They could find no way to accomplish their purpose
1 Mac 4,36-37; C 1 Cr 29,10.11abc.11d-12a.12bed; Lk 19,45-48
22 NOVEMBER
What the Lord promises to Jeremiah, promises much more to Christ Jesus. What is said in Jerusalem through the mouth of the prophet Zechariah, much more is valid for Jesus.
But do you gird your loins; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though I would leave you crushed before them; For it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, A pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: Against Judah’s kings and princes, against its priests and people. They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord (Jer 1,17-19).
Again I raised my eyes and looked: there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. “Where are you going?” I asked. “To measure Jerusalem,” he answered; “to see how great is its width and how great its length.” Then the angel who spoke with me advanced, and another angel came out to meet him, and said to him, “Run, tell this to that young man: People will live in Jerusalem as though in open country, because of the multitude of men and beasts in her midst. But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.” Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord; for I scatter you to the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. Up, escape to Zion! you who dwell in daughter Babylon. For thus said the Lord of hosts (after he had already sent me) concerning the nations that have plundered you: Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye. See, I wave my hand over them; they become plunder for their slaves. Thus you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me (Zec 2,5-13).
Chiefs of the Pharisees and scribes have already decided to kill Jesus. They can do nothing, because currently the Father has placed around him a wall of crowd that cannot be crossed. This wall will last until the time will not come for Jesus to pass from this world to the Father. When this time has come, the wall will be bound and the chief priests and scribes will be able to do of Jesus what they have already decided. From the first moment of his conception the Father has built several walls around his Son. Herod tries to kill him as soon as he is born. Those of Nazareth took him to the edge of the mountain to throw him down. The Jews sent guards to arrest him. The stones were already ready for his stoning. This divine wall has always protected, guarded and saved him. Jesus has never fallen into their hands. Instead, when the time came, it was Jesus the one who delivered himself into their hands. No one has power over Him. He is more than the pupil of his eyes for the Father. I will be with you to save you, to protect you and guard you. This truth is attested and confirmed by every page of the Gospel.
Then 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.'” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.
By purifying the temple, Jesus reveals himself to the eyes of his people as the true prophet of the living God. Preserving or bringing the temple back to its true sanctity had always been in the past the activity of the true prophets of the living God. The holiness of God manifests itself through the sanctity of worship. The holy God wants a holy cult in a holy temple. For the temple to be holy, it must be cleansed of all traces of man’s sin, be it a trace of invisible sin, of the heart, of the mind and be it a trace of visible sin. Using temple courtyards as market places offends the sanctity of the sacred place which is a house of prayer. If it is a house of prayer the market that disturbs and prevents every true encounter of man with his Lord, must be removed from it. This rule of holiness also applies to us. We too are asked to make the temple of God a house of prayer. For this reason we too are called to remove all traces of sin from our life, from our body, soul, spirit, both visible and invisible traces. A house of prayer is made when one is conscious that he is presented before the throne of the Most High. Even outer clothing should manifest our faith, our love, our desire to speak with God and to place ourselves in his presence.
Mother of God, Angels and Saints arrange that Christians always purify the temple of the heart.