“Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews replied, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?' — the historical detail (forty-six years, dating to approximately 20 BCE under Herod the Great) grounds the passage in historical reality. The Jews' literal misunderstanding, characteristic of John, demonstrates the blindness that prevents perception of spiritual truth.