A Reflection for the Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs
Find today’s readings here.
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.” (Lk 19:45-46)
Today’s Gospel seems tailor-made for today, our American high holy day: Black Friday. It’s not a direct analogy, but Jesus driving out the sellers in the temple calls to mind this commingling of consumerism and gratitude that we all celebrate these two days in late November.
It is said that gratitude is the first prayer. It is practiced by young children as well as those in the throes of grief and suffering. Our capacity to express thanks reveals our very capacity for worship, for relationship. If you can be grateful for something, you can be thankful to someone.
I am not the first to suggest that our consumer frenzy injures this sense of gratitude within us. Given that so many Christians mark the beginning of the Christmas season today, rather than the First Sunday of Advent (if not even earlier), a full Amazon cart does not exactly herald the coming of a savior born in a manger.
Pope Francis suggested last Christmas that the manger itself is a sign of God redeeming this consumerism: “The manger serves as a feeding trough to enable food to be consumed more quickly. In this way, it can symbolize one aspect of our humanity: our greed for consumption.”
What do we need Jesus to drive out of our lives?
I know that some will roll their eyes reading this, aware of the societal and familial pressures around the Christmas season. That it is simply impractical to opt out of consumerism around Christmas without seeming like a massive Grinch. And for many, their Black Friday shopping is exclusively directed at gift-giving to others. I know that so many of my own magical Christmases as a child were the result of my grandmother and mother braving the crowds at malls and department stores. After all, Jesus drove out the marketplace in a temple, not a shopping mall.
And yet—I wonder what are the ways we can resist the temptation of the season to consume, to buy, to do. It is not really even about today specifically. After all, many retailers already reminded you that Black Friday came early this year. The temptation might be more focused this time of year but it is ever-present.
I am left thinking about the end of this Gospel. Jesus drives the marketplace out from the temple, but he does not leave. The Gospel goes on to tell us that he remained in the temple, where “all the people were hanging on his words.”
What do we need Jesus to drive out of our lives? Maybe it is consumerism. Or maybe it is resentment, or fear. Whatever it is, we can take solace in knowing that even as he drives away what must be pushed out, he remains close to us, and speaks to us in words that we can hang on to.
