Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran
“Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace.” John 2:13-22
Through the Gospel that today’s liturgy brings us, we can highlight: 1. Jesus identifies himself as the Son of God, when he indignantly asks the sellers and moneychangers to leave the temple, telling them: “Take this away from here: do not make my Father’s house a marketplace”… the first reaction is that of the disciples, when they associate what Jesus says with Psalm 69:10: “Zeal for your house will devour me.” 2. Jesus reveals that He is the true Temple of God, by responding to the priests and vendors, who asked for a sign and a sign of the power to do these things. And Jesus gives them the sign of his death: “destroy this temple and in three days I will rebuild it”. Jesus is the temple that assures God’s presence in the world, the presence of his love; death on the cross will make him the only and definitive temple of God.
