Temple, Blood and Water

My favorite Gospel is John. Some scholars say it is simple enough for a child to 

wade in, but deep enough to drown an Elephant. I once did a paper years ago on how the

Jewish people saw the Temple as a microcosm of the universe. Lately I have been seeing 

how John connects the Temple and Jesus’ body. Let’s begin.

            John 19: 34 reads, “One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a

sudden flow of blood and water”.  In 1 John 5:6-8, we read”: “This is the one who came by 

water & blood-Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it 

is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is Truth. For there are 3 that testify, the Spirit, 

the Water, and the Blood, and the 3 are in agreement.”  Ezekiel adds to this imagery, Ezek.

47:1-9: “I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the Temple towards the

East…The water flowed down from the right side of the Temple”.

            The Church-approved Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska depicts Jesus appearing to

Faustina, opening the cloak at His breast, and two rays issuing forth, one red and one 

Pale. He said this was the water and blood flowing from His Heart, which represents 

Baptism and Eucharist respectively. He asked this image be painted, signed “Jesus I Trust 

in You” and hung in every chapel in the world. A strong reminder of the Blood and Water

poured out for us.

            In John Bergsma’s book Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, on pg. 65, we read: 

“During Jewish High festivals, the priests sacrificed so many lambs in the Temple that they 

had to use buckets of Water to wash the blood down drains in the Temple floor, and a 

torrent of blood and water gushed out of the side of the Temple Mount, into the Kidron

Valley below.  Ancient Jews, reading John 19,would see the blood and water as marking 

the Temple and Jesus’ body as the New Temple (John 2:21).

            So then, what specific connection do the Scriptures make so that we can claim

Jesus’ body to be the New Temple?  In John 2:19-21, “Jesus answered, destroy this 

Temple, and I will raise it up in 3 days; but the Temple He had spoken of was His body”.

The Book of Revelation shows this glorious Temple in action; Revelations 22:1;”Then the

angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the Throne of

God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the main street of the City”. Now the water is 

flowing both from the throne of God AND the Lamb.

            At the Council of Chalcedon, they defined the Dogma of the Hypostatic Union. What 

does this mean? And what, if anything, does it have to do with the Temple? It means Jesus

Christ is One Person, with 2 Natures, Human and Divine. The teaching of 

Jesus’-body-as-Temple actually utilizes both Natures to show this beautiful combination.

The blood and water obviously relates to his Human nature, the fact that His resurrected 

body is the New Temple showing His Divine nature.  

            In the recent Christology course I took, we studied the following passages from the

Catechism, very relevant to our study: CCC 583-586: “For Jesus, the Temple of His Father, 

was a House of Prayer; and was angered over the commerce. ‘Zeal for your house will 

consume me’. (John 2:17). He announced the destruction of the Temple. He announced 

this a sign of the Last Days. He identified Himself with the Temple by presenting Himself 

as God’s dwelling place among men (John 2:21, Matt 12:6). His being put to death (John

2:18-22) foreshadowed the destruction of the Temple, which brings about a new age in the

story of salvation. (John 4:21) (Heb 9:11, Rev.21:22). When Jesus died, the Veil of the 

Temple was torn, showing God’s presence had left, and ushers in a new era of God’s

salvation. And what, in particular, does this mean for us as believers?

            Through Jesus’ grace, and His passing to the Father, OUR BODIES are now 

Temples, as Christians, and we should treat them accordingly: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17: “Do

you not know that you are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, 

lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s Temple, God will destroy them, for the Temple of 

God is holy, and so you, as His Temple are holy”. Our bodies are now holy Temples, 

especially after Communion, and Paul says we must be aware, particularly to avoid

 desecrating them through sexual immorality. As believers, ”Whoever believes in Me, as

Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them”(John 7:38-39). Not only

are our bodies now Temples, but Living Water will flow through them, too!!