John 2:13-25
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.
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.
Jesus’ zeal for God’s house
For two persons truly in love, every gift, no matter how insignificant in monetary value, is meaningful because it speaks of one’s affection for the other.
On the other hand, when a husband who has been drinking, gambling, womanizing, beating up his wife and kids, and generally making life miserable for them, suddenly gives an expensive gift to his wife, he is met with disbelief: "What’s happening with you?" The gift is empty because it does not follow from the giver’s way of life. The ten commandments (First Reading) stood for the covenant between Yahweh and Israel. For the Israelite, they were "the path to life" (Ps 16:11). They concretized his response to God who created him, liberated him from the slavery of Egypt, established a covenant with his forefathers and promised them land, sustained him in awaiting the Messiah.
But with the years, the decalogue was elaborated through hundreds of legal prescriptions meant to be kept to the letter. Their observance was all that mattered. They ceased to be seen as expressions of fidelity to the covenant with Yahweh; they became burdens hard to bear.
The Temple, too, symbolized the presence of God among his people. In this privileged place of encounter, the Jews offered sacrifices meant to signify their affection and loyalty to God and the covenant.
Jesus, in the Gospel, cleanses the Temple: "Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!" For him, the transactions in the Temple have lost the spirit of true worship. The merchants are there to make money; the sacrifice has become an empty ritual. The people have forgotten their calling as God’s chosen people; their offerings do not express a life of loving obedience to God and the covenant.
Jesus’ bold gesture recalls the prophet Isaiah’s lament: " ‘The number of your endless sacrifices—what do I care for them?’ says the Lord. ‘I have had more than enough of whole-burnt offerings… I do not need your oblations… Your hands are bloody; wash and make yourselves clean… Put an end to your wickedness and learn to do good. Seek justice, give hope to the oppressed; give the fatherless their rights and defend the widow’ "(Is 1:11-17).
Jesus signals the end of the Temple worship to replace it with a perfect sacrifice: the offering of himself on the cross, crowning a whole life lived in total, loving obedience to the Father.
SOURCE: "365 Days with the Lord," ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
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