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Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all
those engaged
in selling
and buying there. He overturned the
tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling
doves. And he said to them, “It is
written: ‘My
house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of
thieves.”
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The
last session of the movie trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" acts out the
fact that if one wants it badly enough, evil can be conquered and the
world can be a better place. Success comes to the people who set out to
save the world, but it comes only with extreme difficulty. Frodo and
Sam have one last struggle with the evil of the ring; Aragorn, Gandalf
and their friends come within an inch of losing their lives. They win,
but they are scarred for life.
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People
who want to live
the Christian life have been compared to people who will win the
battle, but always
will be scarred, always will be wounded. Evil may be conquered,
but it will not go down without a
fight. Human selfishness demands satisfaction; often
the only way to overcome it is with an enormous struggle. But it
can be done. What is right and just will win in the final
analysis.
That was Jesus’ thought while he was on earth. He redeemed the world, he conquered the evil, but evil would not simply lie down. Jesus lost his human life in the process while accomplishing his task. The purification of the temple by Jesus has been looked at as a symbol of what he wanted to accomplish on earth. Jesus came into the temple, that is the world, and he saw the twenty-first century: he saw the money and corruption and people using religion for selfish reasons. He grew very angry, pushing over the tables and cabinets, destroying the evil that had crept into his Father’s house, and he yelled to the world, “This is God’s house, treat it as such.” We live in a world that God created, that God redeemed, and that God continues to sanctify. It is God's house. But we are selfish. We want what we want. It takes a strong effort to conquer the human selfishness, the human evil around us, the human evil within our own hearts. But like Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, and the other heroes of “The Lord of the Rings,” we can win, we can conquer. We believe that Jesus has gone before us preparing the way, showing us how to conquer the evil. It is up to us to follow him. And if we do, salvation will be ours. |
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THOUGHT
What
is the greatest selfishness in the world
around you? How does it affect you?
PRAYER Good and gracious God,
your Son proved to us
that good would always conquer evil. But
there will be problems in doing it because the evil that surrounds us
will
always show itself in one way or another. Help
us give ourselves completely to following your Son so that
we can conquer the evil around us. Be
with us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
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