Sharing Jesus’ Mind and Concerns!

Friday, November 22, 2024

Rv 10:8-11; Lk 19:45-48

Today’s Gospel invites us to practice justice in the manner that Jesus showed us. 

The phrases ‘temple area’ and ‘selling things’ as described in the Gospel sound inherently contradictory. 

Those who are shocked by Jesus’ behaviour should remember that he did not find people praying or doing charity in the temple area but instead found them selling goods and defrauding the poor in the very presence of God. 

Jesus was angry to find God’s temple turned into a veritable marketplace when he saw them doing business in the worship area and profiteering from sacrificial goods. 

Commercializing the place of worship and commodifying the offertory goods were sinful in the eyes of Jesus because such unjust practices affected the poor who came to the temple to offer sacrifices. 

Hence, what Jesus encounters as a contradiction, he immediately confronts. 

Some biblical scholars believe that this act of Jesus was the main reason that led to his death.

If it were true, we must note that Jesus did not ask, ‘What would happen to me if I cleaned up God’s temple?’ Instead, he asked, ‘What would happen to the temple of God if I did not prevent the exploitation in God’s name?’

We are friends of Jesus if we share his mind and concerns. 

Let us pray that we may have the courage to confront social evils with the same mind as Jesus.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar