 during another Passover, that Christ suffered.</p> | |
| 456 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">So, according to the opinion of those who say that the miracle worked at the wedding and the | |
| 457 events being discussed here occurred in the same year in which Christ was baptized, there was | |
| 458 an interval of two and one half years between Christ’s baptism and his passion. So, according to | |
| 459 them, the Evangelist says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The Jewish Passover was near at hand, </span>in order to show that Christ | |
| 460 had been baptized just a few days before.</p> | |
| 461 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">But the Church holds the opposite. For we believe that Christ worked the miracle of the wine on | |
| 462 the first anniversary of the day of his baptism; then a year later, near Passover time, John was | |
| 463 beheaded; and then there was another year between the Passover near which John was beheaded | |
| 464 and the Passover during which Christ suffered. So between the baptism of Christ and the miracle | |
| 465 of the wine there had to be another Passover which the Evangelist does not mention. And so, | |
| 466 according to what the Church holds, Christ preached for three and one half years.</p> | |
| 467 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">377 He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Jewish Passover, </span>not as though the people of other nations celebrated a | |
| 468 Passover, but for two reasons. One, because when people celebrate a feast in a holy and pure | |
| 469 way, it is said that they celebrate it for the Lord; but when they celebrate it in neither of those | |
| 470 ways, they do not celebrate it for the Lord, but for themselves: “My soul hates your new moons | |
| 471 and your feasts” (Is 1:14). It is as though he said: Those who celebrate for themselves and not for | |
| 472 me, do not please me: “When you fasted, did you fast for me?” (Zec 7:5), as if to say: You did | |
| 473 not do it for me, but for yourselves. And so because these Jews were corrupt and celebrated their | |
| 474 Passover in an unbecoming manner, the Evangelist does not say, “the Passover of the Lord,” but | |
| 475 the Jewish Passover was at hand.</p> | |
| 476 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Or, he says this to differentiate it from our Passover. For the Passover of the Jews Was symbolic, | |
| 477 being celebrated by the immolation of a lamb which was a symbol. But our Passover is true, in | |
| 478 which we recall the true passing [passion] of the Immaculate Lamb: “Christ, our Passover, has | |
| 479 been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7).</p> | |
| 480 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">378 The journey was to Jerusalem, and so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. </span>Note here | |
| 481 that according to the historical order, Jesus went up to Jerusalem near the time of the Passover | |
| 482 and expelled the merchants from the temple on two occasions. The first, before John’s | |
| 483 imprisonment, is the one the Evangelist mentions here; the other is mentioned by Matthew | |
| 484 (21:13) as occurring when the Passover and the hour of his passion were at hand. For the Lord | |
| 485 frequently repeated works that were similar. For example, the two cases of giving sight to the | |
| 486 blind: one in Matthew (9:28) and another in Mark (10:46). In like manner he twice cast | |
| 487 merchants from the temple.</p> | |
| 488 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">379 In the mystical sense, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, which is translated as the “vision of | |
| 489 peace,” and signifies eternal happiness. It is to here that Jesus ascended, and he took his own with | |
| 490 him. There is no lack of mystery in the fact that he went down to Capernaum and later went up | |
| 491 to Jerusalem. For if he did not first go down, he would not have been suited to go up, because, | |
| 492 as it is said: “He who descended is the same as he who ascended” (Eph 4:10). Further, no | |
| 493 mention is made of the disciples in the ascent to Jerusalem because the ascent of the disciples | |
| 494 comes from the ascent of Christ: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down | |
| 495 from heaven, the Son of Man, who lives in heaven” (below 3:13).</p> | |
| 496 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">380 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">In the temple precincts he came upon merchants selling oxen, sheep | |
| 497 and doves, </span>the Evangelist sets down what moved Christ to propose the sign of the resurrection. | |
| 498 He does three things with this. First, he exposes the faulty behavior of the Jews. Secondly, he | |
| 499 discloses Christ’s remedy (v 15). Thirdly, he gives the announcement of the prophecy (v 22).</p> | |
| 500 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">381 With respect to the first, we should note that the devil plots against the things of God and | |
| 501 strives to destroy them. Now among the means by which he destroys holy things, the chief is | |
| 502 avarice; hence it is said: “The shepherds have no understanding. All have turned aside to their | |
| 503 own way; everyone after his own gain, from the first one to the last” (Is 56:11). And the devil has | |
| 504 done this from the earliest times. For the priests of the Old Testament, who had been established | |
| 505 to care for divine matters, gave free rein to avarice. God commanded, in the law, that animals | |
| 506 should be sacrificed to the Lord on certain feasts. And in order to fulfill this command, those who | |
| 507 lived nearby brought the animals with them. But those who came a long distance were unable to | |
| 508 bring animals from their own homes. And so because offerings of this kind resulted in profit for | |
| 509 the priests, and so animals to offer would not be lacking to those who came from a distance, the | |
