March 15, 2009 Cycle B
Exodus 20:1-17 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 John 2:13-25
Today we find ourselves listening to Jesus who makes a whip of thick cords and cracks them hard across the tables, over turning them, spilling everything. Jesus had come to the temple for Passover where He encountered not His Father’s House, but a market place. It was filled with sheep and oxen, sellers of doves, moneychangers. Those coming to the temple to offer sacrifice could not use the common Roman currency to purchase a suitable animal. No, they had to exchange their secular coins for temple coins in order to make a purchase, and in the transaction the moneychangers made a profit.
Because the Jews were from all over and had to use the Roman coin with Caesar’s image on it – Caesar considered being a divinity – their coins had to be converted to the imageless temple money of the Jewish exchange. It was understandable. It was the gorging, the exuberant rates, the fleecing of the pilgrims, that got to Jesus. The temple precincts had become a veritable mall of ATM’s, a circus of noise and transactions. Holiness had been replaced by hokum. Jesus was disgusted at seeing this holiest place of Jewish worship turned into a place of commerce.
But perhaps what lay at the heart of Jesus’ anger was that God the Father was being taken for granted. The merchants and the moneychangers had worked out a comfortable arrangement between the worship of God and their own material needs. Perhaps, even their greed.
Now this incident tells us something about Jesus, and something about ourselves. People can be measured by what angers them. How true! Anger can be dangerous, but so can food, sun and water. However, anger that leads to reform and betterment is a respectable and desirable emotion.
Today we might ask “What is it that angers us, and what does not?”
I don’t know if you ever looked at it this way before, but Lent is the Church’s official time to get angry enough to overturn old tables and set up new ones. Today is also the day to have the first of three Scrutiny’s for those who are preparing for their reception into the Church at Easter. It is fitting then that we have the Ten Commandments as our first reading. For this is a significant aspect of Catechesis for all of us. We are all called to scrutinize and cleanse the deep personal sanctuary of our hearts during these days of Lent.
Finally, let me suggest that if we are going to overturn tables and set up new ones, there are five areas that we might reflect upon.
First, I will love the things that are worth loving. Some things are not worth loving. Like celebrities, or our favorite video games. The things that are worth loving are family, faith, God, Jesus, friends; just to name a few.
Secondly, I will put first things first. Remember Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and every thing will be added to you.” For us as Catholics celebrating the Eucharist on the weekend comes before anything else. Putting a golf outing or soccer game before that is not a Christian priority. Being present to our children comes before any self-regarding pursuits by a parent.
Third, I will cultivate spiritual insight. This means, seeing beyond the flesh and blood realities we can see. The wood, the plaster of the buildings we live in. Rather to move toward the ultimate spiritual reality behind them all; namely God. It means also seeing our fellow human beings as they really are, as children of God, made in the image and likeness of God, and we treat them accordingly.
Fourth, I will strive for integrity of character. Meaning that I will not do anything that will compromise my integrity. That means that if we are involved in sports, to do it without steroids or any enhancing drugs. In school we won’t cheat on exams. We won’t do anything to get ahead or gain the whole world at the expense of our own souls.
Fifth, I will enlist in the causes that benefit our community into which I can give my loyalty. For we are all called to be “rainbows of hope” to victims of life’s storm. We have chosen as a parish community to support Sr. Nancy Crafton’s work at Los Pobres, the Center for the Poor. There are many other support systems that we can give our financial gifts to, as well as the work in volunteering to bring clothing to the relief centers, as well as volunteering at the Soup Kitchen. It might mean also having the time to contribute to the local leadership in the schools and in our parish, or volunteer as a driver for Meals on Wheels. Whatever one needs to lift ourselves out of ourselves for the sake of turning the temple back into “my Father’s house.”
These are some new tables to replace the old.
For we are all called to be “rainbows of hope” to victims of life’s storms. It is truly time to turn the temple of our lives into God’s house.Amen. Amen.Msgr. Tom, Pastor, Christ the King