Back in the time of Jesus, the Temple was the sacred dwelling of God. There, sacrifices and worship were offered to God. First built by King Solomon, this Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Subsequently it was rebuilt several times. Jesus' indignation at the commercial activities in the Temple grounds is understandable. It is justified anger at the disrespect shown to God. The Temple authorities have allowed the sacred house of God to be desecrated by the acts of profiteering, cheating and corruption. As the Lord observed, His Father's house has become a marketplace. This occasion becomes the opportune time for Jesus to introduce to the Jews, a new understanding of the Temple: no longer a physical building that is corruptible but the incorruptible Temple that is His soon-to-be-crucified body.

This connects us to our contemporary understanding of the Church as the "Body of Christ" and "Temple of the Holy Spirit." As members of this Church, let us unite our own human bodies with this Body of Christ and not allow the Temple of the Spirit within us to be desecrated by any sinful acts that corrupt and desecrate. Through the sacrament of reconciliation, let us cleanse our bodies of impurities and fill it with the holiness of God. And thus, as in the first reading, we become like the Temple, a source of living water for others.