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 all out of the temple area where the sheep 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 to them, destroy this temple in three days. I will raise it up. The Jews said, this temple has been under construction for 46 years and 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 temple was the place where God dwelt.
In the tabernacle, there was the Ten Commandments, manna from the desert, and the rod of Aaron. It was about authority and rules and the nourishment that came from God’s presence in their life. All of this will be replaced by an individual who opens his mind, his heart, his soul to the indwelling presence of God. Jesus is the new temple. But more importantly, we need to believe that we also share in that role of being the presence of God in the center of a community of believers. Foreign Closing Prayer Father, throughout your ministry you long for people to reimagine the temple, to reimagine the relationship that God longs to have with us.
Open our curiosity, our wonder, our enthusiasm for what you’ve taught us, that we are truly the source of wisdom and truth for ourselves and our brothers and sisters when we trust in the reality of your presence within us. And we ask this in Jesus name, amen.
