Holy Outburst

𝐍𝐎𝐕. 𝟐𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐆𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈: 𝟏 𝐌𝐚𝐜 𝟒:𝟑𝟔-𝟑𝟕, 𝟓𝟐-𝟓𝟗

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏 𝐂𝐡𝐫 𝟐𝟗:𝟏𝟎-𝟏𝟐 “𝐖𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐎 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐝.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏𝟗:𝟒𝟓-𝟒𝟖

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑴𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑.” (𝒗.46)

         In what could be the only instance when Jesus really showed his anger was when he arrived at the temple and saw that it has been turned into a marketplace (𝐯.𝟒𝟓) or as what Jesus described as a den of robbers (𝐯.𝟒𝟖).

         The illustration of Jesus holding a whip made of cords which was described in 𝐉𝐧 𝟐:𝟏𝟓 must have been a terrifying scene as he drove away the sheep and cattle and overturned the tables of money changers thereby scattering all the coins and monies.

         All these happened during the Passover which was and still is considered as the most memorable feasts of the Jewish nation and by law and tradition, all adult male Jew are bound to go to the temple to celebrate the feast of the Passover.  

         The Temple was always crowded during the Passover Feast (𝐄𝐱𝐨 𝟏𝟐) which normally lasts a day while the Festival of the Unleavened Bread (𝐋𝐞𝐯 𝟐𝟑:𝟔) lasts for the rest of the week. These two festivals are celebrated by the Jews starting on the 14th day of the first month which is the Passover Feast while the Festival of the Unleavened Bread starts on the 15th day of the same month.

         The religious leaders, however, allowed money changers and merchants to set up trading booths at the Temple that made it difficult for the people to worship which was the main purpose of the Jews for visiting the Temple. What the religious leaders forgot was that God’s Temple was a place of worship and not for profit. And this apparent desecration was what made Jesus angry.

         And the religious leaders asked for a sign as proof of his authority and Jesus replied by saying “𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔.” (𝑱𝒏 2:19) And they failed to grasp the meaning of what he said because they were on different planes with Jesus talking of his coming passion, death and resurrection while the religious leaders could only see what was before them which was why they asked for a sign.

         What Jesus was referring to was it was his own body which was the Temple that needed to be destroyed through his passion and death and raised again on the third day. What Jesus was also saying in this passage was that there would be no need anymore for sacrificial offering because he himself will be the sacrifice at the altar on which a new Temple will rise.

         But while we may have done away with animal sacrifice in today’s world, we may have replaced this unknowingly with paraphernalia that we try to pass on as part of our worship to God as we build beautiful edifices, innovated our liturgical and worship celebrations, designed programs and projects that we believe edify Our God but which in reality are taking away our attention to what worship should be.

         In our lifetime, we may have also allowed the merchants of sin that comes disguised as pride, envy, gluttony, sloth, lust, avarice and wrath to have made its dwelling in our Temples and when that happens expect Jesus to come and drive these merchants out of our Temples.

        The process will be painful, and we will certainly struggle with it because we have become so attached to some of these but at the end of the day, the objective of Jesus is to restore our Temples into a place of worship once again. This is what the renewal is all about.

       We may presume that we have a forgiving God and there is no doubt about that. It is also a fact that God has predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ (𝐄𝐩𝐡 𝟏:𝟓), but we – both the living and the dead – still have to stand before the judgment seat before Jesus and render an accounting of what we have done in our lives (𝐑𝐨𝐦 𝟏𝟒:𝟏𝟎, 𝟐 𝐓𝐢𝐦 𝟒:𝟏, 𝟏 𝐏𝐞𝐭 𝟒:𝟓).

         What then is the relevance of this passage to the practice of our faith in the here and now? Contrary to what the Pharisees believe, we must acknowledge that Jesus was the Temple that had to be destroyed so that through his death on the cross he can bridge the gap between God and man by offering himself as a ransom for many.

         It is through his death that reconciles us with God, and he fills us with his Holy Spirit that makes us now the new temples (𝟏 𝐂𝐨𝐫 𝟔:𝟏𝟗-𝟐𝟎). Where the Temple was supposed to be the place of worship of the Jews in the olden times, Jesus has changed all that as we can now worship God anywhere we are or in whatever situation we find ourselves in because Jesus who is the personification of the Temple of God is now present in all of us who believe.

         It presupposes that whoever lives in a state of grace is a living temple which means that our souls must live in the closest possible union with God. Every temple has a priest, an altar and a tabernacle. These elements are also present in a Christian who is in a state of grace because the Christian disciple himself is the priest and we are called upon to fulfill our priestly ministry by turning our whole life into a spiritual Mass.

        The altar is our hearts united with God and on it we sacrifice and lay upon everything that separates us from God – our anxiety, irritations, bitterness, resentments, unforgiveness, failure and frustrations, etc. And finally, the tabernacle is our own soul where our Trinitarian God dwells.

         It is when we see ourselves as the Temple of God that we can now see God not only in us but in others as well. This paradigm shift in our attitude towards worship will allow us to give due respect and reverence to our neighbor and it is also this realization of our true worth that we can perform good works accompanied by prayer and fasting, alms-giving and regular reception of the Sacraments and attendance in Prayer Meetings.

         And it is when we put into motion this grace that moves us to love God and our neighbor that our lives are sanctified. As St. John Chrysostom says: “𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰, 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘭𝘦, 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳.” (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘕𝘰𝘷. 21, 2025)