20191122
REDEDICATING
THE TEMPLE OF GOD
22 NOVEMBER,
2019, Friday, 33rd Week, Ordinary Time
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First reading
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1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59 ©
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Judas and his brothers purify the sanctuary and dedicate it
Judas and his
brothers said, ‘Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify
the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So they marshalled the whole army, and went up
to Mount Zion.
On
the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year one hundred and
forty-eight, they rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar
of holocausts which they had made. The altar was dedicated, to the sound of
zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on
which the pagans had originally profaned it. The whole people fell prostrate in
adoration, praising to the skies him who had made them so successful. For eight
days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts,
communion sacrifices and thanksgivings. They ornamented the front of the Temple
with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the gates and the storerooms and
fitted them with doors. There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, and
the reproach of the pagans was lifted from them. Judas, with his brothers and
the whole assembly of Israel, made it a law that the days of the dedication of
the altar should be celebrated yearly at the proper season, for eight days
beginning on the twenty-fifth of the month Chislev, with rejoicing and gladness.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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1 Chronicles 29:10-12 ©
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We
praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Blessed
are you, O Lord,
the
God of Israel our father,
for
ever, for ages unending.
We
praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Yours,
Lord, are greatness and power,
and
splendour and triumph and glory.
All
is yours, in heaven and on earth.
We
praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Yours,
O Lord, is the kingdom,
you
are supreme over all.
Both
honour and riches come from you.
We
praise your glorious name, O Lord.
You
are the ruler of all,
from
your hand come strength and power,
from
your hand come greatness and might.
We
praise your glorious name, O Lord.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.2Tim1:10
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Our
Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and
he has proclaimed life through the Good News.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Jn10:27
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
The
sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,
says
the Lord,
I
know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 19:45-48 ©
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You have turned God's house into a robbers' den
Jesus went into
the Temple and began driving out those who were selling. ‘According to
scripture,’ he said ‘my house will be a house of prayer. But you have turned it
into a robbers’ den.’
He
taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the
support of the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not
see how they could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his
words.
REDEDICATING THE
TEMPLE OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1 MC 4:36-37, 52-59; LK 19:45-48 ]
In the first reading, we
read of the great joy and jubilation when the Jews under Judas and his brothers
recaptured Jerusalem from their enemies and restored the Temple to its proper
dignity and use. “The
altar was dedicated, to the sound of zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same
time of year and on the same day on which the pagans had originally profaned
it. The whole people fell prostrate in adoration, praising to the skies
him who made them so successful. For eight days they celebrated the
dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts, communion sacrifices and
Thanksgivings. There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, and
the reproach of the pagans was lifted from them.” Indeed, we can imagine
how happy and relieved they were to have their Temple and altar back again
after being desecrated by King Antiochus and his men.
In the gospel, we also
have Jesus restoring the Temple but in His case, it was not so much the
physical edifice of the Temple but the soul of the Temple. What the Temple needed was not so
much a physical restoration but a spiritual renewal of the People of God,
especially its religious leaders. Hence, “Jesus went into the Temple and
began driving out those who were selling. ‘According to scripture.’ he
said ‘my house will be a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a
robbers’ den.'” This citation, whether it came directly from Jesus or put
onto the lips of our Lord by the evangelist, is a combination of the saying
from the prophet Isaiah and Jeremiah. It is directed at those without and
those within. It is an appeal to the people of God to be renewed so that
they can renew the whole world.
In Trito-Isaiah, the
prophet prophesied that a day would come when even foreigners would come to
worship in the Temple of God.
“And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to
him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to
my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my
house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on
my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all
nations.” However, in Jeremiah, the prophet reprimanded his
people for turning the house of God into a den or robbers. “‘Will you
steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense
to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come
and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We
are safe’ – safe to do all these detestable things? Has this
house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?” (Jer 7:9-11)
What does this mean for
us when we reflect on today’s scripture readings? Firstly, we thank God
for the freedom of worship in Singapore. Many of us take our freedom to worship for
granted. In some countries in the world, the people do not have the
freedom to worship even if they have the freedom of religion. They do not
have proper churches to worship freely. In Singapore, we are fortunate
because we are offered land to build our churches, temples and mosques, even
though it is on a 30-year lease at an exorbitant price, due to land
shortage. Yet, if people really think that God is important to them in
their life, we will pay any amount of money to worship God. We read that the
Jews, upon their return, spared no efforts in restoring the Temple. “They
ornamented the front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the
gates and the storerooms and fitted them with doors.” We must
therefore ask ourselves whether our houses our better decorated and more grand
than the house of God. Even King David felt bad when he said, “Here I am,
living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
(2 Sm 7:2) The prophet Haggai reprimanded the
people who came back from exile, “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living
in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” (Haggai 1:4)
Secondly, more than just
spending all our funds on building beautiful churches, what is more important
is to renew the souls of our people.
