Jesus' cleansing of the Temple must have been like Ash Wednesday for Our Lady. Mary's long Lent had begun.
The dark mark of the Cross must have cast a shadow over her when she realized what had happened. The "ordinary time" of her life with Jesus was over. Now everything was heading toward the end, an end which would certainly be bloody.
Chapter 2 of John's Gospel starts with Jesus and Mary celebrating together at the wedding in Cana and then moves immediately into Jesus' prophetic action at the Temple in Jerusalem: From "My hour has not yet come," to "Zeal for your house will consume me" (Jn 2:4,17).
To hear the story of the cleansing of the Temple through the Blessed Mother's ears is to embrace our own stripping away of worldly illusions which allows us to enter into the Paschal Mystery. Indeed, from the moment Mary heard that "Jesus went up to Jerusalem" with the Passover approaching (Jn 2:13), she must have glimpsed where this was going--the City of David, the place of Passover sacrifice, the Father's house--and why.
"Destroy this Temple..." When Mary heard these words of Jesus, she knew that it was not some metaphorical message. The intransigent leaders and the capricious crowd would, indeed, kill her Son. The Angel had told Joseph that Jesus would "save his people from their sins" (Mt 1:21), and salvation of God's chosen people is inextricably linked to the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb.
But Mary knew that the Blood of this Lamb was different, having been heavenly-sent and co-mingled with her own since the moment Jesus was conceived. She knows that his Body is different as well, having become the new dwelling place of the Lord on earth: "...he was speaking about the temple of his body" (Jn 2:21).
Jesus' entire public ministry was a season of penance and prayer for Our Lady. She accepted the passion which needed to come because she trusted in the victory which the Lord promised for the new Temple of his Body: "...in three days I will raise it up." Just as Mary had trusted the Angel who promised that Jesus would "rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Lk 1:33), so she trusted that Life would destroy death, that freedom would supplant slavery. She knew it must be so.
What a lonely Lent the Blessed Mother must have walked--especially in her empathy with Son's isolation when she heard that "Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all..." (Jn 2:24).
Thankfully, Jesus entrusted himself to Our Lady over and over again. Gratefully, we must accept the fact that he longs to trust himself to us as well. If we dare to journey with Jesus and Mary to Jerusalem, our Lent will help us realize that Love does such things.
