Luke 19:45-48

In today's Gospel reading we hear how Jesus lashes out against corruption of the sacred. His harshest criticism was reserved for the temple leaders. The holy house of God had become a commercial entity and Jesus wanted to restore it to a place of prayer. The same thing goes on in our spiritual lives. We desire Jesus to dwell in the temple of our bodies, but the appetite for success, the blind ambitions at work, the need for money, etc… all clutter our temple. Today we ask Jesus to turn our souls into temples of prayer. 

Our superb painting by Carl Heinrich Bloch is a very moving rendition of today's reading. We see Jesus wearing a red garment, referring to the human sufferings He will endure. Yet a blue cloak, colour of divinity, also embraces Him. The human and divine are simply conveyed by the artist through the use of colour. A man on the right is seen packing up his stuff and running away in a hurry. A money changer on the left is crawling to collect gold coins from the floor. A young man is about to release a dove, whilst a pigeon drops feathers over him. The background shows people in the shadows, ready to start plotting against Jesus.