March 4, 1988
C, 00mmentary
The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
:
The Lord whom,you seek will .........
suddenly come to his Temple
Gospel Commentary for Sunday, March 6, 1988
Third Sunday of Lent -- John 2:13-25
The Passover of the Jews was at hand. There
are three Passovers mentioned in the Gospel of
John. This is the first. The second will be mention-
ed just before the feeding of the multitude in John
6:4; the third in 13:1 just before the Last Supper.
John speaks of a Passover of the Jews but he prob-
ably has in mind a Christian Passover since he
associates his mention of the Passover with what
were to the Christians eucharistic happenings --
the feeding of the multitude and the Last Supper.
The Passover Lamb whose blood on the doorposts
protected the Israelites from death has become for
Christians the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world (Joh n 1:29). Even the mention of
this first Passover probably is a reference to the
Eucharist, since John has just given his readers the
miracle of Cana with its emphasis on the good
wine -- probably the Eucharist, and follows it with
a reference to the bodily resurrection of Jesus in
2:21-22. For John the resurrection is the result of
the Eucharist: "The one who eats my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise
him up on the last day."
Our gospel today is the cleansing of the tem-
ple. It is probable that Jesus went to Jerusalem
every year for the Feast of the Passover as many
pious Jews did. The gospel for Passion Sunday
will show us something about this annual
pffgrimage of which Jesus' triumphal entry into
Jerusalem was a part. It is on that occasion that
Jesus, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, goes to the
temple and cleans it out as he does here in today's
gospel taken from John. In other words, John
places this incident at the beginning of Jesus'
ministry while the other gospels place it at the end
where, at least to our way of thinking, it fits better.
We know that in the Gospel of John the divinity of
Jesus is much more evident in the words and
deeds of Jesus than in the other gospels. Also,
while in the other gospels the center of Jesus' ac-
tivity is in the city of Capernaum, in John he
spends much of his time in Jerusalem. Thus John
has Jesus coming to Jerusalem already at the begin-
ning of his public life rather than only at the end.
It is as if he has in mind the words of Malachy
3:1-2: "Behold, I send my messenger to prepare
the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek
will suddenly come to his temple .... But who
can endure the day of his coming, and who can
stand when he appears?" The messenger is John
the Baptizer. The Lord is Jesus. The reference to
"who can endure the day of his coming" and
"who can stand when he appears" must have been
in the mind of John as he composed the gospel as
e have it. Chapter one had dealt with the
essenger, John the Baptizer. Chapter 2 deals with
le Lord coming to his temple at whose coming no
ne can stand. Malachy adds in 3:3 "He will
urify the sons of Levi... till they present right
offerings to the Lord." In view of the probability
that his action of Jesus is directed more against the
chief priests (sons of Levi) of the temple rather
than against the merchants, Mal. 3:3 is an ap-
propriate background to this temple cleansing.
This is how our gospel authors and other
theologians used the Old Testament scriptures,
ever finding new ways to apply them to their cur-
rent situation.
We should not think of this buying and selling
going on within the temple itself but only in one
of the outer courts. The animals being sold were
those needed for the sacrificial offerings. The
sheep and oxen for those who could afford them;
the pigeons for the offerings of the poor. Luke 2:24
places Mary and Joseph among the poor when he
has them offering "a pair of turtledoves or two
young pigeons," on their visit to the temple for
the purification of Mary. The money changers were
also a necessary function. Every adult male Jew
had to pay the head tax of a half-shekel annually to
the temple. Many would have done this at the an-
nual Passover pilgrimage. The money changers
facilitated the collection of this tax by changing
other money into the Tyrian half-shekel which was
the only money accepted in the temple. Perhaps it
did not have "graven images" on its face as did,
for example, the Roman denarius of Jesus' day.
The denarius had an engraving of the emperor
Tiberius on one side. Jesus himself paid this tax as
we see in Matthew 17:24-27. There Peter is told to
go catch a fish, his old occupation, and to take the
coin out of the mouth of the first fish he catches
and go pay the tax for Jesus and himself. For-
tunately the fish had the right change and no
money changer was needed.
If these were necessary functions why were
they driven out? We do not know. We may assume
that it was an attack on the chief priests who con-
trolled whatever went on in and around the tem-
ple. The sellers probably had to buy a concession
from these controllers of the temple. They may
also have taken some cream off the top of the pro-
fits. There is plenty of evidence that the chief
priests were the chief culprits in the death of Jesus
and such an action on the part of Jesus may have
brought about their deadly opposition. In this case
the placement of the temple cleansing at the end of
the ministry rather than at the beginning also fits
better, since the priests would quickly have done
away with Jesus after this affront to them and to
their temple. We do not know how much of this
incident is historical and how mttch is theology.
There is probably an historical nucleus which has
been developed through such texts as the one
quoted above from Malachy. Another such text is
Zechariah 14:21: "There shall no longer be a
trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that
day," and Zephaniah 1:11: "All the traders are no
more; all who weigh out silver are cut off."
