St. John Chrysostom,
Homilies on the Gospel of John,
John
2:11
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of
Galilee.
1. Frequent and fierce is the devil in his attacks,
on all sides besieging our salvation; we therefore must watch and be sober, and
everywhere fortify ourselves against his assault, for if he but gain some
slight vantage ground, he goes on to make for himself a broad passage, and by
degrees introduces all his forces. If then we have any care at all for our
salvation, let us not allow him to make his approaches even in trifles, that
thus we may check him beforehand in important matters; for it would be the
extreme of folly, if, while he displays such eagerness to destroy our souls, we
should not bring even an equal amount in defense of our own salvation.
I say not this without a cause, but because I fear
lest that wolf be even now standing unseen by us in the midst of the fold, and
some sheep become a prey to him, being led astray from the flock and from
hearkening by its own carelessness and his craft. Were the wounds sensible, or
did the body receive the blows, there would be no difficulty in discerning his
plots; but since the soul is invisible, and since that it is which receives the
wounds, we need great watchfulness that each may prove himself; for none knows
the things of a man as the spirit of a man that is in him. 1 Corinthians 2:11 The word is spoken indeed
to all, and is offered as a general remedy to those who need it, but it is the
business of every individual hearer to take what is suited to his complaint. I
know not who are sick, I know not who are well. And therefore I use every sort
of argument, and introduce remedies suited to all maladies, at one time
condemning covetousness, after that touching on luxury, and again on impurity,
then composing something in praise of and exhortation to charity, and each of
the other virtues in their turn. For I fear lest when my arguments are employed
on any one subject, I may without knowing it be treating you for one disease
while you are ill of others. So that if this congregation were but one person,
I should not have judged it so absolutely necessary to make my discourse
varied; but since in such a multitude there are probably also many maladies, I
not unreasonably diversify my teaching, since my discourse will be sure to
attain its object when it is made to embrace you all. For this cause also
Scripture is something multiform, and speaks on ten thousand matters, because
it addresses itself to the nature of mankind in common, and in such a multitude
all the passions of the soul must needs be; though all be not in each. Let us
then cleanse ourselves of these, and so listen to the divine oracles, and with
contrite heart hear what has been this day read to us.
And what is that? This beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee. I told you the other day, that there are some who say
that this is not the beginning. For what, says one, if 'Cana of Galilee' be
added? This shows that this was 'the beginning' He made 'in Cana.' But on these
points I would not venture to assert anything exactly. I before have shown that
He began His miracles after His Baptism, and wrought no miracle before it; but
whether of the miracles done after His Baptism, this or some other was the
first, it seems to me unnecessary to assert positively.
And
manifested forth His glory.
How? asks one, and in what way? For only the
servants, the ruler of the feast, and the bridegroom, not the greater number of
those present, gave heed to what was done. How then did he manifest forth His
glory? He manifested it at least for His own part, and if all present hear not
of the miracle at the time, they would hear of it afterwards, for unto the
present time it is celebrated, and has not been unnoticed. That all did not
know it on the same day is clear from what follows, for after having said that
He manifested forth His glory, the Evangelist adds,
And
His disciples believed on Him.
His disciples, who even before this regarded Him
with wonder. Do you see that it was especially necessary to work the miracles
at times when men were present of honest minds, and who would carefully give
heed to what was done? For these would more readily believe, and attend more
exactly to the circumstances. And how could He have become known without
miracles? Because His doctrine and prophetic powers were sufficient to cause
wonder in the souls of His hearers, so that they took heed to what He did with
a right disposition, their minds being already well affected towards Him. And
therefore in many other places the Evangelists say, that He did no miracle
on account of the perversity of the men who dwelt there. Matthew 12:38; ch.
13:58,
etc.
John
2:12
After this He went down to Capernaum, He, and His
mother, and His brethren, and His disciples; and they continued there not many
days.
Wherefore comes He with His mother to Capernaum?
For He has done no miracle there, and the inhabitants of that city were not of
those who were rightminded towards Him, but of the utterly corrupt. And this
Christ declared when He said, And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted to
heaven, shall be thrust down to hell. Luke 10:15 Wherefore then goes He? I
think it was, because He intended a little after to go up to Jerusalem, that He
then went to Capernaum, to avoid leading about everywhere with Him, His mother
and His brethren. And so, having departed and tarried a little while to honor
His mother, He again commences His miracles after restoring to her home her who
had borne Him. Therefore the Evangelist says, After not many days,
John
2:13
He went up to Jerusalem.
He received baptism then a few days before the
passover. But on going up to Jerusalem, what did He, a deed full of high
authority; for He cast out of the Temple those dealers and money changers, and
those who sold doves, and oxen, and sheep, and who passed their time there for
this purpose.
2. Another Evangelist writes, that as He cast them
out, He said, Make not my Father's house a den of thieves, but this one,
John
2:16
(Make not My Father's house) an house of
merchandise.
