Friday 28 May 2021

Today is Friday the 28 May, in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time.  

The monks of the Abbey of Keur Moussa sing, Encore un peu de temps: “In a little while I will make heaven and earth tremble.  Then the One desired by all nations will appear.  I will fill this temple with glory and to this place I will bring peace.”  

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark.  

Mark 11:15-18

Then they came to Jerusalem. And Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, "Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers." And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.    

Picture the contrasts in this scene: the serene porticos of the Temple rising above the hurly burly of the traders and money changers; Jesus, usually the peacemaker, the healer, the teacher, suddenly starting to overturn tables and drive out the traders.  Notice those perhaps jarring contrasts, as you picture the scene in your mind.  

As you imagine the scene, what do you think it is that makes Jesus so angry about what is going on in the Temple?  Do you have a sense of why Jesus felt so strongly about the exploitation of God’s house of prayer? And, as you see the scene unfold, how do you feel about what Jesus does to make his point?  

As you hear the passage read again, be aware of any connection you make with any situation of exploitation in your own life, or in the world about you. Perhaps you are being asked to uphold God's values in a situation where they are being ignored or flouted.   

Talk to Jesus about what is in your heart, and ask for his power and love to strengthen you.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.