De ejectione ementium et vendentium de templo
The Cleansing of the Temple
Jesus powerfully drives out buyers and sellers from the temple, acting alone with fierce divine zeal because his Father's house is being dishonored.
Twice the Lord Jesus drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple — an act counted among his great miracles.✦ Even though they treated him with contempt at other times, on that occasion they all fled before him.1 And though they were many, they didn't defend themselves; he alone, with nothing but a few cords, drove them all out.2 This was because he appeared terrifying to them in his face.3 He was kindled with fierce zeal because his Father was being dishonored by them — especially in the place where he ought to have been most honored. That's why he carried out those expulsions.✦4
Behold Him and Fear
The devout reader is urged to contemplate Christ's sorrowful compassion and to fear entanglement in worldly affairs within God's temple.
Look at him closely, and sympathize — for he is full of the pain of compassion. And yet, fear him. For we who are in the temple of God, appointed by his special and great grace — if we entangle ourselves in worldly affairs, as they were doing, when we ought always to direct our attention to his praise — we can rightly and should fear expulsion from him and his indignation.✦ So if you don't want to be troubled by this fear, on no account dare to entangle yourself with worldly cares or business dealings.5
A Warning Against Worldly Distraction
One must not pursue elaborate undertakings that steal time owed to God's praise and align with worldly display.
Don't do elaborate things either, which take up time owed to God's praises and fit in with worldly displays.
Read the original Latin
Duabus vicibus - ejecit Dominus Jesus ementes et vendentes de templo: quod inter ejus magna miracula deputatur. ^am licet alias eum vilipenderent, tunc tamen omnes ante eum fugerunt. Et quamvis essent multi, non se defenderunt; scd ipse solus cum quibusdam funiculis omnes ejecit. Et boc ideo, quia terribilem se eis ostendit in facie. Accensus est enim zelo vebementi, eo quod pater suus sic inhonorabatur ab illis, maxime in loco ubi magis bonorari debebat, fecit ipsas ejectiones. Conspice bene ipsum, et compatere, quia ipse compassionis dolore plenus est; ac nihilominus time. Nos enim, qui in templo Dei sumus de speciali et magna ipsius gratia deputati; si saecularibus negotiis, ut illi faciebant, nos implicemus, cum ad laudem ejus semper debeamus intendere, merito ejectionem ab eo, et indignationem ipsius timere possumus et debemus. Si ergo non vis hoc limore vexari, nulla ratione vel cum saecularibus curis, vel negotiationibus te audeas implicare.
Opera quoque curiosa ne feceris, quae tempus laudibus Dei debitum occupant, et pompis saecularibus correspondent
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.2.13-John.2.17;Matt.21.12-Matt.21.13 — And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. John.2.14 — And he found in the temple those selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers sitting there. John.2.15 — And having made a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple—the sheep and the oxen—and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. John.2.16 — And to those who were selling the doves he said, "Take these things out of here. Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise." John.2.17 — His disciples remembered that it is written, 'The zeal of your house will consume me.' Matt.21.12 — And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. Matt.21.13 — And he said to them, "It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers."
- ↩John.2.17 — His disciples remembered that it is written, 'The zeal of your house will consume me.'
- ↩1Cor.3.16-1Cor.3.17 — Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 1Cor.3.17 — If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person. For the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.
Notes
- 1 ↩The initial word 'am' is uncertain in the source — possibly a corruption or interjection. It is omitted in translation as its sense cannot be established with confidence.
- 2 ↩'scd' in the source is an abbreviation for 'sed' (but), resolved in translation.
- 3 ↩'boc' normalized to 'hoc' (this).
- 4 ↩'vebementi' normalized to 'vehementi'; 'bonorari' normalized to 'honorari'.
- 5 ↩'limore' is rendered as 'fear' following the candidate gloss; the word is rare and may carry a sense closer to 'terror' or 'dread.'
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion
A scene a day, for life
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