This blog uses the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church, to discover wisdom for the life of faith.

Reading 1, 1 Mc 4:36-37, 52-59

36 Judas and his brothers then said, ‘Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ 37 So they marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion. 52 On the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year 148 they rose at dawn 53 and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of burnt offering which they had made.

54 The altar was dedicated, to the sound of hymns, zithers, lyres and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on which the gentiles had originally profaned it. 55 The whole people fell prostrate in adoration and then praised Heaven who had granted them success. 56 For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering burnt offerings, communion and thanksgiving sacrifices.

57 They ornamented the front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, renovated the gates and storerooms, providing the latter with doors.58 There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, since the disgrace inflicted by the gentiles had been effaced.

59 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 of Chislev, with rejoicing and gladness.

 Of course the dwelling place of God is the universe, but because we cannot make this evident throughout the earth, due to human evil, we choose a place where we can make it evident, a temple or a community, which will act as a model for the dwelling of God that includes all creatures. But there is a dilemma: if the model is inclusive, can it be holy? If it is exclusive, can it be a model of the God of all? The Jewish answer was that it had to take the risk of being exclusive. Perhaps God could work out how the temple might be for all (there were prophecies that He would), but at present faithful people have to maintain the holiness, the exclusive goodness, of God in the face of all attempts to dilute it. The value of this stance should be recognised even by those who disagree with it.

 Gospel, Lk 19:45-48

45 Then Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were busy trading, saying to them, 46 ‘According to scripture, my house shall be a house of prayer but you have turned it into a bandits’ den.’

"My father's house is a house of prayer"

47 He taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, in company with the leading citizens, tried to do away with him,48 but they could not find a way to carry this out because the whole people hung on his words.

The implication of Luke’s account of Jesus’ action in the temple is that he excludes only those whose presence excludes ordinary people. The traders were part of an established cult which ripped off pilgrims, and maintained the power of the chief priest and scribes. Jesus throws them out and welcomes the people who want to pray. He resolves the dilemma of holiness by showing that God’s goodness is inclusive, that is, God accepts the risk of being open to those who do wrong. Ultimately a building cannot model this openness: only a person do so. Christians believe this person is Jesus, for which reason he is honoured as the supreme dwelling-place of God, and his life is the model for the church community. The dilemma of holiness can still be seen in the way churches express the inclusive goodness of God. Maintenance of strict moral standards may be balanced by an outreaching evangelism; openness to the poor may co-exist with the exclusion of the rich; suburban comfort may include a welcome to homosexual people. The most basic rule ought to be the one quoted by Jesus: the church community must be open to those who want to approach God.