To read the texts click on the texts: Ezek 47:1-2,8-9,12; 1 Cor 3:9-11,16-17; Jn 2:13-22
The Basilica of St John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome, the cathedra, or Chair, at which the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, presides. In order to express devotion and unity of all Catholics to the successor of Peter, the Church commemorates the dedication of the Lateran Basilica. Since the Pope presides in charity over the universal Church, the Lateran Basilica is affectionately called the "mother and head of all the churches of Rome and the world".
When the Cathedral in Milan was finished, in the vast throng of people assembled for the dedication, a little girl cried out in childish glee, as she pointed to it: I helped build that. One of the guards challenged her: “What? Show me what you did.” The girl replied, “I carried the lunch box for my father, while he worked there.” The cathedral, the Church the Basilica is not primarily a building but the people of God. Each of us and all of us help build up the Church.
It is interesting but mainly revealing that the gospel reading chosen for this feast in which we celebrate the Lateran Basilica would be Jesus cleansing the Temple. Much like the Temple was a significant and symbolic building for the Jewish people the Lateran Basilica serves in this capacity for us.
The first Christians gathered to pray in private homes. To be a Christian was for the first three hundred years after the Resurrection of Christ a crime of treason against the Roman state. Therefore, believers would meet secretly to hear the Gospel and break the bread. Today's feast commemorates the end of those many long years of terrible persecutions and martyrdom and the dedication of the Christians' first public place of worship.
While this was a welcome change for the first Christian community, it also began to soon struggle with a dilemma. The source of Jesus' power is found in weakness and poverty. While being an underground church this was easy to accept. Now, being accepted by the state, Christianity's power began to be aligned with fame and fortune, buildings and property, prestige and status. The church began to take on the political structure of the Roman state. Officials began to be identified by secular titles such as “prince of the church" (Cardinal) and "lord" (Bishop).While it is advantageous to have a place to worship and also advantageous to have a structure to maintain a sense of order, both, however, can also prevent us from encountering God by presenting an image of God that is quite different from the one that Jesus presented and revealed.
Writing during the period of Exile, the prophet Ezekiel dreamed of returning to his home in Israel and especially to the Temple. The vision narrated in the first reading of today is of water flowing from the Temple giving abundant life to the valley below, even to the arid, lifeless region around the Dead Sea. However, at the time of Jesus, this life giving water had dried up and the temple was no longer what it ought to have been.
The cleansing of the Temple is an incident that is narrated by all four evangelists. However, there are significant differences in the manner in which John narrates it when compared with the Synoptic Gospels. In John, the incident appears at the beginning of the Gospel and immediately after the Cana miracle of turning water into wine, and so sets the stage for the kind of revelation of God that Jesus makes in this Gospel. The temple in Jerusalem was considered the dwelling place of God on earth and a place where people expected to encounter God in prayer and sacrifice. However, as is evident in the actions of Jesus, the Temple had become instead a market place. When one considers that some trade and exchange of Tyrian coins for Roman or Greek coins was absolutely necessary for worship to proceed smoothly, one realizes that this action of Jesus is extremely radical and goes to the root of the meaning of worship and encountering God.
All religious institutional rootedness whether in the form of worship, unjust social systems or repressive religious practices are challenged by this action of Jesus. Zeal for his Father’s house did indeed consume him when it led to his passion and death at the hands of religious authorities. While he was aware that this would be one of the main actions that would lead to his death, Jesus went even further when he pointed to himself as the new Temple, the new place of worship. In him a person encounters God as never before.
Thus, Christians, being identified with Christ in Baptism, are also temples of God, living temples of the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds the early Christians of the community at Corinth that they are themselves God’s Temple. God, in Christ, dwells in each one. Moreover, the whole community of Christians forms a temple, in which each Christian is a living stone, with Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
It is in the context of these readings that we must ask ourselves what we are really celebrating today. While it is true that the very orderly, stable and universal structure is surely to be celebrated in this feast and we need the certainty and conviction that comes from something that is consistent and bigger than ourselves, we also need to accept the fact that this is not all that the Church is. We also celebrate weakness in today’s feast. First, the weakness and numerous failures of each of us individuals who make up the Church, and also the failures and shortcomings of the Church as a whole. Both are in constant need of cleansing by the head of the Church Jesus Christ who continues to make all things whole.