| 510 priests themselves saw to it that animals were sold in the temple. And so they had them shown | |
| 511 for sale in the temple, i.e., in the atrium of the temple. And this is what he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">In the temple | |
| 512 precincts he came upon merchants selling oxen, sheep and doves.</span></p> | |
| 513 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Mention is first made of two land animals, which according to the law could be offered to the | |
| 514 Lord: the ox and the sheep. The third land animal offered, the goat, is implied when he says | |
| 515 “sheep”, similarly, the turtle-dove is included when he says “doves.”</p> | |
| 516 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">382 It sometimes happened that some came to the temple not only without animals, but also | |
| 517 without money to buy them. And so the priests found another avenue for their avarice; they set | |
| 518 up moneychangers who would lend money to those who came without it. And although they | |
| 519 would not accept a usurious gain, because this was forbidden in the law, nevertheless in place | |
| 520 of this they accepted certain “<i>collibia</i>”, i.e., trifles and small gifts. So this also was turned to the | |
| 521 profit of the priests. And this is what he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">moneychangers seated at tables, </span>i.e., in the | |
| 522 temple, ready to lend money.</p> | |
| 523 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">383 This can be understood mystically in three ways. First of all, the merchants signify those who | |
| 524 sell or buy the things of the Church: for the oxen, sheep and doves signify the spiritual goods of | |
| 525 the Church and the things connected with them. These goods have been consecrated and | |
| 526 authenticated by the teachings of the apostles and doctors, signified by the oxen: “When there | |
| 527 is an abundant harvest the strength of the ox is evident” (Prv 14:4); and by the blood of the | |
| 528 martyrs, who are signified by the sheep: so it is said for them: “We are regarded as sheep for the | |
| 529 slatighter” (Rom 8:36): and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, signified by the doves, for as stated | |
| 530 above, the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. Therefore, those who presume to sell the | |
| 531 spiritual goods of the Church and the goods connected with them are selling the teachings of the | |
| 532 apostles, the blood of the martyrs, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.</p> | |
| 533 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Secondly, it happens that certain prelates or heads of churches sell these oxen, sheep and doves, | |
| 534 not overtly by simony, but covertly by negligence; that is, when they are so eager for and | |
| 535 occupied with temporal gain that they neglect the spiritual welfare of their subjects. And this is | |
| 536 the way they sell the oxen, sheep and doves, i.e., the three classes of people subject to them. First | |
| 537 of all, they sell the preachers and laborers, who are signified by the oxen: “Happy are you who | |
| 538 sow beside all the streams, letting the ox and the donkey range free” (Is 32:20);.because prelates | |
| 539 ought to arrange the oxen, i.e., teachers and wise men, with the donkeys, i.e., the simple and | |
| 540 uneducated. They also sell those in the active life, and those occupied with ministering, signified | |
| 541 by the sheep: “My sheep hear my voice” (below 10:27); and as is said in 2 Samuel (24:17): “But | |
| 542 these, who are the sheep, what have they done?” They also sell the contemplatives, signified by | |
| 543 the doves: “Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly?” (Ps 54:7).</p> | |
| 544 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Thirdly, by the temple of God we can understand the spiritual soul, as it says: “The temple of | |
| 545 God is holy, and that is what you are” (1 Cor 3:17). Thus a man sells oxen, sheep and doves in | |
| 546 the temple when he harbors bestial movements in his soul, for which he sells himself to the devil. | |
| 547 For oxen, which are used for cultivating the earth, signify earthly desires; sheep, which are stupid | |
| 548 animals, signify man’s obstinacy; and the doves signify man’s instability. It is God who drives | |
| 549 these things out of men’s hearts.</p> | |
| 550 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">384 The Lord’s remedy is at once set forth (v 15). Here the Lord’s remedy consisted in action and | |
| 551 in words, in order to instruct those who have charge of the Church that they must correct their | |
| 552 subjects in deed and in word. And he does two things with respect to this. First, he gives the | |
| 553 remedy Christ applied by his action. Secondly, the remedy he applied by word (v 16).</p> | |
| 554 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">385 As to the first he does three things. First, he drives the men out. Secondly, the oxen and | |
| 555 sheep. Thirdly, he sweeps away the money.</p> | |
| 556 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">He drives the men out with a whip; and this is what he <span style="font-weight: bold">says, when he had made a kind of whip | |
| 557 from cords. </span>This is something that could be done only by divine power. For as Origen says, the | |
| 558 divine power of Jesus was as able, when he willed, to quench the swelling anger of men as to still | |
| 559 the stornis of minds: “The Lord brings to nought the thoughts of men” (Ps 32:10). He makes the | |
| 560 whip from cords because, as Augustine says, it is from our own sins that he forms the matter with | |
| 561 which he punishes us: for a series of sins, in which sins are added to sins, is called a cord: “He | |
| 562 is bound fast by the cords of his own sins” (Prv 5:22); “Woe to you who haul wickedness with | |
