The Lamb of God (Jn 2:13-25)
On the surface, the action of Jesus in the temple seems clear. He is cleansing the temple of the dealers who have lost a sense of the sacred. They have reduced the liturgical rituals to opportunities of personal profit.
We have the first point of confusion with the story when we consider the departure of the animals. They were essential for the ritual sacrifice that sought the continual renewal of the Covenant. This was the main sacred function of the Temple, sacrificial prayer to the Lord. Without the animals, the Temple was without a purpose.
We get a clue from John the Baptist’s earlier declaration, “Behold the Lamb of God.” (Jn 1:29) Now, Jesus is the sacrificial victim. He replaces the sacred Temple and its animal sacrifices with the temple of his body. In his death and resurrection, he not only is the saving sacrifice, he creates a new sense of the sacred far beyond the limits of the Temple’s walls. All creation is now the place of God’s sacred presence.
When the Pharisees claimed it took forty six years to build the Temple, Jesus goes into the deeper level with full force. Jesus was stating who he was, the Chosen One of God. In spite of their ultimate denial in his death, God would use their profanity to have the last word. That word would not be death but life. They would destroy him and, in that very death, God would reveal what Paul tells us in the second reading. “Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.” (I Cor 1:22) In the risen Christ, we are face to face with power and the wisdom of God.
The Jesus of John’s Gospel begins a journey where he will show us that foolishness and weakness of God are infinitely beyond all human wisdom and power. In this challenge to all human standards, Jesus, in this confrontation, will rise to victory beyond the constricted walls of all our temples and the blinded hearts of the Pharisees. Our personal limited faith wrapped in confusion must face the Lenten challenge. In these forty days of preparation, we are invited to be open to the crucified and risen Christ. He opens all of life as a gracious invitation to embrace the ever-present call to new life in God’s saving and merciful love. We now need to create our own cord to drive out all in our life that is opposing the truth of Jesus’ plea for us to enter the Mystery of Love.
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