"Kama ilivyoelezwa katika Ezekieli 47:1,2,8,9,12; 1 Wakorintho 3:9-11,16-17; Yohana 2:13-22, Kanisa Kuu la St. John Lateran ni kanisa kuu la Roma, ""katedra,"" au kiti, ambacho askofu wa Roma, Papa, husimamia." Ili kuonyesha ujitoaji na umoja wa Wakatoliki wote kwa mrithi wa Petro, Kanisa linakumbuka kuwekwa wakfu kwa Kanisa la Lateran. "Kwa kuwa Papa ndiye anayesimamia Kanisa la Ulimwengu kwa upendo, Kanisa la Lateran linaitwa kwa upendo ""mama na kichwa cha makanisa yote ya Roma na ya ulimwengu.""" "Katikati ya umiliki wa kanisa kuu la Milan, wakati wa ibada ya kuzaliwa kwa kanisa hilo, msichana mmoja alipokuwa akimtaja, alisema kwa furaha: ""Nilisaidia kujenga kanisa hilo.""" Mmoja wa walinzi alimwuliza: <unk>Ni nini? "Msichana huyo akajibu, ""Nilikuwa nikimletea baba yangu sanduku la chakula cha mchana wakati alipokuwa akifanya kazi huko.""Katedrali, Kanisa, Kanisa kuu si jengo bali ni watu wa Mungu." Kila mmoja wetu na sisi sote tunasaidia kujenga Kanisa. "Hii ni kwa sababu ya kuonekana kwa ""mafunzo ya Injili"" ambayo ni muhimu sana katika sherehe ya Kanisa la Lateran, ambayo ni Yesu akisafisha Hekalu." Kama vile Hekalu lilivyokuwa jengo muhimu na la mfano kwa Wayahudi, Kanisa la Lateran linatumika katika uwezo huu kwa ajili yetu. Wakristo wa kwanza walikusanyika ili kusali katika nyumba za kibinafsi. Kuwa Mkristo kwa miaka mia tatu ya kwanza baada ya ufufuo wa Kristo ilikuwa ni kosa la uhaini dhidi ya serikali ya Roma. Kwa hiyo, waamini walikutana kwa siri ili kusikiliza Injili na kuvunja mkate. Sikukuu ya leo inasherehekea mwisho wa miaka hiyo mingi ya mateso ya kutisha na mauaji ya kikatili na kujitolea kwa mahali pa kwanza pa ibada ya Kikristo. Ingawa hilo lilikuwa badiliko lenye kupendeza kwa jumuiya ya kwanza ya Kikristo, punde si punde ilianza kukabili tatizo. Chanzo cha nguvu ya Yesu kinapatikana katika udhaifu na umaskini. Ingawa ilikuwa kanisa la chini ya ardhi hilo lilikuwa rahisi kukubali. Sasa, kwa kukubaliwa na serikali, nguvu ya Ukristo ilianza kuunganishwa na umaarufu na utajiri, majengo na mali, umaarufu na hadhi. Kanisa lilianza kuchukua muundo wa kisiasa wa serikali ya Roma. "Wafalme walianza kutambuliwa kwa majina ya kilimwengu kama vile ""mfalme wa kanisa"" (Kardinali) na ""bwana"" (Askofu) Ingawa ni vyema kuwa na mahali pa ibada na pia ni vyema kuwa na muundo wa kudumisha hisia ya utaratibu, wote wawili, hata hivyo, wanaweza pia kutuzuia kukutana na Mungu kwa kuwasilisha picha ya Mungu ambayo ni tofauti kabisa na ile ambayo Yesu alionyesha na kufunua." Katika kitabu cha Ezekieli, nabii wa Mungu aliona ndoto ya kurudi nyumbani kwake, hasa kwenye hekalu. Maono yaliyoelezwa katika usomaji wa kwanza wa leo ni ya maji yanayotiririka kutoka Hekaluni yakitoa uhai mwingi kwa bonde lililo