THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT B

[cappie]

This Sunday’s first reading from Exodus describes the giving of the ten commandments to Moses. This code, at the core of God’s relationship with his people  remains a foundational document for us. If we read the commandments thoughtfully,  we quickly understand that we are exhorted to the acknowledgement of God as the one God and to taking seriously what that means: facing reality and seeking truth, practising humility, creating space for rest, and seeking to quiet our busyness, respecting age, prioritising honesty, and fidelity, refusing to kill and steal. Jesus’ anger in clearing the Temple is sometimes seen as a response to the loss of these priorities. 

The Temple Jesus entered  stood on the site of Solomon’s great building. Its restoration symbolized not only religious revival, but the continuity of the nation itself.  

The destruction of the Temple all those years before Jesus’s time had been a major disaster. Most Jews had been taken off to the East in captivity. They also came to believe that God had left them. Now the point was that Israel was specially called by God. Yet that setting apart  to remind Israel of its calling to be the presence of God for the whole world. Holiness was about what we call mission.  

In the gospel today, John paints a picture of an angry Jesus, entering the symbol of Israel’s security, whip in hand, driving out those who had turned the Temple into the centre of a money-making racket. As you know, the Temple was the only place of sacrifice for the Jews. Sacrifice meant the offering to God of that which God created, whether in the form of wheat or grapes, doves,  or lambs, depending on the purpose of the sacrifice. Sacrifice meant the offering of life on behalf of individuals and families and once a year, on the Day of Atonement, on behalf of the nation itself.

The situation Jesus encountered there was rather clever. For instance, a family brought its sacrifice to the Temple. It had to be inspected to make sure that it was of high enough quality to be acceptable. If the object was rejected, there were substitutes available at a price. When the head of the family offered payment, his money was rejected because it was the usual Roman coinage. These coins could be exchanged for pure Temple currency, at a price.

So, something meant to be holy, special, unique, had been turned into a commercial transaction. Jesus was furious, with whip in hand drives out these merchants. Jesus then goes on to strike at the heart of Jewish security. He says that the Temple will be destroyed. To his listeners, that announcement seemed incredible. It struck at national security and national faith.

Jesus was speaking about two things at once. His astounding claim to be “God with Us” rivalled that of the Temple. Later Christians would teach that Jesus is truly the new and substitute Temple, the sign of God among us. So, John reminds us in this account that Jesus knew he would die and rise again; the Temple of his body would be destroyed and renewed. Yet early Christians hearing these words after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple would hear Jesus saying that God’s covenant was now to be with all who believe in Jesus, the true Temple.

Now this gospel is a calling to us all to examine just how genuine our devotion to Jesus is, at this moment, in this place. Buildings are important symbols of the presence of Jesus-Who-Is-God with his people. They exist not to suggest that we are special people, or better than others; but rather that we are “holy” people, called people, people with a mission, God’s mission, to restore all things into Jesus-Who-Is-Lord-of-All.

 May this Sunday’s Eucharist further our growth in the family of God, who gives us not just a written code, but also, in the sacramental life of Christ’s Body, the courage and strength to live out what lies behind God’s conversation with us in a world which needs that dialogue more than ever.