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JOHN 2:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 2:11John 2:13
“After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.”
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem — the first explicit Passover reference frames Jesus' ministry within the Jewish liturgical calendar. The phrase "went up to Jerusalem" (anabainō eis Hierosoluma) invokes Jerusalem's topographical elevation and spiritual significance. This Passover journey initiates a pattern: Jesus structures his ministry around Jewish festivals, participating in and reinterpreting them.

Church Fathers on John 2:12

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 brethren, and His disciples, and they continued there not many days.

Chrysostom · 4th century

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 has a mother, has brethren, has disciple: whence He has a mother, thence has He brethren. Scripture frequently gives the name of brethren, not to those only who are born of the same womb, or the same father, but to those of the same generation, cousins by the father’s or mother’s side. Those who are unacquainted…

Augustine · 4th century

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.

Alcuin · 8th century
Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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John 2:12 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy