November 20, 2015
Friday, 33rd Week in
Ordinary Time
1st reading:
1 Mac 4:36-37, 52-59
Gospel: Lk 19:45–48
Jesus entered the Temple area and began to drive out the merchants. And he said to them, “God says in the Scriptures: My house shall be a house of prayer: but you have turned it into a den of robbers.” Jesus was teaching every day in the Temple. The chief priests and teachers of the Law wanted to kill him and the elders of the Jews as well, but they were unable to do anything, for all the people were listening to him and hanging on his words.
DD@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Jesus dramatized his disapproval of the vending practices at the Temple area by driving out merchants and overturning tables of moneychangers. He told them as he drove them away: “God says in the Scriptures: My house shall be a house of prayer: but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” Did Jesus equate vending with theft? If so, are thieves barred from God’s house as persona non grata?
Jesus couldn’t have equated vending with theft. Those moneychangers and animal vendors were there to serve the needs of worshippers. Moneychangers had to be there because Jewish laws allowed no Roman coins into the Temple donation box. Vendors of animals had to be there because Temple authorities were strict about the quality of animal offerings.
Why then did Jesus drive these businessmen away? Let’s hear it again from Jesus. He said: “My house shall be a house of prayer: but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” Jesus drove them away because they conducted business like they were thieves. Was he saying that thieves have no business being in God’s house? But we know how accommodating Jesus was to the thief crucified at his right side.
Doesn’t it sound unfair that Jesus should accommodate a big time thief but drive away a small time corrupt vendor from the Temple precincts? Repentance spells the difference. While the corrupt vendors at the Temple precincts were enriching themselves without qualms at the expense of worshippers, the thief crucified at Calvary was a repentant thief.
We are all thieves literally and figuratively. We steal respect from God when we dress presentably at parties but appear so shabbily clad at Masses. We steal from fellow churchgoers the ambience conducive to prayer when we do scandalous acts at Masses such as using our cell phones. We steal time from God when we come late for the Eucharistic celebration. If Jesus were to drive away all unrepentant thieves from our worship areas, would any one be left around to continue the worship? – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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