Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up

 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."

So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

- John 2:13-25

Yesterday we read that there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory;   and His disciples believed in Him.After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  In the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), this event is reported at the end of Jesus' ministry.  But in John, it is given to us right in the beginning.  There are some patristic teachers who say that Christ performed this act twice.   Those who sold animals did so for the purpose of using them in live sacrifices.  The money changers traded Roman coins for Jewish coins.  Roman coins bore the image of Caesar and were considered to be defiling in the temple.   The cleansing of the temple, my study bible says, reminds us that the Church should be kept free from earthly pursuits.  Moreover, each one of us is considered a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19).  Therefore Christ's cleansing of the temple is a signal regarding our own need for internal "cleanups" of earthly matters -- the things that are extraneous to our lives as those who understand the indwelling of spirit.   The quotation is from Psalm 69:9.

So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  Jesus is not a Levitical priest, and therefore His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged.  Here, we recall that the term the Jews is most often used in John's Gospel to denote the leadership.  Here, it specifically means the chief priests and the elders (Matthew 21:23).  My study bible notes that Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers; therefore, He answers in a hidden way:  the ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection. 

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  John will give us three Passover narratives during Jesus' ministry, and from this we understand that Jesus' ministry lasted three years (see also 6:4, 11:55). 

There are several hints of a mystical understanding in today's reading -- one that has become necessary in order to understand our faith.   In the first verses and the story of the cleansing of the temple, the disciples recall a line from Scripture:  "Zeal for your house has eaten me up" (Psalm 69:9).  The psalm verse continues, "And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me."  This recollection is an internal connection that teaches meaning and gives depth to experience.  It is a way of understanding Christ and their own experiences as His disciples.  It also interconnects the experience of faith through time, and this is the way that spiritual experience works.  This is connected with the important point my study bible makes about the cleansing of the temple:  that we, too, are temples.  We have spirit indwelling within us which makes us capable of such connections, insights, and mystical experience.  In our core, we are spiritual beings just as much as we are physical and mental beings with consciousness.  All are intertwined, but at the core is our connection with God, with Creator, which makes such experience possible.  John's Gospel reflects this collective experience of the Church within the first century.  Jesus tells the leaders, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."   They reply to Him, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  They don't have this spiritual insight or understanding, but the text does, teaching us what His disciples have come to understand.  John writes, But He was speaking of the temple of His body.   Finally, John reports again this mystical connection between people and Christ, and His understanding of what is in the depths of people, their character, their heart and their ways of thinking.  John writes that many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.   That word commit is really one that literally means "entrust," but is also the same word used for "faith."  Our Creator, it seems, not only asks for our faith in God, but must also discern where to place His faith in us.  Jesus' knowing "what was in man" as well as this mutually connected two-way faith that forms a link between Creator and creature also teaches us about the mystical reality that we step into when we live a life of faith.  There is a depth of communion and relatedness going on here that extends through a kind of network of faith or holiness.  It's not challenged by time or space; these form no barriers upon it.  What it relies on is precisely this faith, this mutual trust, a willingness in the heart for openness to what it offers us -- to the connectedness and depth we are capable of receiving.  John's Gospel opens us up to this gift that is the treasure of our faith.  Let us grow as we are capable of receiving.