Overturning Tables

Gospel: Luke 19: 41-44

Everyone loves the story of Jesus overturning tables.  They can use it to justify whatever cause to which they are attached and defend whatever tactics they wish to take.  Whether one is a social justice warrior or culture warrior, this Gospel is misused by one and all alike in order to justify whatever political ideology is paying for the interpretation.  

The Temple building is a symbol for the temple God created - the temple of the human person.  Like this man-made temple, we human beings sell ourselves for our own self-interest.  Our bodies have ceased to become temples where God is honored and served. It is no longer a place where deeds of mercy and love are extended to all, where care of the poor and marginalized are our main concern.  Like the man-made temple, we have become ends in ourselves for our own profit and gain, not a place that leads others to God and care for others.  

Jesus indeed used this action to confront injustice, but that injustice in the social realm is but an outward manifestation of the injustice that exists within each one of us as the true temples of God.  So, before overturning tables in the public square, let us first be open to the Lord overturning tables within our own hearts and lives to confront the injustice within.