Bible texts with commentary
These Bible meditations are meant as a way of seeking God in silence and prayer in the midst of our daily life. During the course of a day, take a moment to read the Bible passage with the short commentary and to reflect on the questions which follow. Afterwards, a small group of 3 to 10 people can meet to share what they have discovered and perhaps for a time of prayer.
November 2012
Matthew 21:12-17: Violence of a Peacemaker
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night. (Matthew 21:12-17)
At the end of Jesus’ earthly existence, Matthew mentions two events in the Temple of Jerusalem, the center of Israel’s religion. In them, Jesus implicitly criticizes a certain way of placing oneself before God and shows an alternative.
Some are shocked at the violence of Jesus in casting out the sellers, so dramatically different from the view of him as “gentle and humble of heart.” Others find in it a justification for a “revolutionary Jesus.” Both positions misunderstand what is going on. The verb “to drive or cast out” is normally used in the gospels to describe the exorcism of unclean spirits. In the wake of the prophets, Jesus makes a provocative symbolic statement. Neither violence against persons nor a literal attempt to destroy the sanctuary, his act expresses rejection of a system of worship too linked to human interests that distract people from what really matters.
What really does matter is shown in the second part of the text. The ill and the deformed were normally prohibited from entering the Temple (2 Samuel 5:8). Jesus welcomes and heals them. He thus reveals the image of a God who, far from separating the “impure” from the “pure,” accepts everyone, starting with the outcasts. In this way the Temple finds its true calling, that of being “a house of prayer for all” (Mark 11:17). And other marginalized beings express the importance of what is happening: little children, who supposedly are unfamiliar with the Bible but who grasp the truth of Jesus by a kind of intuition.
Jesus thus becomes, by his acts, the locus of a new presence of God at the heart of the world. Saint John’s version of the story (2:13-22) emphasizes this dimension, anticipating the destruction of the Temple by the Romans and the resurrection of Jesus, pole of a universal communion.
Where have I seen love expressed by clear and powerful words and acts? How can we simplify the life of our communities to show what really matters? How can we make room for disregarded people, for listening to children?
Jesus is giving his powerful farewell address to his apostles, and he has just assured them, among other things, that they will see him again because he will reveal himself to those who love him.
Then Jude asks him why he intends to reveal himself only to them and not to everyone. The disciple was hoping for a great public manifestation of Jesus, one that would change the course of history and that would be, in his opinion, more effective for the salvation of the world. In fact, the apostles thought of Jesus as the long-awaited prophet of the last days who would reveal himself to everyone as the King of Israel. Putting himself at the head of the people of God, he would establish at once and for all time the Kingdom of the Lord.
Instead, Jesus explains that he will not reveal himself in an external and spectacular way. His will be a simple but extraordinary “coming” of the Trinity into the hearts of the faithful, wherever there is faith and love.
With this answer, Jesus indicates how he will remain in the midst of his own followers after his death, and he explains how it will be possible to establish a relationship with him.
“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
Jesus can be present in Christians and in the midst of the community even now. There is no need to wait for the future. The temple that welcomes him is not made of bricks and mortar; rather, it is the very heart of the Christian that becomes the new tabernacle, the living dwelling place of the Trinity.
“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
But how can Christians achieve this? How can they have God come and dwell in their hearts? How can they enter into this profound communion with him? Through love for Jesus, a love that one will keep his word and show itself in everyday living. It is to this love verified by actions, that God responds with his own love.
“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
“Keep my word.” Which are the words that the Christian is called to keep?
In John’s Gospel, “my word” is often synonymous with “my commandment.” The Christian, therefore, is called to keep Jesus’ commandments. But these should not be viewed as a list of laws. They should be understood as being summed up in what Jesus illustrated by washing his disciples’ feet: the commandment of mutual love. God commands all Christians to love one another to the point of total self-giving, as Jesus taught and did.
“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
How can we live this Word of Life well? How can we reach the point in which the Father himself will love us and the Trinity will come to dwell within us? By loving one another with all our hearts, with decisiveness and perseverance.
It is principally through loving in this way that we Christians can begin to live that deep-reaching Christian asceticism that the crucified Jesus asks of us. For the practice of mutual love causes the other virtues to blossom in our hearts, and this love is also the surest measure of true Christian holiness.
Chiara Lubich
Each month a Scripture passage is offered as a guide and inspiration for daily living. This commentary, translated into 96 different languages and dialects, reaches several million people worldwide through print, radio,
Read More:
Chiara Lubich, “The spirituality of unity and Trinitarian Life” in New Humanity Review, n.9.
Chiara Lubich, “The law of heaven,” A New Way, New City Press, 2006, pp. 48–51.
Marisa Cerini, God who is Love, New City Press, 1992.
