Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Jesus, The Holy of Holies

Friends, let us meditate on John the Baptist.
Young John, the son of the priest Zechariah,
grew up in and around the temple, acquainted with its rituals.
And he sensed that the true Messiah was on the horizon.
And so he went away from the old temple,
but he continued to act as a priest of a new Temple.

John was baptizing people in the Jordan. Why this ritual?
Well, in the Jerusalem temple, a pilgrim would cleanse himself in a mikvah,
a ritual bath, before he entered to make sacrifice.
John was acting as a priest, and the River Jordan was his mikvah.
But what—or, better, who—was the new Temple?
Jesus, who came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John.
The heavens were torn open and the Spirit,
like a dove, descended on him.

This is temple talk.
When the high priest entered into the Holy of Holies,
he was entering into the heavenly realm.
The Holy of Holies was the place where the “heavens were torn open”
and a humble human being could enter.
So the point is that Jesus is himself the new Holy of Holies.

+++When the messengers of John the Baptist had left,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John.
“What did you go out to the desert to see --
a reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine garments?
Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously
are found in royal palaces.
Then what did you go out to see? This is the one about whom Scripture says:

Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
he will prepare your way before you.

I tell you,
among those born of women, no one is greater than John;
yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”
(All the people who listened, including the tax collectors,
who were baptized with the baptism of John,
acknowledged the righteousness of God;
but the Pharisees and scholars of the law,
who were not baptized by him,
rejected the plan of God for themselves.)+++

The heavens were torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descended on him.

And upon the death of Jesus Christ, the curtain in the Jewish high temple was rent in two, from top to bottom.

Why doesn't Boobie give a little focus on that when talking to Ben Shapiro?

Your usual confusion here, again, is disappointing, albeit understandable.
You’ve been accustomed to looking at Holy scripture through the lens of your Bible.
Ben Shapiro, as with any Jew, has not that same perspective.
As you well know, your “rent in two” passage is an NT Gospel writing of the Christian Faith. But you are on the right track… but that track is a slow one.
You are well aware that the Crucifixion, and Resurrection discourses are New Testament writings only -
and that Jews do not recognize NT writings as Holy inspired by God.
They don’t even believe in an “OT” – as their scripture has always –only been the Jewish Bible.

And here they have a valid point – a challenge to our not-Catholic friends whose sola scriptura gambit rests on Tim’s ‘ALL scripture is God -Breathed”…
Well it’s not – and its undeniable St. Paul certainly was ONLY referring to the soon to be deemed OT scripture (like the Bereans) – and certainly not other writings that did not exist yet- or even his own letters- where n some he cites his own opinions… uninspired as they are- and for God, not by God.

”Thus says the Lords” in the OT is a bit different than a discussion in Philemon.

The NT IS NOT something you can use, verifiably, when discussing with Shapiro – or any Jews- concerning the demise of their Temple, and the coming of Jesus Christ.
We believe, and so know differently AS Christians-
but just the same, the Jews do not believe or find the NT a valid voice of God.

You do not get to convince Ben Shapiro to drop his life-long held faith beliefs because you show him the Crucifixion Gospels.

The proper tacking when discussing this with a Jew is to bring up THEIR scripture – Isaiah for example, and his prophetic voice in OT scritpure.
It is this- the Jews often overlook- in the same way our Not-Catholic friends overlook the Sacramental (and Marian) fundamentals of scripture that Catholics hold dear to.
(And If Christian can’t even agree with other Christians on Scriptural identity, how the hell are you gonna make it easy enough for an orthodox Jew to grasp?) But it’s right there for them- the replacement of the Temple- in their Jewish Bible as well… as mentioned Isaiah explains:

And it shall come to pass in the last days,
that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

And ironically enough – again - I would add even from TODAY’S own Advent Mass reading:

All who keep the sabbath free from profanation
and hold to my covenant,
Them I will bring to my holy mountain
and make joyful in my house of prayer;
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be acceptable on my altar,
For my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.
Thus says the Lord GOD,
who gathers the dispersed of Israel:
Others will I gather to him
besides those already gathered.

The Jews overlook the fact that God has told THEM that -
ALL PEOPLES- will be gathered by God- not only his originally chosen people.
And that God showed them the Temple system while once necessary,
would, and had, passed away... for a New Kingdom.
Using NT writing s the Jews DO NOT as scriptural= is ineffective- and so IS THE WRONG approach…

Slow baby steps is how the Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin – work.
The bishop understands the process.

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