After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the
gospel tells us today, the disciples remembered the
things he said and did and they took on new
meaning for them. In the Gospel of Luke it is Jesus
himself who teaches them that new meaning. In
the Gospel of John it is the Holy Spirit who brings
these things to mind. As we ponder the Scriptures
during Lent we ask the same Spirit to be our guide
not only in understanding them as the gospel
authors did but in applying them to our own lives.
The lesson we take from today's reading may well
be the zeal with which Jesus went "about his work
in purifying the temple. St. Paul reminds us in I
Cor. 3:16 that we are the temple of God and his
Spirit lives within us. Ephesians 2:21 speaks of the
whole Church being the temple of God. During
Lent we have set for ourselves the task of various
penitential practices. Our zeal in pursuing these is
our own way of purifying the temple which is
ourselves and through ourselves the temple which
is the whole Church.
Other readings for March 0: Exodus 20:1.17; I
Corinthians 1:22.25
Vatican Letter
St. Peter's Basilica is a major art museum
By AGOSTINO BONe
NC News Service'
VATICAN CITY (NC) -- St.
Peter's Basilica, besides being
the most important Catholic
church in the world, is a major
museum containing numerous
. objects of religious, historical
and artistic value.
The building itself is a world
treasure.
It is also the world's largest
tombstone, designed by some
of the most famous artists and
architects in Italian history.
The 535,000-square-foot in-
terior sits atop what Christian
tradition and a wealth of ar-
cheological evidence says is the
grave of St. Peter, the fisherman
chosen by Christ as the first
pope.
Its history is tied to popes,
Roman emperors, kings and
,'" Catholic doctrine.
And a visit is absolutely free
as it is a functioning church
with daily Masses. People can
also go to confession in several
different languages.
Guided tours in English and
several other languages are also
free. Visitors can sign up at the
Pilgrims' Service desk in the
vestibule to the right of the
main entrance.
Inside, the most famous art
work is "The Pieta,"
Michelangelo's marble statue of
a tender, sorrowful Mary
holding the limp body of her
dead son, Jesus. The statue,
completed in 1499 when
Michelangelo was 24, is the on-
ly sculpture signed by the artist
who inscribed his name on a
ribbon falling from Mary's left
shoulder.
Parts of the statue were
destroyed in 1972 when a man
attacked it with a hammer. The
statue has since been restored
and is now protected by bullet-
proof glass.
Michelangelo also designed
the 445-foot-high dome over the
papal altar in the center of the
:church. As was common at the
,time, artists doubled 'as ar-
chitects.
The artist most represented in
the basilica is Gian Lorenzo
Bernini, 17th century sculptor.
He finished the architectural
work on the basilica and also
designed St. Peter's Square and
its surrounding eliptical-
shaped colonnade.
Bernini also sculpted several
marble statues of popes in hum-
ble prayer or seated in the pomp
of their thrones and bedecked
with brocaded robes, in keep-
ing with the times when popes
were also kings. In stark con-
trast is his marble statue of the
austere St. Longinus in a loose-
ly draped robe holding his
', Roman centurion's lance. St.
i Longinus is the Roman soldier
who pierced Christ's side while
he was on the cross. The cen-
turion later converted to Chris-
tianity.
BUT THE BERNINI work
which first attracts visitors' at-
tention is his huge 96-foot-high
bronze canopy, called the
"baldacchino," above the
papal altar in .the center of the
church. The baldacchino was
built for Pope Urban VIII and
contains numerous bees on the
bronze and marble coats of arms
and banners decorating the I
'canopy. Bees were the symbol '
I of the Barberini family of which
Pope Urban was a member.
The bronze for the canopy
were taken from the Pantheon,
the most important religious
shrine in the Roman Empire,
built in the first century.
The Pantheon, now a
museum, is the oldest function-
ing building in Rome. o
The altar under the canopy is
a slab of Greek marble taken
from the forum of the first-
century Roman Emperor Nerva.
Bernini also created the
bronze sculptures and designs
at the back of the church sur-
rounding the wooden Chair of
St. Peter. Tradition says this is
the episcopal chair used by
Peter, but many historians now
believe it is a chair given to
Pope John VIII in 875 by the
Emperor Charles the Bald.
Other famous artists
associated with the basilica are
the Renaissance painter
Raphael, who was involved in
the architectural design, and
the 18th century sculptor An-
tonio Canova.
Canova designed a monu-
ment, near the entrance
dedicated to the Stuart family,
the Catholic royal family Of
Scotland exiled to Rome near
the end of the 17th century. A
century later, a descendant of
the Stuarts became a cardinal
and was put in charge of the
basilica.
Another monument, this one
by 17th century sculptor Carlo
Fontana, is dedicated to
another member of European
royalty, Christina of Sweden. In
1655 she renounced the throne
and her Lutheran faith to con-
vert to Catholicism. She lived
in Rome until her death in
1689.
Walking in the basilica also
uts one in the footsteps of the
ishops of the First and Second
Vatican Councils, which
together defined the church
doctrine that the pope in con-
junction with the world college
of bishops is infallible when
speaking on matters of faith and
morals. Both councils, held a
century apart, took place in the
basilica.
But the basilica is basically a
' monument to St. Peter. A side
altar, near the baldacchino,
See VATICAN page 16
