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, on the sixth day given of Christ's newly-beginning public ministry, 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."   Here in today's reading is another distinctive element of St. John's Gospel.  In the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) this cleansing of the temple occurs at the end of Christ's ministry.  But John places it here right at the beginning.  There are certain patristic commentaries which teach that Christ performed this act twice.  This is the first of three Passover feasts included in St. John's Gospel; it's one way that we know His public ministry lasted three years.  In this incident, those who sold oxen and sheep and doves were trading live animals to be used for sacrifices.  Sacrifices were a true function of the temple, meant to be part of communal meals "setting right" the people with their God and community, a part of the amelioration of the effects of sin, and the understanding of righteousness.  The money changers traded Roman coins for Jewish coins, since Roman coins bore the image of Caesar (worshiped as a god) and were considered defiling in the temple.  Christ's cleansing of the temple is about the corruption which had become endemic and penalized the poor, the greed and hypocrisy of the religious leaders.  My study Bible comments that the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered a temple of God, it notes (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  The disciples remember "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up" as written 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.  In St. John's Gospel, the term Jews is meant most often to refer specifically to the religious leaders.  In this case, it refers to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  It's important to remember that all the people in this story are devout Jews, including Jesus, His disciples, and the author of this Gospel.  As Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, my study Bible says, He answers in a hidden way.  The ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.

 

The Gospel presents us today with an interesting contrast between what is hidden and what is not.  Here Jesus performs a very open and public act, one which would clearly garner much attention, as it is openly done against the system of the temple and its leadership.  The first question that opens itself up in this circumstance is one of authority, and it is there where the religious authorities zero in and begin to ask Jesus questions.  He needs to prove He has the authority to do this, and show them a sign to do so, as some sort of extraordinary proof of God's presence.  Well, Jesus is not going to do that, and He openly tells them so.  He's not going to give signs and proofs because unfaithful people demand it of Him.  Christ's signs and miracles come to the faithful.  Importantly, as our reading today deals with sacrifices, Christ's signs come in fulfillment of righteousness and communion between God and the faithful, God's people, and through the power and will of God -- not on demand by scoffers or hypocrites whose minds are already made up against Him.  And yet, we've just read (in yesterday's reading, above) about the first sign of St. John's Gospel, the turning of water to wine at the wedding in Cana.  Here was, in a sense, a "quiet" miracle, a sign given through the prompting (or intercession) of Christ's mother.  They had run out of wine at the wedding, and so this first sign of God's extraordinary presence occurred in the 30 gallon stone waterpots filled with water for cleansing, and it was transformed into the best wine.  Note the contrast between that almost private community affair of the wedding (and those who knew and understood about the wine) and this busy Passover festival, with all the noise and hustle and bustle of pilgrims purchasing sacrifices, and the money changers exchanging coins.  It must have presented quite an extraordinary and even cacophonous scene.  There can be no doubt of the attention which Christ's action would have brought upon Himself from both religious leadership and the people.  Now the power of human religious authority will focus its attention in Him, the One who has now challenged that authority with this act of cleansing the temple, and we already know where it will all lead (as Jesus forewarned His mother in quoting the widow Zarephath's question to Elijah in response to Mary's prompting about the wine -- see yesterday's reading and commentary; also 1 Kings 17:17-18).  Here is another riddle, another mystery of our faith?  How is a "sign" hidden?  How is the Christ hidden in plain sight?  How are the religious leaders blind, while the disciples and John the Baptist see?  How is Christ a temple, and so are we?  These are all questions we must begin to ponder and to consider as the Gospel unfolds.  Like the three days He was hidden in the tomb, so we understand the power of God at work, even though we may be completely unaware.

 

 

 

 

Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!

 

 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, on the sixth day given of seven in John's Gospel, telling the story of the beginning of Christ's public ministry, 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. Today's reading gives us the story of the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem.  In the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this event occurs at the end of Christ's ministry.  But John places it at the beginning, which sets a strong tone for the Gospel.  My study Bible notes that some patristic commentary holds that Christ performed this act twice.   John's Gospel gives us three occasions on which Jesus participates in the Passover festival during Jesus' ministry, teaching us that His ministry lasted three years.  