| 563 cords” (Is 5:18). Then, just as he drove the merchants from the temple, so he swept away the gold | |
| 564 of the moneychangers and knocked over their tables.</p> | |
| 565 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">386 And mark well that if he expelled from the temple things that seemed somehow licit, in the | |
| 566 sense that they were ordained to the worship of God, how much more if he comes upon unlawful | |
| 567 things? The reason he cast them out was because in this matter the priests did not intend God’s | |
| 568 glory, but their own profit. Hence it is said: “It is for yourselves that you placed guardians of my | |
| 569 service in my sancturay” (Ez 44:8)</p> | |
| 570 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Further, our Lord showed zeal for the things of the law so that he might by this answer the chief | |
| 571 priests and the priests who were later to bring a charge against him on this very point. Again, by | |
| 572 casting things of this kind out of the temple he let it be understood that the time was coming in | |
| 573 which the sacrifices of the law were due to cease, and the true worship of God transferred to the | |
| 574 Gentiles: “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you” (Mt 21:43). Also, this shows us | |
| 575 the condemnation of those who sell spiritual things: “May your money perish together with you” | |
| 576 (Acts 8:20).</p> | |
| 577 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">387 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">To those selling doves he said, </span>he records the treatment which the Lord | |
| 578 applied by word. Here it should be noted that those who engage in simony should, of course, first | |
| 579 be expelled from the Church. But because as long as they are alive, they can change themselves | |
| 580 by free will and by the help of God return to the state of grace, they should not be given up as | |
| 581 hopeless. If, however, they are not converted, then they are not merely to be expelled, but handed | |
| 582 over to those to whom it is said: “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness” (Mt | |
| 583 22:13). And so the Lord, attending to this, first warns them, and then gives the reason for his | |
| 584 warning, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">stop making my Father’s house into a marketplace.</span></p> | |
| 585 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">388 He warns those selling the doves by reproaching them, for they signify those who sell the | |
| 586 gifts of the Holy Spirit, i.e., those who engage in simony.</p> | |
| 587 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">389 He gives his reason for this when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">stop making my Father’s house into a | |
| 588 marketplace. </span>“Take away your evil from my sight” (Is 1:10). Note that Matthew (2 1:13) says: | |
| 589 “Do not make my house a den of thieves,” while here he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">a marketplace. </span>Now the Lord | |
| 590 does this because, as a good physician, he begins first with the gentler things; later on, he would | |
| 591 propose harsher things. Now the action recorded here was the first of the two; hence in the | |
| 592 beginning he does not call them thieves but merchants. But because they did not stop such | |
| 593 business out of obstinacy, the Lord, when driving them out the second time (as mentioned in | |
| 594 Mark 11:15), rebukes them more severely, calling robbery what he had first called business.</p> | |
| 595 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">my Father’s house, </span>to exclude the error of Manicheus, who said that while the God of | |
| 596 the New Testament was the Father of Christ, the God of the Old Testament was not. But if this | |
| 597 were true, then since the temple was the house of the Old Testament, Christ would not have | |
| 598 referred to the temple as <span style="font-weight: bold">my Father’s house.</span></p> | |
| 599 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">390 Why were the Jews not disturbed here when he called God his Father, for as is said below | |
| 600 (5:18), this is why they persecuted him? I answer that God is the Father of certain men through | |
| 601 adoption; for example, he is the Father of the just in this way. This was not a new idea for the | |
| 602 Jews: “You will call me Father, and you will not cease to walk after me” (Jer 3:19). However, | |
| 603 by nature he is the Father of Christ alone: “The Lord said to me: ‘You are my Son’ “ (Ps 2:7), i.e., | |
| 604 the true and natural Son. It is this that was unheard of among the Jews. And so the Jews | |
| 605 persecuted him because he called himself the true Son of God: “the Jews tried all the harder to | |
| 606 kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath rest, but even called God his own Father, making | |
| 607 himself equal to God” (below 5:18). But when he called God his Father on this occasion, they | |
| 608 said it was by adoption.</p> | |
| 609 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">391 That the house of God shall not be made a marketplace is taken from-Zechariah (14:21): “On | |
| 610 that day there will no longer be any merchants in the house of the Lord of hosts”; and from the | |
| 611 Psalm (70:16), where one version has the reading: “Because I was not part of the marketplace, | |
| 612 I will enter into the strength of the Lord.”</p> | |
| 613 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">392 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">His disciples then remembered, </span>he sets down a prophecy which was | |
| 614 written in Psalm 69 (v 9): “Zeal for your house consumes me.” Here we should remark that zeal, | |
| 615 properly speaking, signifies an intensity of love, whereby the one who loves intensely does not | |
| 616 tolerate anything which is repugnant to his love. So it is that men who love their wives intensely | |
