In the Gospel of John of the second chapter, verses 13-25, we see a very human Jesus that is quite angry for the temple being used as a marketplace for the exorbitant sale of sacrificial offerings. In Leviticus 14:22 we see that a poorer person can purchase 2 turtledoves or pigeons which are more affordable where one is used as “a sin offering and the other as a holocaust.” Strangely enough, in John’s Gospel, Jesus tells those who were selling doves to “take these out of here and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” Foreshadowing to Psalm 69:10 in regard to zeal for one’s house is mentioned as it relates to John’s Gospel. Of course, the second cleansing of the temple during Passion week as mentioned in Matthew’s gospel chapter 21 is quite a bit different. Remarkably, what we can learn from this passage and from Jesus’s righteous anger is that we too should be angry with events that don’t show the love and compassion of the Father. Jesus knows full well that human nature is flawed, thereby relying on that which is not perfect and dependent on God. Jesus knows our own human condition too well in his justified response in which he drives out the money changers from the temple so as to show us the need to purify our own houses of worship not only in our churches, but also in our homes. How often do we have preconceived thoughts and ideas of how things should look according to our own false sense of what we think God would want versus what we want?
Let us remember the words from the book of Psalms, 51:11-12: “Turn away your face from my sins; blot out all my guilt. A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit.” Let us always be ready to come before the Lord with a sense of humility, righteous anger and dependence. May we always have the mindset to be open to the transformation of the new temple that is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, our savior. In Him alone will our zealous human nature be overturned so that the humility and love of God our Father take hold in the new temple dedicated to His saving grace.
StreetEvangelist 