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 the 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.While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.
Today, we see Jesus cleansing the temple by driving away those who sold sheep, oxen and doves, as well as the money changers. Jesus tells them to stop making the temple a marketplace. The temple is the dwelling place of God and as such, it should be treated with respect. Something holy is something set apart and blessed. Therefore, the temple, being holy, should be set apart, free from worldly activities like the cheating done by money changers.
This particular narrative reminds us that in going to church, we must not act in the same way as we would in going to malls. We must have the proper disposition, wearing the proper attire and ready to worship God and to listen to His Words. This is giving proper respect to God and to His dwelling place.
Yes, we ought to respect the temple of God. We should cleanse it free of worldly things.
In this season of Lent, this Gospel passage calls us to holiness of life. It tells us that God's dwelling place must be respected and treated as holy. And since, according to Saint Paul, we too are the dwelling places of God (1 Cor 3:16-17), we ought to be holy.
Of course, we cannot become holy by our efforts alone. We need the help of God. We need to ask Jesus to cleanse us from our sins just as He cleansed the temple of worldly activities. And that is what Lent is all about. It is a time when we remember the worldly things surrounding our hearts and ask the Lord to get rid of these for us. We must strive to keep ourselves free from impure worship and a corrupted relationship with God.
It is really quite a challenge to be holy when we live in a material world. But that is the challenge of this Lenten Season. We must separate ourselves from worldly activities, except of course, those necessary for our survival. We must deny ourselves worldly pleasures and set our eyes on the things above. We must not be of this world even if we are in it.
Our church edifices are comparable to malls, in the sense that they are both buildings. But the big difference lies in this: Malls raise their billboards and advertisements as high as they can in order to remind people to patronize them and their products. Our churches, on the other hand, raise crosses and crucifixes as high as they can in order to show us the Savior and to remind us of our call to be holy. This is how the Church, though in the world, is not of the world. It is set apart from worldly things. We too, must be separated from the world. A balloon cannot reach heaven if its string is anchored to the ground. Similarly, we cannot reach the heavenly Kingdom if we attach ourselves to the world.
This particular narrative reminds us that in going to church, we must not act in the same way as we would in going to malls. We must have the proper disposition, wearing the proper attire and ready to worship God and to listen to His Words. This is giving proper respect to God and to His dwelling place.
Yes, we ought to respect the temple of God. We should cleanse it free of worldly things.
In this season of Lent, this Gospel passage calls us to holiness of life. It tells us that God's dwelling place must be respected and treated as holy. And since, according to Saint Paul, we too are the dwelling places of God (1 Cor 3:16-17), we ought to be holy.
Of course, we cannot become holy by our efforts alone. We need the help of God. We need to ask Jesus to cleanse us from our sins just as He cleansed the temple of worldly activities. And that is what Lent is all about. It is a time when we remember the worldly things surrounding our hearts and ask the Lord to get rid of these for us. We must strive to keep ourselves free from impure worship and a corrupted relationship with God.
It is really quite a challenge to be holy when we live in a material world. But that is the challenge of this Lenten Season. We must separate ourselves from worldly activities, except of course, those necessary for our survival. We must deny ourselves worldly pleasures and set our eyes on the things above. We must not be of this world even if we are in it.
Our church edifices are comparable to malls, in the sense that they are both buildings. But the big difference lies in this: Malls raise their billboards and advertisements as high as they can in order to remind people to patronize them and their products. Our churches, on the other hand, raise crosses and crucifixes as high as they can in order to show us the Savior and to remind us of our call to be holy. This is how the Church, though in the world, is not of the world. It is set apart from worldly things. We too, must be separated from the world. A balloon cannot reach heaven if its string is anchored to the ground. Similarly, we cannot reach the heavenly Kingdom if we attach ourselves to the world.
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