November 18, 2022 – Luke 19:45-48
In today’s Gospel Luke tells us very briefly about the scene in which Jesus, now in Jerusalem, drives the merchants out of the Temple lobby. This gesture has no political value, but prophetic value. “‘My house shall be a house of prayer,'” Jesus says, quoting Isaiah (56:7) and Jeremiah (7:11) respectively, “but you have made it a den of thieves instead.”
Indeed, Jesus’ gesture of driving the sellers out of the temple is also found in two Scripture references. First, Is 56:7: “My house shall be a house of prayer.” The temple is the place where Jesus addresses the Father. Commercial and business activity has made the temple a den of thieves and deprived it of its one and only function: an encounter with God’s presence. The second scriptural reference: is drawn from Jer 7:11: “Perhaps for you it is
a den of thieves this temple on which my name is invoked?”
The image of the den of thieves serves Jesus to condemn trade in the broad sense and not just the dishonest trade that was covertly and illegally being carried out in the temple. Jesus demands a change of course: cleansing the temple of all such human negativity and returning it to its original function: rendering genuine service to God. And by driving out such impostors of commerce, Zechariah’s prophecy is fulfilled: “In that day there shall not even be a merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts” (14:21). These words of Jesus about the temple are not for the restoration of purity of worship, as was the intention of the Zealots. Jesus’ intention goes beyond this, it is more radical, uncompromising: the temple is not a work made by human effort; God’s presence is not tied to its material aspect; authentic service to God is realized by Jesus in his teaching.
Within this temporal space of the temple Jesus carries out a highly significant teaching; indeed, it is in this place so fundamental to the Jews that his teaching reaches its apex, and it will be from here that the mission of the apostles will start (Acts 5:12,20,25,42). The spread of the Word of grace of which Jesus is the sole bearer stretches out like an arc that begins with the prophecy, still 12 years old in the temple among the Doctors of the Law; it is prolonged by his teaching in crossing Galilee and during the journey to Jerusalem; it ends with his entry into the temple where he takes possession of the house of God.
For good workers…
– Jesus is an example of the true prophet. He speaks as a messenger of God and is really the Son of God himself. He opposes everything that is against truth, love and justice and therefore inevitably incurs the anger and hostility of those in power, a power based on lies, self-interest, corruption and injustice.
– I wish so much Lord, that I could make my heart a house of prayer, that is why I ask you to stop, to let me see by your Spirit of Wisdom, what are all the things that stand in the way of my journey to your altar, to your Holy Face.
Fr Joby Kavungal RCJ