| 617 and cannot endure their being in the company of other men, as this conflicts with their own love, | |
| 618 are called “zelotypes.” Thus, properly speaking, one is said to have zeal for God who cannot | |
| 619 patiently endure anything contrary to the honor of God, <span style="font-weight: bold">whoin</span> he loves above all else: “I have | |
| 620 been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts” (1 Kgs 19:10). Now we should love the house of | |
| 621 the Lord, according to the Psalm (25:8): “O Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house.” Indeed, | |
| 622 we should love it so much that our zeal consumes us, so that if we notice anything amiss being | |
| 623 done, we should try to eliminate it, no matter how dear to us are those who are doing it; nor | |
| 624 should we fear any evils that we might have to endure as a result. So the Gloss says: “Good zeal | |
| 625 is a fervor of spirit, by which, scorning the fear of death, one is on fire for the defense of the | |
| 626 truth. He is consumed by it who takes steps to correct any perversity he sees; and if he cannot, | |
| 627 he tolerates it with sadness.”</p> | |
| 628 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> </p> | |
| 629 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 3</span></p> | |
| 630 <BLOCKQUOTE><p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">18 At this the Jews responded and said, “What sign can you show us authorizing you to do these | |
| 631 things?” 19 Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” 20 The | |
| 632 Jews then retorted, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and you are going to raise it up | |
| 633 again in three days!” 21 He was speaking, however, of the temple of his body. 22 When, | |
| 634 therefore, he had risen from the dead, his disciples recalled that he had said this; they then | |
| 635 believed the Scriptures and the statement Jesus had made. 23 While he was in Jerusalem during | |
| 636 the Passover feast, many people, seeing the signs he was working, believed in his name. 24 But | |
| 637 Jesus did not trust himself to them, for he knew all men, 25 and he did not need anyone to give | |
| 638 him testimony about men. He was well aware of what was in man’s heart.</p></BLOCKQUOTE> | |
| 639 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">393 Having set forth the occasion for showing the sign, the Evangelist then states the sign which | |
| 640 would be given. First, he gives the sign. Secondly, he mentions the fruit of the signs Christ | |
| 641 performed (v 23). As to the first he does three things. First, the request for the sign is given. | |
| 642 Secondly, the sign itself (v 19). Thirdly, the way the sign was understood (v 20).</p> | |
| 643 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">394 The Jews ask for a sign; and this is what he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">What sign can you show us authorizing | |
| 644 you to do these things?</span></p> | |
| 645 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">395 Here we should note that when Jesus drove the merchants Out of the temple, two things | |
| 646 could be considered in Christ: his rectitude and zeal, which pertain to virtue; and his power or | |
| 647 authority. <span style="font-weight: bold">It was not appropriate to </span>require a sign from Christ concerning the virtue and zeal | |
| 648 with which he did the above action, since everyone may lawfully act according to virtue. But he | |
| 649 could be required to give a sign concerning his authority for driving them out of the temple, since | |
| 650 it is not lawful for anyone to do this unless he has the authority.</p> | |
| 651 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">And so the Jews, not questioning his zeal and virtue, ask for a sign of his authority; and so they | |
| 652 say, <span style="font-weight: bold">What sign can you show us authorizing you to do these things? </span>i.e., Why do you drive | |
| 653 us out with such power and authority, for this does not seem to be your office? They say the same | |
| 654 thing in Matthew (21:23): “By what authority are you doing these things?”</p> | |
| 655 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">396 The reason they ask for a sign is that it was the usual thing for Jews to require a sign, seeing | |
| 656 that they were called to the law by signs: “There did not arise again in Israel a prophet like | |
| 657 Moses, whom, the Lord knew face to face, with all his signs and wonders,” as is said in | |
| 658 Deuteronomy (34:10), and “The Jews require signs,” as we find in 1 Corinthians (1:22). Hence | |
| 659 David complains for the Jews saying: “We have not seen our signs” (Ps 73:9). However, they | |
| 660 asked him for a sign not in order to believe, but in the hope that he would not be able to provide | |
| 661 the sign, and then they could obstruct and restrain him. And so, because they asked in an evil | |
| 662 manner, he did not give them an evident sign, but a sign clothed in a symbol, a sign concerning | |
| 663 the resurrection.</p> | |
| 664 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">397 Hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus replied, </span>and he gives the sign for which they asked. He gives them the | |
| 665 sign of his future resurrection because this shows most strikingly the power of his divinity. For | |
| 666 it is not within the power of mere man to raise himself from the dead. Christ alone, who was free | |
| 667 among the dead, did this by the power of his divinity. tie shows them a similar sign in Matthew | |
| 668 (12:30): “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign. And a sign will not be given it, | |
| 669 except the sign of Jonah the prophet.” And although he gave a hidden and symbolic sign on both | |
| 670 occasions, the first was stated more clearly, and the second more obscurely.</p> | |
| 671 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">398 We should note that before the incarnation, God gave a sign of the incarnation to come: “The | |
