Cleanse Me
"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.'" (John 2:15-16)
"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.'" (John 2:15-16)
This passage can be challenging for some in our postmodern era. Jesus tends to be depicted in popular media as very docile, passive, and tolerant. However, in today's Gospel, Christ shows a much more intense side of himself. Christ steps into his prophetic role as the Messiah, the warrior king, and consumed with zeal, he physically purges the temple of its impurities and profanities. This aggressive act is not impulsive, however. By cleansing the temple, Christ communicates that He is the fulfillment of what the prophets foretold; He is truly the Messiah. When his disciples question him, he goes on to establish His own Body as equal to the temple; a place that, to the Jews, was the center of daily life and the very dwelling place of God.
In the second reading for today, Paul reinforces this and extends it further, stating plainly that each of us are temples of God. This fact changes everything about our relationship with the Lord and how we worship. This means that one's own body is simultaneously a sacred dwelling for God and a living sacrifice to God. But, we constantly lose sight of this, especially in the corruption of our current society. We allow ourselves to be overrun by worldly things, giving priority to the material instead of the eternal. Like the merchants in the temple in today's gospel, we let profanities and impurities live "rent free" within us, God's own house.
Right now, visualize the moment of Christ entering the temple. Now, imagine the temple is you. What would Christ find there?
Lord, just as you cleansed the temple, cleanse me of sin and make me a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Daniel Hynes is the Director of Evangelization & Communications at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Clearwater, FL. His passion for writing led him to study English, receiving a BA in Editing, Writing, and Media from FSU. In his free time, he enjoys reading good science fiction as well as spending time with his family and pet crested gecko, Jango.
