＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Revelation 10:8-11

And the voice I had heard from heaven spoke again,

Saying to me, “Go near the angel who stands on the sea and on the land, and take the small book open in his hand.” So I approached the angel and asked him for the small book; he said to me, “Take it and eat; al­though it be sweet as honey in your mouth, it will be bitter to your stomach.”

 I took the small book from the hand of the angel, and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, it turned bitter in my stomach. Then I was told, “You must again proclaim God’s words about many peoples, nations, tongues and kings.”

 

Ps 119:14-24, 72, 103, 111, 131

How sweet to my taste is your promise!

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke 19:45-48

 Then Jesus entered the Tem­­­ple area and began to drive out the merchants. And he said to them, “God says in the Scriptures: My house shall be a house of prayer: but you have turned it into a den of robbers.”

 Jesus was teaching every day in the Temple. The chief priests and teachers of the Law wanted to kill him and the elders of the Jews as well, but they were unable to do anything, for all the people were listening to him and hanging on his words.

 

Gospel Reflection：

The writer of Revelation shows God’s judgments in the Last Days unfolding in three series of seven. Whether these are sequential and chronological, we can’t know for sure.

Seven Seals (6:1-8:5)

Seven Trumpets (8:6-11:19)

Seven Bowls of Wrath (15:7-16:21)

In the midst of this awesome destruction we see the faithful and witnessing church, herself protected from God’s judgments (7:3), but subject to intense persecution and martyrdom by the enraged enemies of God (6:9-11; 7:14; 11:3; 12:11, 17; 13:7).

Interpreting the timing of the event, Jesus’ action was angry and violent. He “drove”out the money changers and selling “temple-approved” sacrifices. The Greek word is ekballo, “force to leave, ‘drive out, expel.’

The same word is often used to describe Jesus griving out demons from the afflicted. In the same way as he commanded the demons so they could not stay, so one can hear Jesus’ voice of authority echoing within the temple courtyard.