 

 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."  Those who sold oxen and sheep and doves were trading in live animals to be used for sacrifices.  The money changers would trade Roman coins for Jewish coins, since Roman coins bore the image of Ceasar and were considered to be defiling in the temple.  John gives us the detail that Jesus made a whip of cords, giving us an image of His decisive and strong action here.  It is also here in John's account that we're told the disciples remembered the words of the Psalm:  "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up" (Psalm 69:9), also giving us a picture of the strength and energy of Jesus.  My study Bible reminds us that the cleansing of the temple points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  Additionally, as each person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it is a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  Jesus' energetic and decisive response is reminiscent of His language illustrating decisive action to separate ourselves from sin (see for example Matthew 18:8-9).

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.   As Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged by the religious leaders.  My study Bible reminds us that by the time of John's Gospel, early Jewish Christians had been subject to persecution.  Hence the term "the Jews" is used most often as a political term here, and does not mean the Jewish people.  It is most frequently used specifically to refer to the Jewish leadership at the time of Christ.  In this case, it's referring to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  We would do well to remember that Jesus and all of His disciples, including the author of this Gospel, were Jews.  My study Bible comments that, as Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, HE answers in a hidden way  the ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.  These words, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" will be twisted and used against Him by false witnesses at His trial (Matthew 26:60-61).

 

Today's reading gives us an image of Christ that is dynamic and powerful.  In the cleansing of the temple, it shows Him as a man who is ready to take decisive action, and who can use strength for the right purposes.  Many people seem to get the impression from Christ's preaching, such as in the Sermon on the Mount (where we are taught, for example, to pray for our enemies), that Jesus was a man of very passive nature.  But to see Christ this way is not to understand Him or His strength, or even His teaching in a full perspective.  To know Christ is to know the great and true passion and dynamism in Him, even in the way that the disciples understand the line from the Psalm, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."   In Matthew 5:5, we read iJesus teaching (in NKJV English), "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  In Matthew 11:29, we read Him saying, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."    "Meek" in the first case, and "gentle" in the second case, are both translated from the same Greek word.  That word is πραΰς/prays (pronounced pra-EES).  This can also mean humble, but it is more than that.  It indicates not weakness, as is often imaged by English translations, but rather God's exercising strength under God's control.  That is (according to HELPS Word-Studies), "demonstrating power without undue harshness."  This kind of gentleness is a blend of both reserve and strength.  So John's picture of the dynamic Jesus here gives us a fullness of Christ we're apt to miss at times.  Although He comes into the world as a human being without social or material power, He is the Incarnate Son.  As such, He manifests and pronounces judgment and justice.  Therefore His actions in the temple represent this, as do His powerful words to the religious leaders as well -- see Matthew 23 for His vivid critique of their habits.  This is not a shrinking violet, not the meekness of someone who shows any fear whatsoever, but the supreme confidence of One who takes absolute nature and strength and judgment from God (and who is God), and One who has come into the world to show us what that is ("He who has seen Me has seen the Father" - John 14:9).  If we are to model Christ in our lives, we must take an understanding from the fullness of what we are taught in the Gospels, and our understanding must come not from contradiction between strength and meekness, but from a comprehension of what grace is and does, and the power of God's truth and judgment.  Moreover, the phrase "strength under control" could serve as a model for what real discipleship will make of us.  Above all, we rely on God, as does Jesus in the example He sets before us.  This is where we take confidence, and where Christ derives His supreme confidence.  In one other example of this we might note, when Jesus is arrested in Gethsemane, He says to His disciple who took up a sword, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?" (Matthew 26:52-54).  In citing the "more than twelve legions of angels" Jesus reminds us all of who He is, of His strength that He has available to Him.  But we are given to understand yet again that He is the Son of Man, on a mission, and that mission must be fulfilled as the supreme command for Him; it is the line He will not cross.  Let us understand meekness and gentleness not as weakness but as power under grace, strength under God's command -- a reserve that knows its boundaries and mission, with discipline and ultimate service.  Let us not be like those who cannot see for their blindness to God's grace.

 

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.

 

 

 

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.

Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said to this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said

 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 to this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
 
- John 2:13–22 

 

In yesterday's reading, we were given the sixth and seventh days of Jesus' ministry:   On the sixth day given in John's Gospel, there was a wedding in Cana of Galiliee, 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 (on the seventh day in John's Gospel) 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."   What is remarkable about this passage is that in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke this episode appears at the end of Christ's ministry, at the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  But John places it squarely at the beginning of Jesus' ministry.  There are some patristic writers who teach that Christ, in fact, performed this act twice.   Also, this is the first of three Passover festivals that Jesus attends according to John's Gospel.  To explain this event, we need to understand that those who sold oxen and sheep and doves were trading in live animals which were to be used for sacrifices.  The money changers doing business were trading Roman coins for Jewish coins.  Roman coins, bearing the image of Caesar, we considered to be defiling in the temple.   My study bible adds 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 to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it's also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  The disciples remembered Psalm 69:9:  "Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me."  

