Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25 The liturgy of the Third Sunday
of Lent begins by acknowledging God’s holiness and his claim on us. It recognizes
that we are his people, and must live in a way that reflects his holiness. God offers
us the gift of faith as our path towards holiness. At the same time we all want and
desire to live a peaceful life. We all want to make sense of our existence. We all
desire to live a life where we can make a positive contribution to ourselves, to our
families and to those around us. Challenges are always with us, difficulties surround
us. However the more we long, desire and develop a personal and ultimate relationship
with Jesus Christ as our best friend, there is absolutely nothing that we cannot face
and overcome. Indeed we become the “power and the wisdom of God”. Our first reading
tells about the covenant God made with Israel by giving them Ten Commandments to live
by. God gave them to Moses so that his chosen people will live by the norms given
by him. They had to observe them faithfully in order to live the covenant fully.
In the gospel Jesus reacts with anger to abuses in the temple, which he sees as violating
the covenant and shows himself as the Lord of the Temple. He drove the traders out
of the Temple and predicted that he himself would be the Temple of the new people
of God. In our second reading Paul calls us to embrace divine wisdom though the world
may see it as foolishness. He tells them that we preach Christ crucified. He tells
them that God’s weakness is greater than human strength. In the first reading we
have Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God at Mount Sinai, which became the
foundation of Israel’s new relationship with God. Already God had protected the people
in the desert by nourishing them with food and protecting them from enemies. Now
he gives them these commandments to protect their covenant with God. Therefore he
makes a demand on those that God must come first in their lives. It is not the unknown
God but the one who has revealed his name to them and they have to hold him in total
reverence. This is the God who brought them out of Egypt and his love for them was
described as Jealous Love. They were not to replace his love with anything else. The
created world is God’s gift for them and they were to use it for their wellbeing.
The people have six days to work and the seventh day was to be kept aside for God.
The remaining commandments flow from a right relationship with God. Fittingly this
list begins with a commandment securing honour for Mother and Father, whose love by
God’s gracious design, brings the next generation into the world. Failure to adhere
to this fundamental commandment, so closely associated with God’s image and likeness,
will jeopardize the people’s presence in the Promised Land. The remaining commandments
secure respect for all others created in God’s image and likeness. In the Second
Reading Paul tells us that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing. But for those who are saved, it is the power of God. The message of the
cross is the message of love of Jesus that was summarized in two Commandments, namely
the love God and loving ones neighbours. Paul tells the Corinthians that he and his
companions proclaimed Christ crucified. He is the power of God and he is the wisdom
of God. Paul in fact could not have found a more striking expression for the inscrutable
nature of God. He tells them that to the unbelievers, this is a stumbling block and
foolishness. It was impossible for them to accept that the Messiah could suffer such
an ignominious death at the hands of his own people. They fail to perceive that in
Divine love, Jesus took our place on the cross. He died for our sins so we, as children
of God, may inherit the Heavenly Kingdom. Those who think they can see are in reality
blind. God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom. God's weakness is stronger than
human strength. For us who are faithful children of God, Christ is our power. Through
the indwelling Holy Spirit, in our hearts, we perceive the wisdom of God. Jews and
Greeks will believe in Christ as the power and wisdom of God only when they allow
God’s grace to uproot their prejudices. They need to admit that God does not have
to live up to their standards. In today's Gospel, we heard of Jesus going to the
Temple in Jerusalem during the Jewish feast of the Passover. During this visit he
takes upon himself the task of cleansing the Temple. John places this cleansing at
the beginning of the Gospel as he commences his ministry rather than at the passion
narrative as the Synoptic gospels do. While the Synoptic gospels are probably more
historically accurate in this, John’s Theology and especially his Christology warrant
moving this event to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. This event follows the episode
at Cana where Jesus had turned water into abundance of wine, symbolizing the abundance
of new life he offers to believers. The cleansing to the Temple demonstrates just
how much of a threat to the established religious system Jesus’ new life will be.
In this episode John describes the discovery of Jesus in the Temple where he found
people selling animals and exchanging money. For him this was specially his Father's
House which is desecrated. Jesus objected not to the trade as such which was quite
legitimate but to its being done in the temple precincts. Such business should have
been carried on just outside the Temple precincts but we know that in our own time
hawkers try to get as close to the action as possible, especially if they have competition.
It is also not at all impossible that the Temple authorities connived at the practice
and may have even benefited if the traders had to rent spaces in the Temple to do
their business. Making a whip, Jesus drove the animals out and overturned the tables
of the money changers. Surprised by his behaviour, the people demanded an explanation
from Jesus, under whose authority was he acting to do such a thing. Jesus told them
to destroy this temple, and in three days he would raise it up indicating the end
of the old covenant and its forms of worship. The new covenant is in Jesus' body and
the new worship, as Jesus told the woman at the well, is in spirit and in truth.
Being blind to the spiritual meaning of the words of Jesus, the people asked how he
could do it in three days when the Temple was still under construction after forty-six
years. They did not realize that Jesus was talking about his own Body, and the glorious
Resurrection. Further he tells them finally his very body is the Temple of God. The
event itself is a symbolic prophetic action wherein Jesus enters the Temple and physically
confronts some money changers and merchants selling animals for the sacrifice in the
Temple. John adds details such as the whip which the synoptic gospels do not give.
