Friday
33rd Week of Ordinary Time
(I) 1st Reading: 1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59
Purification and Dedication of the Temple
-----------------------------------------------------------
[36] Then said Judas and his brothers, "Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us
go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it." [37] So all the army assembled
and they went up to Mount Zion.
[52] Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the
month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, [53] they rose and
offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they
had built. [54] At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had pro-
faned it it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals [55] All
the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed Heaven, who had pros-
pered them. [56] So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days,
and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance
and praise. [57] They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and
small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fur-
nished them with doors. [58] There was very great gladness among the people,
and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed. [59] Then Judas and his brothers
and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days
of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days,
beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
4:36-61. Now that the enemy threat has been removed, the Maccabees' first pri-
ority is to cleanse the temple and reinstate religious worship--which would put
their relationship with God on a proper footing, and which was what the war was
all about.
The cleansing is entrusted to "blameless priests" as the Law laid down (cf. Lev
22:3-9). The stones of the altar that Ezra consecrated in his time (cf. Ezra 3:2-5)
must be thrown into the Gehenna valley like those from the pagan altars; so they
seek a temporary solution until such time as a prophet should come (v. 46; cf. 9:
27; 14:41; Dan 3:38). The building of a new altar in line with what Exodus 20:25
laid down reminds us of the dedication of the temple by Solomon (cf. 1 Kings 8:
1-66) and the dedication of the temple of Ezra-Nehemiah (cf. Ezra 5:1-6:22). In
2 Maccabees 10:1-8 these events are reported more briefly, but mention is made
there of how the fire for the sacrifices was made.
The importance acquired by the feast established to commemorate the dedica-
tion of the temple can be seen from 2 Maccabees 1:9, 18; 2:16. In Hebrew this
festival is called "Hanukkah" and in Greek "Encenias" because to mark it lamps
or candles are lit in people's houses (as is the Jewish practice today) to symbo-
lize the light of the Law. It was on this feast that Jesus told the Jews that he
was the Son of God (cf. Jn 10:22-39).
(II) 1st Reading: Revelation 10:8-11
The Author Is Given the Little Scroll to Eat
-------------------------------------------------------------
[8] Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, "Go,
take the scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the
sea and on the land." [9] So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little
scroll; and he said to me, "Take it and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but
sweet as honey in your mouth." [10] And I took the little scroll from the hand of
the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten
it my stomach was made bitter. [11] And I was told, "You must again prophesy
about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings."
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
8-11. Cf. note on 10:2. The book described by Ezekiel 2:8-3:3 was sweet as
honey when eaten; but when Ezekiel began to prophesy, his heart was filled with
bitterness (cf. Ezek 3:14). The same symbolism of the two kinds of taste is used
here--no doubt to indicate that the pro- phecy contains grace and blessing, and
also judgment and condemna- tion. The sweetness can also be interpreted as
reflecting the triumph of the Church, and the bitterness its affliction.
Although nothing is said about what is written on scroll John is given to eat, it is
reasonable to suppose that it has to do with the passage about the two witnes-
ses which now follows, before the blowing of the seventh trumpet; this would
make it a prophetic oracle, brought in here as a preview of the final eschatologi-
cal battles, to show that evil apparently triumphs on earth.
[The note on 10:2 states:
2. The open scroll carried by the angel is different from the sealed scroll in the
vision recounted in Revelation 5:2. It is more like the scroll described by the pro-
phet Ezekiel (cf. Ezek 2:9-3:1) which was also meant to be eaten by the seer.
The fact that it is open indicates that its content is not secret. The eating of the
scroll symbolizes that what the prophet has to say after he eats it is really the
word of God. It also indicates that God speaks through the medium of a writ-
ten text. So, this imagery helps to strengthen people's faith in the divine inspira-
tion of sacred writings, that is, the Bible, and to recognize them for they are--
holy books because they are the very word of God which reaches the Church in
written form via inspired authors: by reading these books publicly the Church is
in fact proclaiming their divine inspiration.
We are not told what this little scroll contains; so, the only reason the writer
brings in this symbol is to make it clear that he is a prophet. He wants people
to be in no doubt about the fact that his prophecies apply to all creation--both
heaven and earth (v. 6).]
Gospel Reading: Luke 19:45-48
Jesus in the Temple
-----------------------------
[45] And He (Jesus) entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold,
[46] saying to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you
have made it a den of robbers."
[47] 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; [48] but they did not
find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon His words.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
45-48. Jesus' indignation shows His zeal for the glory of His Father, to be recog-
nized at this time in the temple itself. He inveighs against the traders for engaging
in business which has nothing to do with divine worship (cf. Matthew 21:12; Mark
11-15). Even the priests allowed some of these abuses to go on -- perhaps be-
cause they benefited from them in the form of taxes. The traders did perform ser-
vices necessary for divine worship but this was vitiated by their excessive desire
for gain, turning the temple into a marketplace.
"My house shall be a house of prayer": Jesus uses these words from Isaiah
(56:7; cf. Jeremiah 7:11) to underline the purpose of the temple. Jesus' behavior
shows the respect the Temple of Jerusalem deserved; how much more reverence
should be shown our churches, where Jesus Himself is really present in the Bles-
sed Sacrament. (cf. notes on Matthew 21:12-13; and Mark 11:15-18).
[The notes on Matthew 21:12-13 states:
12-13. Although God is present everywhere and cannot be confined within the
walls of temples built by man (Acts 17:24-25), God instructed Moses to build a
tabernacle where He would dwell among the Israelites (Exodus 25:40). Once the
Jewish people were established in Palestine, King Solomon, also in obedience
to a divine instruction, built the temple of Jerusalem (1 Kings 6-8), where people
went to render public worship to God (Deuteronomy 12).
Exodus (23:15) commanded the Israelites not to enter the temple empty-handed,
but to bring some victim to be sacrificed. To make this easier for people who had
to travel a certain distance, a veritable market developed in the temple courtyards
with animals being bought and sold for sacrificial purposes. Originally this may
have made sense, but seemingly as time went on commercial gain became the
dominant purpose of this buying and selling of victims; probably the priests them-
selves and temple servants benefited from this trade or even operated it. The net
result was that the temple looked more like a livestock mart than a place for
meeting God.
Moved by zeal for His Father's house (John 2:17), Jesus cannot tolerate this de-
plorable abuse and in holy anger He ejects everyone--to show people the respect
and reverence due to the temple as a holy place. We should show much greater
respect in the Christian temple -- the Christian churches -- where the eucharistic
sacrifice is celebrated and where Jesus Christ, God and Man, is really and truly
present, eserved in the tabernacle. For a Christian, proper dress, liturgical ges-
tures and postures, genuflections and reverence to the tabernacle, etc. are ex-
pressions of the respect due to the Lord in His temple.
[The notes on Mark 11:15-18 states:
15-18. Our Lord does not abide lack of faith or piety in things to do with the wor-
ship of God. If He acts so vigorously to defend the temple of the Old Law, it indi-
cates how we should truly conduct ourselves in the Christian temple, where He
is really and truly present in the Blessed Eucharist. "Piety has its own good
manners. Learn them. It's a shame to see those 'pious' people who don't know
how to attend Mass -- even though they go daily, -- nor how to bless themselves
(they throw their hands about in the weirdest fashion), nor how to bend the knee
before the Tabernacle (their ridiculous genuflections seem a mockery), nor how
to bow their heads reverently before a picture of our Lady" (St. J. Escriva, "The
Way", 541).]
*********************************************************************************************
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].