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 to this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  In this section of today's reading, we should understand that the term Jews, as used in John's Gospel, frequently is meant to refer specifically to the religious leaders.  In this case it refers to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  Since Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is being challenged by the religious leaders.  My study bible comments that as Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, He answers in a hidden way.  The ultimate sign given to the people will be His death and Resurrection. 

Let us first take note in today's reading of the several references to Scripture that we find.  There is first of all the quotation taken from Psalm 69:9:  "Zeal for your house has eaten me up."   This gives us an important flavor or hint about how Scripture works.  There is no time limit on it, and neither is it specifically limited to one set of experiences or another.  In other words, there are timeless truths to be found in it.  Moreover, so much of Scripture is prophetic that is not necessarily immediately understood as such.  When we read the psalms, we can frequently find ourselves in the psalm.  That is, so often in a normal course of systematic reading of the book of Psalms, we will find that the psalms are speaking for us.  It is as if the author of the Psalms has been through experiences that somehow prefigure our own, and in that moment we find the psalm expressing better than we can what we are going through, and framing it within our moment of faith, be it a crisis or an exaltation of joy in our love for God.  We cannot take Scripture outside of this role, for to do so is to miss the greatest substance of the text, and what distinguishes Scripture from all other types of literature.  There are modern voices that seem to clamour to do this (to limit each piece of literature to the specific time in which it was produced) but that is indeed a grave mistake, and outside of the tradition of the use of Scripture for thousands of years.  I would bet on tradition every time.  It is the Gospels themselves that teach us to understand and use Scripture in this way, given that so frequently Jesus Himself refers to the Old Testament Scripture and Himself as fulfillment of that Scripture.  Here in this particular reference, it is His disciples who later recognize in Scripture what was happening with their Lord in the temple.  And so may we come to recognize ourselves in what we read, and especially in the book of Psalms.  Next we find that Jesus has given a strange and mysterious saying to the religious leadership when questioned as to His authority to cleanse the temple.  He says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Jesus' own word requires of us -- as it did of the disciples then -- a mysterious kind of understanding within the image He gives.  Only later do they understand the fulfillment of this saying in Christ's Resurrection, and that He is referring to the temple of His body.  John adds:  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said to this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.   It's a little bit mysterious as to which "Scripture" John is referring, but it is clearly put together with "the word which Jesus had said."  No doubt there are several passages in Scripture which are seen as pointing to Christ's Resurrection.  St. Paul affirms the same thought when he writes that Jesus "was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures"  (1 Corinthians 15:4).  We say the same when we recite the Nicene Creed, and that "the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures."  When we are moved by Scripture, when we are moved by the words of Jesus in His teachings, in His parables, and in His discourses such as the final word to the disciples at the Last Supper which John gives us in this Gospel (John 14 - 16), we might hear words that move and comfort us in any time of need and inspiration.   In the Armenian Apostolic Church tradition, all of Scripture is called "the Breath of God."  In this title we recognize that all of it is the Word, the work of the Holy Spirit, just as in this Scripture in today's reading both "the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said" are fittingly juxtaposed together.    All of it is a timeless gift.  We should accept just as it has been given to us, and continue to find its meanings as has always been done.

Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up"

Creation of the heavenly lights - Mosaic, 1180s.  Monreale Cathedral, Palermo, Sicily

 

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

In our reading from yesterday, we read of the events of the sixth day (and the seventh) given of Christ's ministry:  the wedding at Cana, and the first sign of seven John includes in His Gospel.   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 Jesus' ministry.  But John places it right at the beginning, just after His first sign performed at the wedding in Cana, of turning the water to wine (see yesterday's reading, above).  Some Church Fathers teach that Christ performed this act twice.  We make note that this is the first Passover festival given in John's Gospel.  Altogether, He will attend three, and it is from this that we deduce Christ's ministry lasted three years.  The disciples remember the verse from Psalm 69:9.  Those who sell animals in the temple are selling them to pilgrims who must purchase them for sacrifice.  The money changers exchanged Roman coins for Jewish temple coins, as coins with the image of Caesar were considered to be defiling.  Those who sold doves did so to the poor, who could afford only the smallest sacrifice.

