Our celebration today is unusual in that it revolves around a physical building and its dedication: the Lateran Basilica in Rome. Despite the fact that the Pope lives in St. Pater's, the Lateran Basilica is his cathedral, his parish Church. Since the 6th century, the Lateran Basilica has been recognised as the Mother Church of all the churches, hence the feast of its dedication is celebrated as a universal feast. As a result of course, all three readings today has the temple as a central symbol or theme. But the three readings originate in three very different contexts.
That first reading was written 600 years before Christ. Ezechiel came from a priestly family for whom the Temple is the centre of the world. The Holy One dwells there. Reverence for this sacred place is central to his concern. One of the principal tasks of the priest is to ensure purity of the religion practised in the Temple.
But in 597 B.C., the king of Babylon carries Ezechiel and his co-religionists off into exile and destroys the temple. This is a devastating blow. Ezechiel interprets this simply: Israel neglected the covenant and God punished them for their negligence. Exile is viewed as a purification. To people of hope, purification is not abandonment. God abides with them in their days of exile.
The vision of today's extract is a promise of renewal and restoration. The central symbol of that renewal is water. This water gushes from the temple and gives life to all it touches. The dead desert becomes a fertile plain, even the Dead Sea is transformed into a life-giving fish pond!
Disturbing reports have reached Paul concerning the behaviour of the Christian community at Corinth. He is disappointed at the emergence there of factions. Various groups had declared allegiance to different leaders, including one faction who invoked Paul as their preferred leader! Paul is not pleased. To stress the absolute need for unity, Paul resorts of a favourite metaphor of his: 'You are God's building'. Paul is the architect, Jesus Christ the foundation, and the various ministers are the builders. The two cardinal rules that builders must abide by are obvious: build on the foundation already in place; and follow very closely the architect's plans. 'Everyone doing the building must work carefully', Paul writes to the quarrelling Corinthians. If his instructions are not followed, if the building is not constructed harmoniously, it will collapse like a house of cards.
Paul introduces a further extension to his metaphor when he tells the Corinthians that they are 'temples of God'. 'If anyone should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is sacred.' The clear implication here is that the Corinthians are destroying God's temple through their quarrelling and through the divisions and factions that have arisen among them. His actions are provocative. And inevitably, his authority for behaving in this seemingly impetuous manner is question. "What sign will you show us to justify what you have done?" Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up," Jesus replies. But by the time John is writing in 90AD, the temple at Jerusalem has already been destroyed. Jesus has risen from the dead. For John's community, the body of Jesus has replaced the old testament temple.
Home