Commentary on the Gospel of
We, the Temple
Jesus of Montreal is a 1989 movie wherein actors performing a Passion play in a church begin to resemble in their real life the characters they play. In one scene, Daniel (who plays Jesus) accompanies friend Mireille (Mary Magdalene in the play) to an audition for a TV commercial. Mireille is asked to take off her clothes by the casting director. Daniel flies into a rage, overturns lights and cameras, and makes a whip out of a rope and chases everyone out: an obvious parallel to Jesus cleansing the temple. The temple was the center of faith for the Jews, for God dwelt in the temple. Jesus flies into a rage seeing how his Father’s house has been turned into a market place. He goes on to refer to his own body as the Temple, where his Father dwells. Paul reminds us that we too are the temple of God as God’s Spirit dwells in us. How great would be Jesus’ fury if he finds us desecrating the human temples, his Father’s abode!