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 since Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged.  In John's Gospel, the term Jews most often refers specifically to the leaders; in this case, my study bible says, it refers to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, and so He answers in a hidden way.  The ultimate sign given will be His death and Resurrection.

The psalm verse that the disciples remember is taken from Psalm 69, verse 9.  If we read it in context (verses 8 and 9 in full), it reads:  "I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children;  because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me."  In the full sense of the psalm verses, we will read later on in John's Gospel of the antagonism from Jesus' brothers (that is, those who are most likely stepbrothers -- sons by a previous marriage of Joseph, or cousins).  And the zeal with which Jesus approaches the temple as a house of prayer results in the reproaches from those who fail to honor the Father by making it a house of merchandise.  Therefore, if we follow Christ, we should also understand that our faith is not a faith of "merchandise."  It is not a sense of material commodities to be bought and sold, and belonging to this person or that one.  We do not purchase our faith with nominal good deeds, and even our most hallowed and cherished of rituals do not retain their meaning for us without a prayerful understanding of what our life with God is all about.  Nobody "owns" the wisdom and holiness of the long tradition and history of God's covenant and promise, begun in the Old and fulfilled in the New.  We do not earn it, it is given to us as a gift of grace.  We can't purchase it; it's not for sale.  It must be cherished for what it is, it must be beloved to be truly valued properly.  John's Gospel immediately sets up for us two ways of seeing, which are in complete contrast.  This was introduced in the Prologue, which spoke of the Light that came into the world, and the darkness that can neither overcome it nor understand it.  This is what we see played out in today's reading.  Jesus has a way of seeing and being in the world, He is the Light that illumines for us the truth about God and God's love and communion with us.  We are either going to "get it" or fail to see it; either it is going to reach us somehow in our perceptions, or we dash it by the wayside, seeing everything as commodity, as merchandise.  And it is in fact in the way we see that things take on meaning and value.  Is a beautiful house the thing that gives our life worthiness?  Or is a tattered and old photo, filled with the meaning and presence of someone we love, something we cherish for that memory?  The smallest gift with love present remains a memory of something cherished, and the most expensive thing we can buy becomes worthless without meaning and with an empty and always-hungry heart.  Without the presence of that Light which illumines such depth of meanings and relatedness, life doesn't give us anything but merchandise.  And this is the root of the sacramental life that the entire Bible teaches us.  God gives us an abundance of life and all the good things God creates for us.  We have been reading John's first chapter and the first sign given, a full seven days of Jesus' ministry (up through yesterday's reading), paralleling the creation story in Genesis.  All of it tells us about the gifts of good things God gives us, the crowning of God's creation.  And our job as those who return that love is simply to return all the gifts to God so that they may be endowed with God's value, God's love, God's way for us to live and to grow in communion.  Without that, they are merchandise for which we toil.  With God, all of it become Eucharist, securing a deeper communion.  Let us consider Jesus' zeal, and His way that tells us that all of life and all of this world of creation and cosmos is more than just merchandise.  Help is always here to give us that light, and to lead the way out of what seems only meaningless.  Our own zeal may even at times bring reproach from those who cannot see the point, but we enter into a struggle into which we are invited, with Him.  The image above is a mosaic of the creation of the lights of the heavens, the stars and the planets.  Let us remember that He is the Light we need to find meaning in all of this creation, made for us.  None of it is merely "merchandise," it is filled with meaning, and a gift to us, for life.  Let us not be like spoiled children, but keep in mind that there is so much to learn about how we are to dwell in it, with His light.

Zeal for Your house has eaten me 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 the, "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, and Luke), the cleansing of the temple occurs at the end of Christ's ministry, in the beginning of Holy Week after Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  But John's Gospel gives us three Passover Festivals, from which we calculate the three years of Jesus' ministry.  Here in John's Gospel, the cleansing of the temple occurs right at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and some patristic commentators believe that Christ performed this act twice.  The disciples are remembering verses from Psalm 69:   "I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children; because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me."  John's Gospel establishes from the beginning Jesus' alienation from the leadership, and His scathing outrage at the practices that harm the poor.  The money changers exchanged Roman coins for temple coins, and surely do so at an inflated price in order to make their profits.  Those who sold animals did so for the pilgrims coming to the temple in Jerusalem for Passover to make their sacrifices; doves would have been a poor person's sacrifice, as opposed to a lamb or a goat.   (In the Greek, this word also means pigeon).   One suspects the services of those who sell the animals are particularly necessary for pilgrims who come from far away, to the "house of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah 56:7).  We recall from the synoptic Gospels that Jesus says, quoting from both Isaiah and Jeremiah:  "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves'" (Matthew 21:13.).

