Third Sunday of Lent (B); March 4, 2018

Ex 20:1-17; Ps 19; 1 Cor 1:22-25; Jn 2:13-25

Deacon Jim McFadden; (New) Folsom Prison

 

The core of our faith is the Paschal Mystery, which refers to Jesus’ death and resurrection and their saving significance for us. The adjective paschal derives from the Hebrew verb pasach, meaning to “pass over,” and alludes to ancient Israel’s rescue from slavery in Egypt in Moses’ time, when the Lord “passed over” the houses of the Israelites while striking down the Egyptian oppressors.

The Old Testament reading for today contains the Ten Commandments, given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and is the core of God’s covenant with the Israelites.   This covenant is the basis of genuine religion, which Jesus came to restore. He does so symbolically when he “cleanses” the temple in Jerusalem.

The Old Testament text begins with “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.” Our God is a Savior, who leads us out of oppression to liberation. That’s what God does in our lives, but he needs our cooperation. If this salvific work is going to happen within us, we must be obedient to the commandments, the greatest of which are to “…love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” and to “..love your neighbor as yourself.” If we do so without reservations, we will be a light to others. We will give witness that there is an alternative way to live that ushers into our communities peace with justice, revealing the resurrected presence of Christ.

This call to become truly free can be just too much for most of us. Just as the Israelites wanted to return Egypt and the comfort and security of their old life when the going got tough, we do the same, but in a more subtle way: we go through the motions of being religious—we have the jargon, we do the right rituals, we regularly go to church, etc.—without really embracing the Way of Jesus which is self-emptying, forgiving, promoting justice and goodness. What we often embrace is “junk religion,” where our ego is still in control, where we are the center, and our life, including religion, is really about us.

In today’s gospel, in the second chapter of John, Jesus is on a collision course with organized religion and institutionalized worship that has become self-serving. He stands in opposition to any group that is in collusion with idols and powers of the world, that hinder genuine worship of God and the practice of justice, especially towards the least and the poorest and the weakest in the world. So, Jesus begins to tear down unauthentic religion and frees people from all that enslaves them; he will destroy evil and injustice, beginning with the temple, his Father’s house.

He is calling us to go beyond external observance to a commitment that is deeper, a commitment that goes to the very heart of our covenant relationship with God and our brothers and sisters in faith. Today, Jesus grabs out attention by clearing our lives of the clutter and confusion of our addictions which keep us stuck. We hang onto our self-absorption, our control, our disconnected pleasures, our love of money, our need for approval–all of which keep us from living the Great Commandment.   Let us look at our lives honestly and stand before Jesus and acknowledge that we are not the center of our universe, God is. We are not in control, God is. Our life, including out religion, is not about us, but about our God, who loves us beyond measure. Let us say “yes” to God in the here and now, including the

most devastating experiences that come our way.

Brothers, genuine religion is about caring for one another, especially the most vulnerable in our community. Ritual and devotional practices serve to remind us that true adoration of God resides in giving thanks for life and expressing gratitude by sharing our lives with others. In doing so, we live the Great Commandment, which is at the heart of Jesus’ way of worshiping his Father. We are invited this Sunday of Lent to pray for the virtue and practice of zeal so that our worship may be acceptable to God, the Father almighty, and reverberate throughout our society.