ACC ~ Luke 19 v45 - 46

THE HOME OF SANCTITY

AMBROSE: God does not want his temple to be a trader’s lodge but the home of sanctity. He does not preserve the practice of the priestly ministry by the dishonest duty of religion but by voluntary obedience. Consider what the Lord’s actions impose on you as an example of living. … He taught in general that worldly transactions must be absent from the temple, but he drove out the moneychangers in particular. Who are the moneychangers, if not those who seek profit from the Lord’s money and cannot distinguish between good and evil? Holy Scripture is the Lord’s money. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 9.17-18. [1]

[1] EHG 376**.

THE CASTING OUT OF SELLERS

AUGUSTINE: In another place, when I said the following about our Lord Jesus Christ, “He did nothing by force but everything by persuasion and admonition,” I forgot that he threw out the sellers and buyers from the temple by flogging them. [1] What does this matter to us? How is it important if he also cast out demons from people against their will, not by persuasive words but by force of his power? [2] RETRACTATIONS 12.6. [3]

[1] Mk 11:15; Mt 21:12.

[2] Mt 9:32-33; Mk 1:34; 5:13.

[3] FC 60:54*.

A HOUSE OF PRAYER, NOT A PLACE OF SACRIFICE

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: There was in it a crowd of merchants and others guilty of the charge of the shameful love of money. I mean moneychangers or keepers of exchange tables, sellers of oxen, dealers of sheep, and sellers of turtledoves and pigeons. All these things were used for the sacrifices according to the legal ritual. The time had now come for the shadow to draw to an end and for the truth to shine forth. The truth is the lovely beauty of Christian conduct, the glories of the blameless life and the sweet rational flavor of worship in spirit and in truth.

The Truth, Christ as One who with his Father was also honored in their temple, commanded that those things that were by the law should be carried away, even the materials for sacrifices and burning of incense. He commanded that the temple clearly should be a house of prayer. His rebuking the dealers and driving them from the sacred courts when they were selling what was wanted for sacrifice means certainly this, as I suppose, and this alone. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 132. [1]

[1] CGSL 522-23**.