| 672 Lord himself will give you a sign. A virgin will conceive, and give birth to a son” (Is 7:14). And | |
| 673 in like manner, before the resurrection he gave a sign of the resurrection to come. And he did this | |
| 674 because it is especially by these two events that the power of the divinity in Christ is evidenced. | |
| 675 For nothing more marvelous could be done than that God become man and that Christ’s | |
| 676 humanity should become a partaker of divine immortality after his resurrection: “Christ, rising | |
| 677 froni the dead, will not die again ... his life is life with God” (Roin 6:9), i.e., in a likeness to God.</p> | |
| 678 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">399 We should note the words Christ used in giving this sign. For Christ calls his body a temple, | |
| 679 because a temple is something in which God dwells, according to “The Lord is in his holy | |
| 680 temple” (Ps 10:5). And so a holy soul, in which God dwells, is also called a temple of God: “The | |
| 681 temple of God is holy, and that is what you are” (1 Cor 3:17). Therefore, because the divinity | |
| 682 dwells in the body of Christ, the body of Christ is the temple of God, not only according to the | |
| 683 soul but also according to the body: “In him all the fulness of the divinity dwells bodily” (Col | |
| 684 2:9). God dwells in us by grace, i.e., according to an act of the intellect and will, neither of which | |
| 685 is an act of the body, but of the soul alone. But he dwells in Christ according to a union in the | |
| 686 person; and this union includes not only the soul, but the body as well. And so the very body of | |
| 687 Christ is God’s temple.</p> | |
| 688 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">400 But Nestorius, using this text in support of his error, claims that the Word of God was joined | |
| 689 to human nature only by an indwelling, from which it follows that the person of God is distinct | |
| 690 from that of man in Christ. Therefore it is important to insist that God’s indwelling in Christ | |
| 691 refers to the nature, since in Christ human nature is distinct from the divine, and not to the | |
| 692 persom, which in the case of Christ is the same for both God and man, that is, the person of the | |
| 693 Word, as was said above.</p> | |
| 694 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">401 Therefore, granting this, the Lord does two things with respect to this sign. First, he foretells | |
| 695 his future death. Secondly, his resurrection.</p> | |
| 696 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">402 Christ foretells his own death when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Destroy this temple. </span>For Christ died and was | |
| 697 killed by others: “And they will kill him” (Mt 17:22), yet with him willing it: because as is said: | |
| 698 “He was offered because it was his own will” (Is 53:7). And so he says, Destroy this temple, i.e., | |
| 699 my body. He does not say, “it will be destroyed,” lest you suppose he killed himself. He says, | |
| 700 Destroy, which is not a command but a prediction and a permission. A prediction, so that the | |
| 701 sense is, <span style="font-weight: bold">Destroy this temple, </span>i.e., you will destroy. And a permission, so that the sense is, | |
| 702 <span style="font-weight: bold">Destroy this temple, </span>i.e., do with my body what you will, I submit it to you. As he said to Judas: | |
| 703 “What you are going to do, do quickly” (below 13:27), not as commanding him, but as | |
| 704 abandoning himself to his decision.</p> | |
| 705 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style="font-weight: bold">He says Destroy, </span>because the death of Christ is the dissolution of his body, but in a way different | |
| 706 from that of other men. For the bodies of other men are destroyed by death even to the point of | |
| 707 the body’s returning to dust and ashes. But Such a dissolution did not take place in Christ, for is | |
| 708 it is said: “You will not allow your Holy One to see corruption” (Ps 15:10). Nevertheless, death | |
| 709 did bring a dissolution to Christ, because his soul was separated from his body as a form from | |
| 710 matter, and because his blood was separated from his body, and because his body was pierced | |
| 711 with nails and a lance.</p> | |
| 712 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">403 He foretells his resurrection when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and in three days I will raise it up again, </span>that | |
| 713 is, his body; i.e., I will raise it from the dead. He does not say, “I will be raised up,” or “The | |
| 714 Father will raise it up,” but <span style="font-weight: bold">I will raise it up, </span>to show that he would rise from the dead by his | |
| 715 own power. Yet we do not deny that the Father raised him from the dead, because as it is said: | |
| 716 “Who raised Jesus from the dead” (Rom 8:11); and “O Lord, have pity on me, and raise me up” | |
| 717 (Ps 40:10). And so God the Father raised Christ from the dead, and Christ arose by his own | |
| 718 power: “I have slept and have taken my rest, and I have risen, because the Lord has taken me” | |
| 719 (Ps 3:6). There is no contradiction in this, because the power of both is the same; hence | |
| 720 “whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (below 5:19). For if the Father raised him up, | |
| 721 so too did the Son: “Although he was crucified through weakness, he lives through the power of | |
| 722 God” (2 Cor 13:4).</p> | |
| 723 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">404 He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and in three days, </span>and not “after three days,” because he did not remain in the | |
| 724 tomb for three complete days; but, as Augustine says, he is employing synecdoche, in which a | |
| 725 part is taken for the whole.</p> | |
