[Catholic Caucus] The Sacred Page: What is the Church? Readings for the Feast of the Lateran Basilica

This year we have a special treat in the month of November, in that the Feast of the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the City of Rome and Mother Church of Christianity, falls on a Sunday. Usually only week-day mass goers get exposed to this wonderful feast and its Lectionary readings.

The Feast of St. John Lateran is unusual in the Church’s calendar, because it is a feast for a building rather than a saint or an event in salvation history. The Lateran Basilica—dedicated to Christ the Savior in honor of both John the Baptist and John the Evangelist—is the Cathedral of Rome, the mother church of the mother diocese of the world. Most people think St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican is the Cathedral of Rome, but it is not. St. John’s church, located on the Lateran hill (thus the unofficial name St. John Lateran), holds the cathedra or throne of the bishop of Rome. A new pope is not fully installed until he takes possession of St. John Lateran and sits in the cathedra of Rome.

The Readings for this great feast help us to move from gratitude for treasured physical buildings, like the Lateran Basilica, to reflection on the true nature of the Church. Although we call places of worship “churches,” in actual fact the true sanctuary or place of worship is the Body of Christ, both in the sense of Christ’s personal body and in his mystical body, which consists of every Christian united to him by faith and the sacraments.

The angel brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the façade of the temple was toward the east; the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple, south of the altar.

He led me outside by the north gate, and around to t he outer gate facing the east, where I saw water trickling from the southern side. He said to me, “This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah, and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh. Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.

Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

This very famous vision of the River of Life flowing out of the new temple at the end of time occurs near the end of the Book of Ezekiel, in a long section (Ezek 40–48) in which Ezekiel beholds a new temple and new land of Israel that God will establish in a future era of peace.

At the time of Ezekiel’s writing, the Jerusalem Temple lay in ruins, having been destroyed by the Babylonians, who also exiled the populace of Jerusalem to Babylon and environs. Ezekiel had preached to the people that this destruction and exile was the result of their sin and abominations against the LORD.

At the end of his book, however, Ezekiel writes to provide hope. He sees, essentially, a New Jerusalem and a New Temple, and this Temple has the attributes of the Garden of Eden, which was the original sanctuary at the beginning of time. Just as the river of life flowed out of the original Eden and from there watered the whole earth, so a river flows out of this New Temple sanctuary and brings life to the land of Israel, transforming the notoriously sterile Dead Sea region into a place of abundant life.

Ezekiel’s vision would be fulfilled in time, but in a way far different than he may have imagined.

R. (5) The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
Therefore, we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
R. The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.
R. The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

The LORD of hosts is with us;
our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,
the astounding things he has wrought on earth.
R. The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

Psalm 46 is a doxology of Zion, a song of praise of the Holy City Jerusalem, which was the special dwelling place of God and site of the Holy Temple. The Psalm refrain refers to “the waters of the river that gladden the city of God.” This refers to the Gihon, a gushing spring that poured out from a location far down the slope from the Temple Mount. The Gihon was the only continuously-flowing source of water for the city of Jerusalem. As such, the people of Jerusalem saw it as sacred, a gift from God and sign of God’s blessing to the city. The spring was named “Gihon” after one of the rivers of Eden (Gen 2:10) because the ancient Israelites looked at Jerusalem as a New Eden, a successor holy mountain to God’s original holy mountain. Although the Gihon was not excessively impressive, it was “pressed into service” as the sacred river that flowed out of the New Eden. The spring functioned very significantly in the history of the city. David captured Jerusalem originally by climbing with his men up the watershaft that provided access to the Gihon. Much later, David’s descendant King Hezekiah cut a kilometer-long tunnel through solid bedrock in order to force the Gihon to flow inside the city walls of Jerusalem, enabling the city to enjoy continuous fresh water during a siege. The tunnel is still there, and I have waded the entire distance through it twice. It exits into the Pool of Siloam, near the lowest point in the city of Jerusalem, the place where the Man Born Blind was healed in John 9.

Psalm 46 praises God for the security that he grants to Jerusalem, part of which was the Gihon, that provided water in time of siege. For us, this Psalm speaks of the Church. The Church also is a fortress-city, the “pillar and bulwark of the truth,” as St. Paul says; it is the temple founded on the rock against which “the gates of Hades” or “powers of death” will not prevail (Matt 16:18). The Church defends her children against spiritual attack, giving them sound doctrine and providing them the sacraments to strengthen them for warfare. Our “Gihon,” our stream of fresh water to sustain life in time of siege, is the Holy Spirit that flows within the Church, conveyed to us in the waters of Baptism and the flow of Eucharistic blood.

