Word to the Wise
Friday, November 18, 2022 - Friday in the 33th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 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. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words. [Luke]
It is important to remember that the evangelist Luke composed his gospel portrait of Jesus in the light of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem which took place about ten to twenty years earlier. The significance of that event might be imagined today as if St. Peter's Basilica in Rome were the only Catholic church in the world where the Eucharist could be celebrated and a foreign power destroyed it. [Nov. 18 is the date to commemorate the original dedication of St. Peter's!]. Jesus' actions in the gospel account for today take their meaning from the temple and the hostile authorities who plotted to have him killed.
The temple in this account becomes a symbol of a larger reality, the failure of the religious leadership to recognize Jesus as the messiah. This failure was due to the corruption of the leadership. Jesus' "cleansing" of the temple area was a direct attack on that leadership. Note that the power figures in the passion account - Pilate and Herod, and the Roman centurion and penitent thief - all acknowledge Jesus' innocence or power. From the Roman standpoint, Jesus' execution could be excused as a political act because he preached another "kingdom" than the Roman empire. But from the standpoint of the religious authorities, Jesus' death removed a threat to their privileged and corrupt leadership.
There is a Latin expression about the Church: Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda, which acknowledges that the church is ever in need of reform. Jesus' actions and the reaction of the leadership show that reform includes top leadership as well as grass roots. Pope Francis' recent reform of the Roman curia to make it more accessible and of greater service (instead of controlling], as well as his emphasis on "the synodal path" which emphasizes paying attention to all voices are examples of this. The temple in Jerusalem has a lot to say to us today. AMEN