| 726 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Origen, however, assigns a mystical reason for this expression, and says: The true body of Christ | |
| 727 is the temple of God, and this body symbolizes the mystical body, i.e., the Church: “You are the | |
| 728 body of Christ” (1 Cor 12:27). And as the divinity dwells in the body of Christ through the grace | |
| 729 of union, so too he dwells in the Church through the grace of adoption. Although that body may | |
| 730 seem to be destroyed mystically by the adversities of persecutions with which it is afflicted, | |
| 731 nevertheless it is raised up in “three days,” namely, in the “day” of the law of nature, the “day” | |
| 732 of the written law, and the “day” of the law of grace; because in those days a part of that body | |
| 733 was destroyed, while another still lived. And so he says, in three days, because the spiritual | |
| 734 resurrection of this body is accomplished in three days. But after those three days we will be | |
| 735 perfectly risen, not only as to the first resurrection, but also as to the second: “Happy are they | |
| 736 who share in the second [sic] resurrection” (Rv 20:6).</p> | |
| 737 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">405 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The Jews then retorted, </span>we have the interpretation of the sign he gave. | |
| 738 First, the false interpretation of the Jews. Secondly, its true understanding by the apostles (v 21).</p> | |
| 739 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">406 The interpretation of the Jews was false, because they believed that Christ was saying this | |
| 740 of the material temple in which he then was; consequently, they answer according to this | |
| 741 interpretation and say: <span style="font-weight: bold">This temple took forty-six years to build, </span>i.e., this material temple in | |
| 742 which we are standing, <span style="font-weight: bold">and you are going to raise it up again in three days!</span></p> | |
| 743 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">407 There is a literal objection against this. For the temple in Jerusalem was built by Solomon, | |
| 744 and it is recorded in 2 Chronicles (6:1) that it was completed by Solomon in seven years. How | |
| 745 then can it be said that this temple took forty-six years to build? I answer that according to some | |
| 746 this is not to be understood of the very first temple, which was completed by Solomon in seven | |
| 747 years: for that temple built by Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. But it is to be | |
| 748 understood of the temple rebuilt under Zerubbabel, after they returned from captivity, as recorded | |
| 749 in the book of Ezra (5:2). However, this rebuilding was so hindered and delayed by the frequent | |
| 750 attacks of their enemies on all sides, that the temple was not finished until forty-six years had | |
| 751 passed.</p> | |
| 752 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">408 Or it could be said, according to Origen, that they were speaking of Solomon’s temple: and | |
| 753 it did take forty-six years to build if the time be reckoned from the day when David first spoke | |
| 754 of building a temple and discussed it with Nathan the prophet, as we find in 2 Samuel (7:2), until | |
| 755 its final completion under Solomon. For from that first day onward David began preparing the | |
| 756 material and the things necessary for building the temple. Accordingly, if the time in question | |
| 757 is carefully calculated, it will come to forty-six years.</p> | |
| 758 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">409 But although the Jews referred their interpretation to the material temple, nevertheless, | |
| 759 according to Augustine, it can be referred to the temple of Christ’s body. As he says in <i>The Book | |
| 760 of Eighty-tnree Questions, </i>the conception and formation of the human body is completed in | |
| 761 forty-five days in the following manner. During the first six days, the conception of a human | |
| 762 body has a likeness to milk; during the next nine days it is converted into blood; then in the next | |
| 763 twelve days, it is hardened into flesh; then the remaining eighteen days, it is formed into a perfect | |
| 764 outlining of all the members. But if we add six, nine, twelve and eighteen, we get forty-five; and | |
| 765 if we add “one” for the sacrament of unity, we get forty-six.</p> | |
| 766 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">410 However a question arises about this: because this process of formation does not seem to | |
| 767 have taken place in Christ, who was formed and animated at the very instant of conception. But | |
| 768 one may answer that although in the formation of Christ’s body there was something unique, in | |
| 769 that Christ’s body was perfect at that instant as to the outlining of its members, it was not perfect | |
| 770 as to the quantity due the body; and so he remained in the Virgin’s womb until he attained the | |
| 771 due quantity.</p> | |
| 772 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">However, let us take the above numbers and select six, which was the first, and forty-six, which | |
| 773 was the last, and let us multiply one by the other. The result is two hundred seventy-six. Now if | |
| 774 we assemble these days into months, allotting thirty days to a month, we get nine months and six | |
| 775 days. Thus it was correct to say that it took forty-six years to build the temple, which signifies | |
| 776 the body of Christ; the suggestion being that there were as many years in building the temple as | |
| 777 there were days in perfecting the body of Christ. For from March twenty-five, when Christ was | |
| 778 conceived, and (as is believed) when he suffered, to December twenty-five, there are this number | |
| 779 of days, namely, two hundred seventy-six, a number that is the result of multiplying forty-six by | |
| 780 six.</p> | |
