Today’s readings, chosen in honor of the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, underscore the reality of Jesus’ love for each of us and his call that we too are to love. The Gospel today is the well-known account of Jesus “cleansing the temple.” It is the time of the Jewish feast of Passover, and the temple is overrun with vendors selling animals and with money-changers, since pilgrims must change their Roman currency into official temple currency in order to buy animals for sacrifice.
Upon entering the temple, Jesus sees that what should be the most sacred place is being reduced to a marketplace. Some people limit this to a story about “when Jesus got angry.” But of course it is much more than that. We see here a startling scene of the power of Jesus’ love put into dramatic action. He comes into the house of his Father and takes charge, overturning what is wrong and driving out what does not belong there. It is not merely an emotional reaction; it is a right expression of zeal. Jesus performs not only a physical cleansing but also spiritual one – a vivid sign of what he has come to do in creation, in his people, and in each of us, in the temple of our body, mind, and soul.
The temple authorities challenge Jesus for his disruption of the day’s business. They demand a sign of his authority to do such a thing. When Jesus says, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up,” they think he means the physical building which took forty-six years to build. But Jesus is not so concerned about mere buildings, whether they be the temple in Jerusalem or the Lateran Basilica in Rome or our own parish church. Jesus’ words here give us a prophetic glimpse of “the temple of his Body,” and of his Death and Resurrection, about which even his disciples have no understanding yet. It was only after he was raised from the dead that “his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scriptures and the word Jesus had spoken.”
This little detail should give us encouragement and hope. If Jesus’ own disciples, living with him and learning from him each day, did not understand the meaning of his words until much later, we should not be disturbed when the same is true of us. As we mature in faith through his grace, we come to see and understand more and more; we remember and believe. Instead of taking the word of God in its most limited sense and being offended by it, as were the temple authorities, we can ponder the Lord’s words and deeds in ever new and deeper ways. In time, he gives us new insight into his word and his will for us. We ask the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and direct us, to help us mine the depths of God’s word.
The first reading takes us to the entrance to the temple, as envisioned by the prophet Ezekiel. Water flows out from the temple, making everything it touches new and fresh. “Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.” This river is a prophetic symbol of the grace flowing from the temple of Christ’s Body, from his Heart pierced on the Cross. As we draw near to him, we find an abundant Source of life-giving grace, and we ourselves become fruitful.
St. Paul reminds us in the second reading that, with Jesus Christ as our sure foundation, we ourselves are built upon him as “God’s building.” Paul urges us to let the meaning of this image sink in: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” When we accept this message about our true identity, it changes the whole way we see ourselves and our neighbors. We realize we are all under construction by the Master Builder and will be until the day we die. This makes it easier for us to love and respect ourselves and to love and forgive others as well, as we are being formed into temples of God. It is this truth and the love that flows from it – that each of us is a temple in whom God dwells – that makes today a joyful festival for the universal Church.
How does zeal for the Lord permeate my actions when I see obstacles to his grace? How does the Holy Spirit living in my soul enable me to mine the depths of God’s word? How do my actions reveal that I am a temple of the Lord and that the Spirit of God dwells in me?
Excerpt from The Anawim Way, Volume 21, no. 8. More information about The Anawim Way may be found here.