Word to the Wise
Friday, November 24, 2006 - St. Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions (Vietnamese Martyrs)
[Revelation 10:8-11 and Luke 19:45-48]Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, "It is written, MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER. BUT YOU HAVE MADE IT A DEN OF THIEVES. And every day he was teaching in the temple area.
By the time the Gospel of Luke was put into writing, the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans (70AD). This event had the impact of removing the symbolic and physical center of Judaism. What took its place eventually was the rabbinic and synagogue Judaism that is familiar to us today. For Jewish Christians in the gospel times, however, there was another development. The Old Testament on a number of occasions showed that the temple could be a locus of corruption and failure. Jesus shows himself to be another reformer in driving out the merchants and replacing them with himself as teacher! What this demonstrates is that God's abiding presence is not linked to a geographic location or building but in the person of Jesus. Although the immediate effect was to "show up" the Jerusalem authorities for their failures, the long term message to Luke's community had to do with Jesus' and his messianic presence. One of the expressions often heard in the heady days after the Second Vatican Council was Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda. This old expression means that reform is an ongoing process in the church and is never complete. This message seems to have been lost at times. There appear to be any number of efforts to "freeze" the church into one historical moment which then becomes "ahistorical" and binding for all times. Failure to take note of Jesus' example historically and theologically means that we will continue to make the mistakes that he was trying to correct. Perhaps that is why our church is always in need of reform! AMEN
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