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.”
In what ways do we make our churches and our hearts into dens of thieves? We are meant to have and to be places that are inviolably for God. We see how easily things can get sidetracked. We start off concerned about the sacrifices we want to be able to offer. But eventually we are more concerned with buying and selling (and the million other ways in which worldly concerns distract us). God is calling on us to put him first.
Given our unfortunate ability to subvert even spiritual things to lesser ends what should we do? How can we prevent that or at least reduce the risk? The secret is found in the word of God.
So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll.
He said to me, "Take and swallow it.
It will turn your stomach sour,
but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey."
When God's word becomes our daily bread, something that actually gives us strength, we learn to rely on it in a way that makes us less needy for the things of this world. This is true even when the word is sour in our stomachs. Even when the worldly ramifications aren't always what we would like the sweetness of the word itself still compels us.
The word of God is meant to be our food in such a profoundly satisfying sense that we really do develop a taste for it. His promises turn out to be more than mere words on a page. They are true and reliable. We can taste their sweetness in our own lives.
How sweet to my palate are your promises,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Are we still more concerned with the buying and selling than the sacrifices themselves? Let us turn to the LORD who gives us his word. Let us turn to the LORD who gives us himself in the Eucharist, containing all sweetness within. When we do we watch our hunger for lesser things diminish.
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