Brothers and sisters: You are God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

The relevance of the Second Reading is obvious. St. Paul uses temple language to describe the Church, something he does in a number of other places as well, notably Ephesians 2. The language of the temple is particularly poignant when writing to the Corinthians, since Corinth was renown for its massive temple to Venus/Aphrodite, which was a major center for cultic prostitution. By contrast the small early Christian community did not have massive buildings. St. Paul stresses that the body of believers itself is the dwelling of God, not buildings made of stone. The indwelling Holy Spirit—whose presence in the Old Covenant was limited to the Holy of Holies—now inhabits each believer, making them holy. The protection God once promised to Zion/Jerusalem now applies to the believer. He who destroys one of Christ’s members will fall under God’s wrath. This would apply to persecution: those who physically persecute the Christian community—we think of ISIS, the Taliban, Boko Haram—these groups already fall under the judgment of God. But the believer can also be destroyed by false teaching, and so those who teach should be very cautious: Jesus says it would be better for a millstone to be fastened around the neck and to be thrown into the sea, than to mislead one of his “little ones” into sin. This makes us ponder the fate of those entrusted with the religious education of youth, who teach skewed moral theology that derails the spiritual life of Catholic young people, or views of Scripture that undermine student’s faith in God’s revelation. These, too, are ways in which the temple is destroyed. May God defend his temple!

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, with the sheep and 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 and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, 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 Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

John gives the account of Jesus cleansing the Temple at the beginning of his ministry. Many think this is the same account as the Temple cleansing of Passion Week, and John has artificially moved it forward in his chronology, but with Blomberg and others I believe Jesus cleansed the Temple on multiple occasions, probably kicking out the money changers every time he came to Jerusalem.

In his concern for the Temple, Jesus exercises his role as Son of David, because the Son of David was entrusted with the responsibility for building and maintaining the “House of God,” the Temple (see 2 Sam 7:13). So Solomon built the first Temple, and subsequent Davidic Kings repaired and maintained it.

Jesus’ identification of his body as the New Temple is earth-shaking, because the Temple was so central to the faith of Israel. The Temple was the climax of salvation history and the embodiment of all God’s covenants. The people of Israel viewed the Temple as the successor of the Garden of Eden and the Ark of Noah, built on the site where Abraham had attempted to sacrifice Isaac and therefore received a divine oath of blessing (Gen 22:1-18). The Temple originally contained the sacred liturgical furnishings and vessels made by Moses, and so was the successor of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The Temple itself was thoroughly intertwined with God’s covenant with David, Israel’s king (2 Sam 7:1-17). So the covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David were all tied up with the Temple. It was the place of communion with God and the place of sacrifice. Nothing was higher than the Temple but God Himself.

Jesus identifies his body as the New Temple. Thus Ezekiel’s vision of the New Temple applies to Jesus’ body. Ezekiel saw a river flowing forth from the New Temple: this is the Holy Spirit that flows forth from the body of Jesus, signified at the cross by the flow of blood and water from the side of Christ (John 19:34). Ancient Jews would recognize the symbolism of blood and water, because the Temple Mount flowed with blood and water at festival time, when the excessive amounts of sacrificial blood were washed down the Temple plumbing system and expelled down the side of the Mount to mingle with the Brook Kidron that ran between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives.

The blood and water from the side of Christ is a sign of the River of Life flowing from the New Temple. This is Eucharistic blood and Baptismal water, since it is the sacraments that carry the Spirit to us. The sacraments are like a river flowing through human history through with the Spirit comes to us. All the sacraments have their origin in the sacrificial death of Christ.

The sacraments give us life and usher us into the New Eden, pictured in Ezekiel’s vision. Eden contained the Tree of Life, and we have restored access to it. The Tree of Life bore fruit from which one could eat and not die—we now have a food to eat which grants immortality, and that is the Eucharistic flesh and blood of Christ. Eden also had a river that brought life to the rest of the world—this is the Baptismal font, that regenerates the spiritually dead and makes them into children of God.

