3^rd Sunday of Lent (B); 3-7-2021

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

Deacon Jim McFadden

       In today’s Gospel, in the second chapter of John, Jesus goes to the temple in Jerusalem and finds merchants selling oxen, sheep, and doves to sacrifice   as well as money-changers sitting at their tables. Using a whip made out of cords, he drives them all out of the temple area, overturning the tables of the money changers and spilling their coins in the process. He orders them to “stop making my Father’s house a marketplace” (v. 16).  Jesus did not strike anyone; otherwise, officials entrusted to maintain public order would have been called.  Those at the scene probably saw it as a justified action typical of a prophet who in the name of God often vehemently denounces abuses and excesses.  This dramatic action close to Passover, certainly got the attention of the crowds and sparked a backlash from the religious authorities and from those whose economic interests were being threatened.

Jesus’ behavior in today’s Gospel challenges us to live our life not in search for our own advantages and interests, but for the glory of God who is love.  Jesus’s dramatic, in-your-face action was cleansing the Temple of “junk religion.”  In our day and age, what does that look like?

            Put simply, it is using religion for one’s own purposes while going through the motions of being religious—one has the jargon, does the right rituals, subscribes to orthodox beliefs, and goes regularly to church.  One can speak the Catholic lingo with passion and with some degree of knowledge and awareness, quoting Scripture, the Catechism, and even some papal encyclicals. One can pick and choose elements of the Catholic Tradition that support one’s personal agenda while conveniently putting on blinders to those Catholic elements that don’t. One ends up domesticating the Catholic faith and reducing it to “junk religion.” Religion becomes not so much about the Good News but about oneself and one’s personal ideology.

            We are called to embrace the Good News and the Way of Jesus, which is self-emptying and forgiving.  We are called to be nonviolent and promote justice and goodness.  Our call demands that we sweep away whatever is blocking us from doing so.  Just as the Israelites wanted to return to Egypt and to the comfort and security of their old life when the going got tough, we may be tempted to return to promoting our own personal, private interests. We must remember that we are instruments of God’s generous and supportive love and be steadfast to our call.

This Sunday 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.  Our God wants us to build our temple on the great commandment: “You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mt. 22:37-38).” Living this way is at the heart of Jesus’s way of worshiping his Father.  If we do so without reservations, we will be a light to others.  Our ritual and devotional practices will serve to remind us that true adoration of God resides in giving thanks for life and expressing gratitude by sharing our lives with others. We will bring alive the resurrected presence of Christ in the here and now.  We will give witness by  living a way that ushers into our communities peace with justice.  In sum, we will be practicing genuine religion, binding ourselves to a God who only wants to love us and be loved in return.