Today's Gospel describes the cleansing of the temple. Jesus drives away the animals, overturns the money tables, and chases away those who have made God's house into a marketplace. He had zeal for God's house. It was supposed to be a place of prayer but had become a chaotic, corrupt, worldly space. Jesus was not gentle, but rather quite aggressive, as he cleared out the unholy refuse. In the second reading, Paul reminds us that our bodies are the temple of God. Does Jesus need to cleanse that temple? If I believe that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, what does that look like? It is easier to describe the opposite - what it would be like if I didn't consider my body a temple. I would eat food that was unhealthy, indulge in activities that violate God's law and harm my mind and body, and believe that my body and maybe my life were nothing special. I might be easily persuaded to follow the ways of the world. I might doubt that what I do with my body matters to God.

I have been there. We don't always consider our body a temple of the Holy Spirit. Surely Jesus wants to our temple to be a holy place for God. If we believed that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, we would believe that it mattered more. We would recognize that our body and soul were fearfully and wonderfully made. As we welcome God into our home, we might hold our head a little higher. If God thinks we are so special, maybe we should think so, too. We would realize that we are blessed. We teach children that church is a special place. It is God's temple. When we go to church, we wear different clothes and act a little quieter. Hopefully, our conversations are charitable and our thoughts are more focused on God. We treat the church building differently than other places. God is calling us to treat our body in a special way because it is a temple for Him.

This is a profound but simple truth, one that is hard to fully embrace.  Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Lets pray for the zeal of Jesus to cleanse our temple. That we can be more forceful casting out the sins that tear us down. The Jews asked Jesus, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" They wanted to know what authority He had to kick out those who had permission to be in the temple from the powers that be. Who has authority over our body? It is us. We must choose to use that authority to cleanse the unholy and to treat our body as the beautiful temple of the Holy Spirit, believing that one day we will be raised to eternal life with Jesus.