NO GREATER LOVE: THE TEMPLE, STEPHEN, AND PAUL 

Right before the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Lord gives us His eschatological discourse where He speaks of future events and His Second Coming. (Mt 24-25, Mk 13, Lk 21:5-38) The first event is the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. “Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down.’” (Mt 24:1-2, also Mk 13:1-2, Lk 21:5-7).  In Volume II of Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict summarizes the events of the Jewish War which lasted from 66 AD until the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD by Roman forces. Pope Benedict relates how this was a time of great distress and suffering for Jerusalem.  The Romans destroyed Jerusalem, but it was also a civil war between Jewish factions with murders, massacres, arson, and other evils. Pope Benedict notes that within an eleven-mile radius everything was deforested and laid waste. Estimates of the death toll ranged from 80,000 to 1.1 million. This great distress was predicted by Jesus. “For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of creation which God created until now, and never will be.” (Mk 13:19, also Mt 24:21, Lk 21:23) Pope Benedict notes that attempts were made in 132-135 AD and 361 AD to restore the temple but these ended in failure. 

The physical demise of the temple was preceded by the theological demise of the temple around 40 years earlier with the Last Supper, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Pope Benedict tells us more about how this theological demise was predicted by Jesus Christ. That he foretold the demise of the Temple---its theological demise, that is, from the standpoint of salvation history---is beyond doubt. As evidence for this, besides the eschatological discourse, there is above all the passage about the deserted house with which we began (Mt 23:37-38; Lk 13:34-35) and the words of the false witnesses at Jesus' trial (Mt 26:61; 27:40; Mk 14:58; 15:29; Acts 6:14) ---words that reappear as a taunt at the foot of the Cross and which the Fourth Gospel places earlier, in their correct form, on the lips of Jesus himself (Jn 2:19).  

Inasmuch as it belonged to the Father, Jesus loved the Temple (cf. Lk 2:49) and taught there gladly. He defended it as a house of prayer for all peoples and tried to prepare it for that function. Yet he knew that the age of this Temple was over and that something new was to come, linked to his death and Resurrection. When the time to flee Jerusalem came, the Christians had no problem in crossing the Jordan River and going to Pella since they knew that the time of animal sacrifices in the Temple had already passed.  In fact, Jesus had told them to flee. “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are the days of vengeance, to fulfil all that is written.” (Lk 21:20-22, also Mt 24:15-18, Mk 13:14-16) 

For those who heard Jesus speak these words, and those to whom the apostles and disciples recounted them, and those who heard of them by reading the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus’s words must have been very confusing. Their religious world revolved around the Temple and the Temple animal sacrifices. Even those who believed in the Lord and even died for Him did not know how the religious world which we now call the Church would come into being. We can see the beginnings of this new religious world in the first known Christian martyr, St. Stephen. 

Stephen was one of seven men who were chosen to serve the assembly as deacons. (Acts 6:1-6) Stephen also preached Christ to Jews in one of the synagogues in a way which they could not withstand. (Acts 6:10) Thus, he was seized and brought before the Jerusalem council where false witnesses claimed, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law; for we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” (Acts 6:13-14) John’s Gospel records that Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn 2:19) However, John tells us, “But he spoke of the temple of his body.” (Jn 2:21) The Lord was speaking of His death and Resurrection. 

St. Luke then records a rather long speech which Stephen delivered before the council in which he summarized the history of the people starting with Abraham through Joseph, Moses, David, and the prophets. He especially noted how the patriarchs rejected their brother Joseph and sold him into slavery and how the Israelites rejected Moses when he was sent by God to liberate them from Egypt. Stephen then ends his speech by saying “you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so did you.  Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (Acts 7:51-53) Stephen accuses them of rejecting Jesus Christ just as their fathers previously had rejected those sent to them by God. They then dragged Stephen out of the city and stoned him to death. We need to ask how the gentile Christian, Luke, learned about the episode in which Stephen was stoned to death. St. Luke gives us the answer. “And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.” (Acts 7:58) This Saul became the Apostle Paul. 

St. Luke then tells us, “And Saul consented to his death.” (Acts 8:1) Why? Saul was from the city in modern Turkey call Tarsus, but he was educated in Jerusalem under the famous rabbi Gamaliel. (Acts 22:3) Besides being learned in Judaism, he was zealous for God and for the law and the practices of Judaism since these came from God. In the Roman world, only the Jews worshipped the true creator God as opposed to the pagan idols which even many gentiles realized were human creations. Saul certainly heard Stephen’s last speech before he was stoned, and possibly other teachings about Jesus from Stephen and our Lord’s other disciples. Saul understood that Jesus was not just a harmless rabbi who gave a different interpretation of the Torah.  To Saul, Jesus was a dangerous charlatan who could potentially destroy Judaism with its Temple Worship and God given laws. “But Saul laid waste the Church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” (Acts 8:3) In doing this, Saul was manifesting his great love and zeal for God. 

The conversion of the zealous Jew, Saul, to the zealous Apostle, Paul, is narrated three times in the book of Acts. First, by Luke (Acts 9:1-19), and then by Paul before the crowd in Jerusalem (Acts 22:6-16) and again before King Agrippa in Caesarea. (Acts 26:12-18) As Saul was on the way to Damascus to persecute Christians, he was knocked to the ground with flashing light and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4) Saul had no idea what this meant since he was on his way to Damascus to preserve the God-given laws and customs of Judaism against a dangerous charlatan. Saul asks, “Who are you, Lord?” (Acts 9:5) Saul knew that he was being addressed by God, but he had no idea what this meant. The answer came quickly. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting; but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” (Acts 9:5-6). Since the light had blinded him, he was led into Damascus by his companions where he neither ate nor drank for three days. For Saul, knowing what he was to do was more important than eating or drinking.  (Acts 9:9) During this time, he must have remembered the words of St. Stephen. “Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (Acts 7:52-53) 

After Saul’s sight was restored by the disciple, Ananias, Saul became the great Apostle Paul.  

Saul’s zeal for God didn’t change when he has blinded by the light from heaven. He was always zealous for the truth, but now he knew that Jesus was the way, the truth, and the light. The Pharisee Saul’s great zeal for Judaism and the Temple became the Apostle Paul’s great zeal for Jesus Christ and His Church. The Church immediately recognized the importance of Paul since he was not an “ignorant Galilean” but an educated Jew who recognized Jesus as the fulfillment of Judaism and not its destroyer. By the time the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, Paul had already been martyred. However, in his many letters, which the Church accepted as scripture (inspired by God), he laid out how Christ had fulfilled the purpose of the Temple with the Last Supper, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. We should never forget that when we attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we are witnessing the fulfillment of what was begun even before the Temple in the Tent of Meeting in the Sinai desert over 3000 years ago. –Jim Nugent, CFP