3^rd Sunday of Lent (B); March 3, 2024

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

Deacon Jim McFadden

       St. Paul has told us in our first reading that “Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24b). Jesus revealed that power and wisdom by offering forgiveness and showing mercy.  He did so not by displaying dramatic showings of strength or by speaking with lofty and lengthy  pronouncements,  or ideological discourse.  Rather, he did so by giving his life on the Cross for our good—for our salvation.  He showed his power and wisdom by showing us to the very end of his life, the faithfulness of his Father’s love; he showed what God’s covenant looks like; he showed how he brings his people from the slavery of sin and death to a journey of freedom to eternal life.  As such, Jesus—“the power and wisdom of God”—is the lens by which our  heart and soul processes Reality, which is the Kingdom of God.

How easy it is to fall into the trap of convincing others and ourselves that we are powerful and right through our political, economic, and military prowess by which we impose our will on others.  To do so, we fashion false images of God that validates our personal and collective security (cf. Exodus 20:4-5).  Yes, if Jesus is going to the prism into Reality, we need to seek power and wisdom of God revealed on the Cross.  Our military might, political ideology, and economic prowess are not going to promote our well-being, but on Calvary Jesus offered to his Father the wounds by which we are healed (cf. 1 Peter 2:24). But, the temptation is to react to painful experiences with human power and conventional wisdom.  Instead, Jesus shows us the way of God through his teachings and actions: he shows us the path on which he calls us to follow him.  That’s why we need to take a hard look at today’s Gospel reading.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is shown driving out the moneychangers and all the buyers and sellers out of the Temple of Jerusalem.  He performs this act with the help of a whip of small cords, overturns the tables and says: “stop making my Father’s house into a market place (John 2:16).  This dramatic gesture, undertaken in the proximity to Passover, got the attention of the crowds and sparked a backlash from the religious authorities and those who thought that their economic interests were threatened.

How should we interpret this episode?   Jesus was sent to the world by his Father  to overcome our de-created world—one of sin, alienation, polarization, and death—through the power of his Death and Resurrection.  That’s why his Father sent him to cleanse the temple: not only the place of worship made of stone but the temple of our heart and soul.  Jesus could not tolerate his Father’s house becoming a marketplace; by the same token, he does not want our hearts become places of turmoil, disordered relationships in which we objectify and vilify our brothers and sisters, and promote confusion in our political, social, and economic domains.  Just like the temple in Jerusalem our hearts need to be put in order and cleansed. Of what?  To be begin, we need to be cleansed of our toleration of polarization, which Pope Francis denounced as “not Catholic!”  Why? God us a gathering force who brings his children together to share in Trinitarian love, which is unitive and generative.  The Devil (diablos in Greek) is the one who “tears asunder” and divides. 

Embracing lies, political conceits, and falsehoods stain our heart, soil our lives, and weaken the People of God, the Church.  We need to be cleansed of deceptive political securities that would exchange our faith in God with passing things, with temporary advantages that address our anxieties.  2,500 years ago, the Psalmist reminded us “Put no trust in princes, in mere mortals powerless to save” (Ps 146:3).  We need to detach ourselves from the pernicious temptations of power, money, and privilege and sweep them away from our hearts and that of our Church.

To cleanse our hearts, we need to do what Jesus did:  we need to get close to people where they are hurting, to get our hands dirty as we engage in the works of justice and mercy, to be accountable to God and our brethren, and not to be detached from those who are suffering.  How do we purify our hearts?  Left to ourselves, we can’t.  That’s why we need the grace of Jesus.  He has the power to conquer our evils, to heal our dysfunction, to rebuild the temple of our heart.

To show that he has this kind of authority and power, Jesus goes on to say: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19).  Jesus Christ alone, can cleanse us of the works of evil.  Beware of anyone who boasts that “I alone can fix it.”  Only Jesus, who died on the Cross, is Lord and he alone can overcome our sin and dysfunction.  Jesus will not allow us to die in our sin and alienation.  Even when we turn our backs on him, he never leaves us to our egoic conceits.  He seeks us out, runs after us, forgives us, and calls us to repentance and transformation. Jesus wants us to be saved and to become living temples of his love, in his solidarity with his Father and Holy Spirit, in service to others, in instruments of his mercy.

May the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, who was united to her Son in his passion and death, and who shared in the joy of the Resurrection, intercede for us and lead us to her Son, Jesus.  Amen.

Questions for Reflection:

1. How is Lent helping you to cleanse “the temple of your heart?”
2. As your able to connect with a community to help you along your Lenten journey?
3. What are the most important requirements for people of faith when they engage in the political, economic, and social domains?