28 February 2027 · Latin Rite
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“Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”” John 2:19
On the Third Sunday of Lent Year B places two great signs side by side: the Law given on Sinai and the Temple cleansed in Jerusalem. The first reading begins not with a command but with a reminder of grace: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Only then come the Ten Words: no other gods, no idols, no misuse of God's name, keep holy the sabbath, honour father and mother, do not kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or covet. The commandments are not chains placed on slaves; they are the way of life for a people already set free. That is why the Psalm can sing that the law of the LORD is “perfect, reviving the soul,” more to be desired than gold, “sweeter also than honey.” The Church's response puts Peter's words on our lips: “Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.”
In the Gospel Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover and finds the Temple courts turned into a market: oxen, sheep and doves for sale, money changers at their tables. “Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple,” poured out the coins and overturned the tables: “Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!” The disciples remember the Psalm: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” This is not a loss of temper; it is a prophetic sign. Malachi had promised that the Lord would suddenly come to his temple to purify it, and now he has come. When the leaders demand a sign, Jesus gives a riddle: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They think of the stone building, forty-six years in the making. “But he was speaking of the temple of his body.” The true meeting place of God and humanity is no longer a building but the Body of Christ, destroyed on the cross and raised on the third day. Through baptism we are built into that Body; we become, in St Paul's words, God's temple.
St Paul tells us what sign we preach: “Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” The cross looks like weakness and folly, yet “God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.” Lent is the time to let Jesus cleanse the temple of our hearts: to overturn the tables where we bargain with God, drive out the idols of money, pleasure and pride, and keep his commandments with love. Where there are catechumens, the Church today reads the Year A Gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well and celebrates the First Scrutiny, praying that the elect may be freed from what is weak and sinful and filled with the living water of Christ. Both Gospels lead to the same place: the new temple, from which living water flows, is Jesus himself.
Theme: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Ten Words of freedom, the zeal of Jesus, the temple of his Body and the power of the cross.
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:2–3
““Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17
Apply: Pray through one commandment each day this week and ask how to keep it with love.
“It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” Psalm 69:9
“He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”” John 2:16–17
Apply: Name the table in your heart where you bargain with God, and let Jesus overturn it in confession.
“See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.” Malachi 3:1
“Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”” John 2:19
Apply: Spend ten minutes before the Blessed Sacrament this week, adoring the true temple.
“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple;” Psalm 19:7
“but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:23–24
Apply: Make the sign of the cross slowly and thoughtfully each morning, as a confession of faith.
God's commandments are the way of freedom; Jesus cleanses and fulfils.
The crucified and risen Body of Christ is the new temple, and we are built into it.
Take-home resolution: Make an examination of conscience with the Ten Commandments and go to confession before Easter.
Dear brothers and sisters, today's first reading begins: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Exodus 20:2). Before God gives a single commandment, he reminds Israel: I have set you free. The Ten Commandments are not chains. They are the road map of freedom.
That is why the Psalm can say the law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul, sweeter also than honey. And we answer with Peter: Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
In the Gospel Jesus goes into the Temple and finds a market. He makes a whip of cords, overturns the tables and says: stop making my Father's house a marketplace! (John 2:16). His disciples remember: zeal for your house will consume me.
Then he says: destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19). He was speaking of the temple of his body. The true meeting place of God and humanity is Jesus himself, crucified and risen. And by baptism we are built into him.
St Paul says: we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23–24). The cross looks weak, but it is stronger than all human strength.
This Lent, let Jesus walk into the temple of your heart. Let him overturn the tables where you bargain with God, drive out the idols, and make your heart a house of prayer. And let us pray for the elect at their scrutinies, that they may come to the living water at Easter. Amen.
Children, Jesus went to God's house and found people buying and selling and making noise. He said: this is my Father's house, a place to pray!
Our hearts are God's house too. Let us keep them clean by saying sorry and saying our prayers.
O God, author of every mercy and of all goodness, who in fasting, prayer and almsgiving have shown us a remedy for sin, look graciously on this confession of our lowliness, that we, who are bowed down by our conscience, may always be lifted up by your mercy. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. Let us also pray: Lord Jesus, zeal for your Father's house consumed you. Cleanse the temple of our hearts, drive out every idol, write your commandments on our hearts, and give the elect the living water of your Spirit. Amen.
This Third Sunday of Lent, in the Year B readings, puts three great signs of God’s presence before us: the Law, the Cross and the Temple. The Ten Commandments are given by a God who has already set his people at liberty. The Cross, a scandal to all human reckoning, is the power and wisdom of God. The Temple, the pride of Jerusalem, points to a body that will be destroyed and rise in three days.
