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

Christ the Good Shepherd, 19th century, Russia

 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, in the sixth day given in St. John's Gospel, 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."  My study Bible comments that in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), this event, called the cleansing of the temple, occurs at the end of Christ's ministry, in the beginning of the final week of Christ's earthly life.  But here St. John places it at the beginning of Jesus' ministry.  There are some patristic teachers who maintain that Christ performed this act twice.  Those who sold oxen and sheep and doves were doing so in order to provide pilgrims with live animals for sacrifices.  The money changers would exchange Roman coins for Jewish coins, since Roman coins bore the image of Caesar, and were therefore considered to be defiling in the temple.  All of these were profiting from the people's need.  My study Bible says that Jesus' cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As every 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.  "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up" is a quotation 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 explains that because Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged.  It is very important to remember that in St. John's Gospel, the term Jews often refers specifically to the religious leaders.  (In fact, it can be translated "Judeans" as in the people from Jerusalem, in Judea.)  Here it is a reference to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  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 Christ's death and Resurrection.  

 

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  In St. John's Gospel there are three Passover feasts reported between the Lord's Baptism by John the Baptist, and His Passion (see also John 6:4; 11:55), which shows us that Christ's earthly ministry lasted three years.   

 

 In our early readings from this Gospel, St. John the Baptist introduces Jesus Christ to St. John's own disciples.  First, as he sees Jesus walking toward him, he exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  Then the following day, the Baptist makes the same exclamation while he stands with two of his disciples:  "Behold the Lamb of God!" (see John 1:29; 1:36).  In today's reading, we're given the first of three Passover festivals that this Gospel will cover.  Each time, Jesus attends during the course of His public ministry in the world, giving us (as my study Bible noted) three years of Jesus' earthly ministry.  So Passover plays a central and important role in this Gospel in a number of ways.  We first begin with the cleansing of the temple, and the exclamation of Jesus as He does so:   "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  His actions must have been so striking that the disciples aligned them with the words of the Psalm, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  His authority in the temple is questioned.  But behind the scenes we "watch," so to speak, in today's reading, is the reality once again of exactly who Christ is.  That reality is determined not so much by what people see (or think they see) but by the understanding of His disciples which in time will be conveyed by the Church.  The centrality of the Passover is important in this ministry of Christ, for those animals bought and sold in the temple, and the money exchanged, will sometime soon come to an end, even as Jesus physically halts and puts a stop to that trade Himself in the cleansing of the temple.  For the mind of the Church, and the mind of these disciples, will come to understand that Christ Himself is our Passover.  St. Paul will recognize this transition from the "old" temple to the new -- even as Jesus prophesies the destruction and Resurrection of the temple of His Body in today's reading.  St. Paul writes, "Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7).   Thus Jesus' prophecy of Resurrection we find in today's reading is reflected in the tie between Passover and Christ's own sacrifice for us all as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  This is reflected in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom as the Communion is prepared.  The Priest declares, "The Lamb of God is broken and distributed; broken but not divided. He is forever eaten yet is never consumed, but He sanctifies those who partake of Him."  This is all tied to Passover, as the original Passover -- the liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage to the gods who opposed the Lord of Israel (Exodus 12) -- is fulfilled in Christ, Liberator and Deliverer of all, making possible our redemption from the bondage of sin and death and the powers and principalities of which St. Paul speaks in Ephesians 6:12.  Christ Himself becomes the offering, the Paschal Lamb.  Another priestly prayer of the Divine Liturgy declares, "For You, Christ our God, are the Offerer and the Offered, the One who receives and is distributed."  St. John's Gospel sets this understanding out for us right from the beginning.  The Gospel sets the tone and the theme, so that we are all aware of where this is going, where Christ is headed, and why.  St. John makes it very clear that in the mind of the very early Church, all of this was present and understood, known to them all who were His first disciples.  In fact, in the Greek Church, there isn't a separate word for Easter; it is Pascha, the literal word for Passover.  Affirming this understanding, our Eucharist was instituted at the Passover meal by Christ.  Throughout St. John's Gospel, we will find this theme repeatedly expressed, just as it is in today's reading.  Let us pay attention, and understand.

