Matthew 21:12

When Jesus entered with the multitudes, the whole city of Jerusalem was moved, wondering at the crowds, and not knowing the power.

With good reason were they moved at sight of a thing so to be wondered at. Man was praised as God, but it was the God that was praised in the man. But, I suppose, that neither they who praised knew what they praised, but the Spirit that suddenly inspired there poured forth the words of truth.

Moreover, when Jesus entered the true Jerusalem, they cried out, wondering at His heavenly virtues, and said, "Who is this King of glory?" [Ps 24:8]

While others were in doubt or enquiring, the worthless multitude confessed Him; "But the people said, This is Jesus the Prophet from Nazareth in Galilee." They begin with the lesser that they may come to the greater. They hail Him as that Prophet whom Moses had said should come like to himself, [marg. note: Deut 15:18] which is rightly written in Greek with the testimony of the article, "From Nazareth of Galilee," [marg. note: ο προφητης ] for there He had been brought up, that the flower of the field might be nourished with the flower of all excellencies.

But it is to be noted, that this entry of His into Jerusalem was five days before the passover. For John relates, that six days before the Passover He came to Bethany, [John 12:1] and on the morrow sitting on the ass entered Jerusalem. In this observe the correspondence between the Old and New Testaments, not only in things but in seasons. For on the tenth day of the first month, the lamb that was to be sacrificed for the passover was to be taken into the house, [marg. note: Ex 12:3] because on the same day of the same month, that is, five days before the passover, the Lord was to enter the city in which He was to suffer.

"And Jesus entered into the temple of God." This was the part of a good Son to haste to His Father's house, and do Him honour; so you then becoming an imitator of Christ as soon as you enter into any city, first run to the Church. Further, it was the part of a good physician, that having entered to heal the sick city, he should first apply himself to the source of the sickness; for as every thing good cometh out of the temple, so also doth every evil. For when the priesthood is sound, the whole Church flourishes, but if it is corrupt, faith is impaired; and as when you see a tree whose leaves are pale-coloured you know that it is diseased at its root, so when you see an undisciplined people conclude without hesitation that their priesthood is unsound.

"And he cast out all them that sold and bought." It should be known that in obedience to the Law, in the Temple of the Lord venerated throughout the whole world, and resorted to by Jews out of every quarter, innumerable victims were sacrificed, especially on festival days, bulls, rams, goats; the poor offering young pigeons and turtle-doves, that they might not omit all sacrifice. But it would happen that those who came from a distance would have no victim. The Priests therefore contrived a plan for making a gain out of the people, selling to such as had no victim the animals which they had need of for sacrifice, and themselves receiving them back again as soon as sold. But this fraudulent practice was often defeated by the poverty of the visitors, who lacking means had neither victims, nor whence to purchase them. They therefore appointed bankers who might lend to them under a bond. But because the Law forbade usury, and money lent without interest was profitless, besides sometimes a loss of the principal, they bethought themselves of another scheme; instead of bankers they appointed "collybistae," a word for which the Latin has no equivalent. [ed. note: " St. Jerome here gives a different sense of the word, from what is commonly received among ancient writers. Hesychius, as far as I know, is the only one who agrees with him, and he interprets "collyba", sweetmeats. At the same time Hesychius himself makes its proper sense to be "a kind of coin, with an ox stamped on the brass." Pollux and Suidas and others agree with this interpretation, so far as to make the word stand for a small coin. Hence Collybists were those who gave change in small coin. Origen too, to whom St. Jerome is indebted for a great part of his exposition, understands by Collybists those who change good coin for bad, to the injury of those who employ them." Vallars, in loc.] Sweetmeats and other trifling presents they called "collyba," such, for example, as parched pulse, raisins, and apples of divers sorts. As then they could not take usury, they accepted the value in kind, taking things that are bought with money, as if this was not what Ezekiel preached of, saying, "Ye shall not receive usury nor increase." [Ezek 18:17] This kind of traffic, or cheating rather, the Lord seeing in His Father's house, and moved thereat with spiritual zeal, cast out of the Temple this great multitude of men.

For in that they ought neither to sell nor to buy, but to give their time to prayer, being assembled in a house of prayer, whence it follows, "And he saith unto them, It is written, My shall be called a house of prayer." [Isa 56:7]

Let no one therefore do ought in the oratory, but that for which it was made and whence it got its name. It follows, "But ye have made it a den of thieves."

