FOR SUNDAY 03.03
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So, he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
JOHN 2, 13-25 (NIV)
The story recounted by the evangelist John is like a mirror in which each of us can see a bit of ourselves. Let's take a closer look at the scene from Jerusalem, where Jesus, not so much out of anger, but out of love for what is sacred, cleansed the Temple. He drove out the traders whose activities had turned the house of prayer into a marketplace. This event from the Gospel according to John is like a powerful symbol, prompting us to question what is happening in our hearts. Is our heart a house of prayer, or is it more like a fairground where we trade our desires, ambitions, or fears?
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