Psalm 19 is the response, with its answer, “Lord, you have the words of everlasting life”. The readings are also about how the worship and the life of a believer fit together, and that question touches every Christian who has come to Lent wanting something to change. The key words are word, foolishness and temple.
Setting.
Israel has come out of Egypt and reached Sinai. God has offered a covenant: “you shall be my treasured possession” (19:5). Thunder and lightning have shaken the mountain. Now God speaks directly. Everything else in the Law of Moses comes through Moses; these words are given to all (20:19; Deuteronomy 5:22).
The same commandments are repeated, with some differences, in Deuteronomy 5:6–21. Scholars discuss how the text grew. The Church’s concern is with what it says, and with the place that Jesus himself gives to it (Matthew 19:17–19). The shorter form of today’s reading leaves out vv. 4–6 on images and vv. 9–11 on the sabbath rest.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Then God spoke all these words:” (20:1)
God speaks first. They are given as a word, and the people can answer. The Catechism notes that everything is said in the first person, “I”, and is addressed to a “you” (CCC 2063). The Hebrew “you” is singular: each one is addressed in person.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;” (20:2)
The most important verse, and it is not a command. Before any law comes the gift. These are not conditions for being rescued; they are the way of life of those already rescued. The Catechism says that the Decalogue must first be understood in the context of the Exodus (CCC 2057, 2061).
“but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (20:6)
The punishment spoken of in v. 5, to the third and fourth generation, is, as many commentators explain, about the span of one household living together. The steadfast love reaches past every horizon. Ezekiel 18:20 later makes clear that each person answers for his own sins.
“Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.” (20:8)
This is the longest commandment, and its rest extends even to slaves, animals and foreigners (v. 10). It is an early and striking protection of those with no power. Christians keep this commandment’s meaning on Sunday, the day of the Resurrection (CCC 2175–2176; St John Paul II, Dies Domini).
“Honor your father and your mother,” (20:12)
This opens the part about the neighbor. The words were spoken first to adults about aging parents, not only to children. It is also the first with a promise (Ephesians 6:2).
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;” (20:17)
The last commandment no judge could ever enforce, for it deals with what no court can see. The law ends in the heart, where Jeremiah said God would write it (Jeremiah 31:33).
How the Church reads it.
St Augustine, quoted by the Catechism, says that as charity comprises the two commandments, so the Ten Commandments are given on two tablets: three concern love of God and seven the love of neighbor (CCC 2067). When Jesus is asked about life, he points to them first: “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17), and sums up all in the two great commandments (CCC 2055). They bind Christians still (CCC 2068, 2072), because they express what it is to be human before God.
Setting.
Paul founded the church in Corinth, a busy Greek port city, and wrote to it about AD 54 or 55 from Ephesus (16:8). The community was splitting into parties around favorite leaders (1:12), and some were proud of their eloquence and knowledge. Paul’s answer is to put the Cross back in the center.
Crucifixion was the shameful death reserved for slaves and rebels. Cicero, a Roman orator, called it the most cruel and disgusting penalty. An old graffito scratched on a wall on the Palatine Hill in Rome, often dated around AD 200, shows a crucified figure with a donkey’s head, and mocks a Christian named Alexamenos for worshipping his god. So to proclaim a crucified man as Lord sounded absurd to everyone.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,” (1:22)
Paul, a Jew himself, is not mocking anyone. He names the two good things that people reach for: proof of God’s action and understanding of the world. Both are good, and either can become a way of setting terms for God. Jesus was asked for a sign, as in today’s Gospel (John 2:18).
“but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” (1:23)
The verb form “crucified” in Greek is a perfect passive: the Risen One remains the Crucified One. Paul’s preaching does not soften the shameful part.
“but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1:24)
Note the reply. To those who demand a sign of power, he gives power; to those seeking wisdom, wisdom. God gives them what they wanted, in a form they would never have looked for.
“For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (1:25)
A startling way of speaking. God is neither foolish nor weak. Paul means: what looks like foolishness and weakness in God’s action is greater than our best.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism turns to this text at a very difficult point. Faith in God the almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. It answers that God has revealed his almighty power in the most mysterious way, in the voluntary humiliation and Resurrection of his Son (CCC 272). St Ignatius of Antioch, on his way to martyrdom, wrote that the Cross is a stumbling block to those who do not believe, but to us salvation and eternal life (To the Ephesians 18, in substance). This is why a crucifix stands at the altar at Mass: we do not hide the very thing the world finds foolish.
Setting.
John places this event at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, soon after the wedding at Cana. Matthew, Mark and Luke place it in the last week of his life (Mark 11:15–17). Many scholars think there was one such event and that John placed it first for theological reasons, so that the whole Gospel is read in its light; some hold there were two. In either case the meaning is clear in John’s telling.