chini, hata kwa eneo kavu, lisilo na uhai karibu na Bahari ya Chumvi. Hata hivyo, wakati wa Yesu, maji hayo yenye kutoa uhai yalikuwa yamekauka na hekalu halikuwa tena kama lilivyopaswa kuwa. Utakaso wa Hekalu ni tukio ambalo linasimuliwa na wainjilisti wote wanne. Hata hivyo, kuna tofauti kubwa katika njia ambayo Yohana anasimulia habari hiyo ikilinganishwa na Injili za Synoptic. Katika Injili ya Yohana, tukio hilo linatokea mwanzoni mwa Injili na mara tu baada ya muujiza wa Kana wa kugeuza maji kuwa divai, na hivyo kuweka hatua kwa ajili ya aina ya ufunuo wa Mungu ambao Yesu hufanya katika Injili hii. Hekalu la Yerusalemu lilionwa kuwa makao ya Mungu duniani na mahali ambapo watu walitarajia kukutana na Mungu katika sala na dhabihu. Hata hivyo, kama inavyoonekana katika matendo ya Yesu, Hekalu lilikuwa limekuwa mahali pa soko. "Wakati mtu anapofikiria kwamba biashara fulani na kubadilishana sarafu za Tiro kwa sarafu za Kiroma au Kigiriki ilikuwa muhimu kabisa kwa ibada kuendelea kwa urahisi, mtu anatambua kwamba hatua hii ya Yesu ni ya kimkakati sana na inaenda kwenye mizizi ya maana ya ibada na kukutana na Mungu. """ "Kila utamaduni wa kidini, iwe ni wa ibada, mfumo usio wa haki wa kijamii au mazoea ya kidini ya kukandamiza, unashtakiwa na hatua hii ya Yesu.""" Kwa kweli, bidii kwa ajili ya nyumba ya Baba yake ilimteketeza aliposababisha uchungu na kifo chake mikononi mwa wenye mamlaka wa kidini. Ingawa alijua kwamba hilo lingekuwa mojawapo ya mambo makuu ambayo yangemwongoza kwenye kifo chake, Yesu alienda mbali zaidi alipojitaja mwenyewe kuwa Hekalu jipya, mahali pa ibada. Katika yeye mtu hukutana na Mungu kama kamwe kabla. Kwa hiyo, Wakristo, kwa kuwa wanatambulishwa na Kristo katika ubatizo, pia ni mahekalu ya Mungu, mahekalu ya Roho Mtakatifu. Paulo anawakumbusha Wakristo wa mapema wa jumuiya ya Korintho kwamba wao wenyewe ni Hekalu la Mungu. Mungu, katika Kristo, anaishi katika kila mmoja. Kwa kuongezea, jumuiya nzima ya Wakristo hufanyiza hekalu, ambalo kila Mkristo ni jiwe hai, na Yesu mwenyewe ni jiwe la pembeni. Katika muktadha wa usomaji huu, ni lazima tujiulize ni nini hasa tunachosherehekea leo. Ingawa ni kweli kwamba muundo wa kidunia wenye utaratibu, thabiti na wa ulimwengu wote mzima ni lazima uadhimishwe katika sikukuu hii, na tunahitaji uhakika na imani inayotokana na kitu ambacho ni thabiti na kikubwa kuliko sisi wenyewe, tunahitaji pia kukubali ukweli kwamba hii sio yote ambayo Kanisa ni. Pia tunasherehekea udhaifu katika karamu ya leo. Kwanza, udhaifu na makosa mengi ya kila mmoja wetu ambao tunafanyiza Kanisa, na pia makosa na mapungufu ya Kanisa kwa ujumla. Wote wawili wanahitaji kusafishwa daima na kichwa cha Kanisa, Yesu Kristo, ambaye anaendelea kufanya mambo yote kuwa sawa.