‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up’
The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
This gospel reading teaches us that Christ is the new temple from whom new life comes in abundance. Fr Adrian Graffy reflects.
John 2:13-22 13
Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. 15 Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over 16 and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.’ 17 Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. 18 The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ 19 Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ 20 The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ 21 But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, 22 and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.
Other readings: Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12 Psalm 45 (46) 1 Corinthians 3:9-11,16-17
Reflection
It may come as a surprise that the celebration of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome displaces the usual Sunday celebration. There are two reasons for this: the basilica’s primary dedication is to the Saviour, and, being the cathedral of Rome, it is the mother church of the Christian world and takes precedence even over St Peter’s in the Vatican.
The basilica of ‘St John Lateran’, as it is also called, since it is dedicated also to St John the Baptist, was built in the fourth century by the Roman emperor Constantine. It became the church of the bishop of Rome. For many centuries the popes lived at the Lateran. Close by is the baptistry where Constantine was baptised.
Our gospel reading teaches us that Christ is the new temple. He is God among us. While the prophet Ezekiel sees the temple in Jerusalem as the place of the presence of God, from which blessings flow out to renew and revive creation, Jesus is the new temple from whom new life comes in abundance.
But it is not a building of stones that we celebrate today. We celebrate the presence of Christ among us, his people, in his church. St Paul tells us that we ourselves are God’s building, God’s temple: ‘Did you not realise that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you?’ The feast of this ancient basilica reminds us that we are ‘living stones’ and that we belong together in Christ’s church.
Do I remember that I too am a temple of God, for the Holy Spirit has been given to me?
Do I value my membership of the Church, the new people of God in the world of today?
Let us thank God for the faith of those who have gone before us.
Let us pray for new Christians that they may grow in the faith.
Rev Dr Adrian Graffy is a member of the Vatican Commission that takes a lead in Bible scholarship, interpretation and promotion in the Catholic Church.
Rev Dr Graffy said of his five-year appointment by Pope Francis in 2014: “It is an honour to be nominated by Pope Francis as a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. I feel humbled and very much look forward to being of service to His Holiness and the Church.”
He added: “A great deal has been achieved in England and Wales in recent years by many co-workers to advance Biblical scholarship and the provision of easy-to-use resources. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them and the Bishops’ Conference Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis for their efforts to promote understanding and love of the Bible, particularly through the publication of the teaching documents, The Gift of Scripture and the study guide to Verbum Domini, The Word of the Lord.”
Rev Dr Graffy received his doctorate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1983. He taught for over 20 years in St John’s Seminary in Wonersh, and is Chair of the National Scripture Working Group, which is an instrument of the Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Fr Graffy is a past director of Brentwood’s Commission for Evangelisation and Formation and parish priest of Christ the Eternal High Priest in Gidea Park, Essex. Among his publications are the Gospel of Mark and the Letter to the Romans (Alive Publishing).
Listen to BBC Essex interview with Fr Adrian Graffy
Rev Dr Adrian Graffy is a member of the Vatican Commission that takes a lead in Bible scholarship, interpretation and promotion in the Catholic Church.