Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”
So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us since You do these things?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. (John 2:13–22)
Jesus goes up to Jerusalem after he has helped those in Cana of Galilee, and after He has gone down to Capernaum, that He might perform the works which are recorded among those in Jerusalem. He found in the temple, which is also said to be the house of the Savior’s Father, that is, in the church or in the proclamation of the sound message of the church, some who were making His Father’s house a house of merchandise. Jesus always finds some such in the temple. For when, in what we call the church, which is the house “of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth,” are there not some money-changers sitting, needing stripes from the whip Jesus made from ropes, and money-changers needing their coins poured out and their tables overturned? And when are there not those who are selling oxen commercially? These ought to be kept for the plow, that by putting their hands to it and not turning back they might become fit for the kingdom of God? And when are there not those who prefer the mammon of iniquity to the sheep which provide them the material to adorn themselves? There are always many, too, who despise what is honest and pure and devoid of all bitterness and gall. For the sake of miserable gain, they abandon the care of those who are figuratively called doves. …
Therefore, whenever the Savior finds in the temple, the house of the Father, those who are selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers sitting, He drives them out, together with their commercial sheep and oxen, using the whip He has made from ropes. He also pours out the coins as not worth keeping, since He has shown their uselessness. And He overturns the tables in the souls of those fond of money, saying also to those selling doves, “Take these hence,” that they might no longer trade in the temple of God. What I have said is not unrelated to the temple and those who were driven out by the Savior who says of the event, “The zeal of your house will devour me.” Nor are my words unrelated to the Jews who ask for a sign to be shown to them, and the Lord’s response to them, when he joins a word about the temple with one about his own body, and declares, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” For these irrational and commercial things must be driven away from this temple which is the body of Christ, that it might no longer be a house of merchandise. This temple, too, must be destroyed by those who plot against the Word of God, and after it has been destroyed, be raised up on the third day which we mentioned previously. At this time also the disciples will remember what God’s Word said before the temple of God was destroyed, and will believe, not in the Scripture only, but also in the word which Jesus spoke, their faith also being perfected with their knowledge at that time.
Origen, Commentary on the Gospel According to John 10.133–137, 239–241
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