Lent 3

Lent 3 (John 2:13-22)
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

God only ever authorized humanity to build one temple. That one temple was only ever a symbol of the true temple.

God revealed to Moses the pattern of the proto temple, the Tabernacle. The tabernacle was a moveable temple for a nomadic people. The design for the tabernacle was very detailed and very precise.

Four hundred years following the death of Moses, God authorized King Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem. Once again, God gave very specific and detailed instructions to build the temple.

King Solomon began the building project with the enthusiasm of his youthful faith. His dedication prayer is a wise and passionate expression of that faith. Sadly, as Solomon aged his passion for God cooled. His faith eroded. At the end of his long reign he had set the pattern of sin for the nation that would continue for 400 years.
That pattern of sin is religious syncretism and economic injustice.

God brought the Babylonians to destroy Solomon’s Temple at the time of the prophet Jeremiah. Seventy years later the scribe Nehemiah began to rebuild the temple. Some two hundred years later, Greek armies desecrated and damaged Nehemiah’s temple. In Jesus’ time, King Herod was completely rebuilding the Temple.

Herod’s temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was magnificent and massive. The pagan Romans held it in awe and considered it a symbol of their principle deity Jupiter, the father of the gods.

In Jesus’ day the Temple priests dominated and controlled the purpose of the Temple. Three priestly families ruled the temple as a personal fiefdom. They limited access to the Levites, the priestly tribe. They set the terms and conditions for the sacrifices.

First, they declared that the priest alone could determine whether an animal was acceptable for sacrifice. Since the Law commanded animal sacrifice as a offering for particular sins it allowed them to decide who could make a sin offering and who could not.

Second, they contracted the sale of acceptable sacrificial animals to a small group of merchants. They created Temple money that could only be spent in the temple.
Next, they declared Roman money was profane and unacceptable for use in the temple to buy sacrificial animals.

Then, they contracted professional money changers to convert Roman money into temple money.

The process was corrupt from beginning to end. It favored a select group of merchants who paid the priests for their monopolies.

The temple priests would never approve an animal for sacrifice that did not have a temple bill of sale. In order to buy an approved animal you needed to change Roman money for Temple money. The exchange rate was entirely arbitrary and unfair. Then, when you went to buy the approved animal the price was many times more than the market price. And, to add insult to injury, the quality of the animal was very poor.

The priests not only cheated the worshippers they cheated God. They created a religious system that favored themselves and their wealthy business associates. They oppressed the people and generated cynicism and resentment for an institution that God designed to be a symbol of Divine Love and Holiness.

Forty years following the resurrection religious zealots would seize control of the Temple, murder the priests and go on to drive out the Romans from the city. Rome would retaliate by destroying the city and the temple. That temple has never been rebuilt.

God only ever authorized humanity to build one temple. That one temple was only ever a symbol of the true temple. The true temple is Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the pattern from which the temple in Jerusalem derived. Jesus is the one pure perfect sacrifice for sin. The priesthood Jesus authorized serves the basic function of all priests: to stand at the altar to offer a sacrifice to God. The New Covenant priesthood offers the one sacrifice Jesus offered. That sacrifice is Jesus himself. It is a sacrifice Jesus offer only once in time. And, it is a sacrifice that transcends time and encompasses all people who have ever lived and will ever live.

There is no need for a temple since Jesus died as the one pure perfect and sufficient sacrifice for sin. There is no need for a temple built of wood, stone, and precious metals and jewels.

Jesus is himself the eternal temple manifesting in this world through the sacrament of Holy Communion. As people hear the call to reunification with God the Father through God the son, we become an extension of the true temple.

God only authorized humanity to build one temple. Through human sin, that temple was destroyed three times. That temple was only a symbol of the true temple. The true temple is Jesus. Human sin attempted to destroy Jesus as it had destroyed the Temple of stone and wood.

As the true Temple Jesus is the dwelling place of God with humanity. As the true temple, Jesus is the real presence of the infinite and eternal God. As the true temple, Jesus is the embodiment of a love that has no beginning and has no end.
The true temple is the eternal love of God manifest in the singular form of a particular human being.

The Babylonians, the Greeks and the Romans destroyed the temple of stone and wood. No one can destroy the true temple. The true temple is the fullness of the eternal in the person of Jesus Christ.

All religion has value only as it supports the relationship with infinite love and eternal life. This is what Jesus offers us at the baptismal font and at the altar of sacrifice. This is the gift that never ends and just keeps getting better.
This is why Jesus told the temple priests:
Destroy this temple, the true and eternal temple, and I will raise it up in three days. My life is mine to lay down on the cross. And, my life is mine to transform death back into life for all people everywhere.