The cleansing of the temple
Today’s gospel is very important for it has so many meanings, which the Jews and the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ did not comprehend or understand until he was crucified, died, and rose again. It was then that they remember what our Lord Jesus Christ prophesied. You can read it in your Bibles in John 2: 13-22.
“13 Since the Passover of the Jews was near. Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep and doves, as well as the moneychangers seated there. 15 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 moneychangers and overturned their tables, 16 and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
17 His disciples recalled the words of scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up”. 20 The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 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.”
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This incident happened just a week before the Jews crucified our Lord Jesus Christ. The first of many meanings in today’s gospel that I can share with you is, the need for cleansing ourselves from the vestiges of sin, especially mortal sin. Our Lord knew that his hour had come and it was time to cleanse the Temple that King David had built for his Father. But the Jews didn’t know or accept that our Lord Jesus Christ was the Messiah who was sent to the world to take away the sins of the world.
However, the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ who have accepted him as our Lord and Saviour still couldn’t comprehend his actions in the Temple and his link to God himself. They probably agreed with the Jews when our Lord said “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” I’m sure that they could not imagine a temple that took forty-six years to build would be destroyed and raised in three days.
Of course, our Lord Jesus was referring to the temple of his body, which he would raise in three days. But then on the other hand, no one had raised himself from the dead… so I’m sure that both the Jews and the disciples of our Lord were all dumbfounded as to how this could ever happen. But as today’s gospel, which was written by John some 60-years after our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, he clearly stated, “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.”
A few years later after John the Evangelist wrote this part of the scripture, the Romans fought the Zealots and they destroyed the Temple and left no stone unturned. Almost exactly a year ago, we were having a shoot for Straight from the Sky in Jerusalem and it was great blessing to be right on the Western Wall of the ancient Jewish temple, which is the holiest site for Judaism today… called the Wailing Wall.
We Christians have long accepted the fact that the Jews are our elder brethren from the Old Testament. When the 2nd temple was re-opened, God himself vowed that his spirit would never leave the temple. This is why the Jews of today worship Yahweh in the Wailing Wall. Rightly or wrongly, we too said our prayers at the Wailing Wall wearing the traditional skullcap, which are given freely to worshipers. Most Christian tourists do this.
But come to think of it, if you opened your Bible at the very gospel passage before the Cleansing of the Temple when our Lord Jesus Christ made his Lament for Jerusalem; our Lord said in Luke 19: 41-44 “As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
So as prophesied by our Lord…”They will not leave one stone upon another within you.” The last meaning we can learn from our gospel today is that God doesn’t live in temples or churches… he lives within our hearts. But only if we have confessed our sins and asked for our Lord’s Divine mercy, then we truly become temples of the Holy Spirit.
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