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 on the third day after choosing the disciples Philip and Nathanael, 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 of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this event occurs at the end of Christ's ministry (the beginning of Holy Week).  See Matthew 21:12–17, Mark 11:15–19, Luke 19:45–48.  But here, John places it at the beginning of His Gospel.  My study Bible notes that some Church Fathers teach that Christ performed this act twice.  Those who sold oxen and sheep and doves were trading in live animals used for sacrifices, while the money changers traded Roman coins for Jewish ones.  Roman coins bore the image of Caesar as god and so were considered to be defiling in the temple.  My study Bible comments that the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  The quotation which His disciples remembered 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.  My study Bible comments that, as Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged.  The term Jews in John's Gospel frequently refers specifically to the leaders.  In this case, it refers to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  As Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, it says, He answers in a hidden way:  the ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.  These words will be twisted at Jesus' trial, and used to mock Christ, and to later lay suspicion on His disciples (see Matthew 26:60-61, 27:40, 27:63).

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.  My study Bible comments here that John reports three Passover feasts between Christ's Baptism and Passion (see also John 6:5, 11:55).  This is how we know that Christ's earthly ministry lasted three years.  

The cleansing of the temple has been understood in various ways.  From the text of the New Testament itself (see the quotations from Matthew's Gospel, above), we're told that Jesus' saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" was used, even in the context of His earthly lifetime, against Him.  It was misunderstood, misinterpreted, used to discredit Him -- and His disciples after His death, for false testimony against Him, and to mock Him at the Cross.  The cleansing of the temple itself was understood by Origen, for example, to have been allegorical -- and clearly within the context of tradition, it is seen as both historical and allegorical, as my study Bible notes.  Not only does it give us an allegory regarding the things the Church should and should not be concerned with, but it also teaches us (again, as my study Bible noted) an allegory about what St. Paul said was the temple of our bodies, and our need to cleanse body, soul, spirit in following the path of Christ.  Our vigilance in prayer, for example, is thus part of this cleansing, our knowledge of ourselves essential to it -- and our willingness to part with that which actually endangers our well-being, spiritually and otherwise (see Matthew 5:29-30; 18:8-9, also allegorical statements by Jesus regarding the endangering things we need to cleanse from our lives).  As my study Bible noted, certain Church Fathers teach that the cleansing of the temple happened twice.  All of this is to say that when we read Scripture, we have to understand it as a particular kind of literature.  When we read about the life and ministry of Jesus, we have to understand that it is open to each of these ways to approach it, for Christ Himself spoke -- as reported here in John's Gospel -- in an allegorical way, especially in order to teach those who would hear and seek to understand, while disclosing nothing to those who would not (see Matthew 13:10-17).  What is important and essential is that we not fall into a rationalistic divide of "either/or" thinking, and we come to understand that each of these approaches is valid and gives us truth.  Each approach, especially taken together and considered for what each contributes to our spiritual lives and the understanding of our faith, and in particular the Person of Jesus Christ, should be seen as part of a whole, and more that is beyond what we can grasp.  For included in Scripture, and in the tradition of the Church through the Holy Spirit, is also mystery.  That is, the fullness of the mystery of Jesus Christ, which we don't know -- as only God can know God in God's fullness, and as the "way" of Christ is a road (the word translated as "way" in the Gospels, as in John 14:6, means also "road" in Greek.  So when we think about the Bible, we need to understand that all of these ways that come to us through Christ's own speech as given in the Gospels, through the Epistles and the Revelation, even "the Lord" of the Old Testament as understood through the lens of the New, and the different ways of understanding and hearing which we are given through tradition, especially patristics from the early centuries of the Church (what are called "Church Fathers") -- each of these things, though seemingly separate and different, are valid and may all be true at the same time.  We have to take the fullness of our faith as a whole if we are to accept and to understand and to grow in it, and this must also include the mystery and acknowledgement of what we don't know.  For what we don't know, and what we are unable to say about God, is also a part of our faith which we must keep in mind -- when we read Scripture, when we worship, when we pray.  For all intersect in faith, and even in the deepest place of the heart, which is also a mystery known fully only to God, and not to ourselves.  Jesus taught His disciples, "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old" (Matthew 13:52).  The old and the new, and that yet to come, is all part of the treasure we receive.  Let us understand it as the whole of the kingdom of heaven, indivisible, and all a gift to treasure, every part valued and necessary and precious.