These Readings remind us that the Church is not a building. Nonetheless, as physical beings, we need space in which to worship, and our church buildings have tremendous symbolic, psychological, and practical importance. Physically speaking, our church buildings are the locations and spaces of the celebration of the sacraments. They “house” the River of Life (the baptismal font) and the fruit of the Tree of Life (the Eucharist). Therefore it is appropriate to have affection and even veneration for the holy structures that have served us so well through the centuries as sanctuaries where we come into contact with the living God. The Lateran Basilica stands as a symbol and reminder to us of the true nature of the Church as God’s Temple.

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY(RSV)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

First Reading:

From: Ezekiel 47:1--9, 12

The Spring in the Temple
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[1] Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. [2] Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate, that faces toward the east; and the water was coming out on the south side. [3] Going on eastward with a line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep. [4] Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the loins. [5] Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. [6] And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back along the bank of the river. [7] As I went back, I saw upon the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. [8] And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the stagnant waters of the sea, the water will become fresh

[9] And wherever the rivers goes every living creature which swarms will live, and there will be very many fish; for this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. [12] And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

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Commentary:

47:1-12. The vision of the spring flowing from the southern end of the temple and ending up in the Dead Sea revitalizing everything it meets on its way, is one of the most striking images in the book. Its content is reminiscent of the Vision of the bones (37:1-14): there, it was the Spirit that gave life to the dry bones; here, the water refreshes the dead waters The image of the river reminds one of how in paradise (Gen 2:10-14) the four branches of the river make the whole garden beautiful; here, a single river actually gives life. Although the vision contains references to actual places, such as the oasis of En-gedi (v. 10), the Dead Sea or the Arabah, it is symbolic and what it shows is that the renewal of the temple and its worship will bring all sorts of advantages to the whole people.

There is an echo of this vision in the New Testament in the words of Jesus recorded by St John: “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:37). Early Christian tradition links this text of St John with Ezekiel’s vision, seeing in the spring in the temple the waters of Baptism that flow from Christ who is life, or from Christ’s side on the altar of the cross: We go down to the water’s edge steeped in our sins and impurity, and we walk out of the water, our hearts filled with grace, fear of the Lord and hope in Jesus” ("Epistula Barnabae" 11, 10).

Second Reading:

From: 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17

Apostolic Ministry (Continuation)
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[9] (For we are God's) building. [10] According to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. [11] For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

[16] Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? [17] If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.

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Commentary:

9. "God's field, God's building". The Second Vatican Council uses these images to describe the inner nature of the Church: "The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God (cf. 1 Cor 3:9). on that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were the prophets and in which the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles has been brought about and will be brought about again (Rom 11:13-26). That land, like a choice vineyard, has been planted by the heavenly cultivator (Mt 21:33-43; cf. Is 5:1f). Yet the true vine is Christ who gives life and fruitfulness to the branches, that is, to us, who through the Church remain in Christ without whom we can do nothing (Jn 15:1-5).

"Often, too, the Church is called the building of God (1 Cor 3:9). The Lord compared himself to the stone which the builders rejected, but which was made into the cornerstone (Mt 21:42; cf. Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:7; Ps 117:22). on this foundation the Church is built by the Apostles (cf. 1 Cor 3:11) and from it the Church receives solidity and unity. This edifice has many names to describe it--the house of God in which his family dwells; the household of God in the Spirit (Eph 2:19:22); the dwelling-place of God among men (Rev 21:3); and, especially, the holy temple. This temple, symbolized in places of worship built out of stone, is praised by the Fathers and, not without reason, is compared in the liturgy to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. As living stones we here on earth are built into it (1 Pet 2:5). It is this holy city that is seen by John as it comes down out of heaven from God when the world is made anew, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband (Rev 21:1f)" ("Lumen Gentium", 6).

The Lord wants Christians to be living stones in this building and has associated them in the redemptive task of saving all mankind, so that in the course of their own redemption they might also be co-redeemers with him, completing "what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church" (Col 1:24): "Jesus has wanted every person to cooperate freely in the work of redemption [...]. The work of salvation is still going on, and each one of us has a part in it [...]. It is worth while putting our lives on the line, giving ourselves completely, so as to answer to the love and the confidence that God has placed in us. It is worthwhile, above all, to decide to take our Christian faith seriously" (St J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 129).

10-11. With a solemn introduction (" According to the commission of God given to me", which equipped him for his ministry), St Paul identifies what holds together the community at Corinth and its individual members—Jesus Christ, the essential basis for every spiritual building. Christ, as St Peter reminds us, is "the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:11-12).

