November 23rd, 2018

Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
501

FIRST READING
RV 10:8-11

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me.
Then the voice spoke to me and said:
“Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel
who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll.
He said to me, “Take and swallow it.
It will turn your stomach sour,
but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”
I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it.
In my mouth it was like sweet honey,
but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
Then someone said to me, “You must prophesy again
about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

PSALM
PS 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131

Response: How sweet to my taste is your promise!

In the way of your decrees I rejoice,
as much as in all riches.

Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.

The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

How sweet to my palate are your promises,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Your decrees are my inheritance forever;
the joy of my heart they are.

I gasp with open mouth
in my yearning for your commands.

GOSPEL
LK 19:45-48

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out
those who were selling things, saying to them,
“It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer,
but you have made it a den of thieves.”
And every day he was teaching in the temple area.
The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile,
were seeking to put him to death,
but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose
because all the people were hanging on his words.

Daily Reflection

23rd November 2018

The cleansing of the temple is the only incident in the Gospels where we see Jesus using physical force. Jesus went to Jerusalem, knowing he would meet certain death on the cross, but victory as well for our sake. His act of judgment in the temple is meant to be a prophetic sign and warning to the people that God takes our worship very seriously.

In this incident we see Jesus' startling and swift action in cleansing the temple of those who were using it to exploit the worshippers of God. The money changers took advantage of the poor and forced them to pay many times more than was right - in the house of God no less! Their robbery of the poor was not only dishonouring to God but unjust toward their neighbour.

In justification for his action Jesus quotes from the prophets Isaiah (Isaiah 56:7) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:11). His act of judgment aims to purify the worship of God's people and to discipline their erring ways. How hungry are you for God's word?