November 9
The Cleansing of the Temple
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Today’s Gospel: John
2:13-22
(The Cleansing of the
Temple)
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.
Reflection:
Jesus
walks into the temple courts at Passover and finds the place buzzing with
cattle, sheep, and moneychangers, so He makes a whip of cords and drives them
out, scattering coins and overturning tables while telling them to stop making
His Father’s house a marketplace, and the disciples remember the words of the
psalm that zeal for the Lord’s house will consume Him. What I notice most is
that His anger is not aimed at people who were far from God but at business
being done in the very place meant for prayer, which suggests that the greatest
danger to the sacred is often not open rebellion but the slow creep of
convenience, noise, and routine until we stop noticing what is holy right in
front of us.
When the leaders demand a sign, He answers that if they destroy this temple He
will raise it up in three days, and John tells us He was speaking about the
temple of His body, a promise that finds its fulfillment on Easter morning and
that opens the door to something wonderful for us, since Saint Paul tells us in
today’s second reading that we ourselves are God’s temple and that the Spirit
dwells within us. That changes how we look at an ordinary day, because the same
zeal Jesus showed for the building of stone is the zeal He has for the dwelling
place of our hearts, and He wants to clear out whatever clutter has gathered
there, the worries, the grudges, and the endless noise, so that there is room
once again for prayer.
Today the Church celebrates the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, the
cathedral of the Pope himself and the one the Church calls the mother and head
of all the churches of the city and the world, which was dedicated in the
fourth century after the Emperor Constantine gave the land to the Church once
the long years of persecution had ended. It is easy for those of us who are far
from Rome to feel that it has little to do with us, but the Lateran belongs to
every Catholic, and when we step into our own parish church on a Sunday we are
standing in a building that is joined, through that mother church, to the whole
family of believers across the world and across the centuries.
No one ever made a more fitting dwelling for God than Mary, whose heart was so
thoroughly given over to the Lord that the Son of God took flesh within her and
lived under her roof for thirty years. It is Beneath the Standard of Mary
that the temple of our own hearts is swept clean and made ready, for she knows
better than anyone how to prepare a home for Jesus.
What has crept into the temple of your heart lately that does not belong
there, and how can you drive it out? How do you treat your parish church when
you walk through its doors, and is there a way to bring more reverence to the
place where Jesus waits for you? And are you ready to believe that the Holy
Spirit already lives within you and wants to make your whole life a place of
prayer?
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
Freely given. Freely shared.
