either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex
4:10
Lent 3B: Loving Words and Strong Actions
This Sundays
scripture readings could make some people feel uncomfortable. The first from
Exodus (20: 1-17) contains what is usually called "The Ten
Commandments." In the Hebrew text they are not called "Commandments,"
but the "Ten Words." Our spiritual ancestors saw them not so much as
laws and regulations, but more as a guide to understanding the will of God.
They tell us what God rejects and what we should as well. The 'Ten Words' don't
cover a lot of everyday life; instead, they deal with situations, like
idolatry, murder and violation of property. They are a light to guide our
journey with God and our neighbour. We observe them not to earn God's pleasure,
but to know the direction our lives should take, so as to live as God's holy
covenant people.
The second difficult reading for some is from the gospel of
John (2:13-25) which reveals an angry Jesus "cleansing the Temple" at
the beginning of his ministry. The passage shows Jesus fulfilling the prophetic
hopes of the ancient prophets. The prophets Malachi (3:14) and Zechariah (14:
1-21) had anticipated the messianic age when God would "suddenly"
come the Temple to "purify and cleanse it." Jesus' true messianic
ministry will overturn the religious laws and drive out greed, hypocrisy and
the crippling legalism in religious practice. He was going to establish the new
and holy temple of his body. In this new body, God and humanity would be able
to meet and enter into a new relationship.
The scene of the cleaning, takes place in the outer courts
of the Gentiles, where animals were sold for the Passover feast to about
300,000 thousand pilgrims who had travelled to Jerusalem. The moneychangers
would exchange foreign coins for the acceptable Temple ones. They were known to
defraud or scam people in the exchange for the 'sanctuary shekel'. In a subtle
touch John describes Jesus as having a milder attitude towards the sellers of
doves which were the offerings of the poor. The anger of Jesus here is not
motivated by self-interest but by a healthy holy righteousness.
In reality Jesus will replace the Temple built by Herod,
with himself. Jesus says; "Destroy this sanctuary (temple) and in three
days I will raise it up." The religious authorities did not understand his
words. John makes it clear that "He was speaking of the sanctuary that was
his body ..." So, where will people now go for a full and welcome
reception by God? To Jesus, whose resurrected body will be that new temple.
Later in the gospel Jesus will offer himself as a new 'Passover Meal' through
which we can share fully in his resurrection life (6:30ff). When we eat the
body and drink the blood of the Lord we become aware of our need for
forgiveness and the cleansing. The risen Lord enters our lives, forgives our
sins, cleansing us so we can give fitting worship to our God. Through
boundary-breaking Jesus, the "temple raised up" in three days, we
have been given forgiveness and freedom. We don't receive these gifts of grace
because we have followed and kept perfect rituals, but because we are loved by
a jealous God.
Jesus' angry actions might make some of us uncomfortable.
Sometimes the gentle images of Jesus as the healing man of compassion, risk
making him seem too soft. But today's depiction shows us how the strong convicted
Jesus could ruffle the Jewish religious and Roman authorities. In the temple
cleaning we confront our temptation to turn Jesus into a manageable deity. The
cleansing of the temple is a warning against any and every false sense of
security. Misplaced values, religious presumption, pathetic selfish excuses,
smug self-reliance, spiritual complacency, nationalist zeal, political
idolatry, and economic greed are only some of the tables that Jesus would
overturn in his own day and in ours. What was it, apart from the money changers
and merchants, that stirred Jesus' anger? Perhaps it was the fact that the
Temple was not open equally to ALL PEOPLE. If this is true then Jesus'
attitude, challenges the openness and hospitality of our places of worship? Do
we lack "zeal" for our worship community? Our goal should be to make
our personal and communal lives true "houses of prayer", places of
generous welcome and prayer for ALL peoples, like the zealous Jesus desires. A
place where we can worship God in 'Spirit and in Truth'. May we continue to
'follow him'.
