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.

 

- John 2:13-22 

 

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, Luke), this event takes place at the end of Jesus' ministry.  But John places it in the beginning.  Some patristic commentaries that teach that, in fact, Christ performed this act twice.  Those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, we should understand, were trading in live animals to be used for sacrifices.  The money changers doing business were trading Roman coins for Jewish coins, since, according to my study Bible, the Roman coins bore the image of Caesar (worshiped as a god), and hence were considered defiling in the temple.  The cleansing of the temple, my study Bible adds, also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  It reminds us that each person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), and therefore Christ's cleansing of the temple becomes a sign as well that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  The Scripture remembered by the disciples is found in 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.  My study Bible explains that since Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged.  The term Jews in John's Gospel often refers specifically to the leaders; here, it refers to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  As Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, my study Bible comments, He answers in a hidden way:  the  ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.

In yesterday's reading and commentary, we remarked on the words of Christ to Mary (in Greek, "τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί").  In our English translations, this is rendered, "What does your concern have to do with Me?"  But it literally means "What you and Me" and could be more rightly understood as something like "What to you and Me?" or "What between you and Me?"  However, it is literally a quotation from the Septuagint, and the identical words of the widow Zarabeth to Elijah, after her son died following her help to Elijah.  (See yesterday's reading, above.)  Therefore we understand that already before the first sign given in John's Gospel (the changing of water to wine at the wedding in Cana), the presence of the Cross is already understood and known between mother and Son, as these words quoting a widow who lost her son make a clear inference between them.  In today's reading, the Cross and Resurrection are also present, as made explicit by John the Evangelist, when Jesus says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  John writes very clearly for us that He was speaking of the temple of His body.  While we can understand the inference Mary could draw from Christ's quotation of the Scripture, and we know the prophecy given to her that she would suffer ("a sword will pierce through your own soul also" - see Luke 2:34-35), the disciples at this stage have no idea what Jesus is talking about.  This is still the relative beginning of Christ's ministry as given in this Gospel, and it is only later, when He had risen from the dead, that the disciples remembered both the Scripture and that He had said this to them.  The truth is explicitly there in Jesus' words, but like so much of what happens in the Gospels and the life of Christ, it is hidden in plain sight, one might say.  At any rate, the Gospel makes clear that Christ gives this prophecy right from the beginning.  But it is the disciples who are on the journey of faith, this road that Christ takes them on, and on which He also takes us.  It gives us a sense about the nature of revelation; that, in fact, what is gradually revealed to us has always been there, but that God's work in the world, God's grace which includes the life of Christ, reveals to us the true nature of things as they are.  Our journey of faith, our perceptions, unfold gradually and through time, as the way that we human beings and our world are "designed" to learn, to grow, to come to a fullness of something through experience.  We are reminded that the word in Scripture translated as "disciple" literally means "learner" (μαθητής/mathetes in Greek).  And this is what we are here to do.  We are here to learn, to grow, to journey on this path in Jesus' "way" (meaning literally "road" in John 14:6).  So, in looking at these aspects of today's reading, it seems we are to understand that the disciples -- and hence, we ourselves as those disciples who come after them -- are the ones truly at the center of this picture we're given.  Jesus knows what He is doing; He knows His mission and from whence He comes.  He also, as He'll make clear, is the only One who truly knows the Father, and will also reveal the Father.  The religious leaders have a great problem with Christ's authority, and will wrestle and dispute and finally seek to put Him to death over this issue.  But right in the middle are the disciples, the ones who follow in faith (as does Mary), who walk on this "road" or "way" of Jesus.  As the text explains, it will not be until much later that they understand what He teaches here about the temple and the three days in which He will raise it up again, in His warning to the religious leaders.  But they follow right behind Him, on this road full of bumps and twists and turns, and things they could never expect, and triumphs and great tragedies, betrayal and danger, and ultimate victory for us in the gospel of the Kingdom.  But that will have to be revealed through time and through the struggle for faith, in which Christ has taught us that we are simply to endure, as did they (see Matthew 24:13).  If we look at the history of the Church and its saints, it seems our own lives on this road will also be filled with triumphs and tragedies, hard things to face and to accept, revelations that challenge our faith.  What is true is timeless and present, but we, like the disciples, are to discover it for ourselves.  It is, after all, a road of repentance; that is, of change of mind, in which our assumptions and what we think we know will be challenged, but we are to persist nevertheless in faith and to continue that good fight as we follow Him.  Perhaps everything is all there in front of us had we but eyes to see, but it is Christ who leads the way, as the lamp for our feet (Psalm 119:105), the true Light we need by which to see.