For the Passover, Jews came to Jerusalem by the thousand. Those travelling from afar needed animals for sacrifice that met the Law’s standards, and the half-shekel Temple offering (Exodus 30:13) was paid, according to later Jewish sources, in a particular coin. So the traders offered a real service. The problem was their presence in the Temple itself, probably in the large outer court where non-Jews were allowed to pray.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle.” (2:15)
The Greek ties “all of them” closely to the sheep and cattle, and the text says nothing of his striking anyone. The Catechism speaks of it as zeal for his Father’s house (CCC 584). It was a prophetic sign.
“Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” (2:16)
Luke 2:49 gives us the twelve-year-old in the same place, “in my Father’s house”. Here this is the first public claim of Jesus in Jerusalem. Zechariah had looked to the day when “there shall no longer be traders in the house of the Lord” (Zechariah 14:21). And Jesus’ respect for the Temple is real (CCC 583).
“Zeal for your house will consume me.” (2:17)
From Psalm 69:9, with one change. The psalm says “has consumed”; John says “will consume”. It points forward: this zeal will cost him his life.
“The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”” (2:18)
In John’s Gospel “the Jews” often means the Temple authorities, those who opposed Jesus, and not the Jewish people. Jesus and all his disciples were Jews. The Church firmly rejects any blame laid on the Jewish people as such (Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 597). The question itself was a fair one: on what authority?
“Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”” (2:19)
The Greek imperative has the force of “if you destroy”. The saying was remembered and used in distorted form at his trial (Mark 14:58).
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,” (2:20)
Herod the Great began the rebuilding around 20–19 BC, according to Josephus, so this fits a date of about AD 27–28. The work was still going on, and it would stand finished only a few years before the Romans destroyed it in AD 70.
“But he was speaking of the temple of his body.” (2:21)
The key to the whole passage. God’s dwelling among us is now a person (compare 1:14, “lived among us”; the Greek is “pitched his tent”). The Catechism says that Jesus presents himself as God’s definitive dwelling-place among men (CCC 586).
“But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people” (2:24)
“Believed” in v. 23 and “entrust” here are the same Greek verb, pisteuō. They believed in him, but he did not believe in them. Enthusiasm based on signs alone is not yet faith. “He himself knew what was in everyone” echoes Jeremiah’s God who searches the heart.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that Jesus went up to the Temple as his Father’s house, with deep respect, and that he identified himself with the Temple (CCC 583–586). St Paul takes it one step further, telling Christians, “you are God’s temple” (1 Corinthians 3:16; CCC 797). So there are three temples: the body of Christ risen, the Church his body, and each baptized person. St Augustine, preaching on this passage, says that those who sell in the Church are those who seek their own interests there and not those of Jesus Christ (Tractates on John 10, in substance). Lent asks what needs to be overturned in the temple of my own life.
Do Catholics break the commandment against images when they have statues and icons?
No. The commandment forbids making an image to worship as God. God himself told Moses to make cherubim for the ark (Exodus 25:18). The Seventh Ecumenical Council, at Nicaea in 787, defended the veneration of images on the basis of the Incarnation: God has now shown himself in a human face. The honor given to an image passes to the person it portrays, and we adore only God (CCC 2129–2132).
Did Jesus cleanse the Temple once or twice? Why does John put it at the start, and the others at the end?
The Gospels are faithful witnesses, and they do not always follow the order of the calendar. Many scholars think there was one event and that John moved it forward to set the theme for his whole Gospel: Jesus’ body is the new meeting place with God. Others think that it may have happened twice. The Church has not settled this question, and nothing in the faith depends on it.
Does this Gospel mean that Christians have replaced Israel’s worship and that the Temple was worthless?
No. Jesus loved the Temple, and his disciples kept going there to pray after Easter (Acts 3:1). The Church recognizes all she has received through Israel (Nostra Aetate 4), and she still prays Israel’s psalms. What Christians confess is that in Jesus God’s presence among us has reached its fullness (CCC 586). This must be said with gratitude and never with contempt.
On the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent, parishes with adults preparing for baptism at Easter celebrate the Scrutinies, and for those Masses the Year A readings (the Samaritan woman on this Sunday) may be used even in Year B. Elsewhere the Year B readings are heard. Today’s First Reading gives a natural shape to a Lenten Confession: the commandments have long been used in the Latin Church as a guide for the examination of conscience. The same Gospel, John 2:13–22, returns on 9 November for the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Pope’s cathedral, where the Church thinks about stone buildings and the living temple together.