Third Sunday in Lent

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT “B”

2009

Since St. Patrick’s Day is next Tuesday I thought I would begin this homily with this story about a very devout and faithful Irishman named Patty O’Doul. Patty left Ireland and came to New York City where he began work as a taxi driver. One day, a man got in his cab and said: “Take me to the Church of Christ on Fifth Avenue.” So, naturally, Patty drove him to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and let him out. The man protested: “I said take me to the Church of Christ.” Patty pointed to the Cathedral and replied: “Well, if He’s in town, He’s in there.”

Well, Jesus was certainly “in town” the day He went to the great Temple in Jerusalem and there was outraged at what He saw. Being truly a man for others, one with a sensitive and caring heart, Jesus had great compassion for the ordinary people who had come to worship God in the Temple, but who were being exploited by those selling cattle, and changing money as they entered the holy precincts. John mentions that it was just before the Passover when Jesus came to the Temple, and there He “found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the Temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves: “Take these things out of here. Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” (Jn 2:14-17) As we heard this account of a very angry Jesus, we may think, at first, that Jesus seems to be out of character in this scene, but as we think about it, we realize that by doing what He did, Jesus showed that there are times when anger is a gift of God, which can be used to defend others who are being exploited or oppressed and, in many cases, unable to defend themselves. Anger is justifiable when it is an instrument of compassion for the oppressed. To understand what angered Jesus we need to understand what was going on at the Temple in Jesus’ time. When people came to the Temple in Jerusalem it was a great event for them. The simple fishermen and their families from Galilee, the ordinary people who herded sheep, or who were farmers and others would save up all year in the hope of making their annual pilgrimage to the great Temple in Jerusalem. It involved the entire family and their pilgrimage was something very important to them. When they finally reached the Temple area, they were unfortunately exploited, or as we would say today, they were ripped off, by their own leaders. They were very often short-changed as they exchanged their Roman coins for Jewish money, and Jewish money was the only money allowed in the Temple. They were overcharged for the animals they bought to be used for sacrifice. They were seen, not as pious pilgrims who had come to a holy place, but as objects of avarice and greed. Jesus was so outraged at what was happening to these simple peasant people that, out of compassion for them, He made a whip out of cords and waded in, in protest. The anger Jesus felt on that occasion was the direct result of His deep sensitivity to the plight of the poor, the oppressed and the exploited. Jesus saw that some very necessary house-cleaning at the Temple needed to be done then and there and He did it. As we listened to the recounting of that event in the Gospel of John today, we are reminded that Lent is a time for us to do some necessary house-cleaning too. During Lent we are to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Easter, and make ourselves ready to receive more of the new life Jesus has won for us by His death and resurrection. Lent is a time for personal purification, a time when we try to die a little more to our selfish attitudes and actions, and sincerely try to be more loving and compassionate to others in imitation of Jesus. So today, on this third Sunday of Lent, we might ask ourselves these questions: have I been the loving and compassionate person God wants me to be? Do I really care about helping others who are in need around me?

In today’s first reading we heard how God, as a loving Father, gave the ten commandments to His people through his servant, Moses. They were to guide them in their love for Him, and allow them to live in harmony and peace with each other. The first of these commandments indicated that God deserved and wanted their obedience and their love before all else. God said: “you shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them...” (Ex 20:1-4) God most certainly deserves and wants our obedience and our love as well. Through Jesus, His Son, He has indicated that He wants our hearts for Himself, that He wants us to carry out His will in our daily lives. So today we need to ask ourselves these questions: do I have any idols in my life? Do I spend a lot of time and energy on frivolous things in my life, and so fail to give God the attention He deserves through regular prayer?

The Temple authorities asked Jesus: “what sign can you show us for doing this?” In other words, they wanted to know what right did Jesus have to do what He had done, chasing out the buyers and sellers and overturning the tables of the money changers. Jesus answered them saying: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” Everyone knew that it had taken forty-six years to build the Temple, and that it was still being completed in fact, so how could Jesus possibly rebuild it in just three days? John, in his Gospel narrative, says that Jesus “was speaking of the temple of His body,” and that after He died and rose again from the dead, Jesus’ disciples remembered what He had said that day in answer to the Temple authorities. In his Gospel, John is telling us, in fact, that Jesus Himself is now the new Temple of God. Jesus has replaced the old Temple, which was physically destroyed by the Roman invaders around the year AD 60. He is the Temple now, and He invites us, whom He has been redeemed by His blood, to worship God in that Temple, or in union with Him, in His Body, which, St. Paul tells us, is the Church. Jesus is the head the Body which is the Church, and we are His members. Together, here at Mass,. we worship God as we offer Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of Calvary made present on this altar. What a wonderful gift God has given us in the sacrifice of the Mass. So today, we need to ask ourselves these questions: Do I worship God as I should by attending Sunday Mass whenever I am able to do so? When at Mass do I realize that I am worshipping with Jesus and offering His sacrifice, along with myself, to God?

We have begun the third week in Lent, and having listened to the Gospel reading today, we ask Jesus to cleanse our hearts, to purify us, to drive our of our lives whatever is standing in the way of our loving Him as we should, to drive out whatever might be preventing us from loving others as He wants us to love them. So, finally we ask ourselves these questions: Do I want Jesus to help me clean out my house? Do I trust in Him and believe that He is with me and loves me more than I love myself.? If the answer to any of the questions we have asked ourselves today indicates a need for repentance and conversion in our lives, then let us take advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We will celebrate that sacrament here together on Tuesday March 31st at 7:30 pm and be well prepared for Holy Week and Easter..