Shredding Your Muscles

 

Understanding the bodybuilding of the resurrection

11/09/2025

John 2:13-22 Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

Did you know I used to be into bodybuilding? I mean, just look at me. Now, I don’t mean building bulging muscles like Hans and Franz had on the old Saturday Night Live, who said: “We want to pump, you up!”  Rather, I built my muscles to run marathons. They were not for size and show but for stamina and speed. Back in my forties, I ran four marathons and one half marathon to raise money for Catholic schools. I even ran the True Grit here in Fort Smith.

Now, the irony of all good bodybuilding is that first you must tear down the muscle before you can build it up. One technique we used for tearing down muscles for marathons was hill sprints. You would sprint up a hill as fast as you could run and then slowly jog back down. And you repeated that several times until you finally threw up. Why?

Well, throwing up meant that you had pushed your body beyond the breaking point, the point where the muscles were truly torn down. Trainers call this “shredding your muscles.” In other words, only if you first tear down the body can you later build up the body so that it becomes better, stronger, faster.

In the gospel today Jesus applies this irony of bodybuilding – tearing down to build up – by comparing his sacred Body and to a sacred building, namely, the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus declares that the Temple is heading for destruction, but in three days he would build it back up. The Jews are confused, and so John in his gospel clarifies: “But [Jesus] was speaking about the temple of his body.”

That is, our Lord’s precious Body would be torn down (shredded) through the brutal scrouging, crowning with thorns, carrying the cross, crucifixion and death. Why? So that three days later it could be built up eternally strong and infinitely glorious. In other words, Jesus introduces a new kind of bodybuilding that Hans and Franz could never have imagined: the body is torn down in death but built up in the resurrection.

This weekend we celebrate the feast day of a building, namely, the Basilica of St. John Lateran. And the Church invites us to compare and contrast our bodies to church buildings like Jesus did in the gospel. How so? Well, first we can compare our bodies to churches because we go to great lengths to beautify both.

You know, it is impossible to calculate the time, talent and treasure it took to build and now to maintain this Gothic church of the Immaculate Conception. It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful churches in Arkansas. Similarly, we should take great care of our bodies, not just physically, but especially sacramentally.

Have you noticed how we bathe the body in Baptism, we anoint the body in Confirmation, we place rings on the bodies of bride and groom in Holy Matrimony, we nourish the body with Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Eucharist, and we incense the body at a funeral. Folks, this is sacramental bodybuilding: beautifying our bodies like we beautify our churches because God dwells in both.

But we should also contrast our bodies to church buildings. Why? Because even though our bodies eventually crumble and fall (like buildings) they will not remain forever in the grave. I visit my parents in Springdale every Friday. And even though their bodies are aging, they are still living in their own home, taking care of themselves, and enjoying a very high quality of life.

My mom is a registered nurse and so she basically acts like Hans and Franz to my dad pushing him to exercise, saying, “I want to pump you up!” And my dad really loves that. That is, they are not running hill sprints anymore, but their heart muscles have been shredded by a life-time of loving God, and their neighbor and each other. But those muscles that have been torn down in love will be built up again in glory.

My friends, you may not be into bodybuilding like Hans and Franz and want bulging muscles. And you may never run a marathon for Catholic schools like I did. Nonetheless, your muscles and your entire body will one day be pushed beyond the breaking point, namely, the point at which you die. No one is getting out of here alive.

But here is the good news: people of faith know the great irony of all good bodybuilding: first you must tear down in order to build up. In other words, at the resurrection on the last day, Jesus will raise our bodies from the grave, and say to us in effect: “I want to pump you up!” And then he will give us an eternally glorious and infinitely beautiful body, that would make even Hans and Franz jealous.

Praised be Jesus Christ!