Gospel Jn 2: 13-25
Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the moneychangers seated there. 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 moneychangers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture: Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
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.
While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.
Ebanjelioa Joan 2: 13-25
13 Hurbil zen juduen Pazko-jaia, eta Jerusalemera joan zen Jesus. 14 Tenpluan merkatariak aurkitu zituen idi, ardi eta usoak saltzen, eta diru-trukatzaileak ere bai, han eserita. 15 Jesusek, lokarriz zartailu bat eginez, tenplutik kanpora bota zituen denak, baita ardiak eta idiak ere; eta trukatzaileen diruak sakabanatu eta mahaiak irauli egin zituen. 16 Uso-saltzaileei esan zien: «Kendu hemendik hau dena. Ez egin nire Aitaren etxea merkatu-etxe». 17 Ikasleei, Liburu Santuak dioena etorri zitzaien gogora: Zure tenpluaren maiteminak erreko nau. 18 Orduan, galdetu zioten judu-agintariek: –Zer seinale ematen diguzu hori egiteko aginpidea duzula frogatzeko? 19 Jesusek erantzun zien: –Desegizue tenplu hau eta hiru egunetan berreraikiko dut. 20 Juduek ihardetsi zioten: –Berrogeita sei urte behar izan dira tenplu hau eraikitzeko, eta zuk hiru egunetan berreraikiko duzula? 21 Hura, ordea, bere gorputzaren tenpluaz ari zen. 22 Horregatik, hildakoen artetik piztu zenean, esandako hori gogoratu zitzaien haren ikasleei, eta sinetsi egin zuten Liburu Santuko eta Jesusek esandako hitza. 23 Pazko-jaian Jesus Jerusalemen zegoela, askok sinetsi zuten harengan, egiten zituen mirarizko seinaleak ikusirik. 24 Baina, Jesus bera ez zen fidatzen haietaz, guztiak ezagutzen baitzituen, 25 eta ez zuen inoren aitorpen-beharrik, ongi ezagutzen baitzuen berak gizakiaren baitan dagoena.
The Temple (religion, Church, institution) IS NOT the Priority
All the four Gospels relate a bold and provocative gesture of Jesus within the precincts of the temple of Jerusalem. It probably was not a very spectacular gesture. He ran over a group of sellers of doves, he overturned the tables of some moneychangers and tried to interrupt the activity for a while. Jesus could not do much more. However, the gesture, full of prophetic authority, was that which triggered his arrest and summary execution. Attacking the temple was to attack the heart of the Jewish people: the center of their religious, social, and political life. The Temple was untouchable. Therein dwelt the God of Israel. What would be of the people without God’s presence among them? How could the people survive without the Temple?
For Jesus, however, the Temple was precisely the major obstacle to welcome the kingdom of God as He understood and proclaimed it. Jesus’ gesture called into question the unjust economic, political and religious system, which that “holy place” sustained and perpetuated. What was this temple? Was it a sign of the kingdom of God and his righteousness or just a symbol of collaboration with the imperial Rome? Was it a house of prayer or a cave of thieves, who robbed the tithes and first fruits of the poor and religious peasants? Was this Temple a sanctuary of God’s forgiveness or a social institution that justified all sorts of injustices?
That Temple was indeed a “cave of thieves.” While around of-and-with the excuse of the “house of God,” wealth was being accumulated inside, in the rest of the villages of Palestine misery was growing for the majority of the children of Abraham. No! God would never legitimize such a religion. God, the defender of the poor, could not reign from that Temple. For this reason, Jesus declares, that with the arrival of the Kingdom of God in Him, the Temple lost its reason to exist.
With his prophetic gesture, Jesus warns us all his followers, and forces us to ask tough questions about the type of religion we are promoting in our temples. Are we placing doctrine, liturgical performance, ideological tunnel vision theology, ecclesiastical institutions and grandeur over compassion, forgiveness, tenderness, justice and humanness, and tolerance of the different? Jesus warns us about covering sin with the mantel of “holiness.” Pope Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis have often spoken that neither religion nor the church are the center of Jesus’ proclamation, but the kingdom of God. A church who is self-centered and self-referential becomes superficial, superfluous, and selfish.
El templo (religión, iglesia, institución) NO ES la prioridad
Todos los cuatro Evangelios relatan el gesto audaz y provocativo de Jesús dentro del recinto del templo de Jerusalén. Probablemente no fue un gesto muy espectacular. Atropelló a un grupo de vendedores de palomas, volcó las mesas de algunos cambistas e intentó interrumpir la actividad por un tiempo. Jesús no pudo hacer mucho más. Sin embargo, el gesto, lleno de autoridad profética, fue lo que desencadenó su arresto y posterior ejecución sumaria. Atacar el templo era atacar el corazón del pueblo judío: el centro de su vida religiosa, social y política. El templo era intocable. Allí moraba el Dios de Israel. ¿Qué sería de las personas sin la presencia de Dios entre ellos? ¿Cómo podría la gente sobrevivir sin el Templo?
Para Jesús, sin embargo, el Templo era precisamente el mayor obstáculo para recibir el reino de Dios tal como lo entendió y lo proclamó Él. El gesto de Jesús puso en tela de juicio el injusto sistema económico, político y religioso, que ese “lugar santo” sostenía y perpetuaba. ¿Qué era este templo? ¿Era una señal del reino de Dios y su justicia o simplemente un símbolo de colaboración con la Roma imperial? ¿Era una casa de oración o una cueva de ladrones que robaban los diezmos y los primeros frutos de los campesinos pobres y religiosos? ¿Era este templo un santuario del perdón de Dios o una institución social que justificaba todo tipo de injusticias y atropellos?
Ese Templo era en verdad una “cueva de ladrones.” Mientras alrededor de-y-con la excusa-de la “casa de Dios” se acumulaba riqueza en su interior, en el resto de las aldeas de Palestina la miseria crecía para la mayoría de los hijos de Abraham. ¡No! Dios nunca legitimaría tal religión. Dios, el defensor de los pobres no podía reinar desde ese Templo. Por esta razón, Jesús declara que, con la llegada del Reino de Dios en Él, el Templo perdió su razón de ser.
Con su gesto profético, Jesús nos advierte a todos sus seguidores y nos obliga a hacernos preguntas difíciles sobre el tipo de religión que estamos promoviendo en nuestros templos. ¿Estamos colocando la doctrina, las ceremonias litúrgicas, la ideología uniforme, las instituciones eclesiásticas y la grandeza sobre la compasión, el perdón, la ternura, la justicia y la humanidad y la tolerancia de lo diferente? Jesús nos advierte acerca de cubrir el pecado con la repisa de la “santidad.” El Papa Pablo VI, Juan Pablo II, Benedicto XVI y ahora el Papa Francisco a menudo han dicho que ni la religión ni la iglesia son el centro de la proclamación de Jesús, sino el reino de Dios. Una iglesia egocéntrica y autorreferencial se vuelve superficial, superflua, y egoísta.