There was nothing illegal in selling animals and exchanging money. That was the service
offered by the Temple and it was appreciated by the people. The argument of Jesus
is not with these people as such, even though he quotes the Old Testament prophet
Zechariah. His action symbolizes his challenge to the whole Temple establishment
and the religious system it promoted. Jesus is actually concerned about the sanctity
of the place of worship as he is consumed with the zeal for the house of God. According
to him this very place of worship has become spiritually bankrupt and is more concerned
of all worldly material affairs. The entire episode would have created a great
deal of commotion and this would explain the priests’ anger at the actions of Jesus.
They question him about his authority to do such a thing. In fact Jesus was confronting
the entire temple establishment, its authority and its worship with a new authority
that totally confounds the Jewish leaders. He points out to them the importance of
the house prayer as a special place of worship. They want a sign but they completely
misunderstand what Jesus had done and was saying about the Temple being his own body.
Instead of replying them he told them to destroy the Temple and in three days he was
going to rebuild it. In fact he was speaking about his own death and resurrection
which they could not understand. Creating a misunderstanding and then clarifying it
is a device that John uses frequently. Clarification came when Jesus was raised from
the dead and his followers reflected on the cleansing he had done and what he said
at that time. We are told that many believed in Jesus as a result of the signs he
had done. Still he is sceptical of people who are attracted to him only because of
the signs. Attraction to signs is not the same as their faith in Jesus as the messiah
and the Son of God. It was understood that the buying and selling took place in
the court of the Gentiles. This meant that well-disposed non-Jews could not pray
in peace in the only place allotted to them. They were disturbed by the lowing of
the oxen, the bleating of the sheep, the cooing of the doves, the babble of the crowds,
the shouts of the hucksters, the haggling over the prices, the dispute about the exchange
rates and the rattle of the coins. Now it was this court of Gentiles that Jesus cleansed.
In so doing he was making the point that the Gentile section was just as holy as the
Jewish sections. God is God of all and not God of a select group. All this took place
was very legal but against the spirit of the law and it was done in the name of religion.
It is no wonder that Jesus, who is normally a cool person, angrily broke the law and
swung into action. Here the house of God was desecrated and the entire business was
degrading the religion. Jesus was moved by pity for the outcasts and the poor, for
whom the burdens of injustice were especially heavy. Even with those traders dealing
with dove who were poor, he was gentle with them and asks them just to leave and did
not scatter their merchandise. The action of Jesus was amazing when one considers
the grandeur of the Temple built by Herod and the extent of trade carried out with
Priests having a great say in it. The Temple those days was a religious, social and
commercial centre of the city. The action of Jesus was an open defiance to the
authorities and naturally led to the building of hostilities with them that ultimately
sealed his fate. But for Jesus this was the stand he held protecting his Father’s
House. This had its reaction on his disciples and people standing there. The disciples
did not understand the entire event immediately and they could find its meaning only
after the resurrection. Yet they did not go away from him nor did they ask him about
it. They had the confidence in him as he was their leader and master. As regards
with the people he would not trust himself to them because he knew them all. He knew
that to many of them he was a wonder-worker or a magician. If he spoke to them of
service, or sacrifice, or surrender to God’s will, or carrying their cross, they would
not have understood and would have left him on the spot. The signs that Jesus gave
caused many to believe that somehow God is with Jesus but they failed to see his divinity,
that he is the Son of God. To recognize that God is within Jesus, the Jesus is God,
would have placed a new understanding of his presence in the world and has given new
meaning to his preaching the Word. The purification of the temple is a Messianic gesture.
Its purpose is to indicate the beginning of the final stage in the history of man’s
relationship with God. One of the most frequent accusations of non-believers against
religious persons is that they are "hypocritical". More often than not, this is either
a case of people justifying their own lack of religious commitment, or of the misconception
that we profess the faith because we live it perfectly, while in fact we profess the
faith because we don’t live it perfectly, though we want to. Nevertheless it is certainly
true that we cannot please God if we praise him with our lips while our hearts and
our lives are far from him. Prayers and devotions are quite useless unless we do what
God wants us to do; unless we live in conformity with his plan for our life. When
he established a covenant with Israel, he gave us in the Decalogue the blueprint for
the basic structure of the edifice. Jesus filled in the details with the Beatitudes,
and with all he did and taught. To go through Christ is not exhausted by using liturgical
formulas. It’s power is only fully unleashed if it defines your whole attitude to
God and others, and to all the realities of life. Among other things it involves:
Giving a Christ-centred meaning to our professional life. We ought to treat everyone
around us as we would treat Christ himself. A healthy Christian spirituality, or religious
practice, has to respect the way to God that he himself has established. The story
is said about the Salt Doll which wanted to have a look at the Ocean and see for itself
how big the ocean was. It had heard a lot about the ocean from other dolls around
him. So it set on its great mission and first encountered a lake and it asked whether
it is an Ocean. The lake said that the Ocean was much bigger and it was but so little
before it. The Salt Doll then met the river and asked whether it is the Ocean and
river said no but it would ultimately join it. Further the doll went travelling and
finally came face to face with the Ocean. It asked the huge mass of water whether
it was the Ocean and it got the reply that it was indeed the Ocean. Then the Doll
asked the Ocean how it could believe it. The Ocean replied and said if it really
wanted to know, then it should come forward and touch it. The Salt Doll went forward
slowly and stepped into the ocean. Immediately the doll noticed a change in its person.
Its toes were missing. It shouted at the ocean and said that it had cheated the doll.
The Ocean smiled and replied that if it really wanted to know him well it has to be
one with him. The Salt Doll smiled and made a decision. It slowly entered the Ocean
and soon was melted into it. Then it said, now I know what the ocean is; I am one
with it. That is the reason why the Ocean is still salty in taste. Fr. Eugene
Lobo S.J.