Finally, we come to the point of the conversation after the Temple incident:
But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.The Gospel is a record of a community's memories of Jesus and his words and deeds. It's not just the disciples that remembered that Jesus said this, it is the entire community. This passage also gives us one clue as to why John placed this story at the beginning of Jesus' ministry rather than toward the end, where it appears in the other Gospels. John is making it explicitly clear who and what Jesus is from the beginning.
The last three verses in today's reading expand this theme, but from a slightly different angle. People are believing in Jesus and who he is as he continues to work among them. Obviously, he is not keeping quiet about his work. However, he clearly is not about to trust those outside his immediate circle because he can see them for what they are--although what he sees is not explained.
I'm still having trouble with the way the Reading Plan is breaking up the stories. Perhaps I need to be approaching these snippets more in the spirit of midrash, since the incompleteness lends itself to that kind of reflection.
Peace,
Jeffri
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