The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the peace that emanates from places and people that witness to the Love of God.
Thin places
The reading from the Prophet Ezekiel is a vision of life giving water flowing from the Temple in Jerusalem.
* [47:1–12] The life and refreshment produced wherever the Temple stream flows evoke the order and abundance of paradise (cf. Gn 1:20–22; 2:10–14; Ps 46:5) and represent the coming transformation Ezekiel envisions for the exiles and their land. Water signifies great blessings and evidence of the Lord’s presence (cf. Jl 2:14).1
Psalm 46 praises God’s defence of His City and people.
* [Psalm 46] A song of confidence in God’s protection of Zion with close parallels to Ps 48. The dominant note in Ps 46 is sounded by the refrain, The LORD of hosts is with us (Ps 46:8, 12). The first strophe (Ps 46:2–4) sings of the security of God’s presence even in utter chaos; the second (Ps 46:5–8), of divine protection of the city from its enemies; the third (Ps 46:9–11), of God’s imposition of imperial peace.2
The reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians declares that we are that temple.
* [3:17] Holy: i.e., “belonging to God.” The cultic sanctity of the community is a fundamental theological reality to which Paul frequently alludes (cf. 1 Cor 1:2, 30; 6:11; 7:14).3
In the Gospel of John, Jesus cleanses the Temple.
* [2:19] This saying about the destruction of the temple occurs in various forms (Mt 24:2; 27:40; Mk 13:2; 15:29; Lk 21:6; cf. Acts 6:14). Mt 26:61 has: “I can destroy the temple of God…”; see note there. In Mk 14:58, there is a metaphorical contrast with a new temple: “I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another not made with hands.” Here it is symbolic of Jesus’ resurrection and the resulting community (see Jn 2:21 and Rev 21:2). In three days: an Old Testament expression for a short, indefinite period of time; cf. Hos 6:2.4
Luis Rodriguez, S.J. shares that in the gospel reading Jesus is angered, because the temple, their center of worship and the place where God dwells, is treated like a marketplace. In the second reading Paul reminds us that we, as individuals and as a body, are God’s temple, not as a center of worship, but as a place of God’s dwelling.
We run the risk of allowing ourselves-as-temples to be treated like a marketplace. There is daily a lot of traffic going through us-temples: job, family, social interactions... Even cloistered communities are not sheltered from inner traffic. And, if we use the internet, information traffic becomes a flood. We risk losing Paul’s perspective and allowing our life noise to drown God’s voice in our lives. As a result, when God calls, all lines are busy.5
Don Schwager quotes “Jesus cleanses the temple - his Father's house,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).
"But why did Christ use such violence? He was about to heal on the sabbath day and to do many things that appeared to them transgressions of the law. However, so that he might not appear to be acting as a rival to God and an opponent of his Father, he takes occasion to correct any such suspicion of theirs... He did not merely 'cast them out' but also 'overturned the tables' and 'poured out the money,' so that they could see how someone who threw himself into such danger for the good order of the house could never despise his master. If he had acted out of hypocrisy, he would have only advised them, but to place himself in such danger was very daring. It was no small thing to offer himself to the anger of so many market people or to excite against himself a most brutal mob of petty dealers by his reproaches and the disruption he caused. This was not, in other words, the action of a pretender but of one choosing to suffer everything for the order of the house. For the same reason, to show his agreement with the Father, he did not say 'the holy house' but 'my Father's house.' See how he even calls him 'Father,' and they are not angry with him. They thought he spoke in a more general way, but when he went on and spoke more plainly of his equality, this is when they become angry." (excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 23.2)6
The Word Among Us comments about what has happened at the Lateran Basilica for all these centuries. God’s people have come through its doors to strengthen their faith, and then they have gone out ready to bring the good news of Christ to the world. Entering this church, they become more fully the Church—the body of Christ—that Jesus wants them to be, and they bring his light to everyone else.
Just think, if it weren’t for this “mother and head of all churches in the world,” you might not even have a church to go to. So it’s only right to honor the day of its dedication. Remember that the next time you walk through the doors of your church. You are going there to be fed. You are going there to receive Jesus into your own body and soul. All so that you can then go out and witness to his glory and his love. “Jesus, strengthen me so that I can fulfill my own mission to love and serve you in this world.”7
Friar Jude Winkler locates the vision of Ezekiel in his exile in Babylon. Worship brings the fruit of peace. Friar Jude discusses how the entire Gospel of John is a preparation for Jesus' demonstration of Love on the cross.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, asks Christians around the world. “What would it mean to seek to embody love as ‘creative, redemptive goodwill’ on behalf of all living things?” Few public figures have spoken more plainly and powerfully about Jesus’ teaching to love our enemies than the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This was not an abstract theological question for Dr. King. He wrestled practically and at great cost with how to love his enemies, both through prayer and through nonviolent direct action.
When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. . . . Probably no admonition of Jesus has been more difficult to follow than the command to “love your enemies.” Some people have sincerely felt that its actual practice is not possible. It is easy, they say, to love those who love you, but how can one love those who openly and insidiously seek to defeat you? . . . This command of Jesus challenges us with new urgency. Upheaval after upheaval has reminded us that modern humanity is traveling along a road called hate, in a journey that will bring us to destruction. . . . Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, the command to love one’s enemy is an absolute necessity for our survival. Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world. Jesus is not an impractical idealist: he is the practical realist.8
Our experience of peace and Love is enhanced through our worship in environments that connect us to the Presence of God.
References
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