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Saint Thomas Aquinas, Carlo Crivelli

John 2

Carlo Crivelli, Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1476 · National Gallery, London · Public domainCarlo Crivelli, Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1476, National Gallery, London

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Thomas Aquinas · Catena Aurea · Chapter 2

Passages · 96

John 2:1–4

  • John Chrysostom on John 2:1–4 — Our Lord being known in Galilee, they invite Him to a marriage: And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee.vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:1–4 — Galilee is a province; Cana a village in it.vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:1–4 (2) — They invite our Lord to the marriage, not as a great person, but merely as one they knew, one of the many; for which reason the Evangelist says, And the mother of Jesus was there. As they invited the mother, so they…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:1–4 — Let the proud man blush to see the humility of God. Lo, among other things, the Son of the Virgin comes to a marriage; He who, when He was with the Father, instituted marriage.vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:1–4 — His condescension in coming to the marriage, and the miracle He wrought there, are, even considering them in the letter only, a strong confirmation of the faith. Therein too are condemned the errors of Tatian,…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:1–4 (2) — What marvel, if He went to that house to a marriage, Who came into this world to a marriage. For here He has His spouse whom He redeemed with His own blood, to whom He gave the pledge of the Spirit, and whom He…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:1–4 (2) — Nor is it without some mysterious allusion, that the marriage is related as taking-place on the third day. The first age of the world, before the giving of the Law, was enlightened by the example of the Patriarchs;…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:1–4 (3) — But how came it into the mother’s mind to expect so great a thing from her Son? for he had done no miracle as yet: as we read afterwards, This beginning of miracles did Jesus. His real nature, however, was beginning…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:1–4 (2) — She represents here the Synagogue, which challenges Christ to perform a miracle. It was customary with the Jews to ask for miracles. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee?vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:1–4 (3) — Some who derogate from the Gospel, and say that Jesus was not born of the Virgin Mary, try to draw an argument for their error from this place; for, how, say they, could she be His mother to whom He said, What have I…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:1–4 (4) — That He greatly venerated His mother, we know from St. Luke, who tells us that He was subject unto His parents. For where parents throw no obstacle in the way of God’s commands, it is our duty to be subject to them;…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:1–4 (4) — To mark a distinction between His Godhead and manhood, that according to His manhood He was inferior and subject, but according to His Godhead supreme, He saith, Woman, what have I to do with thee?vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:1–4 (5) — And for another reason, viz. to prevent any suspicion attaching to His miracles: for these it was proper should be asked for by those who wanted them, not by His mother. He wished to shew them that He would perform…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:1–4 (5) — Or it was because our Lord as God had not a mother, though as man He had, and the miracle He was about to work was the act of His Divinity, not of human infirmity. When therefore His mother demanded a miracle, He, as…vatican.va

John 2:5–11

  • John Chrysostom on John 2:5–11 — Although He had said, Mine hour is not yet come, He afterwards did what His mother told Him, in order to shew plainly, that He was not under subjection to the hour. For if He was, how could He have done this miracle…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:5–11 — As if she said, Though He appear to refuse, He will do it nevertheless. She knew His pity and mercifulness. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:5–11 — Vessels to hold water were there, after the manner of the purifying of Jews. Among other traditions of the Pharisees, they observed frequent washings.vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:5–11 (2) — Palestine being a dry country, with few fountains or wells, they used to fill waterpots with water, to prevent the necessity of going to the river, if they were unclean, and to have materials for washing at hand. To…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:5–11 — A firkin is a certain measure; as urn, amphora, and the like. Metron is the Greek for measure: whence metretæ1. Two or three, is not to be taken to mean some holding two, others three, but the same vessels holding…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:5–11 (3) — But why did He not work the miracle before they had filled the waterpots, which would have been much more wonderful; inasmuch as it is one thing to change the quality of some existing substance, another to make it…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:5–11 (2) — The Triclinium is a circle of three couches, cline signifying couch: the ancients used to recline upon couches. And the Architriclinus is the one at the head of the Triclinium, i. e. the chief of the guests. Some say…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:5–11 (4) — Or thus; It might be said that the guests were drunken, and could not, in the confusion of their senses, tell whether it were water or wine. But this objection could not be brought against the attendants, who must…vatican.va
  • Hilary of Poitiers on John 2:5–11 — Water is poured into the waterpots; wine is drawn out into the chalices; the senses of the drawer out agree not with the knowledge of the pourer in. The pourer in thinks that water is drawn out; the drawer out thinks…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:5–11 (5) — Our Lord wished the power of His miracles to be seen gradually; and therefore He did not reveal what He had done Himself, nor did the ruler of the feast call upon the servants to do so; (for no credit would have been…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:5–11 (6) — Should any say that there is not sufficient proof of this being the beginning of miracles, because it is added, in Cana of Galilee, as if some had been preferred elsewhere: we answer, as we did before, that John says…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:5–11 (2) — This miracle of our Lord’s, turning the water into wine, is no miracle to those who know that God worked it. For the Same that day made wine in the waterpots, Who every year makes wine in the vine: only the latter is…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:5–11 (3) — He was the King of glory, and changed the elements because He was their Lord.vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:5–11 (7) — He manifests His glory, as far as related to His own act; and if at the time many knew it not, yet was it afterwards to be heard and known of all. And His disciples believed on Him. It was probable that these would…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:5–11 (3) — If now for the first time they believed on Him, they were not His disciples when they came to the marriage. This however is a form of speech, such as saying that the Apostle Paul was born in Tarsus of Cilicia; not…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:5–11 (4) — But see the mysteries which lie hid in that miracle of our Lord. It was necessary that all things should be fulfilled in Christ which were written of Him: those Scriptures were the water. He made the water wine when…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:5–11 (2) — At the time of our Lord’s appearing in the flesh, the sweet vinous taste of the law had been weakened by the carnal interpretations of the Pharisees.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:5–11 (5) — Now if He ordered the water to be poured out, and then introduced the wine from the hidden recesses1 of creation, He would seem to have rejected the Old Testament. But converting, as He did, the water into wine, He…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:5–11 (4) — The servants are the doctors of the New Testament, who interpret the holy Scripture to others spiritually; the ruler of the feast is some lawyer, as Nicodemus, Gamaliel, or Saul. When to the former then is committed…vatican.va

