He knocked over the tables of the money-changers, 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.
REFLECTION:
All four Gospels tell the story of the cleansing of the temple (see Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48),
but the Synoptics place it near the end of Jesus’ life,
and it provokes the chief priests and scribes to plot to kill him (Mark 14:10).
John’s Gospel places the cleansing at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry,
and the raising of Lazarus is the precipitating event for his trial and crucifixion (John 11-12).
In John’s view, Jesus’ life was not taken from him, but he laid it down of his own accord (10:17-18).
So, the need for the temple to be cleansed from the very start is but necessary,
to be a fitting dwelling place and a throne which is just and holy.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020