The Gospel for the feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome is taken from 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 out of the temple area with the sheep and and the 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, destroy this temple in three days and I will raise it up. The Jews said, this temple has been under construction for 46 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 Scriptures and the word Jesus had spoken.

The image of the temple being corrupt is of a sobering realization that many times religion can become something that takes more from people than gives them anything. That often they’re burdened by religion. So the challenge is to find something radically free of that kind of corruption. And it’s found in a person, in Jesus. Jesus is the new temple. Jesus, a man filled with divinity, is the image of the church, and it is life giving.

Please ponder these images and then I will close with a prayer. Foreign closing prayer. Father, reveal to us the mystery of how you work in the world. You dwell within each of us as you dwell within Jesus and using us to be an instrument of bringing healing, forgiveness and joy and peace to people in the world. Bless us with this new image of church, a way of life rather than an institution. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.