| 781 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">411 Augustine (as is plain from the Gloss) has another mystical interpretation of this number. For | |
| 782 he says that if one adds the letters in the name “Adam,” using for each the number it represented | |
| 783 for the Greeks, the result is forty-six. For in Greek, A represents the number one, since it is the | |
| 784 first letter of the alphabet. And according to this order, D is four. Adding to the sum of these | |
| 785 another one for the second A and forty for the letter M, we have forty-six. This signifies that the | |
| 786 body of Christ was derived from the body of Adam.</p> | |
| 787 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Again, according to the Greeks, the name “Adam” is composed of the first letters of the names | |
| 788 of the four directions of the world: namely, Anathole, which is the east; Disis, which is the west; | |
| 789 Arctos, which is the north; and Mensembria, the south. This signifies that Christ derived his flesh | |
| 790 from Adam in order to gather his elect from the four parts of the world: “He will gather his elect | |
| 791 from the four winds” (Mt 24:31).</p> | |
| 792 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">412 Then, the true interpretation of this sign as understood by the apostles is given (v 2 1). First, | |
| 793 the way they understood it is given. Secondly, the time when they understood it (v 22).</p> | |
| 794 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">413 He says therefore: The Jews said this out of ignorance. But Christ did not understand it in | |
| 795 their way; in fact, he meant the temple of his body, and this is what he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">He was speaking, | |
| 796 how</span>ever, of <span style="font-weight: bold">the temple of his body. </span>We have already explained why the body of Christ could | |
| 797 be called a temple.</p> | |
| 798 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Apollinaris misunderstood this and said that the body of Christ was inanimate matter because the | |
| 799 temple was inanimate. He was mistaken in this for when it is said that the body of Christ is a | |
| 800 temple, one is speaking metaphorically. And in this way of speaking a likeness does not exist in | |
| 801 all respects, but only in some respect, namely, as to indwelling, which is referred to the nature, | |
| 802 as was explained. Further, this is evident from the authority of Sacred Scriptuire. when Christ | |
| 803 himself said: “I have the power to lay down my life,” as we read below (10:18).</p> | |
| 804 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">414 The time when the apostles acquired this true understanding is then shown by the Evangelist | |
| 805 when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">When, therefore, he had risen from the dead, his disciples recalled that he had | |
| 806 said this. </span>Prior to the resurrection it was difficult to understand this. First, because this statement | |
| 807 asserted that the true divinity was in the body of Christ; otherwise it could not be called a temple. | |
| 808 And to understand this at that time was above human ability. Secondly, because in this statement | |
| 809 mention is made of the passion and resurrection, when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">I will raise it up again; </span>and this | |
| 810 is something none of the disciples had heard mentioned before. Consequently, when Christ spoke | |
| 811 of his resurrection and passion to the apostles, Peter was scandalized when he heard it, saying, | |
| 812 “God forbid, Lord” (Mt 16:22). But after the resurrection, when they now clearly understood that | |
| 813 Christ was God, through what he had shown in regard to his passion and resurrection, and when | |
| 814 they had learned of the mystery of his resurrection, <span style="font-weight: bold">his disciples recalled that he had said this | |
| 815 </span>of his body, and <span style="font-weight: bold">they then believed the Scriptures, </span>i.e., the prophets: “He will revive us after | |
| 816 two days; on the third day he will raise us up” (Hos 6:3), and “Jonah was in the belly of the fish | |
| 817 three days and three nights” (Jon 2:1). So it is that on the very day of the resurrection he opened | |
| 818 their understanding so that they might understand the Scriptures <span style="font-weight: bold">and the statement Jesus had | |
| 819 made, </span>namely, <span style="font-weight: bold">Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.</span></p> | |
| 820 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">415 In the anagogical sense, according to Origen, we understand by this that in the final | |
| 821 resurrection of nature we will be disciples of Christ, when in the great resurrection the entire | |
| 822 body of Jesus, that is, his Church, will be made certain of the things we now hold through faith | |
| 823 in a dark manner. Then we shall receive the fulfillment of faith, seeing in actual fact what we | |
| 824 now observe through a mirror.</p> | |
| 825 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">416 Then (v 23) he sets forth the fruit which resulted from the signs, namely, the conversion of | |
| 826 certain believers. Concerning this he does three things. First, he mentions those who believed on | |
| 827 account of the miracles. Secondly, he shows the attitude of Christ to them (v 24). Thirdly, he | |
| 828 gives the reason for this (v 25).</p> | |
| 829 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">417 The fruit which developed from the signs of Jesus was abundant, because many believed and | |
| 830 were converted to him; and this is what he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">While he was in Jerusalem during the | |
| 831 Passover feast, many people, seeing the signs he was working, believed in his name, </span>i.e., in | |
| 832 him.</p> | |
