Ezk 47:1-2,8-9,12; 1 Cor 3:9c-11,16-17; Jn 2:13-22

Chapter 10 of St. John’s Gospel records the presence of Our Lord in the Jerusalem Temple during its solemn Dedication Feast (10:22). That annual celebration had been decreed by Judas Maccabeus, following his purification of the Temple in 164 B.C., after its pollution by the wicked King Antiochus Epiphanes. Jewish congregations also celebrated that Dedication feast in the synagogues of the diaspora.