NOT A BONE OF IT WILL BE BROKEN

Hos 11,1.3-4.8-9; C Is 12,2-6; Eph 3,8-12.14-19; Jn 19,31-37
8 JUNE
In the story that the Apostle John offers us of what happened immediately after Jesus’ death on Golgotha, three great prophecies are fulfilled. Jesus is the true Lamb of Easter. He was slain. Now his body will be placed in the tomb awaiting the glorious resurrection. This is why no bone will be broken to him. But he is not only the Lamb for the sons of Israel, but also the Lamb for every son of Adam.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover. No foreigner may partake of it. However, any slave who has been bought for money may partake of it, provided you have first circumcised him. But no transient alien or hired servant may partake of it. It must be eaten in one and the same house; you may not take any of its flesh outside the house. You shall not break any of its bones. The whole community of Israel must keep this feast. If any aliens living among you wish to celebrate the Passover of the Lord, all the males among them must first be circumcised, and then they may join in its observance just like the natives. But no man who is uncircumcised may partake of it. The law shall be the same for the resident alien as for the native” (Ex 12,43-49).

Jesus is the New Temple of God. From its right side the water that will give life to the whole earth will flow. This water must today and always flow from the body of Christ which is the Church. The Church is the true living temple of the Holy Spirit and the true living temple of God.

Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the facade of the temple was toward the east; the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple, south of the altar. He said to me, “This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah, and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh. Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh. Fishermen shall be standing along it from En-gedi to En-eglaim, spreading their nets there. Its kinds of fish shall be like those of the Great Sea, very numerous. Only its marshes and swamps shall not be made fresh; they shall be left for salt. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine” (Cfr. Ez 47,1-12).

On Golgotha who is pierced is the God of Israel, the true God, in his flesh. It is not a man that dies, the Lamb is not a man, the New Temple of God is not a man. Lamb and the New Temple is the Only Son of the Father, of his flesh.

I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and petition; and they shall look on him whom they have thrust through, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they shall grieve over him as one grieves over a first-born (Zec 12,10).

With this faith one must always look at Crucified Jesus. Everything is from his body. Everything is from his Church. One separates Christ from the Church, the Church is a dry torrent.

Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may (come to) believe. For this happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled: “Not a bone of it will be broken.” And again another passage says: “They will look upon him whom they have pierced.”

Today it is urgent to make of Christ, of the true Christ and of the Church, of the true Church, one body, one life and one source of redemption for humanity. Every Christian is called to renew his belonging to Christ in fullness of faith and grace.

Help of Christians, Angels and Saints, arrange that every disciple of Jesus is his true temple.