They do not in this contradict each other, but show
that he did this a second time, and that both these expressions were not used
on the same occasion, but that He acted thus once at the beginning of His
ministry, and again when He had come to the very time of His Passion.
Therefore, (on the latter occasion,) employing more strong expressions, He
spoke of it as (being made) a den of thieves, but here at the commencement of
His miracles He does not so, but uses a more gentle rebuke; from which it is
probable that this took place a second time.
And wherefore, says one, did Christ do this same,
and use such severity against these men, a thing which He is nowhere else seen
to do, even when insulted and reviled, and called by them 'Samaritan' and
'demoniac'? For He was not even satisfied with words only, but took a scourge,
and so cast them out. Yes, but it was when others were receiving benefit, that
the Jews accused and raged against Him; when it was probable that they would
have been made savage by His rebukes, they showed no such disposition towards
Him, for they neither accused nor reviled Him. What say they?
John
2:18
What sign showest Thou unto us, seeing that You do
these things?
Do you see their excessive malice, and how the
benefits done to others incensed them more (than reproofs)?
At one time then He said, that the Temple was made
by them a den of thieves, showing that what they sold was gotten by theft, and
rapine, and covetousness, and that they were rich through other men's
calamities; at another, a house of merchandise, pointing to their shameless
traffickings. But wherefore did He this? Since he was about to heal on the
Sabbath day, and to do many such things which were thought by them
transgressions of the Law, in order that He might not seem to do this as though
He had come to be some rival God and opponent of His Father, He takes occasion
hence to correct any such suspicion of theirs. For One who had exhibited so
much zeal for the House was not likely to oppose Him who was Lord of the House,
and who was worshipped in it. No doubt even the former years during which He
lived according to the Law, were sufficient to show His reverence for the
Legislator, and that He came not to give contrary laws; yet since it was likely
that those years were forgotten through lapse of time, as not having been known
to all because He was brought up in a poor and mean dwelling, He afterwards
does this in the presence of all, (for many were present because the feast was
near at hand,) and at great risk. For he did not merely cast them out, but also
overturned the tables, and poured out the money, giving them by this to
understand, that He who threw Himself into danger for the good order of the
House could never despise his Master. Had He acted as He did from hypocrisy, He
should only have advised them; but to place Himself in danger was very daring.
For it was no light thing to offer Himself to the anger of so many market-folk,
to excite against Himself a most brutal mob of petty dealers by His reproaches
and His blows, this was not the action of a pretender, but of one choosing to
suffer everything for the order of the House.
And therefore not by His actions only, but by His
words, He shows his agreement with the Father; for He says not the Holy House,
but My Father's House. See, He even calls Him, Father, and they are not angry;
they thought He spoke in a general way: but when He went on and spoke more
plainly, so as to set before them the idea of His Equality, then they become
angry.
And what say they? What sign showest Thou unto us,
seeing that You do these things? Alas for their utter madness! Was there need
of a sign before they could cease their evil doings, and free the house of God
from such dishonor? And was it not the greatest sign of His Excellence that He
had gotten such zeal for that House? In fact, the well-disposed were
distinguished by this very thing, for They, His disciples, it says,
John
2:17
Remembered that it is written, The zeal of your
house has eaten me up.
But the Jews did not remember the Prophecy, and
said, What sign showest Thou unto us? Psalm 69:9, both grieving that their
shameful traffic was cut off, and expecting by these means to stop Him, and
also desiring to challenge Him to a miracle, and to find fault with what He was
doing. Wherefore He will not give them a sign; and before, when they came and
asked Him, He made them the same answer, A wicked and adulterous generation
seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of
the prophet Jonas.Matthew 16:4 Only then the answer was clear, now it is more
ambiguous. This He does on account of their extreme insensibility; for He who
prevented them without their asking, and gave them signs, would never when they
asked have turned away from them, had He not seen that their minds were wicked
and false, and their intention treacherous. Think how full of wickedness the
question itself was at the outset. When they ought to have applauded Him for
His earnestness and zeal, when they ought to have been astonished that He cared
so greatly for the House, they reproach Him, saying, that it was lawful to
traffic, and unlawful for any to stop their traffic, except he should show them
a sign. What says Christ?
John
2:19
Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise
it up.
Many such sayings He utters which were not
intelligible to His immediate hearers, but which were to be so to those that
should come after. And wherefore does He this? In order that when the
accomplishment of His prediction should have come to pass, He might be seen to
have foreknown from the beginning what was to follow; which indeed was the case
with this prophecy. For, says the Evangelist,
John
2:22
When He was risen from the dead, His disciples
remembered that He had said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word
which Jesus had said.
But at the time when this was spoken, the Jews were
perplexed as to what it might mean, and cast about to discover, saying,
John
2:20
Forty and six years was this Temple in building,
and will you rear it up in three days?
