Dedication of the Lateran Basilica – Years ABC
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 1st Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17 John 2:13-22
The Basilica of St. John Lateran has John the Baptist as it’s patron saint. As a location for the gathering of the sacred liturgical assembly, the place dates from the early days when Christianity was first officially tolerated or legalized in the Roman Empire. So, in a certain sense, it has become the defacto mother of all parish churches. This is why there is a festival in honor of that particular ancient parish. It reminds us of the ecclesial focus on the sacred assembly of all Gospel life. In the ancient Catholic and Orthodox Traditions, the saving Gospel relationship is “we and Jesus the Christ” rather than “me and Jesus.”
All three scripture readings today use a temple metaphor, but in both Paul and John the metaphor is made explicitly a reference to Christian believers and to Jesus, respectively. Ezekiel was one of those principal prophets who ministered during the era of the decline and fall of Judah in the late 600s and first decades of the 500s BC. During his lifetime, the Jerusalem Temple of Solomon was first captured and desecrated, and then destroyed, by the Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar II. Very likely at some time subsequent to the destruction of Solomon’s Temple, Ezekiel had a vision of hope in which the Temple was once again restored as the religious center and source of a balanced Jewish life. Indeed, in ancient Israel, the Temple served multiple and important functions: as a place of worship, as a storehouse for “a rainy day,” as a savings bank, and as a principal source of charity to those in need. The Temple was the at the center of Jewish religious and economic life, and it provided important social services for centuries. Ezekiel’s vision was the antidote to and balance against the devastating destruction visited upon Judah and Jerusalem as the Babylonian Captivity swallowed up all the blessings of Judaism for more than half a century. Ezekiel’s vision announced hope in a restoration of sorts. The Temple has some of the qualities that were in the legendary Garden of Eden before the entrance of evil and sin in the world. Thus, Ezekiel’s is a voice of hope that God will somehow make right, and even improve upon what had existed, in the not-too-distant future.
In John, Jesus’ zeal for the appreciation of the holiness of the 2nd Temple is described. Indeed, the “money changers” served a very important role, as did the vendors of sheep and oxen. Money changers exchanged Imperial Roman coinage which had idolatrous images of the emperor stamped on them for “aniconic” or coins without images. Every emperor since Augustus had either claimed to be divine or had been divinized by the acclaim of others. The use of Roman Imperial coinage violated the 2nd Commandment against other gods and were thus not to be used by Jews at least in transactions in the Temple area. Vendors of sheep and oxen sold animals for Temple sacrifices and thus served a good purpose for those who came to worship. However, a zealous Jesus seems to have become suddenly become intolerant of and irritated at the messiness of practical necessities of Temple operations, and cried out for a kind of immediate reform of the ordinary. Quickly, when challenged, the Temple setting was shifted into a lesson of metaphor theological dialogue. Memory of such an exchange was treasured by disciples after his resurrection, but clearly it was lost on those with whom he argued on the occasion.
Paul explicitly used the building metaphor for the Corinthian Christians: “you are the temple of God.” He was focusing on the believers themselves in the midst of chastising them for being divisive and argumentative over unimportant issues. His antidote for such dispute was an increased awareness of the call to holiness by the Gospel message. To be destructive of each other diminished both the individual and the communal holiness on which the proclamation of the Gospel message depended. Indeed, even the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council acknowledged that part of the failure of the spread of the Gospel in the world had to do with the poor examples of Christians themselves. Who would want to embrace the Gospel and join the Church if Christians destroy one another?! The Council asserts that the growth of atheism comes from destructive examples of Christian behavior! Paul’s exhortation to remember the necessary connection between discipleship and holiness was a timeless reminder!
For too many, the word “church” ordinarily refers to the building in which the Church meets. The word “basilica” is a Latin word from the Greek for “kingdom hall.” It was the imperial court building in which the emperor or his delegate would hear cases and render decisions. We would do well to remember that the church building is really “the house for the Church” rather than “the house of God” for no house can truly “contain” God. The Church, that is the community of believers, meets in the kingdom hall and because they are there, God’s Holy Presence is among them. Paul says, “...the Spirit of God dwells in you...” The “you” here is a plural word for the liturgical assembly. Today’s festival points out that where two or three (or more) gather, there Christ is indeed among them. The Church did without church buildings for nearly three centuries before Imperial Roman legalization. But, the Church embraced and proclaimed the Gospel even without such permanent settings. The Gospel belongs to the Church and churches belong to the Church. We are the Body of Christ, the Temple of God’s Holy Spirit.
Blessed Feast Day!