Memorial of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs

Lectionary: 501


For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar
and joyfully offered burnt offerings and sacrifices
of deliverance and praise.
They ornamented the façade of the temple with gold crowns and shields;
they repaired the gates and the priests' chambers
and furnished them with doors.
There was great joy among the people
now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed.


In today's gospel we hear of Jesus' prophetic gesture as he drove the moneychangers out of the temple. Needing validation for their natural emotion of anger -- which they have been told is an unchristian emotion -- people often misread this passage. They suppose that Jesus was angry and it's okay to be angry.  
It's true that it's okay to be angry; and it's true that Jesus, being a human being, experienced anger; but that misses the point of the story. 
He did not "lose his temper;" rather, his driving the moneychangers out was a prophetic gesture and recognized as such by the authorities who demanded "What sign can you show us for doing this?”
The Book of Proverbs remarks, "In all labor there is profit." and Saint Paul told his disciple Timothy, 

"Presbyters who preside well deserve double honor, especially those who toil in preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is threshing,” and, “A worker deserves his pay."

Saint Luke's gospel adds, "Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment."
The divine authors of the Old and New Testaments certainly knew the reality of money. It's been with us since prehistoric times; nor is there any shame in the church's handling of money. The minister whose profession is service to the church should be paid, just as the masons, carpenters and plumbers who built the church were paid. If we're waiting on unpaid volunteers to build and lead the Church we may be waiting a very long time.
But a culture preoccupied with money, which measures the worth of anything by pecuniary standards, desecrates its own good works.
This is as true of the grocery store as it is of the church.
We realize this during crises. When systems which provide food, medical care, shelter or energy are suddenly disrupted and many human lives hang in the balance we expect our neighbors to set aside the profit motive and give as they are able. Equally, we expect our churches to open their hearts and comfort those stricken by grief. Prices should not go through the roof when a disaster strikes.  
If it happens we can expect massive anger; the Prophet will reappear with his whip of cords to drive out the profiteers.
In today's first reading we find the Maccabean rebels, having driven out the gentile invaders, reconsecrating the temple and rededicating their nation to God's service. We maintain shrines, churches and temples to provide a place for God in our world, and to remind us of the sacred quality of our human interdependence.
Always we stand before the throne of God who measures our worth not by what we have but by what we have given to others.