Third Sunday of Lent (March 11^th 2012)     

John 2:13-25

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Questions raised by this passage from the Gospel

1 Jesus purifies the temple by turning over the merchants' tables. In what way does preparation for Easter demand the overturning of tables in our lives?

2. The real temple that Jesus wishes to purify is the heart of the human person. In what way are we temples of God that are in need of purification?

3. The Gospel speaks of Jesus' zeal for the purification of the temple of God. Do we believe that he has similar zeal to purify us and bring us to the fullness of life?

4. Is new life possible without leaving behind the old ways? Can there be genuine Easter without the overturning of tables and the destruction of the old man?

"There is no Passover without the Angel of Death. There is no Passover without the Red Sea that saves the new man and destroys the old. There is no Easter without chasing away the money-changer, the consumer-mentality, the greed and possessiveness that are present in our hearts."

Jesus performs an act of purification

It is important to reflect on the reason why this Gospel passage is read on the third Sunday of Lent. The passage relates how Jesus overturned the tables of the money-changers in the temple. The other three Gospels place this scene near the end of Jesus' ministry, when the confrontation between Jesus and the religious authorities in Jerusalem was reaching its climax. In John's Gospel, by contrast, the scene appears early in Jesus' public life, immediately after the miracle at Cana. At Cana, Jesus takes the water of the purification jars of the Jews and turns it into wine. He makes his glory known, and his disciples begin to believe in him. Then Jesus heads directly to Jerusalem where the Passover is about to be celebrated. The Jewish Passover had various rituals that were performed in preparation for the feast. One of these involved cleaning the house and removing all traces of the old yeast for bread-making. This was to make way for the new yeast and the new bread of the Passover. We also have traditions of spring cleaning coming up to Easter. Jesus too performs an act of preparation for the Passover, and it is the classic mode of behaviour of a prophet. It is not that Jesus in this scene has lost control of himself and has gone crazy. No, he is performing a prophetic act. Many such acts are to be found in the Old Testament when the prophet comes in the name of God to denounce a situation.

Preparation for Easter demands that we overturn the money changer's tables in our lives

Jesus performs this act of purification when he discovers people at the temple selling cattle, sheep and pigeons, and changing money. All of these elements were actually necessary for the system of sacrifice and ritual that was in place at the temple in those days. Offerings had to be made using a particular coin which the money-changers provided. Jesus puts an end to all of this activity, saying, "Take all of this away, and stop turning my Father's house into a market". The disciples remember the words of Scripture "Zeal for your house will consume me". Zeal is a particular type of attentive regard for the things that belong to God. Such zeal demands that the things that are holy be purified of that which is not holy. Preparation for Easter demands a similar purification, and that is why we are reading this Gospel on Sunday. Lent is the season for overturning the money-changer's tables that are part of all of our lives. It is the time for throwing away the things that occupy the place of something else.

Jesus' attempts to purify the temple will result in the destruction of the temple that is his body

As we read on, we come to the climax of the text. The Jews were indignant because Jesus would have prevented anyone from doing business at the temple that day. They confront him about his destructive actions and Jesus replies in an enigmatic way: "Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up". The Jews are incredulous and remark that it has taken forty six years to build the temple. The Evangelist then tells us that Jesus has deepened the meaning of the discourse and is speaking of a different kind of temple, his own body. In this case it will be they who destroy the temple and it will be him who rebuilds it. What does the Evangelist wish to tell us in this story? Jesus is performing an act of purification. He is removing the things that have no place in the house of the Father. This destructive action on the part of Jesus is not acceptable to those who do not want the purification to take place. The battle of purification thus becomes a two-way battle in which the cleansing action of Jesus is resisted by the religious authorities. The combat will eventually result in the destruction of Jesus body, and the rebuilding of that sanctuary in three days.

The real temple that Jesus wishes to purify is the heart of man

The Gospel reading for Sunday ends with a sentence that might not seem very significant, but in fact it is of central importance. "During his stay in Jerusalem for the Passover many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he gave, but Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to them; he never needed evidence about any man; he could tell what a man had in him."

            Taking this final passage into consideration, the Gospel reading as a whole can be read in three stages. Firstly we hear of the zealous action of Jesus in purifying the temple. Secondly, Jesus' own body is understood as a temple, which means, by extension, that the  body of any person can be considered to be a temple. Thirdly, we are told that Jesus knows exactly what is in the heart of man.

            The real temple that is to be purified is the heart of man. We must live the experience of Lent by engaging ourselves in this conflict, which is not a trivial business. There is no Passover without the Angel of Death; there is no Passover without the Red Sea that saves the new man and destroys the old man; there is no Easter without chasing away the money-changer, the consumer-mentality, the greed and possessiveness that are present in our hearts. This Gospel from John is particularly directed against the tendency to make our lives places of profit and self-advantage. We must enter the fray against these tendencies! Easter is a time in which we are drawn to new life, and this process requires the loss and the purification of that which obstructs life.

Jesus has a burning zeal to purify our hearts of the things that obstruct life

We should not be surprised that Jesus is zealous and passionate in this scene from the Gospel. Jesus is the one who brings life, and life is incompatible with death. He brings truth, and truth is incompatible with deception. Jesus is absolutely uncompromising in the face of anything that keeps us from him. When we read this text, we must seek the strength and courage to overturn the money-changer's tables. We must rid our hearts of those things that are incompatible with Easter. Jesus performs this gesture of purification so that our bodies might become the temples destroyed and rebuilt, bodies that have passed through the stage of self-denial and sacrifice. There cannot be new life unless the old life is left behind. The human being, who loves material things, destroys the temple of God. But in God this temple can be rebuilt and resurrected. Let us allow ourselves to be changed by the discipline of Lent that strives to bring us to new life, and wishes to distance us from death and deception.