The Cleansing of the Temple (2:13-25) Part 2
Posted on May 30th 2010 in St. John's Gospel
The cleansing of the Temple is the second public act of Jesus and sets the tone for the rest of the Gospel. The explicit replacement of the Temple with Jesus Himself as the place to worship God will only be possible through the destruction of His Body on the Cross. Jesus seems to invite His persecutors to achieve this end and see what would happen. This glimpse of His inner conviction at the start of His public life emphasises that, though He preached a message of God’s mercy, the reality of judgement and opposition is never far behind. The opposition found in St John’s Gospel is something that is both humanly wilful and divinely predicted.
Jesus’ actions demonstrate that He is the gift that replaces the former one, a theme found in the Prologue: ‘though the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ’ (v17). The Evangelist explicitly mentions that the disciples remembered his words, thus demonstrating that the Old Testament finds its fullest meaning through the Resurrection of Jesus. The place to worship God is now the new Temple, Jesus Christ, and the Church understands itself as the Body of Christ. The Church then is the living subject to whom the whole Bible is entrusted, since the whole Bible itself looks to Jesus Christ.
The passage ends with the Evangelist pointing out the inadequacy of faith focused on signs alone. Jesus refuses to be caught up with this type of public religion. All authentic religion must stem from the pure heart’s response to the Word. The exterior preaching matched an interior purity. Jesus’ glory will remain largely hidden until His public crucifixion.
The Gospel now explains (chapters 3 and 4) three different contemporary responses to the Miracle at Cana, and the Cleansing of the Temple. The first is from the world of Judaism, Nicodemus a leading Jewish official who comes to visit Jesus at night; the second from the Samaritan woman, and the third a pagan official. Each has a particular journey of faith to overcome their own limitations in order to discover the full meaning of Jesus’ message.