Therefore, all genuine catechesis must be Christ-centered; it must all be focused on Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect man, and on his teachings. Catechesis, says John Paul II, means "to reveal in the Person of Christ the whole of God's eternal design reaching fulfillment in that Person. It is to seek to understand the meaning of Christ's actions and words and of the signs worked by him, for they simultaneously hide and reveal his mystery. Accordingly, the definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch but in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ; only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity [...]. We must therefore say that in catechesis it is Christ, the Incarnate Word and Son of God, who is taught--everything else is taught with reference to him--and it is Christ alone who teaches--anyone else teaches to the extent that he is Christ's spokesman, enabling Christ to teach with his lips" ("Catechesi Tradendae", 5-6).

Also, reflection on the fact that Jesus Christ is the foundation of the spiritual building, leads to the conclusion that a Christian "needs to be not only linked to Jesus Christ," St John Chrysostom points out, "but to adhere to him, to be finally attached to him: to be separated from him to the least degree is to be lost [...]. Notice all the comparisons the Apostle makes to explain this intimate unity: Jesus Christ is the head, we the body, for there can be no gap between head and body. He is the foundation, we the building; he is the vine, we the branches; he the spouse, we the bride; he is the shepherd, we the flock; he is the way along which we are to travel; we are the temple, and God dwells therein; he is the first-born, we his brethren; he is the heir and we co-heirs; he is life and we have life through him; he is the resurrection and we men are raised up; he is the light by which our darkness is dispelled" ("Hom. on 1 Cor", 8, "ad loc.").

16-17. These words apply to the individual Christian, and to the Church as a whole (cf. note on 1 Corinthians 3:9). The simile of the Church as God's temple, frequently used by St. Paul (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:16), shows that the Holy Trinity dwells in the soul in grace. As [Pope] Leo XIII reminds us, by means of grace God dwells in the just soul as in a temple, in a special and intimate manner" ("Divinum Illud Munus" 10). Although this indwelling is attributed to the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14:17; 1 Corinthians 6:19), it really comes about through the presence of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, because all actions of God which terminate outside God Himself (activities "ad extra") are to be seen as actions of the one, unique divine nature.

This sublime mystery which we could never have suspected, was revealed by Jesus Christ Himself: "The Spirit of truth [...] dwells with you, and will be in you [...]. If a man loves me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our home with him" (John 14:17-23). Although this is a matter which we never plumb in this life, some light is thrown on it if we remember that "the Divine Persons are said to inhabit as much as they are present to intellectual creatures in a way that transcends human comprehension, and are known and loved (cf. "Summa Theologiae", I, q. 43, a. 3) by them, yet in a way that is unique, purely supernatural, and in the deepest sanctuary of the soul" (Pope Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis, Dz-Sch", 35).

Reflection on this wonderful fact will help us to realize how extremely important it is to live in the grace of God, and to have a horror of mortal sin, which "destroys God's temple," depriving the soul of God's grace and friendship.

Moreover, through this indwelling a human being begins to receiving an inkling of what the Beatific Vision--Heaven--will be like, for "this admirable union [of indwelling] differs only by virtue of man's [present] condition and state from union whereby God fills the blessed [in Heaven]" ("Divinum Illud Munus", 11).

The presence of the Trinity in the soul in grace invites the Christian to try to have a more personal and direct relationship with God, whom we can seek at every moment in the depths of our souls: "Get to know the Holy Spirit, the Great Stranger, on whom depends your sanctification. Don't forget that you are God's temple. The Advocate is in the center of your soul: listen to Him and be docile to His inspirations" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 57).

Gospel Reading:

From: John 2:13-25

The Cleansing of the Temple
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[13] The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [14] In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. [15] And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. [16] And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade." [17] His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for thy house will consume me." [18] The Jews then said to him, "What signs have you to show us for doing this?" [19] Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." [20] The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" [21] But he spoke of the temple of his body. [22] When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

[23] Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; [24] but Jesus did not trust himself to them, [25] because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of mail; for he himself knew what was in man.

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Commentary:

13. "The Passover of the Jews": this is the most important religious feast for the people of the Old Testament, the prefiguring of the Christian Easter (cf. note on Mt 26:2). The Jewish Passover was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan and was followed by the festival week of the Azymes (unleavened bread). According to the Law of Moses, on those days every male Israelite had to "appear before the Lord God" (Ex 34:23; Deut 16:16)—hence the pious custom of making a pilgrimage to the temple of Jerusalem for these days, hence the crowd and all the vendors to supply the needs of the pilgrims; this trading gave rise to abuses.

