In 2025, instead of the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, this coming Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. 

¹³ Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there.

From Josepheus, a Jewish historian who wrote in the later part of the 1^st century AD, we know that in this period the temple functions were under the control of the Sadducees and the high priest Annas.  As high priest he also served as the Treasurer of the temple with his sons as assistant treasurers. Their avarice and greed for money lead this spectacle to be called the “bazaar of the sons of Annas”.  They used the ritual of Temple religious life to implement a scam on the people of Israel:  temple sacrifices brought from home were mandatorily inspected for blemish, for a fee.  Blemish was always found.  But a pre-inspected, blemish-free sacrifice could be purchased in the temple compound, for an exorbitant price, but not with Roman coinage (the images violated the law).  The money changers exchanged Roman coins into specially minted temple coins, at a profit.  It is against this background that Jesus cleanses the temple.

¹⁵ He 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, ¹⁶ and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”

“Jesus’ actions in the Temple are narrated in one long complex sentence in the Greek text (vv. 14–16), which creates a mood of urgency and haste, thereby underscoring the intensity of Jesus’ actions. Just as Jesus never hesitates as he moves through the Temple, so, too, vv. 14–16 never hesitate. John alone among the Gospels mentions sheep and cattle and the detail of Jesus’ whip. John’s picture of Jesus in the Temple is large and dramatic, as Jesus herds animals and people out of the temple court, pouring out money and overturning tables as he goes.” [O’Day, 542]

“Christian interpretations that see this story principally as an illustration of the extortionist practices of the Jewish temple authorities are disregarding the realities of temple worship in Jesus’ day: cattle, sheep, and doves were required for burnt offerings in the Temple (see Leviticus 1 and 3). It was commanded in the Law. There were inevitable abuses of the temple system, but in vv. 14–16 Jesus confronts the system itself, not simply its abuses. This is apparent in the words he speaks to the dove sellers (v. 16). In the synoptic Gospels, Jesus quotes Isa 56:7 and Jer 7:11 (see Matt 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46), verses that focus on the distortion of a place of worship into a “den of robbers.” These OT verses are absent from John, however, and Jesus may allude instead to Zech 14:21 (“And there shall no longer be traders in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day”). In a play on the word for “house” (oikos), Jesus complains that his Father’s house has become a “house of trade.” Since this trade was necessary to maintain the cultic system of sacrifice and tithes, Jesus’ charge is a much more radical accusation in John than in the Synoptics. Jesus issues a powerful challenge to the very authority of the Temple and its worship (cf. 4:23–24).” [O’Day, 542]

²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;  and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”

Which Temple?  

¹⁷ His disciples recalled the words of scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  With this single verse we move from historical narrative to a later time when the disciples are looking back on this event through the lens of their experience over the years with Jesus of Nazareth, the events of his death and resurrection, and all that followed. Like many other New Testament authors, John looks to Psalm 19:10 and sees in it a reference to Jesus. He has altered Ps 19:10 a bit and most scholars hold that the chance John makes is significant. In both the Hebrew and Greek (LXX) version of the psalm the verb “consume” is referring to past events. In our text the tense is in the future turning the use of the Psalm into a prophecy of the time when Jesus’ life is “consumed” on the Cross. As O’Day notes this gives Ps 69 a Christological emphasis and moves the focus from temple to Jesus’ fate.

¹⁸ At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²² Therefore, 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.

We can see the christological focus play out in vv. 18–22. The focus is clearly upon Jesus. The request (demand?) for a sign is really a question about Jesus’ authority. Interestingly, the text uses “sign” (sēmeion) not as the word for miracle or an act that in itself is revelatory. Jesus is being asked for “credentials” or a warrant that allows him to have taken the temple cleansing upon himself. They don’t know him. Their question likely lies somewhere between the true inquiry – “and you are who?” and the covert umbrage, “who do you think you are?” Jesus responds to their request with the saying about the destruction and rebuilding of the Temple (v. 19).

This response is found in the other gospels, but not from Jesus. It is reported to Jewish authorities at the Holy Week trials of Jesus by false witness (Matt 26:61; Mark 14:58) and later in the taunting of Jesus on the cross (Matt 27:40; Mark 15:29; cf. Acts 6:14).

In any case the response to Jesus’ words about the Temple are met with contempt (v. 20). The rebuilding of the Temple was begun circa 19 BC during the reign of Herod the Great. The reference to forty-six years of construction would suggest a date of 27 AD and so the event/date is historically plausible.