Forty and six years, they said, referring to the
latter building, for the former was finished in twenty years' time. Ezra 6:15
3. Wherefore then did He not resolve the difficulty
and say, I speak not of that Temple, but of My flesh? Why does the Evangelist,
writing the Gospel at a later period, interpret the saying, and Jesus keep
silence at the time? Why did He so keep silence? Because they would not have
received His word; for if not even the disciples were able to understand the
saying, much less were the multitudes. When, says the Evangelist, He was risen
from the dead, then they remembered, and believed the Scripture and His word.
There were two things that hindered them for the time, one the fact of the
Resurrection, the other, the greater question whether He was God that dwelt
within; of both which things He spoke darkly when He said, Destroy this Temple,
and I will rear it up in three days. And this St. Paul declares to be no small
proof of His Godhead, when he writes, Declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the Spirit of holiness, by the Resurrection from the dead.Romans
1:4
But why does He both there, and here, and
everywhere, give this for a sign, at one time saying, When you have lifted up
the Son of Man, then you shall know that I Am John 8:28; at another, There
shall no sign be given you but the sign of the prophet Jonas Matthew 12:39; and
again in this place, In three days I will raise it up? Because what especially
showed that He was not a mere man, was His being able to set up a trophy of
victory over death, and so quickly to abolish His long enduring tyranny, and
conclude that difficult war. Wherefore He says, Then you shall know. Then.
When? When after My Resurrection I shall draw (all) the world to Me, then you
shall know that I did these things as God, and Very Son of God, avenging the
insult offered to My Father.
Why then, instead of saying, 'What need is there of
signs to check evil deeds?' did He promise that He would give them a sign?
Because by so doing He would have the more exasperated them; but in this way He
rather astonished them. Still they made no answer to this, for He seemed to
them to say what was incredible, so that they did not stay even to question Him
upon it, but passed it by as impossible. Yet had they been wise, though it
seemed to them at the time incredible, still when He wrought His many miracles
they would then have come and questioned Him, would then have intreated that
the difficulty might be resolved to them; but because they were foolish, they
gave no heed at all to part of what was said, and part they heard with evil
frame of mind. And therefore Christ spoke to them in an enigmatical way.
The question still remains, How was it that the
disciples did not know that He must rise from the dead? It was, because they
had not been vouchsafed the gift of the Spirit; and therefore, though they
constantly heard His discourses concerning the Resurrection, they understood
them not, but reasoned with themselves what this might be. For very strange and
paradoxical was the assertion that one could raise himself, and would raise
himself in such wise. And so Peter was rebuked, when, knowing nothing about the
Resurrection, he said, Be it far from You. Matthew 16:22 And Christ did not
reveal it clearly to them before the event, that they might not be offended at
the very outset, being led to distrust His words on account of the great
improbability of the thing, and because they did not yet clearly know Him, who
He was. For no one could help believing what was proclaimed aloud by facts,
while some would probably disbelieve what was told to them in words. Therefore
He at first allowed the meaning of His words to be concealed; but when by their
experience He had verified His sayings, He after that gave them understanding
of His words, and such gifts of the Spirit that they received them all at once.
He, says Jesus, shall bring all things to your remembrance. John 14:26 For they
who in a single night cast off all respect for Him, and fled from and denied
that they even knew Him, would scarcely have remembered what He had done and
said during the whole time, unless they had enjoyed much grace of the Spirit.
But, says one, if they were to hear from the
Spirit, why needed they to accompany Christ when they would not retain His
words? Be cause the Spirit taught them not, but called to their mind what
Christ had said before; and it contributes not a little to the glory of Christ,
that they were referred to the remembrance of the words He had spoken to them.
At the first then it was of the gift of God that the grace of the Spirit
lighted upon them so largely and abundantly; but after that, it was of their
own virtue that they retained the Gift. For they displayed a shining life, and
much wisdom, and great labors, and despised this present life, and thought
nothing of earthly things, but were above them all; and like a sort of
light-winged eagle, soaring high by their works; reached to heaven itself, and
by these possessed the unspeakable grace of the Spirit.
Let us then imitate them, and not quench our lamps,
but keep them bright by alms-doing, for so is the light of this fire preserved.
Let us collect the oil into our vessels while we are here, for we cannot buy it
when we have departed to that other place, nor can we procure it elsewhere,
save only at the hands of the poor. Let us therefore collect it thence very
abundantly, if, at least, we desire to enter in with the Bridegroom. But if we
do not this, we must remain without the bridechamber, for it is impossible, it
is impossible, though we perform ten thousand other good deeds, to enter the
portals of the Kingdom without alms-doing. Let us then show forth this very
abundantly, that we may enjoy those ineffable blessings; which may it come to
pass that we all attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus
Christ, with whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
