Destroy This Temple and in Three Days I Will Raise It Up

I think of Lent as a retreat for the whole Church.  Of course, each of us has to decide how to engage in the time-honored practices of deepening our prayer, fasting and abstaining from food, and almsgiving or acts of charity. But, it should never be lost that these ways in which we as individual members of the Body of Church live Lent, have an impact on the Church, the Body of Christ throughout the world.
           
In the second chapter of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover.  We know that the celebration of the Passover is to commemorate God’s saving His people Israel from a life of darkness and slavery in the land of Egypt.  Their “passing over” from slavery to new life of freedom and the ability to worship God without restraints was accomplished by the sacrifice of the lambs according to God’s directive and then sprinkling their blood on the door posts and lintels of their homes so that when the angel of death passed over Egypt to destroy the first born of man and beast alike their own first born would not share in this death (Exodus 12: 1-32)  God said to Moses to tell the parents of the Israelite children when their ask what this means, “This is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover…” (Ex 12: 27)  In the time of Jesus, the lambs of the Passover were sacrificed in the temple in Jerusalem. That was why the temple was so important for them, it was where sacrifice could be offered to the Lord.
           
When Jesus arrives in the temple, He finds that there are people who are selling oxen, sheep and doves, as well as money changers who are helping with the transactions. He  makes a whip out of cords and drives all of these people out of the temple area.  He overturns their tables and spills their coins, saying, “Take these out of here and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” (Jn 2: 16)  The Jews then say to Him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” (Jn 2: 18)  To this Jesus replies, “Dstroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn 2: 19)  The Jews do not understand what He means and they reply, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years and you will raise it up in three days?” (Jn 2:21)  St. John then writes, “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 and the word Jesus had spoken” (Jn 2: 21-22)
           
In speaking of His Body as the Temple that will be raised up, Our Lord shows the incredible impact His Resurrection on our salvation in seeing the glory and the identity of three different bodies: our own body, the Body of Christ the Church, and His  Eucharistic Body.
           
First, our own bodies.  Our physical bodies are created by God.  When we are created by Him, He creates us body and soul. At the moment of our conception, Almighty God gives us an immortal soul. We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual, “ (#362) and “The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the ‘form’ of the body. (#365)  This tells us that our bodies are so very important.  Each needs to treat his or her body with profound reverence for God created us out of love as male or female and for His plan and purpose.  We may not kill others, especially the innocent. We must cherish and respect the God-given gender assigned to us.  We may not abuse or manipulate our bodies or enable and encourage others to do so.  We may not destroy the vulnerable or the young or the unborn.  Rather, we are called to love them, teach them the truth about their identity, how they are wonderfully made by God. We must protect them from all who would do otherwise, from all who would mutilate, harm or lie to them.  We are called to promote the dignity and the well-being of all.  Our bodies are not our properties.  The bodies of others are not to be treated as objects or seen as problems in our lives.   Instead, we are to see them as true images of God who are to be cherished, protected and loved.  The assertion, “This is my body and I can do what I want with it”, leads to the destruction of the person asserting it and others who then are seen as obstacles to what this person wants.  As St Paul teaches, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?  You are not your own. You were bought with price. So glorify God in your body.” ( 1 Cor 6:19-20)
           
Second, the Body that is the Church.  St Paul also teaches us that the Church is the Body of Christ.  “…and he (the Father) has put all things under his(Christ’s) feet and has made him head over all things for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph 1:22-23)  This means that we must love and reverence the Church.  We must not see it as simply a human institution that is made up of sinful and imperfect people.  Rather we must see the Church as Christ’s Body, the way by which He works in the world.   That does not mean that we turn a blind eye to difficulties in then Church.  Did not Our Lord drive the money changers out of the temple?  With love and perseverance, we are called to work to make the Church an even more beautiful representation of Christ to the world.  I often think when I hear, “The problem with the Church is…”.   I could fill in that blank with the word “myself”.  I  must ask myself, “What have I done to grow in holiness? What have I done to live the teachings of Christ more full in my life”?  What have I done to help to do likewise.  Personal holiness is what truly reforms and transforms the Church.  We also must realize that the Church does not belong to us.  It is not for us to change or manipulate the Church to suit our own ideas or desires.  Instead, we are called to treat the Church as we would treat Christ.  Our love for the Church should compel us to recognize the primacy of the spiritual and the life of grace and, then to embrace it.  We can then see that our efforts to help the Church will not have any success if we do not dedicate ourselves to cooperating with the grace that God gives us primarily by the reception of the sacraments and prayer.  We see that growth in love for the Church brings us to growth in love for Christ Himself.  St. Joan of Arc, during her trial before she was martyred offered, “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know, they’re one and the same thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.” (Acts of theTrial of St. Joan of Arc)
           
This brings us, finally, to the third body to be considered –The Eucharistic Body of the Lord. This Body is the heart of the Church; this Body offered to the father on the altars of the Church is the source and summit of our life,  (Lumen Gentium #11)  The Holy Eucharist, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, makes present the saving Sacrifice of the Cross, provides the Paschal Banquet to which we are called to receive Christ Himself, and endures in our churches as the substantial Presence of Jesus to whom we owe adoration and love.  This Eucharistic Body is God Incarnate.  He is Emmanuel, Go-With-Us.  He is at once both Priest and Victim. The Eucharistic Body of the Lord is He before Whom we kneel in adoration, with Whom we offer ourselves in union with His Sacrifice, and Whom we receive in Holy Communion. It is no wonder that saints and popes have affirmed that the Church comes forth from the Eucharist and all of the Church’s action flow back to the Eucharistic Lord.
           
As we hear the Lord Jesus declare, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn 2:19), we believe that he is referring to His own Body. In saying this, He is speaking of His Resurrection from the tomb. We see then that in the raising  up of His Body, He raises us up from a life of sin and death and will raise us up bodily when He returns in glory.  He promises the continually raising up of His Body the Church as we members of His Body grow in holiness and fidelity to the Gospel.  Most especially, He lovingly tells us that in the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood He is raised up and the pledge of our future heavenly glory is offered to the world. Oh yes, He has raised up the Temple, His Body, in three days and He continues to raise it up every day for our salvation!  Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh