The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, Thursday, November 9, 2023

John 2, 13–22

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

“Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”  This is the Lord’s first visit to Jerusalem since his Baptism in the Jordan.  By this time he has been tempted in the desert after which he began to preach, and then called his first Apostles and performed his first miracles.  When he goes up to Jerusalem, then, some are watching him with great anticipation.

“He found in the Temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there.”  The enclosed courtyards outside the Temple itself were vast enough to hold numerous animals.  These were necessary for the sacrifices ordered by the Old Law.  The Temple worship depended on the sale of these animals.  In days gone by, before the Temple was built, people brought their own animals up to the tent where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and the priests sacrificed them.  But the Temple was built within a city, making the transport of animals through it by a long line of pilgrims very inconvenient for them and for the priests.  The trafficking of animals was therefore organized with those who raised them.  This meant that they would be brought in herds through the city, probably early in the morning, and kept in stalls within the Temple courtyards.  Money-changers who weighed and converted foreign coinage used to purchase these animals had a necessary role in this business.  Many Jews objected to the squalor and smell that resulted as well as the sheer mendacity on display, for the priests would get a percentage from the sellers in exchange for the privilege of doing business in the courtyards, but it was all inevitable given the requirements of the Old Law.

“He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.”  As the Lord begins his ministry he asserts his authority over the Temple: it is his Father’s house, and therefore his house.  His action signifies that the Temple sacrifices, and with it the Old Law, have come to an end and that a new era of grace, purchased by his Sacrifice, has arrived.  This is, in fact, a sign of the sign he will perform a few days before he consummated his Sacrifice.  “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”  He says this to the sellers of the doves but the message is meant for the priests who have authorized the sale of these birds.  The priests have been making the house of God a marketplace through their own purchase of the priesthood: Annas and Caiaphas paid for their positions and were not of the line of Aaron.  They have no care for the people.  They desire only power.  For them, the Jews are cattle and doves who are sacrificed so that they may enjoy their priesthood.  

“Zeal for your house will consume me.”  The verse is found in Psalm 69, 9, which begins, “Save me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul.”  Traditionally, this is David calling to God for help while surrounded with deadly peril.  He has incurred this danger because of his service to God: “For your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.”  All have turned against him: “I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons of my mother. For the zeal of your house has eaten me up.”  But David claims innocence and reveals the real cause of his persecution: “The reproaches of them that reproached you are fallen upon me.”  God’s enemies cannot harm God and so they seek to destroy his true servant.  From the very beginning, the Lord was teaching his Apostles about who he was, his mission, and his Passion and Death.  

“What sign can you show us for doing this?”  It might seem better if the Jews had demanded, instead, “What does this sign you are performing mean?”  But the question they do ask indicates that they understand very well what he is doing, reclaiming the Temple and abolishing sacrifice.  They demand a sign from heaven to justify what he is doing.  “Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  Now, they asked for a sign from heaven but they hear only of an earthly sign.  In fact, their lack of faith in God prevents them from thinking of spiritual realities and so they entirely miss his meaning: “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?”  Now, we should note here how St. John grounds his account historically.  He tells us exactly when this conversation occurred.  Herod began the rebuilding of the Temple in the year 20 B.C.  That means that according to our reckoning the Lord’s visit to Jerusalem occurred in 26 A.D.  

“But he was speaking about the Temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.”  St. John tells us that though the Apostles recalled the words of the verse from the Psalm, only after the .Resurrection did they only fully understood the meaning of the Psalm and what Jesus had done on that day.  We do this as well: very often only after the fact and looking back do we see the hand of God in our lives.

We celebrate today the Feast of the founding of the basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, built on land given to the Church in 311 by the Emperor Constantine.  Just as the Lord’s Body rose three days after hanging on the Cross, so this beautiful church was built a few years after the worst of the Roman persecutions.