Gospel: Jn 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.
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Zeal for the holiness of God’s house pushes Jesus to cleanse it of people who turn it to a marketplace. But it will cost him his life, just as the prophets committed to the honor of God were persecuted.
More, Jesus declares that he is replacing the temple with his person, the temple of his body. Israel relates to God through its temple. The time has come for believers to relate to God through Jesus risen from the dead.
Today’s feast reminds us of “the temple of God” that has a variety of meanings: the house where we worship, our body, the community, the Church, the Body of Christ. How do you keep God’s temple holy?
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
