When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.He said to them, “It is written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.” (Matthew 21: 10-13)
Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him. (Luke 19:47)
Throughout the last week of his life, Jesus kept returning to the temple to teach and talk to the people, yet the Scribes and Pharisees constantly tried to trick him by posing seemingly impossible questions. He must have gathered enormous crowds as he taught the people and he was immensely popular, so much so that the authorities dare not arrest him there. Yet, for all its popularity as a place of prayer and sacrifice, the temple must have been a sad place. It was meant to be the house of God and the holiest place in the world, and yet the temple structures were corrupt. The priests were often petty in their interpretation of the law, but they also allowed such lax practices as the moneychangers disturbing the peace in the only part of the temple where non-Jews were allowed to pray. However, the most climatic moment in the temple in Holy Week happens when the veil cutting off the Holy of Holies from the people is torn in two at the moment of the crucifixion. The tearing happens from top to bottom, pointing to the fact that this is an act of God, not humanity. The way to the presence of God is now open to everyone, not just the High Priest. This is why St Paul has the courage to tell us that we are the temples now, temples of the Holy Spirit.
Pause for thought
How can we enable others to experience the closeness of the presence of the Living God?
Am I enabling others to pray, or disturbing them when they are trying to listen to the voice of God?
What does the fact that I am a temple of the Holy Spirit mean for me?
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