| 833 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">418 Note that they believed in two ways: sorne on account of the iniracles they saw, and sonic | |
| 834 oil account of the revelation and prophecy of’ hidden things. Now those who believe oil account | |
| 835 of doctrine are more commendable, because they are more spiritual than those who believe on | |
| 836 account of signs, which are grosser and on the level of sense. Those who were converted are | |
| 837 shown to be more on the level of sense by the fact that they did not believe on account of the | |
| 838 doctrine, as the disciples did, but <span style="font-weight: bold">seeing the signs he was working: </span>“Prophecies are for those | |
| 839 who believe” (1 Cor 14:22).</p> | |
| 840 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">419 One might ask which signs worked by Jesus they saw, for we do not read of any sign worked | |
| 841 by him in Jerusalem at that time. According to Origen, there are two answers to this. First, Jesus | |
| 842 did work many miracles there at that time, which are not recorded here; for the Evangelist | |
| 843 purposely omitted many of Christ’s miracles, since he worked so many that they could not easily | |
| 844 be recorded: “Jesus did many other signs, and if every one was written, the world itself, I think, | |
| 845 would not be able to contain the books that would be written” (below 21:25). And the Evangelist | |
| 846 expressly shows this when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">seeing the signs he was working, </span>without mentioning them, | |
| 847 because it was not the intention of the Evangelist to record all the signs of Jesus, but as many as | |
| 848 were needed to instruct the Church of the faithful. The second answer is that among the miracles | |
| 849 the greatest could be the sign in which Jesus by himself drove from the temple a crowd of men | |
| 850 with a whip of small cords.</p> | |
| 851 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">420 The attitude of Jesus to those who believed in him is shown when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">But Jesus did | |
| 852 not trust himself to them, </span>i.e., those who had believed in him. What is this, men entrust | |
| 853 themselves to God, and Jesus himself does not entrust himself to them? Could they kill him | |
| 854 against his will? Some will say that he did not trust himself to them because he knew that their | |
| 855 belief was not genuine. But if this were true, the Evangelist would surely not have said that many | |
| 856 believed in his name, and yet he did not trust himself to them. According to Chrysostom, the | |
| 857 reason is that they did believe in him, but imperfectly, because they were not yet able to attain | |
| 858 to the profound mysteries of Christ, and so <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus did not trust himself to them, </span>i.e., he did not | |
| 859 yet reveal his secret mysteries to them; for there were many things he would not reveal even to | |
| 860 the apostles: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (below | |
| 861 16:12), and “I could not speak to you as spiritual persons, but as sensual” (1 Cor 3:1). And so it | |
| 862 is significant that in order to show that they believed imperfectly, the Evangelist does not say that | |
| 863 they believed “in him,” because they did not yet believe in his divinity, but he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">in his name, | |
| 864 </span>i.e., they believed what was said about him, nominally, i.e., that he was just, or something of that | |
| 865 sort.</p> | |
| 866 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">Or, according to Augustine, these people represent the catechumens in the Church, who, although | |
| 867 they believe in the name of Christ, Jesus does not trust himself to them, because the Church does | |
| 868 not give them the body of Christ. For just as no priest except one ordained in the priesthood can | |
| 869 consecrate that body, so no one but a baptized person may receive it.</p> | |
| 870 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">421 The reason Jesus did not trust himself to them arises from his perfect knowledge; hence he | |
| 871 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">for he knew all men. </span>For although one must ordinarily presume good of everyone, yet after | |
| 872 the truth about certain people is known, one should act according to their condition. Now because | |
| 873 nothing in man was unknown to Christ and since he knew that they believed imperfectly, he did | |
| 874 not trust himself to them.</p> | |
| 875 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">422 The universal knowledge of Christ is then described: for he knew not only those who were | |
| 876 on close terms with him, but strangers too. And therefore he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">for he knew all men; </span>and this | |
| 877 by the power of his divinity: “The eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun” (Sir 23:28). Now | |
| 878 a man, although he may know other people, cannot have a sure knowledge of them, because he | |
| 879 sees only what appears; consequently, he must rely on the testimony of others. But Christ knows | |
| 880 with the greatest certainty, because he beholds the heart; and so <span style="font-weight: bold">he did not need anyone to give | |
| 881 testimony about men. </span>In fact, he is the one who gives testimony: “Look, my witness is in | |
| 882 heaven” (Jb 16:20)</p> | |
| 883 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.125in">His knowledge was perfect, because it extended not only to what was exterior, but even to the | |
| 884 interior; thus he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">He was well aware of what was in man’s heart, </span>i.e., the secrets of the | |
| 885 heart: “Hell and destruction are open to the Lord: how much more the hearts of the children of | |
| 886 men” (Prv 15:11).</p> | |
| 887 </body> | |
| 888 | |
| 889 </html> |