Why do we go to the marketplace?
Business people and vendors go there to sell, to gain profit, to earn. Buyers go there get what they want or what they need. Basically, we go there to have something for ourselves.
Oftentimes, this disposition we bring with us to Church. We come to church asking ourselves what are we to gain by going there; what are we going to have in return. We come to church and wonder if what we want will be given. We come to church because we want to have.
If this is the only motivation we have in coming to church, then, we make the church a marketplace.
Even without the animals being sold; even without money changers, if the only motivation we can find in our hearts every time we go to church is to get, to receive, to gain, or to have, then, we make the church a marketplace.
And the exhortation of Jesus in the Gospel today is clear: Stop making my Father’s house into a marketplace. Stop going to church thinking only of yourselves. Stop going to church thinking only what you will get in return. How about coming to church in gratitude? In thanksgiving? Thanking the Lord for his blessings and graces, for his faithfulness, for his mercy, for family and friends, for challenges and trials that make us strong. How about coming to church ready to offer ourselves to God? Ready to offer our time, our talent, our treasure.
It is not bad to ask God what we want or what we need. But a true Christian does not end there. Or better yet, a true Christian does not start there. A true Christian starts with gratitude and the generosity before the Lord.
We do not come to church because we need something from God. We come to church because we need God, for He provides for our needs.
We do not come to church because we want something from the Lord. We come to church because we want the Lord, because in Him, there is nothing we shall want.
We do not come to church to have something from God. We come to church to be with God, for to be with Him is have everything.
We ask the Lord to grant us a heart full of gratitude and generosity. Because when we enter the church with gratitude and generosity first and foremost, then, we enter, not a marketplace, but the Father’s house.
