Gospel: John 2:13-22

 

Our passage contains a clear and unmistakable teaching of Jesus in the temple. Previously John the Baptist had given witness of Jesus saying that He was the Messiah. The first disciples, on the indication of the Baptist, have recognized Him as the Lamb of God. A quality of the Messiah: to inaugurate a new Passover and covenant and bring about the definitive liberation of man. In Cana, Jesus works a first sign to show His glory. 

 

The glory becomes visible. It can be contemplated, and, therefore it manifests itself. It is the glory of the Father present in the person of Jesus which manifests itself at the beginning of His activity in this way, anticipating His “hour”. 

 

In what way is His glory manifested? God gratuitously restores a new relationship with man. He unites him intimately to Him giving him the capacity to love like He loves, through the Spirit who purifies the heart of man and makes Him son of God. But, it is necessary to recognize the immutable love of God, manifested in Jesus, responding with faith, with a personal adherence. 

 

Now Jesus is in the temple in Jerusalem fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi. He proclaims Himself Messiah.  His teaching  produces tension. Now we understand how the great disputes with the Jews always take place in the temple, where Jesus pronounces His substantial denunciations. His task is to lead the people outside the temple. The encounter in the temple is not with persons who seek God but dealers of the sacred. Jesus in His actions behaves as a Son. He represents the Father in the world. The presence of His love and the death on the cross will make of Him the only and definitive Temple of God.