Word to the Wise
Friday, November 20, 2009 - Friday in the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59 and Luke 19:45-48]Then Judas and his brothrs and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev. [1 Maccabees] 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."
The success of the Maccabean revolt against the Greek domination in Jerusalem (165 BC) was crowned by the "cleansing and rededication" of the temple. This is the origin of the celebration of Hannukah world-wide by Jews. This may seem a bit strange to non-Jews because the temple was completely destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD and never rebuilt. Why celebrate a temple that no longer exists? As we can see from today's gospel scripture, the temple was a controversial thing even in Jesus' day. Herod the Great undertook a renovation that lasted 46 years, and required extensive and burdensome taxation. The temple required a huge staff to handle the almost constant sacrifice of animals and other products! Like all religious sacred places, there was an elite group, the Saduccees, who were in power and had a kind of "modus vivendi" with the Romans, who allowed the temple to operate. Its importance in terms of worship was in addition to its political status as a centralizing force in the area. King David had realized that to control the kingdom, religion had to be controlled centrally. All other shrines were abolished. His son, Solomon, followed through on the idea and built the temple which would be destroyed by the Babylonians in 583 BC and then rebuilt after the Exile. This second temple is the one the Romans destroyed. Jews gather at what is now called "the Wailing Wall" in Jerusalem, which is a remnant of the supporting platform which now supports two great mosques! Jesus' action in "cleansing the temple" would have recalled the Maccabean celebration, but it was an immediate cause for the action taken against him by the religious leadership. An attack on the temple, for whatever reason, would be seen as blasphemy by the Jewish leaders and a possible incitement to revolt by the Romans. Getting rid of Jesus suited the agenda of both parties in power! For Christians, reflection on the teaching of Jesus led to the recognition that Jesus had replaced the temple of stone with a temple of human hearts (cf. Eph 2:19-22). For Jews, the celebration of Hannukah represents the survival of their faith (and, therefore ours, historically!) against those who would destroy it (Hannukah). AMEN
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