John 2:12–13

  • John Chrysostom on John 2:12–13 — Our Lord being about shortly to go up to Jerusalem, proceeded to Capernaum, that He might not take His mother and brethren every where about with Him: After this he went down to Capernaum, He, and His mother, and His…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:12–13 — The Lord our God is He, high, that He might create us; low, that He might create us anew; walking among men, suffering what was human, hiding what was divine. So He hath a mother, hath brethren, hath disciples:…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:12–13 — Our Lord’s brethren are the relations of Mary and Joseph, not the sons of Mary and Joseph. For not only the blessed Virgin, but Joseph also, the witness of her chastity, abstained from all conjugal intercourse.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:12–13 (2) — And His disciples; it is uncertain whether Peter and Andrew and the sons of Zebedee, were of their number or not at this time. For Matthew first relates that our Lord came and dwelt at Capernaum, and afterwards that…vatican.va
  • Eusebius of Caesarea on John 2:12–13 — When copies of the three Gospels had come to the Evangelist John, he is reported, while he confirmed their fidelity and correctness, to have at the same time noticed some omissions, especially at the opening of our…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:12–13 (2) — He did not perform any miracle at Capernaum, the inhabitants of which city were in a very corrupt state, and not well disposed to Him; He went there however, and stayed some time out of respect to His motherd.vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:12–13 — He did not stay many days there, on account of the Passover, which was approaching: And the Jews’ passover was at hand.vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:12–13 — But what need of saying, of the Jews, when no other nation had the rite of the Passover? Perhapse because there are two sorts of Passover, one human, which is celebrated in a way very different from the design of…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:12–13 (2) — And He went up to Jerusalem. The Gospels mention two journeys of our Lord to Jerusalem, one in the first year of His preaching, before John was sent to prison, which is the journey now spoken of; the other in the…vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:12–13 (2) — In a mystical sense, it was meet that after the marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the banquet and wine, our Lord should take His mother, brethren, and disciples to the land of consolation (as Capernaum signifiesf) to…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:12–13 (3) — Or Capernaum, we may interpret “a most beautiful village,” and so it signifies the world, to which the Word of the Father came down.vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:12–13 (2) — But He continued there only a few days, because he lived with men in this world only a short time.vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:12–13 (3) — Jerusalem, as our Saviour Himself saith, is the city of the great King, into which none of those who remain on earth ascend, or enter. Only the soul which has a certain natural loftiness, and clear insight into…vatican.va

