Gospel (Lk 19:45-48)

At that time, Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”

And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words.

Commentary

In yesterday’s Gospel we saw how our Lord was so moved when contemplating the city of Jerusalem that he began to cry over it. Saint Luke tells us that, after entering the city, he went to the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and money changers.

What the merchants and money changers were doing was not something bad in itself. Pilgrims came to Jerusalem from all over the world and needed to buy the lambs or pairs of turtledoves required for the sacrifice.

Furthermore, the money to make the contribution to the Temple and pay the ransom for firstborn sons had to be in Jewish currency. Therefore there was a great need for animal sellers and money changers. But the merchants were eager to locate their stalls in a better location to expand their business, and had gone beyond the Temple doors. Those who were meant to assist the praise and thanksgiving of the people of Israel were using the Temple for their own benefit.

In this scene we can each see ourselves. Jesus wants to enter the Temple of our heart, of our soul, of our life, as he entered the Temple of Jerusalem. For we are children of God, temples of the Holy Spirit. He wants to make our life a house of prayer, a place where he can live in intimacy with us.

However, despite receiving so many graces, we can get used to it, and lose our capacity for wonder. We can forget the true meaning of our life and set God aside. We can end up giving more importance to our work, our rest, our entertainment, our own outlook on life, than to God. All of these are good things in themselves, but if we are careless and fail to make our soul a house of prayer, God ends up being put in the background.