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 the, "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.  Once again, we must recall that the term the Jews is used as a political term in John's Gospel, meant to designate the religious leaders.  Here they demand a sign from Jesus that He has authority to cleanse the temple, a sign that He is the Christ.  He is not a Levitical priest, who would have historical temple duties to perform.  The chief priests and the elders demand to know what authority He has (see Matthew 21:23).   My study bible comments that as Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, He answers in a hidden way.  The one sign which will appear for all is that of His death and subsequent Resurrection; he will be raised in three days.

We notice how Scripture echoes and reflects off of itself, adding meaning and substance to each occurrence.  The disciples understand Jesus' actions when they recall various parts of Scripture.  They understand His saying, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up, after He has risen from the dead.    There is at once a timeless quality to Scripture and also a kind of omnipresence.  In every circumstance, a snippet of Scripture may spark an understanding or help us to derive a meaning from something happening in our lives.  What the psalmist wrote thousands of years ago may help us to understand a particularly difficult struggle we are encountering here today in our spiritual and worldly life.  A saying of Jesus may be quite mysterious to us, unless we find ourselves also plunged into a struggle for our faith in the midst of bad choices -- then we may find ourselves carrying our own crosses and come to know what it is to struggle for our faith and to rely on God in prayer as He did.  We note how in today's passage, the inspiration of wisdom acts both backwards and forward to illuminate the disciples:  they recall a line from Psalm 69 as Jesus cleanses the temple, which illuminates precisely where He is in His ministry, rejected (as we will later read in John's Gospel) by both family and the community leadership.  His saying about destroying the temple and building it up in three days remains mysterious to them --  until after the Resurrection, when the meaning is illuminated for them.  The timeless and omnipresence quality of the Scriptures work for us at all moments of our lives.  One passage may apply one day to illuminate a particular struggle we have.  The same passage may come back to us many years later, when we find ourselves yet again in the midst of struggle, but this time with more structure and experience to it, and yet the same lesson applies.  In Christ we find embodied the realities of the Scriptures of the Old Testament.  Particularly for the Fathers, those patristic commentators who built the theology of the Church, the fulfillment of type became an essential way to understand Scripture.  In the burning bush of Moses, for example (Exodus 3:1-5) is seen a "type" of the Virgin Mary:  a human being "embraced" in the Holy Spirit, and yet not consumed but giving birth to the Savior of all.   In our earlier reading in John, when Jesus tells Nathanael that he will see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, Jesus alludes to Himself as the Ladder dreamed of by Jacob (Genesis 28:12-15).  This is yet another fulfillment of "type" from the Old Testament.  Later on, in chapter 8, John's Gospel reports Jesus saying to the religious authorities, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (see John 8:48-59).  This is another reference to Himself and to His divine nature as both Son and Lord, unmistakably taken from the revelation to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-14), when God was revealed as I AM.  Therefore in order for us to understand the important nature of Scripture, we must cease to understand the Gospels simply as history books, or seek only to understand them as merely factual or historical text.  Scripture exists on many levels of reception and understanding, and it work within us on a spiritual basis, working with our own spiritual nature, an intersection of depth that includes many dimensions within us of experience, insight, wisdom, and personal growth.  In fact, how exactly that will happen for us is incalculable, and how many layers of meaning may be included for us also inestimable.  Our very spiritual nature, an echo and reflection of the One who created us, is also simply that mysterious, and meant to be entered into as a journey -- similar to the journey which the entire people of God entered into with Moses.  We are not the architects of that journey, much as we would like to take comfort in the idea that we are fully in charge of our lives.  The omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal reality of God will make its own plans and hold its own discoveries for us to find along the way, broadening and deepening what we are capable of understanding, and just who we might think we are.  And this is the purpose of Scripture, to take us to places where we really don't know what we're doing -- to places where we simply "don't know what we don't know" but have yet to discover.  We're not the ones in charge, and thus there is prayer, and -- Scripture, to help guide the way for our own journeys of struggle in faith.  This is the adventure of a lifetime, in truth, and more than we can imagine, if we but choose and ask to see it.  The disciples who follow Christ, and those countless ones who came before, all contributing in one way or another to our faith, desired fervently to see it.  In Luke's Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it" (Luke 10:23-24).  How many today are blind to what they don't know and do not seek to find?  Let your own life be a light, as John's Gospel will teach us to seek and dwell within.  Those who see only the material in life would have us be blind to all that gives meaning and depth; do not let such a "den of thieves" rob you of the beauty of light and life, even if your zeal is something they cannot comprehend.

Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me 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 the Gospel gave us its sixth day of Jesus' ministry.  On this day 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 (on the seventh day, completing the first week of His ministry) 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 occurs at the end of Jesus' ministry.  Here in John it is placed at the beginning, in the first of three Passover festivals that Jesus will attend.  There exist patristic teachings that this event occurred twice.  Those who sold oxen and sheep and doves were trading in live animals which were to be used for sacrifices.  The money changers were trading roman coins for Jewish coins.  As Roman coins bore the image of Caesar, they were considered to be defiling in the temple.  My study bible tells us that the cleansing of the temple points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  At the same time, each person is also considered a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), and therefore is a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of purely earthly matters; that is, we do nothing separately from God and God's purposes for our lives and the good of the soul.  The disciples recall 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.  First, we must once again note that in John's Gospel, the term the Jews is most frequently used to mean the leaders; it is accurate to think of the term as a kind of political one, denoting a certain party, in keeping with the events of the time of the writing of this Gospel (specifically the persecution of the followers of Jesus).  We recall once again that all the people in the Gospel are Jews, including Jesus, as well as the author of the Gospel, with very few exceptions.  Here John uses the term to refer in particular to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  Since Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged by them.  Jesus is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, and so He answers here in a hidden way that His apostles understand when they remembered that He had said this to them:  the ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.  It became an intrinsic part of their faith, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

We so often discount the effects and significance of language.  But illustrated in today's reading is the power of language, and especially of the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.   After each event described in today's reading, there is an important connection made by His disciples through memory.  In the first event described here, the cleansing of the temple, His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  And after the description of Jesus' confrontation with the leadership over His authority to cleanse the temple, the text tells us that 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.   Memory and language play an intrinsic role in faith, and in many ways.  The language of the Scriptures works in what we may term a poetic way, but even the word "poetic" isn't full of the true depth that is at work here.  The connections made between memory and the inspired language of the Scriptures, or of a beautiful service or hymn, and particularly the word of Christ Himself,  are infinite in their potential and their effect.  What we read in one passage today will open up for us tremendous new and faceted meanings every other time we read or hear them, depending on our place in life and what we may be capable of receiving.  That Christ Himself is the Word teaches us something of the power of language; that the Word uses words to speak into existence that which we understand as the very foundation of reality says more than one can write in a paragraph or two, and particularly with a limited capacity to understand the mysteries of God.  What we can know is that His is the word that keeps on giving.  For thousands of years, the Scriptures recalled here continue to feed, to inspire, to lead, to give direction and help and succor.  Gratefully, we can read John's Gospel and note that the author of the Gospel, and in the inspiration by the Spirit at work in all of it, gives us specific illustrations of just how the word works, how this language and memory works to help complete and fulfill our place in Christ's life for us, and in the entire framework of the Kingdom into which we are invited and may participate.  One cannot discount the power of word and memory, and its central importance to our faith.  The earliest founders of the Church, in the earliest centuries of its establishment, worked even article by article to establish meaning and to give us its theological underpinnings that lie hidden in plain sight, so to speak, in the language of the word we've been given.  For our purposes, however, it is more important to understand the power of memory at work with the connections that the Scripture makes within us, and how recollection plays such a role in our faith and even in defining who we are.  It all forms a part of the connectedness of the life we're given, and the greater abundance of life that we're promised.  It is how we may experience that Kingdom, how it will continually come to connect with our present experiences -- and how time is no obstacle to meaning, to connection, and even to the love present in the word.  Let us consider the ways in which we are given that which sustains us, builds us up, teaches us meaning, and in which we may also find ourselves at any moment.  It is all given in love, and its connections and memory continue to bring us what we need.