John 2:14–17

  • Bede on John 2:14–17 — Our Lord on coming to Jerusalem, immediately entered the temple to pray; giving us an example that, wheresoever we go, our first visit should be to the house of God to pray. And He found in the temple those that sold…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:14–17 — Such sacrifices were prescribed to the people, in condescension to their carnal minds; to prevent them from turning aside to idols. They sacrificed sheep, and oxen, and doves.vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:14–17 (2) — Those however, who came from a distance, being unable to bring with them the animals required for sacrifice, brought the money instead. For their convenience the Scribes and Pharisees ordered animals to be sold in…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:14–17 (2) — He who was to be scourged by them, was first of all the scourger; And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drore them all out of the temple.vatican.va
  • Theophylact of Ohrid on John 2:14–17 — Nor did He cast out only those who bought and sold, but their goods also: The sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables, i. e. of the money changers, which were coffers of pence.vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:14–17 — Should it appear something out of the order of things, that the Son of God should make a scourge of small cords, to drive them out of the temple? We have one answer in which some take refuge, viz. the divine power of…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:14–17 (3) — It is evident that this was done on two several occasions; the first mentioned by John, the last by the other three.vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:14–17 (2) — John says here that He drove out the sellers from the temple; Matthew, the sellers and buyers. The number of buyers was much greater than of the sellers: and therefore to drive them out was beyond the power of the…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:14–17 (3) — The Evangelist sets before us both natures of Christ: the human in that His mother accompanied Him to Capernaum; the divine, in that He said, Make not My Father’s house an house of merchandize.vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:14–17 — Lo, He speaks of God as His Father, and they are not angry, for they think He means it in a common sense. But afterwards when He spoke more openly, and shewed that He meant equality, they were enraged. In Matthew’s…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:14–17 (4) — So that temple was still a figure only, and our Lord cast out of it all who came to it as a market. And what did they sell? Things that were necessary for the sacrifice of that time. What if He had found men drunken?…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:14–17 (2) — But why did Christ use such violence? He was about to heal on the Sabbath day, and to do many things which appeared to them transgressions of the Law. That He might not appear therefore to be acting contrary to God,…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:14–17 (4) — His disciples seeing this most fervent zeal in Him, remembered that it was from zeal for His Father’s house that our Saviour drove the ungodly from the temple.vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:14–17 — Zeal, taken in a good sense, is a certain fervour of the Spirit, by which the mind, all human fears forgotten, is stirred up to the defence of the truth.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:14–17 (5) — He then is eaten up with zeal for God’s house, who desires to correct all that he sees wrong there; and, if he cannot correct, endures and mourns. In thine house thou busiest thyself to prevent matters going wrong;…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:14–17 (2) — To take the passage mystically, God enters His Church spiritually every day, and marks each one’s behaviour there. Let us be careful then, when we are in God’s Church, that we indulge not in stories, or jokes, or…vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:14–17 (3) — It is possible even for the dweller in Jerusalem to incur guilt, and even the most richly endowed may stray. And unless these repent speedily, they lose the capacity wherewith they were endued. He finds them in the…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:14–17 (6) — Or, those who sell in the Church, are those who seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. They who will not be bought, think they may sell earthly things. Thus Simon wished to buy the Spirit, that he might sell…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:14–17 (5) — They then are the sellers of doves, who, after receiving the free grace of the Holy Spirit, do not dispense it freely2, as they are commanded, but at a price: who confer the laying on of hands, by which the Holy…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:14–17 (7) — By the oxen may be understood the Apostles and Prophets, who have dispensed to us the holy Scriptures. Those who by these very Scriptures deceive the people, from whom they seek honour, sell the oxen; and they sell…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:14–17 (6) — Or, the sheep are works of purity and piety, and they sell the sheep, who do works of piety to gain the praise of men. They exchange money in the temple, who, in the Church, openly devote themselves to secular…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:14–17 (8) — Our Lord intended a meaning to be seen in His making a scourge of small cords, and then scourging those who were carrying on the merchandize in the temple. Every one by his sins twists for himself a cord, in that he…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:14–17 (7) — With a scourge then made of small cords, He cast them out of the temple; for from the part and lot of the saints are cast out all, who, thrown externally among the Saints, do good works hypocritically, or bad openly.…vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:14–17 (4) — By the temple we may understand too the soul wherein the Word of God dwelleth; in which, before the teaching of Christ, earthly and bestial affections had prevailed. The ox being the tiller of the soil, is the symbol…vatican.va

John 2:18–22

  • Theophylact of Ohrid on John 2:18–22 — The Jews seeing Jesus thus acting with power, and having heard Him say, Make not My Father’s house an house of merchandize, ask of Him a sign; Then answered the Jews and said unto Him, What sign shewest Thou unto us,…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:18–22 — But were signs necessary for His putting a stop to evil practices? Was not the having such zeal for the house of God, the greatest sign of His virtue? They did not however remember the prophecy, but asked for a sign;…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:18–22 — For inasmuch as they sought a sign from our Lord of His right to eject the customary merchandize from the temple, He replied, that that temple signified the temple of His Body, in which was no spot of sin; as if He…vatican.va
  • Theophylact of Ohrid on John 2:18–22 (2) — He does not however provoke them to commit murder, by saying, Destroy; but only shews that their intentions were not hidden from Him. Let the Arians observe how our Lord, as the destroyer of death, says, I will raise…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:18–22 — The Father also raised Him up again; to Whom He says, Raise Thou me up, and I shall reward them. (Ps. 41:10) But what did the Father do without the Word? As then the Father raised Him up, so did the Son also: even as…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:18–22 (2) — But why does He give them the sign of His resurrection? Because this was the greatest proof that He was not a mere man; shewing, as it did, that He could triumph over death, and in a moment overthrow its long tyranny.vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:18–22 — Both those, i. e. both the Body of Jesus and the temple, seem to me to be a type of the Church, which with lively stones is built up into a spiritual house, into an holy priesthood; according to St. Paul, Ye are the…vatican.va
  • Theophylact of Ohrid on John 2:18–22 (3) — The Jews, supposing that He spoke of the material temple, scoffed: Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will Thou rear it up in three days?vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:18–22 — Note, that they allude here not to the first temple under Solomon, which was finished in seven years, but to the one rebuilt under Zorobabel. (Ezra 4:5) This was forty-six years building, in consequence of the…vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:18–22 (2) — Or some will reckon perhaps the forty and six years from the time that David consulted Nathan the Prophet on the building of the temple. David from that time was busy in collecting materials. But perhaps the number…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:18–22 (2) — Or it may be that this number fits in with the perfection of the Lord’s Body. For six times forty-six are two hundred and seventy-six days, which make up nine months and six days, the time that our Lord’s Body was…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:18–22 (3) — The process of human conception is said to be this. The first six days produce a substance like milk, which in the following nine is converted into blood; in twelve more is consolidated, in eighteen more is formed…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:18–22 (4) — Or thus, if you take the four Greek words, anatole, the east; dysis, the west; arctos, the north; and mesembria, the south; the first letters of these words make Adam. And our Lord says that He will gather together…vatican.va
  • Theophylact of Ohrid on John 2:18–22 (4) — From this Apollinarius draws an heretical inference: and attempts to shew that Christ’s flesh was inanimate, because the temple was inanimate. In this way you will prove the flesh of Christ to be wood and stone,…vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:18–22 (3) — Our Lord’s Body is called the temple, because as the temple contained the glory of God dwelling therein, so the Body of Christ, which represents the Church, contains the Only-Begotten, Who is the image and glory of God.vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:18–22 (3) — TWO. things there were in the mean time very far removed from the comprehension of the disciples: one, the resurrection of our Lord’s Body: the other, and the greater mystery, that it was God who dwelt in that Body:…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 2:18–22 (2) — For before the resurrection they did not understand the Scriptures, because they had not yet received the Holy Ghost, Who was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:39) But on the day of the…vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:18–22 (4) — But (in the mystical interpretation) we shall attain to the full measure of faith, at the great resurrection of the whole body of Jesus, i. e. His Church; inasmuch as the faith which is from sight, is very different…vatican.va

John 2:23–25

  • Bede on John 2:23–25 — The Evangelist has related above what our Lord did on his way to Jerusalem; now He relates how others were affected towards Him at Jerusalem; Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many…vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:23–25 — But how was it that many believed on Him from seeing His miracles? for he seems to have performed no supernatural works at Jerusalem, except we suppose Scripture to have passed them over. May not however the act of…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:23–25 — Those had been wiser disciples, however, who were brought to Christ not by His miracles, but by His doctrine. For it is the duller sort who are attracted by miracles; the more rational are convinced by prophecy, or…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:23–25 — What meaneth this, Many believed in His Name—but Jesus did not commit Himself unto them? Was it that they did not believe in Him, but only pretended that they did? In that case the Evangelist would not have said,…vatican.va
  • Origen on John 2:23–25 (2) — Or, it was those who believed in His Name, not on Him, to whom Jesus would not commit Himself. They believe on Him, who follow the narrow way which leadeth unto life; they believe in His Name, who only believe the…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 2:23–25 (2) — Or it means that He did not place confidence in them, as perfect disciples, and did not, as if they were brethren of confirmed faith, commit to them all His doctrines, for He did not attend to their outward words,…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 2:23–25 (2) — The Maker knew better what was in His own work, than the work knew what was in itself. Peter knew not what was in himself when he said, I will go with Thee unto death; (Luke 22:33. ver. 61) but our Lord’s answer…vatican.va
  • Bede on John 2:23–25 (2) — An admonition to us not to be confident of ourselves, but ever anxious and mistrustful; knowing that what escapes our own knowledge, cannot escape the eternal Judge.vatican.va

Scripture cited · 14 verses

Psalm 16:11 · Psalm 19:5 · Psalm 41:10 · Matthew 4:18 · Matthew 12:39 · Luke 2:51 · Luke 22:33 · Luke 23:46 · John 7:39 · John 10:18 · John 10:30 · John 12:27 · 1 Corinthians 12:27 · 1 Peter 5:8

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