Destroy
This Temple, and in Three Days I Will Raise It Up
Introduction: May you continue to grow in your
faith with the GOD Who desires to be in an ever-deepening covenant relationship
with you.
Today’s readings focus on what it
means to be bound again (re-ligio) to the GOD Who loves us. It moves us to seek GOD’s plan for
our lives. We are being called today to reflect on how GOD takes the initiative
in developing a relationship with us. The Lord Jesus desires that we be bound
(again) with the GOD Who loves us. GOD cares for us much more than we can comprehend
and understand. It is only in living in a closer relationship with this GOD of
relationships that we can further develop our “knowledge” of how much GOD loves
us.
Our readings
speak about different aspects of our covenant relationship with GOD. The reading
from the Hebrew Scriptures presents the covenant relationship in the Ten Commandments
(Decalogue). The psalm praises the value of GOD’s laws and commandments. In today’s
selection for St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes the wisdom
and strength of GOD’s plan of salvation in and through Jesus. In the Gospel, Jesus
shows His love for the sanctity of GOD’s presence among the people and His abhorrence
of those who put restrictions on experiencing GOD’s presence.
First
Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
The Law given at Sinai
Commentary: The Decalogue or Ten Commandments
represent a summary of the basic conditions for Israel to live as God’s People.
It occurs in a slightly different arrangement also in Deut. 5.6-22. The first
three Commandments outline the fear and reverence in which God must be held by
those who declare themselves as his People. No created thing of any kind may be
granted the reverence which is due to God. Any attempt to represent God can
only be a diminution and so a blasphemy of the divine, which forever cuts off
from God’s People.
The next two commandments are also
implications of this attitude to God. Misuse of the divine Name shows an
unawareness of its unique power and strength. In the same way, a failure to
keep the Sabbath holy is a failure in awareness that God created the world in
such a way that a regular day must be set aside to thank God and to show
appreciation for this gift of God. It suggests that if we work frantically
hard, day after day without intermission, we can manage without God. On the
other hand, if there is a pause built in, this is a recognition that leisure
for God has its due place.
The final six commandments constitute
a set of principles of how to treat others in a loving society, caring for them
and recognizing that others have rights besides oneself. The negative
formulations should not allow them to rest as merely negative, for each
enshrines a whole world of positive activity. So, to put the positive values at
their sharpest:
4. There must be appropriate honour
and respect for each member of the family.
5. Life must be encouraged and not
hampered in all our relationships.
6. Adultery is only the last stage in
the breakdown of a marriage; this must be avoided by devoted attention to
building a partnership from the first moment of union.
7. Private property and privacy are
essentials for personal self-respect.
8. Every person has a right to truth
not only in law but in reputation too.
Responsorial
Psalm 19:8-11
You, Lord, have the message of eternal life.
The psalmist
realizes the value of GOD’s law and precepts. The commandments are meant to provide
life for those who follow them. The psalmist describes the results of those who
keep their end of the covenant relationship and obey GOD’s commands: refreshed souls,
wisdom for the simple, rejoicing hearts, and enlightened eyes. Doing the will of
GOD is more precious than gold and sweeter than honey.
Second
Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
The crucified Christ, the power and wisdom of God
Commentary: This reading is all about power and
wisdom: ‘the Jews demand miracles (works of power) and the Greeks look for
wisdom’. These are two measures of success also in the normal terms of our
modern materialistic society. Power comes in the form of wealth, authority,
command, and being the boss. Wisdom results in the respect and reputation
accorded to a person: he or she makes the right decisions. But where are these
in the crucified Christ? He was a prisoner, powerless, horribly tortured,
mocked and derided. He commanded nobody. There is no respecting a tortured
prisoner. God’s standards are different, and we heard them in the form of the
commandments in the first reading. It was these standards that brought Jesus to
the situation of the Passion, for these were the standards he had sought to
live out and show to people by his way of living and acting. This was the
Kingship of God which he came to proclaim and to spread. In the first reading,
we heard the demanding, positive standards for membership of God’s people. Now
in this second reading, we receive strength and comfort from the reassurance of
the model of Christ, the only ideal of the Christian.
Gospel:
John 2:13-25
Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up
Commentary: According to John, this scene took
place at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, on the first of Jesus’ four visits
to Jerusalem. At each subsequent visit, the Temple authorities lay in wait for
Jesus, increasingly keen to eliminate him, but unable to do so till his Hour
had come. The other gospels place the final climax in both this incident and
all other scenes of Jesus in Jerusalem. Whichever is correct, the incident is
the basic cause of Jesus’ arrest and tortured death. By his action, Jesus had
demonstrated that the worship carried out in the Temple was vain in God’s eyes
and must be superseded. To the Temple authorities, this was intolerable, and he
must be removed. Again, Jesus demanded a complete reversal of standards. His
puzzling saying about building the Temple anew in his body was at last
understood by his disciples to mean the Temple that was his Body, the Church.
The material building which had been the centre of worship was no longer
important. Henceforth all worship would take place in any place but within the
Christian community. The community – or the Church – was now the
place of sanctification and of prayer to God.
Reflection: What can keep us from the presence
of God? Jesus' dramatic cleansing of the temple was seen by his disciples as a
prophetic sign of God's work to purify and restore true worship and holiness
among his people. The temple was understood as the dwelling place of God among
his people. When God delivered his people from slavery in Egypt, he brought
them safely through the Red Sea and led them to Mount Sinai where he made a
covenant with them and gave them a new way of living in moral goodness and
holiness embodied in the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1-17). God also gave Moses
instructions for how his people were to worship him in holiness and he
instructed them to make a Tabernacle, which was also referred to as the
"tent of meeting" where the people gathered to offer sacrifice and
worship to God. The tent of meeting was later replaced by the construction of
the temple at Jerusalem. The New Testament Scripture tells us that these
"serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary" - God's true
Temple in heaven (Heb 8:5). Jesus' cleansing of the temple is also a prophetic
sign of what he wants to do with each of us. He ever seeks to cleanse us of our
sinful ways in order to make us into living temples of his Holy Spirit (1 Cor
6:19). God desires that we be holy as he is holy. Do you thirst and hunger for
God's holiness?
