Bright Friday
CHRIST IS RISEN!
Friday, May 6, 2005
4th Vigil of Pascha: Jonah 3 Apostle: Acts 3:1-8 Gospel: St. John 2:12-22
St. John 2:12-22, especially vs. 19: "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this Temple,
and in three days I will raise it up.'" The long history of ancient Israel's national shrines spans a turbulent 1500 year
period from the time of Moses in the fifteenth century BC, until the third Jerusalem Temple, built by Herod the Great, was
destroyed by Roman armies under Titus in AD 70.
Services offered in the successive Temples were established by God at Mt. Sinai (see Leviticus). At first, these sacrifices
were conducted in a portable Tabernacle, a tent described in Exodus (Ex. 25-31). Later, a permanent national shrine,
patterned after the desert Tabernacle, was built by king David's son, Solomon, in 960 BC. Babylonian armies razed that
Temple in 586 BC, but construction of a second Temple was begun by Jewish exiles from Babylon in 536 BC under the
leadership of Zerubbabel. That Temple, finished in 516 BC, was in nearly constant use thereafter until it was replaced by
Herod in a mammoth building project started in 20 BC. The new inner sanctuary for the services, a shrine of immense
proportions, was completed in18 months. Its outer porticos, courts, and surroundings, however, were finished just two
years before the Jewish revolt in AD 66. It was the largest and most imposing of all the Temples (Mk. 13:1). It was this
Temple from which the Lord Jesus drove the merchants "doing business" (Jn. 2:14). No Jewish Temple has ever been built
on Mount Zion since AD 70.
Of course, the Lord's challenge to "destroy this Temple" as recorded in today's reading, referred to Himself and not to any
building. When the Temple authorities thought they had effectively destroyed Him, the Lord kept His promise. He
restored in three days "the Temple" which they destroyed. When one fully appreciates what Christ our Lord meant by
saying He would "raise up" this Temple, one touches both the inner mystery of His "cleansing" of the old Jewish Temple
and "the power of His Resurrection" (Phil. 3:10). Let us consider the role of the various Temples under the Old Covenant
and how the Lord forever replaces them.
The desert Tabernacle and all the subsequent Temples were created to serve as a single holy place for God's Covenant
People to worship, a common shrine where all the tribes could gather, "the tribes of the LORD, as a testimony for Israel, to
give thanks to the Name of the Lord" (Ps. 121:4 LXX). At times God indicated His presence with His People by visible
manifestations (Ex. 19:18-20; 1 Kngs 8:10-11). However, His abiding concern was that their lives be pure in His sight.
Therefore, through His Prophets, God declared that He would not accept their sacred assemblies if the people permitted evil
and injustice to exist (Is. 1:12-17). Most of all, God opposed false, alien, or pagan worship mixed with true worship (Ezek.
8:13-18). The unity of the People with God had always to be "in truth" (Josh. 24:14).
In the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, God became man. At that moment, the conditions for the worship of God were
radically revised: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His People,
and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21:3). The Lord has never removed His demand for holiness
of life. Thus, He acted to purify a building dedicated to His worship, driving out the money changers. Later, He would
make a perfect offering of Himself for all the sins of all mankind, eliminating forever the need for any blood-sacrifice of
animals, for His Passion and Resurrection opened the gates of Heaven to all who truly repent, unite themselves to Him, and
walk in His ways.
O Lord, save Thy people and preserve the fulness of Thy Church, sanctify those who love the beauty of Thy house and
forsake us not who put our trust in Thee.