THE TEXT BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPTION OF THE VIDEO COMMENTARY BY FR. FERNANDO ARMELLINI

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.”

A good Sunday for all brothers and sisters.

The evangelical text of today tells us an episode that leaves us somewhat bewildered. An episode by Jesus that could even be taken as disagreeable. We did not expect this gesture from Jesus. We have always imagined him as a sweet, tender person, affectionate with all. He takes a very hard position against those who are administering the religious life in the temple of Jerusalem, but actually they were desecrating the temple of the Lord. We are a little baffled in front of this hard gesture that Jesus makes, in fact, if we imagine him entering today, furious with the whip in certain temples, where there is still a relationship between faith and money … Or perhaps in certain religious settings where adherence to Christ serves some to make a career, to connect with the great ones of this world to obtain recognition and favors …if Jesus entered with the whip in these environments…. Or perhaps also in certain lay temples where the ‘god’ money is worshiped, where there is deception, where the exploitation of poor countries, or where wars, violence, injustices are planned… if Jesus came in with his whip … what shall we say? Even today we would be baffled.

About the significance of this provocative gesture of Jesus I am sure that my fellow priests will dwell heavily on today’s Sunday homily. It is not on this aspect that I want to insist, but in the profound, theological meaning of the choice made by Jesus. It is not, therefore, a purification of a certain religious form but a turning radically on the way of relating to God: a new temple. The ancient temple, the ancient religion, the ancient way of relating to the Lord are abandoned to begin a new way of relating to God.

It is on this aspect that we are going to reflect on this feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. To be able to understand this episode, I thought about setting it from the historical point of view, It is very important to understand where, how, when Jesus decides to make this gesture very provocative. At my back you can see the recreation of what was the temple of Jerusalem.

We have to distinguish the term ‘temple’ from the term ‘sanctuary’. The Gospels distinguish it very well. When we speak of ‘temple’ we mean the whole complex of porticos, courtyards, buildings, which were part of this enormous and magnificent structure, a true masterpiece of architecture and one of the wonders of the ancient world, built by King Herod the Great. Construction began on 19 BC, so when Jesus was born the construction of the temple of Jerusalem had already started 11 or 12 years before. Part of the temple is the sanctuary, the central part, where the people were convinced that they could find the Lord.The pagans could even enter the temple, but the most sacred part—the sanctuary— was reserved only for the Israelites, who belonged to the holy people. Let’s take a good look at the place where the episode took place. We see it very well in this reconstruction.

I will only comment on two very important parts: one is the ‘portico regio’, which extended in the south of the esplanade of the temple. Then we will see it better. And the other part of this temple is the majestic staircase which introduced to the ‘Gate of Coponius’. It was the most beautiful of the four doors which were in the western part of this esplanade. It was majestic, stupendous, so much so that the first Roman procurator, Coponius, gave his name to this door the year 6 after Christ.

To give you an idea of ​​the grandeur, the beauty of this esplanade, I will give you some figures. It was elevated from the Roman street (also this a work of Herod), the street that you see indicated. To the right and to the left of this street were businesses. This cobbled street was 8.5 meters wide. From this street until the entrance of the door the stands rose 17.5 meters, which is equivalent to a six-story building. But the most surprising thing is that the entrance; the steps had a width of 15.2 meters. Perhaps the number does not say much, but imagine the width of these tiers that equal the width of an avenue of four hands. This was for entrance to the royal portico of the temple of Jerusalem.

Why did I insist so much on the royal portico and this staircase? Because the episodewhich is narrated in the Gospel text of today is located precisely there. On the royal porch was all the trade of oxen, lambs, pigeons that Jesus threw out. And at the bottom of this staircase were four rooms, four compartments where the money changers operated. And now we can imagine Jesus descending from this ladder to pull down the tables of the money changers. We will try to enter this regal portico to have an idea about what happened that day when Jesus has purified the religion that the people practiced. We will go up this ladder to enter the temple.

Leaving this great staircase we see even four ground-floor boxes where the money changers were. We have already seen the street. We admire the height of this majestic step and we can appreciate the southern part, the one that looked at Siloam. And finally, we enter the great regal portico. It had a length of 185 meters. It had four rows of monolithic columns, 10 meters high, and then there were the Corinthian capitals that were six feet high. We admire this regal portico and also contemplate the sanctuary that is now seen. You can also see the smoke of holocausts. We are at Easter time when Jesus made this gesture, therefore, the temple was crowded with pilgrims who came to offer their sacrifices, and then to eat the lamb on Easter night.

This is the atmosphere when Jesus performed the purification of the temple. Let’s take a last look at this wonderful building that was the regal portico and descending of the regal porch we descend by that staircase because we want to see these four compartments that are at the base. We see it in the excavations of the archaeologists. We are going to get closer to see them better. They have been preserved; were part of the base of the staircase and it is in this place where the money changers operated. They exchanged the pilgrim’s money for the coins that could be used inside the esplanade of the temple.