For he is indeed a thief, and turns the temple of God into a den of thieves, who makes a gain of his religion. Among all the miracles wrought by our Lord, this seems to me the most wonderful, that one man, and He at that time mean to such a degree that He was afterwards crucified, and while the Scribes and Pharisees were exasperated against Him seeing their gains thus cut off, was able by the blows of one scourge to cast out so great a multitude. Surely a flame and starry ray darted from his eyes, and the majesty of the Godhead was radiant in his countenance.

It is manifest that the Lord did this thing not once but twice; the first time is told by John, this second occasion by the other three.

Which aggravates the fault of the Jews, who after He had done the same thing twice, yet persisted in their hardness.

Mystically; The Temple of God is the Church of Christ, wherein are many, who live not, as they ought, spiritually, but after the flesh; and that house of prayer which is built of living stones they make by their actions to be a den of thieves. But if we must express more closely the three kinds of men cast out of the Temple, we may say thus. Whosoever among a Christian people spend their time in nothing else but buying and selling, continuing but little in prayers or in other right actions, these are the buyers and sellers in the Temple of God. Deacons who do not lay out well the funds of their Churches, but grow rich out of the poor man's portion, these are the money-changers whose tables Christ overturns. But that the deacons preside over the tables of Church money, we learn from the Acts of the Apostles. [marg. note: Acts 6:2] Bishops who commit Churches to those they ought not, are they that sell the doves, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, whose seats Christ overturns.

But, according to the plain sense, the doves were not in seats, but in cages; unless indeed the sellers of the doves were sitting in seats; but that were absurd, for the seat denotes the dignity of the teacher, which is brought down to nothing when it is mixed with covetousness. Mark also, that through the avarice of the Priests, the altars of God are called tables of money-changers. What we have spoken of Churches let each man understand of himself, for the Apostle says, "Ye are the temple of God." [2 Cor 6:16] Let there not be therefore in the abode of your breast the spirit of bargaining, nor the desire of gifts, lest Jesus, entering in anger and sternness, should purify His temple not without scourging, that from a den of thieves He should make it a house of prayers.

Or, in His second coming He shall cast forth and overturn those whom He shall find unworthy in God's temple.

For this reason also He overturns the tables of the money-changers, to signify that in the temple of God ought to be no coin save spiritual, such as bears the image of God, not an earthly image. He overturns the seats of those that sold doves, saying by that deed, What make in My temple so many doves for sale, since that one Dove descended of free gift upon the temple of My Body? What the multitude had proclaimed by their shouts, the Lord shews in deeds. Whence it follows, "And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them."

For in the temple of God, that is in the Church, all have not eyesight, nor do all walk uprightly, but only they who understand that there is need of Christ and of none other to heal them; they coming to the Word of God are healed.

That they are healed in the Temple signifies, that men cannot be healed but in the Church, to which is given the power of binding and loosing.

For had He not overthrown the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold doves, the blind and the lame would not have deserved that their wonted sight and power of motion should be restored to them in the temple.

But not even thus were the Chief Priests convinced, but at His miracles and the shouts of the children they had indignation.

For, not daring to lay hands on Him, the Priests defame his works, and the testimony of the children who cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," as though this might be said to none but to the Son of God only. Let then Bishops and all holy men take heed how they suffer these things to be said to them, if this is charged as a fault in Him who is truly Lord to whom this was said, because the faith of the believers was not yet confirmed.

For as a pillar a little out of the perpendicular, if more weight be laid upon it, is driven to lean still more to one side; so also the heart of man when once turned aside, is only stirred the more with jealousy by seeing or hearing deeds of some righteous man. In this way the Priests were stirred up against Christ, and said, "Hearest thou what these say?"

But the answer of Christ was cautious. He spake not what the Scribes would fain have heard, The children do well that they bear witness to me; nor on the other hand, They do what is wrong, they are but children, you ought to be indulgent to their tender years. But He brings a quotation from the eighth Psalm, [Ps 8:2] that though the Lord were silent, the testimony of Scripture might defend the words of the children, as it follows, "But Jesus said unto them, Yea, have ye never read, &c."

As though He had said, Be it so, it is My fault that these cry thus. But is it My fault that so many thousand years before the Prophet foretold that so it should be? But babes and sucklings cannot know or praise any one. Therefore they are called babes, not in age, but in guilelessness of heart; sucklings, because they cried out being moved by their joy at the wonderful things they beheld, as by the sweetness of milk. Miraculous works are called milk, because the beholding of miracles is no toil, but rather excites wonder, and gently invites to the faith. Bread is the doctrine of perfect righteousness, which none can receive but they who have their senses exercised about spiritual things.

