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From: 1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59

Purification and Dedication of the Temple

[36] Then said Judas and his brothers, “Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us
go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.” [37] So all the army assembled
and they went up to Mount Zion.

[52] Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the
month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, [53] they rose and of-
fered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they
had built. [54] At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had pro-
faned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals [55] All
the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed Heaven, who had
prospered them. [56] So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days,
and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance
and praise. [57] They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and
small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fur-
nished them with doors. [58] There was very great gladness among the people,
and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed. [59] Then Judas and his brothers
and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days
of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days,
beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.

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Commentary:

4:36-61. Now that the enemy threat has been removed, the Maccabees’ first pri-
ority is to cleanse the temple and reinstate religious worship—which would put
their relationship with God on a proper footing, and which was what the war was
all about.

The cleansing is entrusted to “blameless priests” as the Law laid down (cf. Lev
22:3-9). The stones of the altar that Ezra consecrated in his time (cf. Ezra 3:2-5)
must be thrown into the Gehenna valley like those from the pagan altars; so they
seek a temporary solution until such time as a prophet should come (v. 46; cf. 9:
27; 14:41; Dan 3:38). The building of a new altar in line with what Exodus 20:25
laid down reminds us of the dedication of the temple by Solomon (cf. 1 Kings 8:
1-66) and the dedication of the temple of Ezra-Nehemiah (cf. Ezra 5:1-6:22). In
2 Maccabees 10:1-8 these events are reported more briefly, but mention is made
there of how the fire for the sacrifices was made.

The importance acquired by the feast established to commemorate the dedica-
tion of the temple can be seen from 2 Maccabees 1:9, 18; 2:16. In Hebrew this
festival is called “Hanukkah” and in Greek “Encenias” because to mark it lamps
or candles are lit in people’s houses (as is the Jewish practice today) to symbo-
lize the light of the Law. It was on this feast that Jesus told the Jews that he
was the Son of God (cf. Jn 10:22-39).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States

From: Luke 19:45-48

Jesus in the Temple

[45] And He (Jesus) entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold,
[46] saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you
have made it a den of robbers.”

[47] And He was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes
and the principal men of the people sought to destroy Him; [48] but they did not
find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon His words.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

45-48. Jesus’ indignation shows His zeal for the glory of His Father, to be recog-
nized at this time in the temple itself. He inveighs against the traders for engaging
in business which has nothing to do with divine worship (cf. Matthew 21:12; Mark
11-15). Even the priests allowed some of these abuses to go on — perhaps be-
cause they benefited from them in the form of taxes. The traders did perform ser-
vices necessary for divine worship but this was vitiated by their excessive desire
for gain, turning the temple into a marketplace.

“My house shall be a house of prayer”: Jesus uses these words from Isaiah
(56:7; cf. Jeremiah 7:11) to underline the purpose of the temple. Jesus’ behavior
shows the respect the Temple of Jerusalem deserved; how much more reverence
should be shown our churches, where Jesus Himself is really present in the Bles-
sed Sacrament. (cf. notes on Matthew 21:12-13; and Mark 11:15-18).

[The notes on Matthew 21:12-13 states:

12-13. Although God is present everywhere and cannot be confined within the
walls of temples built by man (Acts 17:24-25), God instructed Moses to build a
tabernacle where He would dwell among the Israelites (Exodus 25:40). Once the
Jewish people were established in Palestine, King Solomon, also in obedience
to a divine instruction, built the temple of Jerusalem (1 Kings 6-8), where people
went to render public worship to God (Deuteronomy 12).

Exodus (23:15) commanded the Israelites not to enter the temple empty-handed,
but to bring some victim to be sacrificed. To make this easier for people who had
to travel a certain distance, a veritable market developed in the temple courtyards
with animals being bought and sold for sacrificial purposes. Originally this may
have made sense, but seemingly as time went on commercial gain became the
dominant purpose of this buying and selling of victims; probably the priests them-
selves and temple servants benefited from this trade or even operated it. The net
result was that the temple looked more like a livestock mart than a place for
meeting God.

Moved by zeal for His Father’s house (John 2:17), Jesus cannot tolerate this de-
plorable abuse and in holy anger He ejects everyone — to show people the re-
spect and reverence due to the temple as a holy place. We should show much
greater respect in the Christian temple — the Christian churches — where the eu-
charistic sacrifice is celebrated and where Jesus Christ, God and Man, is really
and truly present, reserved in the tabernacle. For a Christian, proper dress, litur-
gical gestures and postures, genuflections and reverence to the tabernacle, etc.
are expressions of the respect due to the Lord in His temple.

[The notes on Mark 11:15-18 states:

15-18. Our Lord does not abide lack of faith or piety in things to do with the wor-
ship of God. If He acts so vigorously to defend the temple of the Old Law, it indi-
cates how we should truly conduct ourselves in the Christian temple, where He
is really and truly present in the Blessed Eucharist. “Piety has its own good
manners. Learn them. It’s a shame to see those ‘pious’ people who don’t know
how to attend Mass — even though they go daily — nor how to bless themselves
(they throw their hands about in the weirdest fashion), nor how to bend the knee
before the Tabernacle (their ridiculous genuflections seem a mockery), nor how
to bow their heads reverently before a picture of our Lady” (St. J. Escriva, “The
Way”, 541).]

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59 ©

Judas and his brothers said, ‘Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So they marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion.

On the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, they rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of holocausts which they had made. The altar was dedicated, to the sound of zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on which the pagans had originally profaned it. The whole people fell prostrate in adoration, praising to the skies him who had made them so successful. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts, communion sacrifices and thanksgivings. They ornamented the front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the gates and the storerooms and fitted them with doors. There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, and the reproach of the pagans was lifted from them. Judas, with his brothers and the whole assembly of Israel, made it a law that the days of the dedication of the altar should be celebrated yearly at the proper season, for eight days beginning on the twenty-fifth of the month Chislev, with rejoicing and gladness.

Canticle

1 Chronicles 29:10-12 ©