Jesus, the New Covenant and the New Temple, from Jn 2,1-22

Abstract

The present article articulates the pericopes of the wedding at Cana and the expulsion of the moneychangers from the Temple, which appear right at the beginning of the Gospel of John (Jn 2,1-22), and shows the connections between them. At first glance, the two episodes do not seem to have striking affinities. Still in Galilee, Jesus performs his first sign: supply the wine shortage at a wedding by changing into wine the water in the waterpots for purification. After an apparently irrelevant versicle, about his brief stay in Galilee with his brothers and disciples, the account presents Jesus for the first time in Jerusalem. In the Temple, he frees the animals destined for sacrifice, expels the moneychangers and denounces the corruption of what should have been a house of prayer, but had become a house of merchandise. With the support of the Semitic Biblical Rhetoric Analysis method, correlations are noticed between the two texts, which, not by chance, are located one after the other. Both announce the newness brought by Jesus, carrier of the new covenant and whose body constitutes the new temple. The analysis also helps to identify affinities with other passages of the IV Gospel, such as the baptism of Jesus, the speech of the good shepherd and the delivery of Jesus on the cross.