It is unusual for us to celebrate on a Sunday, the day of the resurrection of Christ, the feast of a building as it is the case today. We are indeed celebrating the feast of Lateran Basilica which is the Cathedral of the diocese of Rome, the cathedral of the pope which is considered as the mother of all churches in the world. This feast reminds us that in the history of the early Church there was a shift; the early Church grew from a family gathering to a large crowd of followers. The Church is the house of God where we are baptized, where we share the Eucharist and where we encounter our fellow human beings who share the same faith in Jesus with us. This house of God intended to be a place of encounter with God and his family has been defiled by men.
This is why Jesus was so angry in the Gospel of this day to the point of making a whip out of cords and driving the businessmen out of the temple with their materials. Above all we have to remember that this gesture of Jesus is a prophetic action destined to announce a message, a very important message of his mission on earth. It is sure that one of the reasons of Jesus’ anger is the system of corruption established around the temple and which was controlled by the high priest. He was indeed getting from the trade in the temple a huge economical benefit. But the real reason of Jesus’ anger has something to do with the understanding of God and the way to worship him. Actually those business men were the figure of a wrong worship of God. A worship based on bargaining; likewise the faithful were buying animals of sacrifice their worship tries to bribe God. “I give you an animal in sacrifice and you in your turn you give me you grace, your peace and you purify me.” Overturning their table was a way of overturning their false worship. “Take these out of here and stop making my father’s house a marketplace”.
He did this in dialogue with the people in the Temple. What finally allows us to understand somewhat what he meant? The new Temple is that of His Body. Jesus has founded a new way of experiencing God. It is to gather his disciples in love. The place is not very important. When the disciples are gathered in a mountain, they are people of God, when they are gathered under a tree; they are people of God…
We are the body of Christ and our feast today reminds us this great dimension of our identity. Our loving actions are from now on, the sacrifice we offer to God. If we gather together without loving actions, our sacrifices are vain. Loving actions, the truly loving action are also real sacrifice. We have we to reread our living together to see if as far as we are concerned we are loving community? If our answer is positive we thank God.
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