June 9
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ZEAL FOR THE FATHER’S HOUSE
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.” 18 The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. 24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25 and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
– John 2:13-25
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It is interesting the Jesus started his public life with the zeal for his father’s house. Just after his first miracle at Cana, the public witnessed his passion for keeping God’s house holy. He was just beginning his public ministry and he was consumed by the desecration of his Father’s temple. This anger at making a marketplace of his father’s house exhibits the divinity of Jesus. Even though he was angry, no one was reported hurt in this manifestation of righteous anger. His zeal for keeping holy his father’s house is amazing. It ignited the religious to keep their eyes on this Jesus who claimed God is his Father. It also became the motive for these insecure hypocrites to plot the death of someone who confronts sin outrightly. Only someone divine can make these people obey him when he showed anger at the desecration of his Father’s house. Do we show the same passion and zeal for keeping God’s temple holy? Do we keep our bodies holy for the Lord? After all, it is our body that the Trinity lives in when we become believers, isn’t it?
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REFLECTION
• How do you manifest a zeal for keeping God’s temple sanctified?