Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD." ... Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are safe!"-only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the LORD.   Jeremiah 7:3-4, 8-11

God's dwelling in the temple at Jerusalem was one of two foundational principles anchoring biblical thought, along with the rightful rule of the divinely elected Davidic kings. In this passage, however, Jeremiah contests the efficacy of the Temple in preventing the impending disaster about to befall the city. Those who for so long have believed that Jerusalem cannot fall because it is the dwelling place of Israel's God are clearly in the wrong: they may repeat "This is the temple of the LORD!" ad nauseam, but the habitual and unconsidered repetition of these deceptive words only serves to deceive further.

It is unsettling to read these words of Jeremiah, and perhaps especially so in these troubling economic times. Jeremiah confronts those who have placed their faith in the permanence of cherished institutions, and calls us to a fuller understanding of those human constructs. In the disintegrating state of the economy, Jeremiah's words ring true: the institutions that we have trusted for far too long to remain stable and enduring are stagnating (at best) and collapsing (at worst). In many cases, this economic downturn has been brought about through the greed and deception of those in direct control of the system...but in many more cases, and at a much broader level, it has been brought about by our own failure to comprehend the ramifications of our actions. As we rack up soaring personal debt and live well beyond our means in times of plenty, our faith in human contrivance draws us away from the ideal in-dwelling of God within each of us. Upon entering lean years, our misplaced faith in the idolatry of contentment becomes evident.

It is this turning from God that Jeremiah decries in the passage, and to this misplaced worship of the fruits of our own works that Jesus criticizes when he enters the Temple Precinct on Palm Sunday (Matt 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46). As we look ahead to our commemoration of that event next week, we ought to keep in mind Jeremiah's words evoked in Jesus' diatribe. Far from merely indicating God's displeasure with the sacrificial liturgy of early Judaism-a fallacy still too commonly assumed-Jesus' rampage through the Temple has ultimately as its goal the dispelling of human arrogance, which clears the way for God's dwelling among us (Jeremiah 7:3).

Most loving God, I ask that you effect in me a changed heart that trusts in your provision over the fruits of human contrivance, that recognizes my own culpability in the world's sin, and that seeks humbly to obey your word. Amen.

The image is a portion of Christ and the money-changers
by Giovanni Paolo Panini, located in the Museo del Prado

Contributed by Jeremy
Sunday March 29, 2009
Liturgical Year B Week 14
Sunday Gospel Readings:
Fifth Sunday in Lent