Friday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

They came to Jerusalem,

and on entering the temple area
he began to drive out those selling and buying there.
He overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who were selling doves.
He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area.
Then he taught them saying, “Is it not written:

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples?
But you have made it a den of thieves.”

During the late 1960’s and 1970’s – those halcyon years when I was growing into adulthood – this story of Jesus was often cited to validate the emotion of anger. “It’s okay to be angry. Even Jesus was angry on occasion.”

I’m sure he was, but that’s not the point of this story.

Jesus’ rude invasion of the temple area was a prophetic gesture, like Ezekiel’s walking around naked and Hosea’s marriage to a prostitute. He did not expect the buyers, sellers and money changers to leave the temple forever, though he certainly wished they would. Nor was he starting a revolution.

Jesus demonstrated in graphic fashion the judgment of God against the holy city and its temple. His curse of the fig tree underlines the meaning of his intrusion. The tree is barren. Cut it down! The city is faithless. Destroy it!

Sometimes in our eagerness to make nice, we forget the terrible importance of our message.  When some people say it doesn’t matter if you go to church or not, we don’t disagree. Certainly, in my hospital ministry I let that pass. No one comes to the hospital to be chastened by the chaplain.

But LIFE has serious consequences and it does punish foolishness, stupidity and – more often than not – sin. As prophets our simple, devout lifestyle should stand as a warning to people around us.

This story about profiteering in the temple of God may be called a parable about exploitation of the earth and its peoples. As the temple was holy, so is the earth. It is eager to serve its children, but it is not inexhaustible. The United States remembers what happened to millions of acres of rich farmland in the eastern states as farmers wasted the land and moved westward. We should know as well that the ground beneath us, the air above us, and the water around us are limited and fragile. And we should know they are holy. The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness. (Psalm 24:1)