In the esplanade of the temple no coins with the effigy of the emperor could be introduced. Therefore, those who wanted to offer a sacrifice, had to change the currencies that were used in the market in the city of Jerusalem. The commission was very large. In making the change there were big gains for those who managed this economy which revolved around the religious practice of the temple of Jerusalem. We know very well and by name who were the managers of this economy: Annas and Caiaphas and their families.

I will comment how we came to know that this was the place where the coins were exchanged. It’s very simple. When the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed—and these are the remnants of that destruction— the archaeologists have found in front of these compartments the ‘perutot’, that is, the currency which had no value outside the temple, but only within. Therefore, archaeologists say that if they have been found there, it is because it was there that they changed these coins. They are from the year 70 and you can observe the two types of coins: those of Tiberius, which were used in the markets of the city, and the ‘perutot’ that were only used in the temple of Jerusalem. Archaeologists found the ‘perotot’ there, where the money changers were.

We are in the year 70. This tells us that the gesture made by Jesus did not end with that trade in the name of religion. I think that after Jesus scattered the tables of the money changers, soon after, perhaps even before an hour the money changers would have returned to their posts. In fact, the same religious practice was still in force in the year 70. But the prophetic gesture made by Jesus left the mark. Not that he immediately changed everything,but it laid the foundations of the new religion, the new way of relating to God. After this introduction—which I believe is very important to concretely understand what Jesus has done—let’s move forward.

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” The evangelists tell us that this happened at the last Passover, it was the drop that made the cup pour; the authorities could not stand Jesus any longer and after this gesture they decided that he should be eliminated because it undermined the whole religious institution that the temple priests practiced. The evangelist John puts it at the beginning of his Gospel, because it is an emblematic sign of everything that will happen later, the relationship of Jesus with the temple of Jerusalem.

You can see at my back a representation of the many coins that were collected. For it was at the time of Easter when all the coins were taken to Jerusalem collected by the tax that all Israelite male had to pay for the temple. It was the moment when it was gathered throughout the Roman empire and these coins ended up in the temple. At that time the temple was considered the largest bank in the Middle East. Chapter 3 of the second book of the Maccabees mentions that the treasury of the temple of Jerusalem was the height of immense wealth, so much that the sum was incalculable (2 Mac 3:11). This is the introduction.

Let’s now turn to the text. “In the temple courts Jesus found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts….” There was an oracle of the prophet Malachi who had uttered harsh words against the priests and had announced the cleansing coming of the Lord.Things could not continue like this in the temple. And he had used very strong images: The Lord will purify “like fire in the foundry and that the lye used for bleaching” (Mal 3:2). The Baptist also used very strong phrases when he said: “The ax is already laid at the roots of the trees … he will burn the chaff in inextinguishable fire” (Mt 3:10 and 12).

There was a need for purification. Here we have the Messiah with whip in hand. It means that it is an unacceptable situation and must be radically changed. But let’s also say that the prophets and the people themselves expected a purification from the temple to recover the initial purity, less trade; that the lambs should conform to what the Torah prescribed. But, in fact, here we have a radical change about the way of relating to God. In fact, not even the disciples understood immediately what Jesus indicated by his gesture.

Let us keep in mind who Jesus throws out of the temple with the whip. We know that only ‘pure’ people could enter the temple and the sanctuary. And the impure, the sinners, the lepers, the lame, the paralytic, the blind were to remain outside. The Messiah enters with the whip in hand and casts out not the lepers, the lame, the paralytic, but throws out the people those who considered themselves ‘pure’ because that was not the purity that interested God. The Lord wants the purity of the heart. And those who considered themselves ‘pure’ because they were the administrators of the religious life, are expelled. The purity of the temple priests was simply hypocrisy. Jesus “drove all from the temple courts” ‘All’ means that he threw out sellers and buyers. For, many times, those who take advantage of a certain religious form, are those who hold and support a relationship with God that is not what God expects.

Then Jesus descends from the ladder which I have indicated to you, spreads the coins of the money changers, overturns the tables. What Jesus does is a great prophetic action. Then he goes to the dove vendors: “To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’” Jesus addresses those who sell pigeons, not those who sell oxen or lambs.

We wonder why he confronts those who sell pigeons? We know that pigeons were used by the poor. When Joseph and Mary go to the temple for purification, they do not offer a lamb because they were poor, they offer pigeons. And Jesus rebukes the dove vendors because a religious form just explodes the weakest, the poorest—the most simple, like that widow who spends all she has in the temple without knowing that her two little coins which she put in the coin bank of the temple would end up in the pockets of those who used religionto enrich themselves, to be well, to maintain a position of prestige.

