Gospel Note: John's version of the cleansing of the temple is distinctive in many details, but most especially in its theological perspective. Here the cleansing is most clearly (1) a critique of the old temple and its cultic practice (specifically sacrifice), (2) a reference to the temple's destruction, and (3) a suggestion of a new temple, none other than the body of Christ (i.e., the church). We are dealing here, then, with an old dispensation's passing and the dawning of the new.

Liturgica…