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Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica John 2:13–22
In today’s Gospel, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover.
He enters the temple and finds buying, selling, noise, and disorder.
So He drives out the sellers and says:
“Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
The temple was meant to be the place of God’s presence.
The place of prayer.
The place where Israel came to meet the living God.
But Jesus says something shocking:
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
The people think He is speaking about the temple made of stones.
But Saint John tells us clearly:
Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body.
This is the heart of the Gospel.
Jesus is the new temple.
In Him, God is present among us.
In Him, heaven touches earth.
In Him, sins are forgiven.
In Him, we meet the Father.
The temple of His body was destroyed on Good Friday.
He was rejected, condemned, and crucified.
But on the third day, He rose from the dead.
That is why Christian worship does not begin with a building.
It begins with the risen Christ.
A church building is holy because it gathers us around Him.
Around His word.
Around His altar.
Around His Body and Blood.
Saint John’s Gospel helps us see this.
Jesus is the living temple.
Jesus is the bread of life.
Jesus is the source of living water.
Jesus is the light of the world.
Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
Everything points to Him.
The Lateran Basilica reminds us that the Gospel once entered even the heart of the Roman Empire.
For almost three hundred years, Christians often lived under suspicion and persecution.
They had no great public churches.
They gathered wherever they could.
They proclaimed Christ.
They celebrated the Eucharist.
They suffered.
They endured.
Then, in the fourth century, freedom came.
A great basilica was built in Rome.
It became the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome.
For this reason, it is called the mother church of all churches.
But the glory of the Church is not marble.
It is not size.
It is not history alone.
The glory of the Church is Christ living in His people.
A church building reminds us who we are.
We are living stones.
We are members of Christ’s Body.
We are called to become a dwelling place for God.
So today we can ask:
Is Christ truly at the center of my worship?
Is my heart a house of prayer, or has it become a marketplace?
Do I remember that I belong to the living temple of God?
The Church is built on Christ.
Empires rise and fall.
Buildings can be damaged.
But Christ is risen.
And in Him, God continues to build His Church.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Mark
Year of Mark - Get it from Amazon
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
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