Whether Christ Worked Miracles Fittingly on Irrational Creatures?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ worked miracles unfittingly on
irrational creatures. For brute animals are more noble than plants.
But Christ worked a miracle on plants as when the fig-tree withered
away at His command (Matt. 21:19). Therefore Christ should have
worked miracles also on brute animals.
Obj. 2: Further, punishment is not justly inflicted save for fault.
But it was not the fault of the fig-tree that Christ found no fruit
on it, when fruit was not in season (Mk. 11:13). Therefore it seems
unfitting that He withered it up.
Obj. 3: Further, air and water are between heaven and earth. But
Christ worked some miracles in the heavens, as stated above (A. 2),
and likewise in the earth, when it quaked at the time of His Passion
(Matt. 27:51). Therefore it seems that He should also have worked
miracles in the air and water, such as to divide the sea, as did
Moses (Ex. 14:21); or a river, as did Josue (Josh. 3:16) and Elias (4
Kings 2:8); and to cause thunder to be heard in the air, as occurred
on Mount Sinai when the Law was given (Ex. 19:16), and like to what
Elias did (3 Kings 18:45).
Obj. 4: Further, miraculous works pertain to the work of Divine
providence in governing the world. But this work presupposes
creation. It seems, therefore, unfitting that in His miracles Christ
made use of creation: when, to wit, He multiplied the loaves.
Therefore His miracles in regard to irrational creatures seem to have
been unfitting.
_On the contrary,_ Christ is "the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:24), of
whom it is said (Wis. 8:1) that "she ordereth all things sweetly."
_I answer that,_ As stated above, Christ's miracles were ordained to
the end that He should be recognized as having Divine power, unto the
salvation of mankind. Now it belongs to the Divine power that every
creature be subject thereto. Consequently it behooved Him to work
miracles on every kind of creature, not only on man, but also on
irrational creatures.
Reply Obj. 1: Brute animals are akin generically to man, wherefore
they were created on the same day as man. And since He had worked
many miracles on the bodies of men, there was no need for Him to work
miracles on the bodies of brute animals. And so much the less that,
as to their sensible and corporeal nature, the same reason applies to
both men and animals, especially terrestrial. But fish, from living
in water, are more alien from human nature; wherefore they were made
on another day. On them Christ worked a miracle in the plentiful
draught of fishes, related Luke 5 and John 21; and, again, in the
fish caught by Peter, who found a stater in it (Matt. 17:26). As to
the swine who were cast headlong into the sea, this was not the
effect of a Divine miracle, but of the action of the demons, God
permitting.
Reply Obj. 2: As Chrysostom says on Matt. 21:19: "When our Lord does
any such like thing" on plants or brute animals, "ask not how it was
just to wither up the fig-tree, since it was not the fruit season; to
ask such a question is foolish in the extreme," because such things
cannot commit a fault or be punished: "but look at the miracle, and
wonder at the worker." Nor does the Creator "inflict" any hurt on the
owner, if He choose to make use of His own creature for the salvation
of others; rather, as Hilary says on Matt. 21:19, "we should see in
this a proof of God's goodness, for when He wished to afford an
example of salvation as being procured by Him, He exercised His
mighty power on the human body: but when He wished to picture to them
His severity towards those who wilfully disobey Him, He foreshadows
their doom by His sentence on the tree." This is the more noteworthy
in a fig-tree which, as Chrysostom observes (on Matt. 21:19), "being
full of moisture, makes the miracle all the more remarkable."
Reply Obj. 3: Christ also worked miracles befitting to Himself in the
air and water: when, to wit, as related Matt. 8:26, "He commanded the
winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm." But it was not
befitting that He who came to restore all things to a state of peace
and calm should cause either a disturbance in the atmosphere or a
division of waters. Hence the Apostle says (Heb. 12:18): "You are not
come to a fire that may be touched and approached [Vulg.: 'a mountain
that might be touched, and a burning fire'], and a whirlwind, and
darkness, and storm."
At the time of His Passion, however, the "veil was rent," to signify
the unfolding of the mysteries of the Law; "the graves were opened,"
to signify that His death gave life to the dead; "the earth quaked
and the rocks were rent," to signify that man's stony heart would be
softened, and the whole world changed for the better by the virtue of
His Passion.
Reply Obj. 4: The multiplication of the loaves was not effected by
way of creation, but by an addition of extraneous matter transformed
into loaves; hence Augustine says on John 6:1-14: "Whence He
multiplieth a few grains into harvests, thence in His hands He
multiplied the five loaves": and it is clearly by a process of
transformation that grains are multiplied into harvests.
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