Jesus burns with zeal for
his Father's house
When Jesus went to Jerusalem at
Passover time, he shocked the Jewish leaders by forcibly expelling the
money-chargers and traders from the temple. Jesus referred to the temple as his
Father's house which was being made into a "house of trade" (John
2:16) and "den of robbers" (Mark 11:17). The prophecy of Malachi
foretold the coming of the Lord unexpectedly to his Temple to "purify the
sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right
offerings to the Lord" (Malachi 3:1-4). Jesus' disciples recalled the
prophetic words of Psalm 69: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
This psalm was understood as a Messianic prophecy. Here the disciples saw Jesus
more clearly as the Messiah who burned with zeal for God's house.
The Jewish authorities wanted proof
that Jesus had divine authority to act as he did. They demanded a sign from God
to prove Jesus right, otherwise, they would treat him as an imposter and a
usurper of their authority. Jesus spoke of himself as the true Temple which
cleanses and makes us a holy people who can dwell with God. The sign Jesus gave
pointed to his sacrificial death on the cross and his rising from the tomb on
the third day: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up" (John 2:19). The Jews did not understand that the temple Jesus
referred to be his own body. The "tent of his body" had to first be
destroyed (that is, be put to death as the atoning sacrifice for our sins) in
order to open the way for us to freely enter into the holy presence of God in
his heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 10:19).
The Lord Jesus makes us
temples of the Holy Spirit
Through his death and resurrection,
the Lord Jesus has reconciled us with God and made us adopted sons and
daughters of our heavenly Father, and he fills us with his Holy Spirit and
makes us living temples of our God (1 Cor 6:19-20; 2 Cor 6:16). Do you
recognize the indwelling presence of God within you through the gift and
working of his Holy Spirit? The Lord Jesus wants to renew our minds and purify
our hearts so that we may offer God fitting worship and enjoy his presence both
now and forever. Ask the Lord Jesus to fill you with a holy desire and burning
zeal for his holiness and glory to grow in you and transform the way you think,
act, and live as a son or daughter of God.
Lord Jesus Christ, you open wide the
door of your Father's house and you bid us to enter confidently that we may
worship in spirit and truth. Help me to draw near to your throne of mercy with
gratitude and joy.
Daily Quote from the Early
Church Fathers: Jesus cleanses the temple - his
Father's house, by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD)
"But why did Christ use such
violence? He was about to heal on the sabbath day and to do many things that
appeared to them transgressions of the law. However, so that he might not
appear to be acting as a rival to God and an opponent of his Father, he takes
occasion to correct any such suspicion of theirs... He did not merely 'cast
them out' but also 'overturned the tables' and 'poured out the money,' so that
they could see how someone who threw himself into such danger for the good
order of the house could never despise his master. If he had acted out of hypocrisy,
he would have only advised them, but to place himself in such danger was very
daring. It was no small thing to offer himself to the anger of so many market
people or to excite against himself a most brutal mob of petty dealers by his
reproaches and the disruption he caused. This was not, in other words, the
action of a pretender but of one choosing to suffer everything for the order of
the house. For the same reason, to show his agreement with the Father, he did
not say 'the holy house' but 'my Father's house.' See how he even calls him
'Father,' and they are not angry with him. They thought he spoke in a more
general way, but when he went on and spoke more plainly of his equality, this
is when they become angry." (excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
23.2)
SPRING CLEANING
“He made a [kind of] whip of
cords and drove sheep and oxen alike out of the temple area, and knocked over
the money-changers tables, spilling their coins.” —John 2:15
This Lent, Jesus will cleanse the temples of our lives to whatever
degree we let Him. Many people want Jesus just to dust them a little or simply
brush over them with a damp rag. Very few want Jesus to get out the vacuum
cleaner and get down to some serious spring cleaning. Fewer still want Jesus to
get out a whip of cords, knock over those things in their lives that are not
His will, and drive them out. Why don’t we trust Jesus enough to let Him really
clean the house?
If you are willing to have the Lord do spring cleaning on you:
1) Go to Confession at least twice this Lent.
2) Ask the Holy Spirit to take you to the cross and convict you of sin (Jn 16:8).
3) By God’s grace, decide to forgive everyone and apologize to those you
have delayed in forgiving.
4) Ask the Lord to forgive your unknown faults and to heal your
subconscious mind (Ps 19:13).
5) Ask others to lay hands on you and pray for healing of your mind,
body, and spirit.
6) Ask the Lord to purify you through a fast of several days.
7) Thank the Lord for cleansing you as if you were a newly baptized baby
(see 2 Kgs 5:14).
Prayer: Lord, “thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my
sin cleanse me” (Ps 51:4). “We
preach Christ crucified...the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.” —1 Cor 1:23-24. Praise
You, risen Lord Jesus! You defeated Satan in the desert and on the cross.
Praise You, victorious Lamb of God!
The personal action for today:
Do I see
how the GOD Whom Jesus reveals could be a stumbling block to His fellow Jews and
utter foolishness to the sophisticated Greek? How does having a GOD of Relationships
fit into my understanding of GOD and the practice of my faith? What value do rules,
commandments, and precepts have in my life, particularly in binding me again (re-ligio)
to GOD and others? How can I better live out my relationship with GOD and others
today? This week?