with the oxen and sheep. He knocked over the tables of the money-changers, scattering the coins, and ordered the people selling
doves, “Take all this away and stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture: Zeal for your House
devours me as a 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 you will 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

This is the first time we see Jesus engage in
aggressive behavior. He made a whip out of cords and
drove merchants and moneychangers
out of their stall. Some scholars suggest that
Jesus’ action is a prophetic sign of the Temple’s imminent
destruction. Jeremiah predicted accurately in 587
B.C. the first destruction of the Temple. For him, it had
become “a den of robbers” (Jer 7:11) and unworthy of God.
Jesus in today’s gospel sees the situation of Jeremiah’s
time repeating itself in the corrupt Temple aristocracy
of His time. Unfortunately, he was just as accurate as
Jeremiah in predicting the Temple’s eventual demise: it
was destroyed a second time by the Romans in 70 AD, this
time never to be re-built. The stone edifice where the God
of Israel was worshipped may have been demolished
several hundred years ago, yet His worship continues.
With Jesus, a new people is established gathered in
the word and the one bread that Jesus left behind as a
memorial of God’s love for the world.