Was the prophecy of water flowing out of the temple ever fulfilled? Here’s an important reading from Mass this week:
The angel brought me, Ezekiel, back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east.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. Ezek 47
A first reading will say “no” for many reasons. Jesus encountered money changers in the inner temple precincts, who he had to drive away. And following Old Testament prescriptions, lepers were forbidden to enter the camp lest the temple be defiled–so the temple wasn’t a force for physical healing. A daily Mass reading this week showed how the Pharisees prevented healing on the Sabbath. In AD 70, the temple was destroyed.
New Testament fulfillment
This temple imagery was fulfilled in Christ. Jesus refers to himself as the new and greater temple, as he represents the presence of God on earth (Mt 12:6-8; John 2:18-22) and the source of “living water” (see John 4 and 7). The lepers didn’t defile Jesus as they did the temple building; he went out to the lepers, and when he touched them, they became clean. “Wherever this water comes, the sea shall be made fresh!”
Seeing fulfillment in Lent
This brings us to our own intentions in Lent. In Lent, we might take on disciplines in an effort to become more “clean.” But like the lepers in Scripture, you can’t make yourself clean for worship; healing only comes from contact with our Lord Jesus Christ. The point of Lent isn’t make yourself good enough for Jesus but instead to draw closer to Jesus so that the Living Water will heal you.
The temple prophecy concludes with God’s plan for his people:
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.
This is about people who have been transformed by contact with Christ. As you draw closer to Jesus this Lent, you will bear fresh fruit and become a agent of healing for others.