Where is the temple of the Lord?
This Sunday we celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran
Basilica in Rome in 324 A.D., a church founded by the Emperor Constantine and
given to Sylvester, the bishop of Rome; it became the mother church of all Christian churches to
follow. Our readings therefore all
center on different images of temples, from the historical to the future
Jerusalem; and from the temple that was Jesus to the temple that is the Church
– and all of us – today.
Ezekiel borrows imagery from the book of Genesis that will
be echoed again, much later, in Revelation, thus creating a kind of continuity
over all human time. Ezekiel’s temple,
with water flowing out from it, is
divine in origin and life-giving, revealing God in God’s Creation. It is a vision filled with hope, a promise of
future restoration, of return to paradise… not ours to enjoy just yet, but one
day. Psalm 46 is similarly a song of
confidence, reminding listeners that no matter what form chaotic forces might
take, God in his holy dwelling will
be there to vainquish them, to restore order, multiplying the astounding things he has wrought upon earth. There, too, the waters of the river gladden the city of God…
Jesus is likewise present on earth to restore order, though
in this week’s gospel from John, he certainly seems first to be creating no
small amount of disorder, overturning the
tables of the moneychangers and driving
them out of the temple area. The
activities going on in the temple are not illegitimate: the Jews had to change their Roman coins for
Hebrew ones they could use in the temple area.
But Jesus is there to explain that the temple of his Body has come to be last and greatest sacrifice by
which all will be saved – thus, their temple is no longer necessary. Jesus is
the Holy of Holies, yet no one seems to understand this, not even his
disciples. It is only much later that his disciples will remember that he had said all this, and realize that, after his
Ascension, they have become God’s building, as Paul tells the
Corinthians, all building upon the same foundation, seeking the kind of union
only Jesus can create thanks to the Spirit dwelling within them.
The Feast of the Dedication is thus ultimately a celebration
of our identity as Church, and church; it is about our capacity to identify
ourselves as being members of the Body of Christ on earth, with Jesus dwelling
within us. The next time you enter Our
Lady of Mount Carmel and cross yourself, know that you are opening yourself to
the body, to be part of this body, so that as a community of many members, we
can live this bond that is church more fully, committed to a relationship with
Jesus, and with one another.
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
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