"Jesus went up to Jerusalem": by doing this Jesus publicly shows that he observes the Law of God. But, as we shall soon see, he goes to the temple as the only-begotten Son who must ensure that all due decorum is observed in the House of the Father: "And from thenceforth Jesus, the Anointed of God, always begins by reforming abuses and purifying from sin; both when he visits his Church, and when he visits the Christian soul" (Origen, "Hom. on St John", 1).

14-15. Every Israelite had to offer as a passover sacrifice an ox or a sheep, if he was wealthy; or two turtle-doves or two pigeons if he was not (Lev 5:7). In addition he had to pay a half shekel every year, if he was twenty or over. The half shekel, which was the equivalent of a day's pay of a worker, was a special coin also called temple money (cf. Ex 30:13); other coins in circulation (denarii, drachmas, etc.) were considered impure because they bore the image of pagan rulers. During the Passover, because of the extra crowd, the outer courtyard of the temple, the court of the Gentiles, was full of traders, money-changers etc., and inevitably this meant noise, shouting, bellowing, manure etc. Prophets had already fulminated against these abuses, which grew up with the tacit permission of the temple authorities, who made money by permitting trading. Cf. notes on Mt 21:12-13 and Mk 11:15-18.

16-17. "Zeal for thy house will consume me"--a quotation from Psalm 69:10. Jesus has just made a most significant assertion: "You shall not make my Father's house a house of trade." By calling God his Father and acting so energetically, he is proclaiming he is the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus' zeal for his Father's glory did not escape the attention of his disciples who realized that what he did fulfilled the words of Psalm 69.

18-22. The temple of Jerusalem, which had replaced the previous sanctuary which the Israelites carried around in the wilderness, was the place selected by God during the Old Covenant to express his presence to the people in a special way. But this was only an imperfect anticipation or prefiguring of the full expression of his presence among men--the Word of God became man. Jesus, in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Col 2:9), is the full presence of God here on earth and, therefore, the true temple of God. Jesus identifies the temple of Jerusalem with his own body, and by so doing refers to one of the most profound truths about himself—the Incarnation. After the ascension of the Lord into heaven this real and very special presence of God among men is continued in the sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist.

Christ's words and actions as he expels the traders from the temple clearly show that he is the Messiah foretold by the prophets. That is why some Jews approach him and ask him to give a sign of his power (cf. Mt 16:1; Mk 8:11; Lk 11:29). Jesus' reply (v. 20), whose meaning remains obscure until his resurrection, the Jewish authorities try to turn into an attack on the temple--which merits the death penalty (Mt 26:61; Mk 14:58; cf. Jer 26:4ff); later they will taunt him with it when he is suffering on the cross (Mt 27:40; A 15:29) and later still in their case against St Stephen before the Sanhedrin they will claim to have heard him repeat it (Acts 6:14). There was nothing derogatory in what Jesus said, contrary to what false witnesses made out. The miracle he offers them, which he calls "the Sign of Jonah" (cf. Mt 16:4), will be his own resurrection on the third day. Jesus is using a metaphor, as if to say: Do you see this temple? Well, imagine if it were destroyed, would it not be a great miracle to rebuild it in three days? That is what I will do for you as a sign. For you will destroy my body, which is the true temple, and I will rise again on the third day.

No one understood what he was saying. Jews and disciples alike thought he was speaking about rebuilding the temple which Herod the Great had begun to construct in 19-20 B.C. Later on the disciples grasped what he really meant.

23-25. Jesus' miracles moved many to recognize that he had extraordinary, divine powers. But that falls short of perfect theological faith. Jesus knew their faith was limited, and that they were not very deeply attached to him: they were interested in him as a miracle-worker. This explains why he did not trust them (cf. Jn 6:15, 26) "Many people today are like that. They carry the name of faithful, but they are fickle and inconstant", comments Chrysostom ("Hom. on St John", 23, 1).

Jesus' knowledge of men's hearts is another sign of his divinity; for example, Nathanael and the Samaritan woman recognized him as the Messiah because they were convinced by the evidence of supernatural power he showed by reading their hearts (cf. Jn 1:49; 4:29).

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