Luke 19:45-48

1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59

1 Chronicles 29:10bcd, 11abc, 11d-12a, 12bcd

Luke 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.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I have been washed clean through Baptism and crafted into your temple. May I always be a holy dwelling for you in this world. My heart is yours. Reign in my heart always, guide my steps, and empower my good works.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Cleansing of the Temple: Jesus’ dramatic expulsion of Temple merchants is both a prophecy and a pre-enactment of the Temple’s imminent downfall (Luke 21:5-36). When Jesus entered the Temple, he saw the corruption permitted by Caiaphas, the High Priest. Instead of continuing the practice of pilgrims purchasing animals at a market on the Mount of Olives, Caiaphas permitted vendors to sell animals in the outer court of the Temple itself, known as the Court of the Gentiles. By driving out the sellers, Jesus brings to fulfillment a prophecy of Zechariah: “No longer will there be merchants in the house of the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 14:21; see Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, 330). The old Temple is passing away and, as we read in the First Reading, will one day be destroyed. Jesus, by contrast, is the New Temple, a place where we can enter into communion with God and receive divine instruction.

2. Judas the Hammer: After his death, the third son of Mattathias, Judas, took up the leadership of the revolt against the wicked king, Antiochus IV. Judas was given the nickname of “Maccabeus,” which means “the Hammer.” “As a military strategist and commander, Judas overwhelmed his enemies. He defeated more powerful opponents such as Apollonius, the governor of Samaria; Seron, the commander of Syria; and Seleucid forces directed by Lysias, a high official, at Emmaus and Beth-Zur. Judas’ greatest contribution was the recapture of Jerusalem and the Temple in 164 B.C., exactly three years after the incursion of Antiochus IV. He cleansed the sanctuary, rebuilt the altar, and replaced the sacred vessels that had been plundered (1 Mc 4:36-51). The reconsecration was celebrated with sacrifices and great fanfare for eight days in the manner of the Feast of Tabernacles, which was the feast during which Solomon dedicated the first Temple (1 Mc 4:52-59; 2 Mc 10:5-8)” (Gray and Cavins, Walking with God, 237-238).

3. Hanukkah: Judas Maccabeus, along with the people of Judea, instituted the annual commemoration of the Temple’s rededication on the 25^th day of the month of Chislev. The Feast of Hanukkah (or the Feast of Lights) is kept by the Jewish people to this day. The word “Hanukkah” means “to dedicate.” “While not recounted in the text of 1 or 2 Maccabees, the Feast of Lights takes its name from the Jewish tradition that when the eight-day feast of rededication of the Temple began, only enough oil was found to fuel the lampstand in the Temple for one day, but this oil burned for eight days, the length of time it took to prepare and consecrate fresh oil” (Gray and Cavins, Walking with God, 238). Looking ahead to the time of Jesus, we see that Jesus himself celebrated the Feast of Hanukkah (see John 10:22-39). While the old Hanukkah celebrated the rededication of the Temple, Jesus is Light of the World and the New Temple, consecrated by God and set apart by the Father to consecrate the world in truth (see John 10:36; 17:19). “Jesus’ words resonate against the background of the Feast of the Dedication, which celebrates the consecration of the Second Temple by the Maccabees (1 Mac 4:48), just as its predecessors, the wilderness Tabernacle (Num 7:1) and the Solomonic Temple, had been consecrated (1 Kings 9:3). These sanctuaries of old are replaced by the new and consecrated temple of Jesus’ body (2:20-21)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 1909). 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you called your Father’s will your food. I, too, desire to be nourished by this food. Help me to know your Father’s will for me in every moment. Please give me the strength to accomplish it.

Living the Word of God: As I contemplate Jesus today as the New Temple, I should be aware that I, through my Baptism, am a Temple of the Holy Spirit. How is the purity and holiness of my Temple? What needs cleansing and renewing?