Carnies And Swap Meets | November 18, 2016

November 18, 2016

It’s hard for us to imagine the scene in today’s gospel because while our churches might sell things like donuts and coffee for the Knights of Columbus after mass, and host an informational ministry fair with various booths every now and then, we don’t ever really have vendors walking up and down the aisles selling popcorn and peanuts, or rogue pigeons for sale running around, or the smell of barnyard animals wafting in during the homily, or to have to pay to get a seat or our sins forgiven. I guess we should picture if unkempt carnies from the fair brought an entire swap meet to our church along with a mobile petting zoo. The scene should be chaotic, offensive, irreverent, and just plain crude. As one could imagine, Jesus might have been a little extra stressed because his passion and death were around the corner and his 3 years of active ministry and really his 33 years of Messiah on earth were coming to an end (at the hand of one of his best friends) and people still weren’t getting the message!

With tensions high in his human self, he saw what he was used to seeing at the temple in Jerusalem; this was not a new “shit show”, but the same one he had been competing with as he preached God’s message of love, mercy, prayer, kindness toward neighbor, love your enemies, do good to those who hurt you, etc. all these years. Can you picture a great homily being given by your favorite priest and a carny outside trying to get the latecomers to play their hit the balloon with a dart game? Jesus needed to act in righteous anger because this would be his last shot in Jerusalem before his trial and it would quite honestly be the very act that would get him turned in. He was always in control of his sacrificial act of love and his timing was always perfect. Raise your hand if you’ve ever spoken up about something and it got you into trouble.

Even though our churches don’t get this out of hand with swap meets and carnies, they sure do become chaotic, offensive, irreverent, and just plain crude, when our pews become a place of pride and jealousy, our vestibules swarm with gossip and hate, our political views divide us, our rules and regulations make no room for mercy and forgiveness, contributions to the offertory give some people louder voices and opinions, not all are welcome, we focus on an institution and not on a person. This is our modern day “shit show” and this kind of temple also needs to be cleansed so that the church can be a “Field Hospital” for the sick and sinful (Pope Francis) and not an elite country club only for people who behave and dress a certain way, or give a certain amount of money each week. (NOTE: I love my church and honor it, but am just making a comment that similar things apply today as they did in Jesus’ time, making the scriptures always relevant to our own lives. I am not dissing the Church, just connecting us to the meaning of this gospel in the best way I know how.)

When Francis of Assisi had his conversion, the cross at San Damiano spoke to him saying, “Go, Francis, and repair my Church which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” At first Francis took this quote literally and he began collecting stones to rebuild the actual building, but as he matured in his spiritual life, he realized that the temple needed to be cleansed and the real message of Christ be edified. Pope Francis thankfully carries on that same exact call today and is trying to rebuild a broken church beginning, of course, with mercy. As St. Paul reminds us, we are also temples of the Holy Spirit, so we can start today by cleansing the chaotic, offensive, irreverent, and just plain crude things from our own temples. Then we need to go to the “Field Hospital” to be healed by hearing the Word and eating the Word. This is the way we can turn a “den of thieves” into a “house of prayer.” Have a blessed day.

Reading 1 RV 10:8-11

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me.
Then the voice spoke to me and said:
“Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel
who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll.
He said to me, “Take and swallow it.
It will turn your stomach sour,
but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”
I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it.
In my mouth it was like sweet honey,
but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
Then someone said to me, “You must prophesy again
about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131

R. (103a) How sweet to my taste is your promise!
In the way of your decrees I rejoice,
as much as in all riches.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
How sweet to my palate are your promises,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
Your decrees are my inheritance forever;
the joy of my heart they are.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
I gasp with open mouth
in my yearning for your commands.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!

Alleluia JN 10:27

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 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.