Tear Down These Walls
- Deacon Dan DeLuca
- Nov 19, 2022
- 5 min read
Humans have an amazing ability to erect barriers, to build walls. Sometimes, these walls serve a great purpose: protecting a city from potential invaders. However, these walls can also become a negative: keeping well-intentioned people out. These walls are not always literal walls but can also be figurative. We can create rules, regulations, or systems that are in effect walls: locking people out. This becomes extremely problematic when we erect walls to the faith: when we make it difficult for people to practice and learn about the faith. As we read this Gospel, let us pray for the wisdom to recognize the walls we have created that have separated others from Christ and then ask for the strength to tear down these walls.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words. Luke 19 : 45-48
Scriptural Analysis
As Jesus entered the temple area he also entered Jerusalem thus bringing his journey to an end. The language used here, “and he entered the temple,” recalls the words of the prophet Malachi, “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears.” (Malachi 3:1-2) This is his first visit to the temple recorded in Luke since chapter two. Just like then, he will engage the teachers in a discussion.
In order to really understand this particular passage it is necessary to understand the inner working workings of the temple during this time. The temple area was a large complex consisting of a number of courts on the Temple Mount that surrounded the actual temple building or sanctuary itself. Every year each Jewish male was required to pay a temple tax of half a shekel. This was equal to about two days’ wages for a working man. Most of this was paid at the temple itself as people pilgrimed there for the Feast of Passover.
In Palestine, all kinds of currencies were in circulation and for normal commercial purposes, all of them were valid. However, the tax had to be paid in exact half shekels of the sanctuary or in ordinary Galilean shekels. This is where the money changes come into play. They were set up in these outer courts and would exchange one of the prevailing currencies into these temple currencies, charging a fee for the exchange. This was a tax on the poor who could least afford it.
Second, consider the selling of the animals. Almost every temple visit involved sacrifice. Outside the temple, an animal could be purchased for a reasonable price. However, the temple authorities had appointed inspectors to ensure that the sacrificial animal was without spot or blemish and could be used. Therefore, it was safer to buy an animal in the temple courts: from the official booths set up. However, the prices for the animal would be much higher. For example, a pair of doves could cost 15 times more purchasing it in the temple than purchasing it outside the temple. It was the victimization of the poor. To make it worse, the booths were known as the Booths of Annas and were the property of the high priest’s family. Jesus cleansed the temple not only because it interfered with the dignity of the temple but because it was exploiting the worshipers.
Upon seeing this, Jesus drives out those people who were selling things calling to mind a verse from the prophet Zechariah, “And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.” (Zechariah 14:21) Jesus himself quotes from Isaiah, “for my house shall be called a house of prayer.” (Isaiah 56:7) Jesus clearly sees the selling going on as an interference with the purpose of the temple. He then quotes Jeremiah, “Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes.” 7:11 This is from the prophet’s temple sermon which foretold of its destruction. The corruption Jeremiah speaks of was also present in Jesus’s day.
After driving out the merchants Jesus sends his days in the temple teaching which recalls his Galilean ministry of teaching in the synagogues. His audience is all the people, that is to say, those Jewish people who respond positively to Jesus. The Pharisees are no longer presented as his main opposition. Instead, it is now the chief priests the scribes, and the leaders of the people. Although just arriving it is clear they have already decided they need to eliminate Jesus. The fact that he has been hailed as King will be used in the charges brought against him to Pilate, but they need to wait for the right opportunity to enact their plan.
Daily Application
The faith that we have received from God is a gift: a gift that we must share. That idea has been discussed in previous articles. What this particular Gospel passage cautions us against is erecting barriers to the observance of that faith. Jesus was upset with the power structure of the temple because they were making it harder for people to offer sacrifice to God, to practice their faith. These were poor people so to take advantage of them financially in the exercise of their faith was an abomination. Yes, the exchange and selling detracted from the purpose of the Temple. However, that alone would not have drawn such a harsh response from Jesus.
At times, we put up obstacles, put up walls making it hard for people to practice their faith. We may not overtly erect barriers but we can erect them in nonovert ways. When we see a stranger at Mass, especially someone who clearly looks new or lost, do we go out of our way to make them welcome? Do we approach them and try to bring them into our community? Or do we stare at them and make them feel uncomfortable? This can be a barrier when someone does not feel welcome in the house of God.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am not suggesting that some rules and regulations are not necessary. The practice of religion is not a free for all. However, we can take things too far making the stranger so unwelcomed that they never even get a chance to discover the full beauty of the faith that awaits them. We can make the single mom who is working hard to pass down the faith to her kids, feel like an outcast, unsupported by her faith community. We can make the young family feel self-conscious over their crying baby in such a way as to cause them to separate and attend Mass separately to avoid embarrassment. In each of these examples, we are putting up a wall making it harder for someone to practice their faith
The Lord invites us to tear down the walls that we erect that prevent his children from coming to him. If we don’t, we will have to answer for that, answer why we kept others from the truth that is him. Let us pray for the wisdom to see the walls we have erected so that we can tear them down. Let us also pray for the grace needed to overcome those flaws is us that caused us to create these walls in the first place.
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