Jesus, then, confronted the pigeons vendors. “The disciples remembered that text: ‘Zeal for your house will devour me.’” Even the disciples misunderstand the gestures and words of Jesus. The disciples are wrong because they think that Jesus’ ‘zeal’ is similar to that of the prophet Elijah. We remember that the prophet Elijah, went against the religious corruption of his people, and launched against the priests of Baal, filled with zeal for the Lord … and made them kill everyone. The disciples think of this zeal; and think that Jesus wants to restore the temple to its former splendor. They have not understood. It is not a matter of restoring the temple to its former splendor, but of ending that temple. They will understand it after Easter. Jesus quotes the psalm: “Zeal for your house has devoured me” (Ps 69:9).

It is important to understand this quotation from Jesus and what the psalmist is saying: ‘I am in love with the temple of the Lord and my own family do not understand me; and they persecute me because I am devoured by this passion, by this zeal for the temple of the Lord.’But Jesus modifies this quotation. He does not say that he is devoured by this zeal, but ‘this zeal for the temple of the Lord will devour me.’ It means that the passionate love that Jesus has for the true religion, the true relationship with God, it will devour him, that is, the zeal he has for the love of the Father and the way the Father wants to be worshiped by those who are his sons and daughters, who want to relate to him, this change of encountering with God will bring him to death, it will devour him.

“The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” It is an ambiguous saying what Jesus says: “Destroy this temple.” What was the temple – the sanctuary? It was the place of God’s presence. The place where the faithful could meet the Lord. Jesus uses an expression they could not understand. The disciples will understand after Easter what Jesus meant. This sanctuary must be undone. God, in three days, will build his sanctuary. That is, the place, the person, who is Jesus, the person where God can be really and immediately found. It is not in a material temple where God is found, but in the person of Jesus.

“In three days I will rebuild it.” In fact, it is on Easter that this new sanctuary was built. If we want to find the Lord, we will find Him in the person of Jesus. If we wish to worship the Father, we do it in this sanctuary that is the person of Jesus. The Jews did not understand what Jesus said to them: “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple…”. This number is important because it tells us the year in which this happened. The temple had begun to be built in the year 19 BC and 46 years later brings us to the year 28 after Christ, when Jesus is 35 years old. They understand the other way round: they think of material destruction, but Jesus is speaking of a change of religion. Not a material temple, but a new temple that is his person—the new sanctuary.

We know that in the old sanctuary not everyone could enter. In the temple of Jerusalem there were many barriers. After the entrance there was an esplanade where everyone could enter. But then there was a five-foot railing where the impure, the pagans, the sinners, the lame, the blind, the deaf could not pass. Only the pure Israelites could go beyond this railing. Here, too, women could enter, but then there was another railing where women could not pass, that is, the part reserved for men, therefore, another barrier. Then there was another barrier (which was not marked) that the men could not cross. Only the priests could pass. Then another barrier and a single priest could enter, beyond the veil that separated the saint from the saints.

When we think of this way of approaching God, it appears as a list of exclusionary barriers. This type of temple, this way of relating to God—says Jesus—must be thrown away.And when he rose from the dead, the disciples understood, they remembered the word of the Lord. To conclude this episode in which Jesus shows the fragility, all the inconsistency in this way of relating to God, to offer him sacrifices when God does not have any need for them, but only wants us to receive their gift, I want to bring to mind a text of the letter to the Ephesians, well-known text, where this new sanctuary is mentioned.

The letter to the Ephesians was written after a deep reflection of the Christian communityabout the Passover event. Referring to the pagans who could not enter the sanctuary because they were all these barriers, the letter says: “In Christ Jesus, and by his blood, you who were once far off, have come near. —and what follows is very beautiful—”For Christ is our peace, he who has made from the two people one; destroying in his own flesh the wall—the hatred—that separated us” (Eph 2:13-15). There is no longer any exclusion, no separation between people because they are all sons and daughters of God, and everyone can enter in this sanctuary that is the person of Jesus.

United to Christ all are admitted, entering into this community of those who welcome the proposal of man and the proposal of relationship with the Father which is made by Jesus, all these are admitted into the new sanctuary, “Now you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people: you are of the household of God” (Eph 2:19). The veil that separates the Holy of Holies, where God resided, has fallen. Now everything is the other way around. People have access to the Father’s house “Built on the foundation of the apostles, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone” (Eph 2:20). Then the first letter of Peter, second chapter, “as living stones, participate in the construction of a spiritual temple and form a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pe 2:5).

These are the new sacrifices, the new incenses that are pleasing to God. They are no longer those of the temple, as if people could offer something to God. Therefore, the only sacrifice acceptable to God is the work of love that each one offers, together with Christ. This is the perfume, and these are the only holocausts that are pleasing to the Lord. This gesture made by Jesus shows this radical transformation of how to relate to the Lord.

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.