Sunday Series: November 9, 2014

This past Sunday, November 9, was an important feast in the Church calendar, more specifically the feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica. This is when we celebrate the foundation of the mother church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran. When people think of the Pope they think of St. Peter's but it is at St. John Lateran where the Bishop of Rome has his seat. Officially dedicated in the year 324, the first Pope to take up residency there was Pope St. Silvester I. When look at the foundation of the church, it is so clear how relevant Sunday's gospel was.

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.

There are a number of things I could talk about with this Gospel, and all of them have to deal with how Christ is the foundation of the Church. Let's start with what is most obvious. When the Pharisees asked Jesus to give a sign of his authority, he told them to destroy the temple and that he would raise it up in three days. Following the resurrection, Christ's disciples understood what he meant. The Body of Christ is the new temple. The Body of Christ is the Church. The Jews who did not understand this were left in confusion and disappointment, and they continued to think Jesus was speaking about Herod's Temple, which was destroyed in the year 70. The Body of Christ will never be destroyed.

Let us also look closely at Christ's actions in the first half of the Gospel. He drives out the venders and money-changers and overturns their tables. He had a right to do this. The temple was his Father's house, and it was being turned into a market. The Church is to provide salvation, not sell it. But I think what Christ does here as a much deeper meaning. The venders were selling the animals for sacrifice. By driving them out, Christ is preventing the people from animal sacrifice, and by preventing it he is undoing it. Christ is setting himself up as the new sacrifice. Through the shedding of his blood all sins will be washed away. This becomes ever so evident at the institution of the Eucharist at The Last Supper. The Eucharist, the precious Body and Blood, is the most perfect offering and through partaking of it we are cleansed. The Eucharist is at the center of our faith, for without the Christ's Sacrifice, we would not know where to go.