court, together with the oxen and sheep. He knocked over the tables of the moneychangers,
scattering the coins, and ordered the people selling doves,

“Take all this away, and stop making a marketplace of my Father’s house!” His disciples recalled
the words of Scripture: Zeal for your house devours me like fire. The Jews then questioned Jesus,
“Where are the miraculous signs which give you the right to do this?” And Jesus said, “Destroy this
temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then replied, “The building of this temple has
already taken forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” Actually, Jesus was referring
to the temple of his body. Only when he had risen from the dead did his disciples remember these
words; then they believed both the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken.

Reflect:

Jesus of Montreal is a 1989 movie wherein actors performing a Passion play in a church begin
to resemble in their real life the characters they play. In one scene, Daniel (who plays Jesus)
accompanies friend Mireille (Mary Magdalene in the play) to an audition for a TV commercial.
Mireille is asked to take off her clothes by the casting director. Daniel flies into a rage, overturns
lights and cameras, and makes a whip out of a rope and chases everyone out: an obvious
parallel to Jesus cleansing the temple. The temple was the center of faith for the Jews, for God
dwelt in the temple. Jesus flies into a rage seeing how his Father’s house has been turned into
a market place. He goes on to refer to his own body as the Temple, where his Father dwells.
Paul reminds us that we too are the temple of God as God’s Spirit dwells in us. How great
would be Jesus’ fury if he finds us desecrating the human temples, his Father’s abode!

© Copyright Bible Diary 2022