John places the incident of cleansing the temple at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, while the other Gospels show it as part of the events immediately preceding the passion (Mk 11:15-18; Mt 21:12-13; Lk 19:45-48). In the structure of John’s Gospel, the events of these days echo the work of creation and salvation in the Jewish Scriptures. The first words of the Gospel recall the beginning of Genesis: the enumeration of days (Jn 1:29, 35, 43; 2:1) leading up to the wedding feast at Cana recall the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest (or fullness) in which the events of God’s salvation are set in motion. Now this cleansing of the temple, explicitly connected to the passover, gives the theme of God’s salvation in Christ. Just as the passover event was the destruction of the bonds of slavery in Egypt and the passage to a new life as God’s people in the promised land, so in Christ the sinful stranglehold of materialism would be broken, and the new life of God’s true temple would be built up. In John’s pattern, we see Jesus as the fulfillment of creation (in the wedding feast) leading creation into the new dimension of the resurrection (vv 21-22). The rest of the Gospel of John continues to explore what is already contained in this passage as a seed.

The decalogue or ten commandments is found both here and in Dt 5:6-21 in almost the same form. It appears as a brief, easily memorized summary of the entire law of God, and indeed has been traditionally used as such in religious education. The first commandment (vv 2-6) sets the rest of the commandments within the context of the covenant. The law is seen as the means of being faithful to the alliance God has made with his people.

Although the commandments are in accord with what we may perceive as natural law and with any reasonable ethical system, they also rise above nature. They are expressions of the personal will of God as the way to live in union with him. In the commandments, we have an example of God elevating nature to be an expression of his love. For the Christian, the commandments of the Jewish Scriptures are the first word, not the last word — the beginning of the Christian life, not its totality. Keeping the commandments is the foundation upon which a life of Christian love, which goes beyond mere laws, is to be built. (See also the Ninth Sunday of Year B for a commentary on the third commandment — the sabbath rest — as found in Dt 5:12-15.)

This psalm sees the harmony of the universe, expressed in God’s law, as a powerful sign of his love. Response: "Lord, you have the words of everlasting life" (Jn 6:69).

The root problem in the Christian community at Corinth was a division into factions based on personalities (1:12; 3:4) and rivalries over the value of various "spiritual gifts" (ch 12). These divisions show themselves even at the very heart of the community’s life, the Lord’s supper (11:18-22), and give rise to other problems of immorality (5:6-6:20). In this passage, Paul diagnoses the problem as caused by a search for worldly wisdom — using reason to argue one’s own way as more "perfect" than that of others. Paul’s remedy is simply to disregard the pretensions of philosophical arguments, and to call for a patterning of one’s life after the cross — self-giving unto the total emptiness of death. This is foolishness in the eyes of those whose motto is "Look out for Number One," but is the only true wisdom in the eyes of God.

1. What more is asked of us as Christians than to keep the ten commandments?

2. Is there a real opposition between faith and reason, between revelation and science?