Friday of Week 33 – 1 Macc 4:36-37,52-59; Luke 19:45-48
The story of Jesus driving the merchants from the temple carries a flavour of a western or of one of Robin Hood’s onscreen skirmishes. The good sheriff steps in and restores the order established by God’s eternal law. The analogy is unfortunate not because Jesus fails to resemble a mythical warrior, but because it treats the whole event as something bygone.
In the New Testament, the temple built by human hands is a sign of the reality fashioned by the Holy Spirit in human hearts. Temple – Church – Body – are, in a sense, synonyms: His house. This too needs purification – not from merchants, to be sure, but for many reasons. A den of robbers can be strife, quarrels, accusations, and the exclusion of others – everything that may bolster leaders’ positions yet does not serve the glory of God.
A house of prayer. A place where “brothers dwell together,” crying out together: “Yours, O Lord, is greatness and power, splendour, victory and majesty; for all is yours in heaven and on earth.”
A house of Prayer. For it to become His house, one word must pass our lips: brother.