Temple Cleansing by God's Wrath

"Now, the scribes were well-instructed people. They reflected a lot, and worked hard. Their sayings were learned and to the point. But their words were cold and hard, rigid, oppressive. And now here stood one whose words were warm, full of power. Jesus’ power derived from what He said, from the depth and the truth of the spoken word — but not from that alone. More than anything else, it came from the vitality sounding through His speech, from the vital energy of Him who spoke. Everything about Him was genuine, strong, and straight from the mind and heart. It was candid, rang true, had radiance, and contained an effective principle of life. It sent out a call; it wakened, lifted up, cleared the mind, and clutched at the heart. And there was warranty behind it, an assurance of salvation. 

"Once at Passover time in Jerusalem, He went into the temple. It was a time of pilgrimage. Believers came from all over the world to pay homage to God in His glory. The same sort of fair that always springs up around pilgrimages was going on here too: sellers’ booths; dealers in every kind of merchandise; sacrificial animals, so that anyone could buy one and offer it and thus fulfill his obligation as a pilgrim. Moneychangers were on hand who accepted foreign coins in exchange for the currency of the country. Haggling and greed and the smell of money were everywhere the order of the day. All of this filled Jesus with anger, and there followed a scene such as there had been in the days of Elijah and Elisha, when the Spirit of God came over the prophets and, with the suddenness of divine inspiration like a flash of lightning, did wondrous things beyond ordinary human understanding. “It is written,” He cried, ‘My house shall be known for a house of prayer,’ and you have made it into a den of thieves.” He made a whip by binding cords together and drove everything and everyone out, people and animals. There is a note of gentleness in the midst of this divine whirlwind, when He spared the doves, saying only, “Take these away!” He overturned the tables of the moneychangers; everything was in an uproar. But in all the heat of that moment, among the mob there, collected from all the corners of the earth, no voice was raised against Him, not one hand. As St. Jerome writes, “Something like a star shone from His countenance,” transfixing them all."[Guardini, Romano (2014-09-22). Meditations on the Christ (Kindle Locations 331-349). Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.]

 In the greatness of Romano Guardini, in his profound turn of phrase and insight, I think I have found an answer to a younger friend's insistence that "temple cleansing" should be the order of the day and to his mind also of my everyday. The humility of my Domine, non sum dignus to him, well, as cowardly as it rang in his ears, it didn't quite ring any better to me. It left me asking about what more I should be or could be doing. If in a more adequate response I can borrow from Guardini, then I guess I can say that we are not always and everywhere called to express righteous anger for the sake of the Gospel. I can spare myself temple cleansing duty in that I am not the Christ. That is because Christ's wrath, scourge in hand at the cleansing of the Temple, was His as the God Man, His as Divine; it was proper to Him and hence qualitatively different than even the most righteous anger I could possibly summon to cause. 

Regardless of our possible justification, cleansing wrath is not mine to conjure; it is the Lord's or it is stirred up by Him in His prophet, as Guardini observes: "All of this filled Jesus with anger, and there followed a scene such as there had been in the days of Elijah and Elisha, when the Spirit of God came over the prophets and, with the suddenness of divine inspiration like a flash of lightning, did wondrous things beyond ordinary human understanding." 

 Indeed there are things which cry out to heaven, but my point would be that judgment and action in justice belongs to the Lord. Vested with authority, so as not to be condemned as the dog which fails to bark out the alarm or the shepherd who fails to lay down his life for the flock, the zeal for His House which is to consume me is just that, for His House and not for my own; the wrath, the judgment belongs to God. All the icons I have from Ukraine of St. Michael the Archangel are labelled: хто ж як Бог, who is like God. Michael's wrath is God's wrath, something I cannot arrogate to myself. We are called to storm heaven in supplication; the Lord bares His mighty arm.

Satan, of course, is the first one to deny us zeal for His House and for the fullness of His Gospel; that is our temptation, to fail to stand or to stand silent and unsure. Without getting our dander up, however, we need to be the Lord's good servants first and not shun His mission, should He choose us to manifest His burning wrath: "But in all the heat of that moment, among the mob there, collected from all the corners of the earth, no voice was raised against Him, not one hand. As St. Jerome writes, “Something like a star shone from His countenance,” transfixing them all."' Thanks, Romano! May the Temple be cleansed as the Lord wills and not as I!

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