III Sunday of Lent:[2012]: Ex 20:1-17; 1Cori 1:18, 22-25; Jn 2:13-25

III Sunday of Lent:[2012]: Ex 20:1-17; 1Cori 1:18, 22-25; Jn 2:13-25

Scripture lessons: Today’s first reading teaches us that the Ten Commandments are the basis of our religious and spiritual life, just as they formed a rule of life for the Israelites as the result of their covenant with Yahweh at Mount Sinai.  The responsorial psalm depicts the Mosaic Law’s life-enhancing attributes: it refreshes the soul and rejoices the heart; it is pure and true, more precious than gold.  The second reading reminds us that we must preach the divine folly of the crucified Christ and the spirit of the cross, especially during the Lenten season.  Today’s gospel gives us the dramatic account of Jesus' cleansing the Temple of its merchants and money-changers, followed by a prediction of his death and resurrection. The synoptic gospels place the "cleansing of the Temple" immediately after Jesus' triumphant arrival in Jerusalem on the back of a colt on Palm Sunday while John places it at the beginning of his gospel. Jesus cleansed the Temple renovated by King Herod in B.C. 20. The abuses which kindled the prophetic indignation of Jesus were the conversion of God’s Temple into a “noisy market place” by the animal merchants and into a “hideout of thieves” by the money-changers with their grossly unjust business practices – sacrilege in God’s Holy Place. Jesus' reaction to this commercialized faith was fierce.  Since no weapons were allowed inside the Temple, Jesus had to construct his own weapon, a whip of cords to drive out the merchants and money-changers from the Court of the Gentiles.

Lent Gospel Sum up: Like the desert in the first week of Lent and the mountain in the second week, the Temple in the third week is a place of special encounter with God. But today we are not going to see the glorious face of Jesus; we are going to see his angry face. Jesus is not happy with what he sees precisely because the way the Temple worship has been organized no longer reflects God’s original idea of a worshipping community. Two reasons can be given for this, namely, (a) the religious leaders had put rituals over morality, and (b) they had put particularity over universality.

Rituals over Morality: The religious administrators of the Temple worship took pains to see that worshippers were duly supplied with high quality cattle, sheep and doves for sacrifice. They even made sure that the “dirty” money people brought with them could be exchanged for the “holy” Temple money. At the same time, however, they were plotting against Jesus. If they took all that trouble to please God in worship, why couldn’t they take the trouble to investigate the claims of Jesus rather than condemn him so readily? For them pleasing God had become something you do in the rituals of the Temple and not in your relationship with people. This kind of religiosity makes Jesus really angry.

Joke: The story is told of a priest who was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark only to be accosted by a robber who pulled a gun at him and demanded, “Your money or your life!” As the priest reached his hand into his coat pocket the robber saw his Roman collar and said, “So you are a priest? Then you can go.” The priest was rather surprised at this unexpected show of piety and so tried to reciprocate by offering the robber his packet of cigarettes, to which the robber replied, “No, Father, I don’t smoke during Lent.” You can see how this robber is trying to keep the pious observance of not smoking during Lent while forgetting the more fundamental commandment of God, “Thou shall not steal.”

Particularity over Universality: The second reason why Jesus was mad with the Temple priests was their practice of religious particularity over against universality, of exclusiveness over inclusiveness. Some knowledge of the design of the Temple will help us here. The Temple had five sections or courts: (1) holy of holies (2) court of priests (3) court of Israel (4) court of women (5) court of Gentiles. Though these were seen as five concentric circles of sanctity, the design made room for everybody in the house of God. It was a universal house of God “for all the nations” where every man or woman on earth would find a place in which to pray. But the Temple priests forgot that and thought that it was meant for Jews alone. So they decided to turn the court of the Gentiles into a “holy” market place for selling the animals required for sacrifice and for exchanging money. You could bring Roman money as far as the court of the Gentiles but not into the other four courts. The court of Gentiles was no longer regarded as part and parcel of the house of God, it had become a market place, pure and simple. 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. Like the Jews of the time of Jesus, some Christians today still think that God belongs to them alone and not to others as well.

Life Implications: A certain man died and went to heaven and St Peter was showing him round. St Peter pointed to different mansions: “Here are the Jews, here the Buddhists, here the Moslems, etc.” Then they came to a large compound surrounded by a high wall and inside they could hear singing and laughter. “Who are those?” asked the new arrival. And St Peter hushed him, “Hush! They’re the Christians – but they think they’re the only ones here.” Believers like these need a Temple court experience to awaken them to the universal love of God and bring them back to true worship.

Introduction  : III Sunday in Lent

Message : The law liberates and leads us to freedom.  It is to be trusted for it is a source of wisdom.  Jesus speaks of the ultimate freedom to be won for us by his being raised up.  He is the sign of the power and wisdom of God

Saints in this week : 17^th Saturday : Saint Patrick, Bishop

Patrick, 461 at Down; born about 389 of Romano-British origin, perhaps in Wales; founded metropolitan See of Armagh; authored Confessio; the famous Lorica(Lat., “breastplate”), a work praising Christ, is probably his; patron of Nigeria; apostle and patron of Ireland.