What is the use of having big and grand buildings but the spiritual life of our
people is not growing in depth and maturity? The Temple is only a means,
not the end itself. The real Temple is the People of God. St Paul
says, “We are the temple of the living God.” (2 Cor 6:16) “Do you not know that your
bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have
received from God?” (1 Cor 6:19) He warned the people, “Don’t you
know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in
your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person;
for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.” (1 Cor 3:16f) Of course, the True
Temple of God is Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus said, “‘Destroy this temple,
and I will raise it again in three days.’ But the temple he had spoken of was
his body.” (Jn 2:19, 21)
Unfortunately, churches
are spending their funds mostly on infrastructure and buildings. But they are not taking seriously the
spiritual growth and formation of their faithful. If we were to look at
the budget of each parish, how much money is devoted to the formation of our
faithful in spiritual life and knowledge of the faith? The true criterion
of whether a parish is really alive is whether the people have grown in their
spiritual life, marked by lively and exuberant worship every Sunday, involvement
in the life of the community, doing outreach beyond the parish, bringing
non-Christians to know Christ either through sharing of the Word of God or
through works of mercy and charity. We have on census 380,000 Catholics in our
archdiocese. We have 34 churches with an average of 5 Masses on weekends,
and an average attendance of about 800 per Mass. This adds up to about
123,200 Mass attendees. This means that about 1/3 of our Catholics attend
Mass regularly on Sundays. If we take into consideration the Penitential
services at Lent and Advent, which is usually one per parish, we have hardly
26,000 going for the sacrament of Reconciliation.
Thirdly, spiritual
renewal at its core must come from church leaders, clerical, religious and
lay. This is the heart of the renewal. If leaders are not renewed in their faith,
we cannot expect the members to be renewed because the sheep follows the
shepherd. Indeed, the cleansing of the Temple was considered
an affront to the religious authorities and that was the reason why they
reacted with anger and fear. Jesus, in driving out the money
changers and those who were selling animals, doves, wine and oil, was implying
that He had the authority over the Temple versus the priests. Earlier on
in His entry into Jerusalem, He was already welcomed as the King of
Israel. Together with His action in the Temple, Jesus was implying His
Messianic authority as the King of Israel, holding both political and spiritual
power like the Davidic kings of old. By challenging the authority of the
religious leaders, Jesus was reprimanding them for not exercising their due
responsibility of looking after the House of God. Instead, they had
turned it into a den where they made money out of the poor by charging them
exorbitant fees for the exchange of Roman and Greek coins to the Temple Shekel
or the animals that were used for worship. Their status, security
and privileges were threatened by the Lord’s actions.
Unless leaders are
serious in acknowledging their sinfulness, their negligence, their complacency,
their fear of losing authority and their security to the lay people, there
cannot be a restoration of the Church of God. Leaders must come down to the people, as
Pope Francis said, “to smell the sheep” in order to feel with them, understand
their struggles, show them mercy and compassion, especially towards those who
are poor, vulnerable, sick and marginalized. So long as we stay in our
comfort zone directing everyone else to work, we will not be able to truly
bring about our own personal renewal or that of the People of God.
But this does not mean the lay people should wait for all church leaders to be
renewed. They must desire renewal and support those leaders that
sincerely seek a true renewal of the Church in spirit and in truth, deepening
of our spiritual life and knowledge of our faith. Just as there are bad
leaders, there are as many good leaders as well.
Indeed, we read that the
enemies of Christ and the bad shepherds could not do anything so long as the
sheep listened to the Word of God.
“He taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the
support of the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not
see how they could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his
words.” They managed to arrest Jesus and put Him to death only because
they found a loophole, a mole among the Twelve, namely, the other Judas, not
Judas Maccabeus but Judas the traitor. He was the one who sold out
Jesus. Will we be that Judas who, because of our failure to hang on to
the Words of Jesus, not growing in faith and love, sell out Jesus as well?
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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