This was at once a type of the Gentiles, and no small comfort to the Apostles; for that they might not be perplexed, contriving how having no education for the purpose they should preach the Gospel, these children going before them did away that fear; for He who made these to sing His praises, shall give speech to those. This miracle also shews that Christ was the Framer of nature; seeing the children spoke things full of meaning, and agreeing with the Prophets, whereas the men uttered things meaningless, and full of frenzy.

“And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting; and He made a scourge of cords, and cast out of the temple the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the small coin of the changers, and overturned their tables, and to those who sold the doves He said, Take these things hence; make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise. Then His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thy house shall eat me up.” It is to be noted that John makes this transaction of Jesus with those He found selling oxen and sheep and doves in the temple His second work; while the other Evangelists narrate a similar incident almost at the end and in connection with the story of the passion. …

3. Although these words were well received, nevertheless, as few had attended the meeting, all had not been done which so great an emergency required. When, however, this discourse was, according to the ability and zeal of each, made known abroad by those who had heard it, it found many opponents. But when the morning of Quadragesima came round, and a great multitude had assembled at the hour of exposition of Scripture, that passage in the Gospel was read in which our Lord said, concerning those sellers who were driven out of the temple, and the tables of the money-changers which He had overthrown, that the house of His Father had been made a den of thieves instead of a house of prayer. …

129. Matthew goes on with his narrative in the following terms: “And when He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple;” and so on, down to where we read, “But ye have made it a den of thieves.” This account of the multitude of sellers who were cast out of the temple is given by all the evangelists; but John introduces it in a remarkably different order. …

5. “And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon.” Here the account is briefly given: for how it all happened may be found at full length in the other evangelists. But there is appended to the circumstance itself a testimony from the prophets, to make it evident that He in whom was fulfilled all they read in Scripture, was entirely misunderstood by the evil-minded rulers of the Jews. Jesus, then, “found a young ass, and sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.” Among that people, then, was the daughter of Zion to be found; for Zion is the same as Jerusalem. …

And how, one may ask, did He not destroy it? in what way did He rather fulfill either the law or the prophets? The prophets He fulfilled, inasmuch as He confirmed by His actions all that had been said concerning Him; wherefore also the evangelist used to say in each case, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.” Both when He was born,and when the children sung that wondrous hymn to Him, and when He sat on the ass,and in very many more instances He worked this same fulfillment: all which things must have been unfulfilled, if He had not come.

20. I lay great emphasis on these points that I may deliver a young man who is dear to me from the itching both of the tongue and of the ears: that, since he has been born again in Christ, I may present him without spot or wrinkle as a chaste virgin, chaste in mind as well as in body; that the virginity of which he boasts may be more than nominal and that he may not be shut out by the bridegroom because being unprovided with the oil of good works his lamp has gone out. In Proculus you have a reverend and most learned prelate, able by the sound of his voice to do more for you than I with my written sheets and sure to direct you on your path by daily homilies. He will not suffer you to turn to the right hand or to the left or to leave the king’s highway; for to this Israel pledges itself to keep in its hasty passage to the land of promise. …

For I have learnt from information given me by certain persons that in the parts of Gaul and Germany no one attains to holy orders except for a consideration given. If this is so, I say it with tears, I declare it with groans, that, when the priestly order has fallen inwardly, neither will it be able to stand outwardly for long. For we know from the Gospel what our Redeemer in person did; how He went into the temple, and overthrew the seats of them that sold doves ( Matth. xxi. 12 ). For to sell doves is to receive a temporal consideration for the Holy Spirit, whom, being consubstantial with Himself, God Almighty gives to men through the imposition of hands. From which evil what follows is already intimated. For of those who presumed to sell doves in the temple of God the seats fell by God’s judgment.

Furthermore, it has come to our ears that in those parts no one attains to any sacred order without the giving of a consideration. If this, is so, I say with tears, I declare with groans, that, when the priestly order has fallen inwardly, neither will it stand long outwardly. For we know from the Gospel what our Redeemer in person did; how He went into the temple, and overthrew the seats of them that sold doves ( Matth. xxi. 12 ). For to sell doves is to receive a temporal consideration for the Holy Spirit, whom, being consubstantial with Himself, Almighty God gives to men through imposition of hands. And what follows from this evil, as I have said before, is intimated; for the seats of those who presumed to sell doves in the temple of God fell by the judgment of God . And in truth this transgression is propagated with increase among subordinates. …