3rd Sunday of Lent – 7th March 2021 – Jn 2,13-25
Radical Vision of Gods’ Presence
John’s story of Jesus cleansing the temple highlights the proclamation of Jesus’ radical vision of God’s presence among the people. This scene makes a claim for Jesus’ authority at the beginning of His ministry; an authority ultimately based in His identity as God’s Son. The temple is an important element for Jewish faith. It is the meeting place between the God of Israel and His people. All the ceremonies and sacrifices are offered during religious festivals and at special times in people’s lives, such as honouring a birth or thanksgiving for a harvest. Indeed, the temple is the place where human life and divine blessings met. In John’s Gospel, the body of Jesus is the new “holy place.” In the incarnation, God’s dwelling place is with human beings, as a human being.
First of all, Jesus reveals His zeal for God by cleansing the temple (2,13-17). This zeal distinguishes Him from the majority of temple pilgrims who participated in the temple’s sacred economy. The priests had established a profitable business of exchanging foreign money for Jewish currency, and also selling the animals needed for the sacrifices. This “religious market” that began as a convenience for the Jews who came from far to worship in the temple, in due time became the “convenience” for business, not for ministry. Jesus suddenly appears in the temple and cleanses it. He is careful not to destroy anyone’s property but He makes it clear that He is in command. He focuses on the activity of selling. What stands out is his identifying the temple as “my Father’s house.” This provides the clue for understanding the source of Jesus’ authority. The condition of the temple is a vivid indication of the spiritual condition of the nation. By disrupting the well-established and accepted economic practices of the temple, Jesus publicly reveals that he is more than a pilgrim visiting the temple. He is Son of the God who dwells in that temple, and has the authority to disrupt the temple’s usual activities.
When he cleansed the temple, Jesus also revealed His zeal by giving His life (2,18-22). As God’s zealous Son, Jesus is willing to endure any suffering or hardship that comes as a consequence of His intense devotion to God. It was logical for the religious leaders to ask Him to show the source of His authority. After all, they were the guardians of the Jewish faith, and they had a right to test any new prophet who appeared. Jesus uses the image of the temple to convey the truth: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” It is a statement that predicts His own death and resurrection.
Jesus offers a sign so outrageous and so incomprehensible that even His disciples remember and understand only after He was raised from the dead. In fact, their remembering and belief are placed together again in 2,22. They remembered what Jesus had said. They have seen it come to pass. They believed anew both in Scripture and in Jesus’ own prophetic word. But his enemies also remembered it and used it at His trial (Mt 26,59-61), and some of the people mocked Him with it when He was dying on the cross (Mt 27,40). Thus, the religious leaders remembered and believed in Jesus’ words much before the disciples. But only after the resurrection do the disciples fully affirm belief in Jesus as God’s authoritative representative. The resurrection is the sign “the Jews” had asked for, the sign of Jesus’ authority to speak and act for God.
