30/03/2026
Hindi nagsimula si Jesus sa pangangaral nang pumasok Siya sa templo, kumilos muna Siya. Itinaboy Niya ang mga nagtitinda at namimili, ibinaligtad ang mga lamesa ng nagpapalit ng salapi at ang mga upuan ng nagtitinda ng kalapati. Kaya ito ng salita ni Jesus, pero sa pagkakataong ito, pinili Niyang kumilos muna. Puno ng kalakalan ang templo: may bentahan ng hayop, palitan ng pera, at tuluy-tuloy ang sistema. Kung nagturo lang Siya, maririnig Siya pero mananatili ang kalakaran. Kaya pinahinto Niya ito, ibinaligtad ang mga lamesa, nagkalat ang mga barya, at natigil ang transaksyon.
Ang isyu ay hindi kakulangan ng turo, kundi ang pagiging normal na ng mali. Naging pamilyar na ang sistema kaya hindi na ito kinukuwestiyon, at sa ganoong kalagayan, ang basta turo lang ay maaaring lampasan. Kaya inilantad muna ni Jesus ang kalagayan bago ito ipinaliwanag: “Nasusulat, ‘Ang aking bahay ay tatawaging bahay-dalanginan,’ ngunit ginawa ninyo itong pugad ng mga magnanakaw” (Mateo 21:13). Mahalaga ang pagkakasunod, kilos muna, paliwanag pagkatapos. Tulad ng mga propeta noon, hindi lang sinabi ni Jesus ang katotohanan, ipinakita Niya ito.
Ipinakita ng pangyayaring ito na may mga kalagayang hindi naitatama ng paliwanag lang, kailangan itong putulin. Hindi unti-unting inayos ni Jesus ang sistema, agad Niya itong hinarap at inilantad. Ipinakita Niya na ang awtoridad Niya ay hindi lang sa pagtuturo ng katotohanan kundi sa pagkilos ayon dito. Kapag ang isang bagay ay hindi na sumasalamin sa layunin nito, maaaring ilarawan ng salita ang problema, pero kung minsan, kailangan ng mga binabaligtad na lamesa para tunay itong makita.
PAALALA:
ANG ATING BASKETBALL COURT AY ISASARADO MUNA SIMULA NGAYONG ARAW NG LUNES HANGGANG SABADO. ANG ATING SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA CHAPEL AY BUBUKSAN SA SINOMAN NA GUSTO MAGDASAL AT MAGNILAY NILAY. PINAGBABAWAL DIN MUNA ANG ANUMANG PAGLALARO NG MGA BATA AT PAG-IINGAY SA BASKETBALL COURT SA BUONG SEMANA SANTA.
MARAMING SALAMAT PO!
In Matthew 21:12–13, immediately after Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, the text recorded an action that was direct and forceful.
“Jesus entered the temple and drove out
all who sold and bought in the temple,
and He overturned the tables
of the money changers and the
seats of those who sold pigeons.”
The timing mattered.
This did not happen later in the week.
It happened after the crowd
had welcomed Him as king,
after the palm branches were raised,
after garments were laid on the road.
The recognition came first.
Then the cleansing.
That sequence required attention.
The temple was not simply a building.
It was the center of Israel’s worship,
the place where sacrifice was offered,
where people came to meet God.
The activities taking place there
were not entirely unexpected.
Animals were needed for sacrifice.
Currency had to be exchanged
for temple-approved coinage.
On the surface,
the system served a purpose.
But Jesus’ response revealed
that something had shifted.
He said,
“It is written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’
but you make it a den of robbers.”
The issue was not presence of activity.
It was the distortion of purpose.
What was meant to be a place of prayer
had become a place shaped by transaction.
What was meant to draw people toward God
had begun to operate in a way
that burdened and excluded.
The location of these activities mattered as well.
They were taking place in the outer courts,
the area where Gentiles could come to pray.
The very space intended to widen access
had been filled with barriers.
Noise replaced stillness.
Exchange replaced prayer.
Against that background,
Jesus’ actions became clearer.
He did not begin by teaching.
He acted.
He overturned tables.
He drove out sellers.
He interrupted the system.
The gesture was not random.
It functioned as judgment.
It exposed that the temple,
as it was operating, no longer
reflected its intended purpose.
The act also echoed something earlier in Scripture.
The prophets had spoken of a time
when God would come to purify His people
and cleanse their worship.
Jesus’ action stood within that line.
He did not come only to be recognized.
He came to confront.
The order of events mattered.
He entered as king.
Then He addressed the place
where God was supposed to be known.
Recognition without correction
would have left the system unchanged.
But His kingship included authority
over worship itself.
Reading the passage carefully shows
that the cleansing of the temple
was not an isolated moment of anger.
It was a deliberate act
that revealed what kind of king
had entered the city.
He did not come to affirm
what was already in place.
He came to restore what had been altered.
Immediately after the cleansing,
the text recorded another detail.
“The blind and the lame came to Him
in the temple, and He healed them”
(Matthew 21:14).
That contrast mattered.
Where tables had been overturned,
people were now restored.
Where barriers had been removed,
access was reopened.
The temple was being redefined
not by transaction,
but by restoration.
Reading this slowly shows
that Jesus did not cleanse the temple
to empty it.
He cleansed it
to make it what it was meant to be.
A place where God is approached,
not through systems that burden,
but through a presence
that restores.
And in doing so,
He revealed that His authority
was not only over people who followed Him,
but over the very space
where God was worshiped.
What tables need overturning in your life right now? Allow Christ to cleanse the "temple" in you.
