The encounter of Jesus cleansing the temple occurs in all four gospels and shows a slightly different side to Jesus from what we are used to seeing. Jesus is fired up; the actions of the people of Jerusalem have upset him. Over time, they have grown complacent, and the ways of the world have encroached on the temple. By allowing this, they have allowed the Lord's dwelling place, the holy of holies, to be defiled. With biblical zeal, he makes a whip out of cord and drives them from the temple, and in doing so reminds those present not only of the importance of keeping holy the things of God but also that the dwelling place of God is no longer to be found in a building, but in a person, in him.
In our own time, we recall that from the cross, Jesus breathed out the indwelling of the Spirit onto the Church. In and through our Baptism, we receive this same Spirit and become temples of the Spirit, dwelling places of the Lord. With this in mind, the Gospel this weekend challenges each one of us to consider: Have we let the ways of the world defile the temple of the Lord? Have we failed to keep the sabbath holy or failed to honour and respect our parents? Through laziness or distraction, have we become complacent and given into sins of the flesh or failed to revere or respect the human person's dignity in our neighbour
In this Lenten season, let us use the sacrament of Confession given to us by Christ himself. Confession is how we are washed clean and returned to the new life received at Baptism and restored to communion with the Lord. Let this great sacrament be for us the means of grace that enables us to continue to give glory to God and respect to his presence within us.
Fr Nicholas Pearce is the Catholic Chaplain for the University of Melbourne and serves as the parish priest of St Michael's in North Melbourne
