Jn 2:13-22
13Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. 15He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, 16and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” 17His disciples recalled the words of scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
TEMPLE: King David first thought of building a temple for God in Jerusalem, but he was, as a warrior, “a man of blood.” It fell on his son Solomon, who lived at a time of peace, to proceed with the project. With the temple, both political and religious authority was consolidated in Jerusalem. Solomon’s temple lasted until 587 BC, when it was destroyed by the Babylonians who also sent the inhabitants of Judah to exile.
Under Zerubbabel, the returnees began to rebuild the temple in 537 BC. This “second temple” was magnified by Herod the Great. Work started in 19 BC. In the Gospel, the people remark to Jesus that the project has been going on for 46 years. Finally completed, the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
In the Synoptic gospels, the cleansing of the temple happens in the last week of Jesus’ life. This precipitates Jesus’ condemnation as he is seen by the religious authorities as a threat to the temple. In John, zeal for the holiness of God’s house pushes Jesus to cleanse it of people who turn it to a marketplace. But it will cost him his life, just as figures of the past who were committed to the honor of God were persecuted: Phinehas (Nm 25:11), Elijah (1 Kgs 19:10), Mattathias (1 Mc 2:24-26). But the temple is now being replaced by the person of Jesus. Jesus does not just cleanse it; he replaces it with the temple of his body. Israel relates to God through its temple. The time has come for believers to relate to God through Jesus who is risen from the dead.