Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25;
Mark 2:13-25
Jesus went up to the Temple, presumably to
pray. He was not happy with what he found there. I must say, I think I know the
feeling. It's the one you get, especially on holidays when you have to spend a
long time looking for an open church, only to find some noisy activity going on
inside which could more properly have been conducted in another place. Since I
am not Jesus I have to grin and bear it and do my best to block out everything
except the awareness of Christ's sacramental presence and try to pray anyway. I
must add that this becomes very difficult when the noisy but terribly well-meaning people come over and invite you to join them.
But Jesus did not suffer the same timidity. He took stock of how his Father's house was being abused and took
immediate action.
He asked where the person in charge
of the Temple might be found, knocked on his door, and politely inquired 'If you are not
too busy, could I come in for a chat?' Careful not to hurt his feelings Jesus quietly
suggested some changes which he thought, in his opinion, might make it just a
little easier for the people to worship God in this beautiful and well-kept
Temple. When he was finished the person in charge thanked Jesus with an effusive smile and assured him he would look very carefully into how he could implement
his very helpful ideas and that he should try some of the fresh bread from the
stall at the main door on his way out.
Nah, just kidding. This is what really
happened. Jesus made a whip out of some cords and waved it meaningfully at the
merchants and so indicated that if they were not out of
there in two weeks or so he would come back – and they might regret it. Nah, still
kidding.
Making a whip out of some cord, he drove
them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the
money-changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the
pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house
into a market.'
And that was that! Job done!
Of course, they wanted to know about his
authority to do what he had just done. You see, they were most diligently concerned
that changes in the Temple should be done only by properly authorised people – like themselves.
The funny thing about all this disgraceful
behaviour was that: many believed
in his name when they saw the signs that he gave. What a paradox! The people approved of Jesus' behaviour and, presumably
of the restoration of their Temple, and came to believe in him.
Well, that was then. What about today? What would
Jesus have to say about so many of our churches today? I remember walking for
the first time into the church I had in Sydney for five years. I couldn't
believe my eyes. It was a beautiful church but one of the previous priests must have woken up one morning and decided to put the altar along the long wall of the church and re-arrange the pews accordingly. It was a
mess! Because it was too far to walk back to the tabernacle in the sanctuary he
put in another one behind the altar so that now the church had two tabernacles
with the former one empty. Visitors could often be found kneeling there, fervently
praying before an empty tabernacle because they hadn't noticed the new one. As
soon as I settled in I asked the cardinal if I could turn the church back the
right way – and all the parishioners – all except one woman (she was actually from another parish) – approached me in turn
and thanked me for doing what they had prayed for for so long. Later I ordered
a marble altar from China which completed the process.
What about those priests who replace the pews
with chairs so their people can no longer kneel? Or those who 'hide' the Blessed Sacrament in a tiny 'prayer room' off to the side of the church? Even in our church here in Howlong
I remember when I visited it for the first time about fifteen years ago the
tabernacle had been moved over to the side of the church.
It was Fr Rick, against much opposition, who had the courage to restore it to
the place it was meant to occupy when the church was built.
And another thing I immediately noticed was
that someone had taken a chainsaw to the altar rails. I wonder how many
parishioners at that time asked the priest responsible for this nonsense for his authority to do
what he did? Now, even those few parishioners who wanted to kneel for Communion
could no longer do so – not to mention the distinction between the sanctuary and the nave
was instantly lost. If I can find some tradesmen to do a good job I will have
the altar rails restored in the near future.
Finally, how is it that the Baptism font has
been forced out of what was originally the Baptistery? All well meant, I am
sure, as were the pigeons and the cattle in the Temple, but not the way things
are meant to be. As you can see, action is being undertaken to restore the baptistery
as well.
Jesus purified the Temple because the Temple was
meant to purify God's People. If you have a suggestion as to how we can restore the sacred dimensions of this little gem of a church, please let me know.