 

 

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 we were given the sixth and seventh days of Christ's beginning 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."   John's Gospel has just given us the first seven days of Christ's ministry, beginning with the preaching of John the Baptist preparing the people for the Messiah.  In the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this event of cleansing the temple comes near the end of Christ's ministry, at the beginning of what we know as Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  But here in John, this event is placed at the beginning.  All together, John's Gospel includes three Passover feasts attended by Jesus in Jerusalem.  My study Bible notes that certain Church Fathers teach that, in fact, Jesus performed this act twice.  It is significant that, after the first seven days which parallel the seven days of creation in Genesis, Jesus' first act beyond Galilee is to go to the temple in Jerusalem and attend the Passover feast.  It is also the first confrontation withe religious leaders in John's Gospel.  Those who sold oxen and sheep and doves traded in live animals which would be used for sacrifices.  The money changers would trade Roman coins for Jewish coins.  Roman coins bore the image of Caesar (considered to be a god), and so were considered to be defiling in the temple.  My study Bible says that the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  It notes that each person is considered to be a temple of God in our faith (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), and so it works also as a sign that our own hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  The disciples recall the words from Psalm 69:9, testifying to Christ's cleansing of the temple as an act of ardent love for His Father's house.

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, these religious leaders question and challenge His authority to cleanse the temple.  It recalls to us that John's use of the term Jews in this Gospel most frequently refers specifically to the religious leaders.  In this case, it's referring to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  At the time this Gospel was written, we should recall, the followers of Jesus had begun to be persecuted and put out of the synagogues, and so "the Jews" is used as a sort of political term, like a label for one political party in a dispute.  All of the people in this event are Jews, including Jesus and His followers, among whom as witness is John the author of this Gospel.  My study Bible also notes here that Jesus is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, and so He answers these religious leaders in a hidden way.  Christ's ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.  

Here in this first Passover attendance by Jesus given in John's Gospel, and so shortly after the beginning of His ministry and the first week given the Gospel, we read the hints of the splits in the faith to come, when Christianity will branch off from Judaism in a separate path, with Christ at its center.  This is what my study Bible identifies as Christology.  That is, the center of Christianity, as it notes, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  In effect, and through this split beginning with the religious leaders, Christ is seen as the centerpiece of all history, as we read the Old Testament in the light of Christ, as a many-splendored, many voiced reference to Him as Messiah.  One such reference is the quotation from Psalm 69:9, recalled by the disciples after the cleansing of the temple, "Zeal for your house has eaten Me up."  Hence the disciples give this first example here in today's reading, in which the Scripture is understood as the voice of the Coming One, Jesus.  Although central to Christ's ministry are, of course, His conflicts with the religious leaders, these conflicts reflect His zeal for the faith and His love for the Father, not a rejection of the whole religious and spiritual history of Judaism.  Quite the opposite is true, we understand Christ to be the fulfillment of what is prophesied, the Lord represented in the Old Testament Scriptures.  John makes this clear right from the beginning when He identifies Christ in the first verse:  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).  The seven days given in the beginning of His ministry parallel the seven days of creation in Genesis 1:1-2:7.  If we understand Christology properly, we see that Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man, "energizes" human nature with divine energy, as my study Bible puts it, so that human nature is redeemed from sin and death and brought into union with God, thereby "deifying" humanity.  The whole of the Old Testament Scriptures testify to the activity of human beings after Creation, and God's interaction and leading through the patriarchs and prophets and the figures of Israel.  But Christ the prophesied Messiah comes to heal, to redeem.  The cleansing of the temple is a part of that healing and redemption, an example for us, as my study Bible noted in the notes referenced above, so that we also understand we are to be "cleansed" of what forms a stumbling block to our own spiritual healing.  Again, the Old Testament Scriptures point to humankind's wandering from God; so we also are drawn back by Christ when we go in the wrong direction.  Through Him, we are taught to put sin away and come to terms with our redemption so that we may more fully participate in His life.  Through Baptism, my study Bible says, we're given the opportunity to experience Christ's Incarnation in our lives.  Therefore our understanding of Christology (that is, Christ at the center of all things) means that because the Son of God became human, we all may participate in God.  And this is indeed the truth of redemption and grace.  Ultimately, the final sign of death and Resurrection comes out of Christ's zeal for us, His beloved -- those whom He came to redeem and to save for life with Him.