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3 Lent
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Third Sunday of Lent - Cycle B - John 2:13-25
A priest was a master playing good cop-bad cop
in his high school teaching career. In the morning, as a professor he
would berate a student who was not working up to his potential. But at
3 PM he would be waiting at the exit to catch the boy and play good
cop. He would find out why the student was not producing. Ironically he
ended his career as chaplain for the New York Police Department.
Jesus Himself used the good cop-bad cop routine.
Christ arrives in Jerusalem for the Passover.
The action center was the great Temple. It was one of the world's
wonders. The Michelin tourist books had it down on the must-see A list.
When the Teacher walked in that day, it was under construction for
almost half a century and at the cost of mega millions.
To gain admission into the Temple one had to
pay half a shekel. That was a big sum amounting to two day's wages.
That amount did not bother Jesus. He felt that gifts are owed to His
Father. He has been so generous to us. Unlike us, most Jews long had
and still have the habit of returning a tenth of their income to God.
Anything less they consider an insult to God or just a tip. Who needs
God as an enemy?
What did disturb Jesus that day and prompt his
bad cop-good cop routine? Well, if you were a Jew coming for the
Passover from Rome, your money would be in liras. They were
unacceptable at the Temple. So, you had to convert them into shekels
with the Temple money changers. They would take you to the cleaners.
There was nothing you could do about it. The bankers in this context
were bandits. This was theft in the name of religion. The problem for
them was that Jesus was always an advocate for the underdog.
John tells us today in graphic language what
happened. The next best thing to John's prose is the sixteenth century
El Greco's magnificent painting of this scene in New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art. See it before you die.
This story sheds important light on the
character of Christ. He had a low boiling point. He did not hesitate to
resort to physical violence at the sight of people being abused. This
image is far different from the nerdy Jesus greeting card clerks sell
us at three dollars each.
You may be cringing right about now and
saying, "Hey, that's an angry Jesus you're painting. I don't want any
part of Him." Well, relax. That is only half the story. That is Jesus
the bad cop. Now let's check Him as the good cop.
Turn to Matthew's account of this story
(21:12-14). There Jesus after driving all the thieves out of the Temple
is standing out of breath and in a sweat with his homemade whip in
hand. At that point, all the great unwashed and the walking wounded
rush up to Him. Some walk on their ankles. Matthew says in a
masterpiece of understatement, "He healed them." There is Jesus the
good cop. Those who needed Him saw no reason to get out of His way.
Quite the contrary. They ran to Him for help and once
again He delivered.
There are more than one billion Christians in
the world. We should be having a significant impact on the society all
about us. That impact should especially be for the underdog whether it
be the unborn babe, the abused child, the battered wife or husband, the
woman in the soup kitchen, the fellow with AIDS, and so on. What a
different society it would be if each of us did something every day for
someone weaker than ourselves. "How wonderful it is," wrote Anne Frank,
"that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the
world."
In fact, though, the majority of us blend into
the landscape. Contemporary culture has a dreadful effect on us.
Perhaps today's Gospel will motivate us to
work for others. It certainly did that for a South African headmaster.
He quit his post at a posh prep school rather than submit to the
school's apartheid policy. Friends told him he was deranged. He
replied, "When I meet God, He will ask me, `Where are your wounds?' If
I reply I haven't any, He may inquire, `Wasn't there anything worth
fighting for?' I couldn't face that question."
It is up to us to determine whether Christ is a
forceful person in our lives or just a figure in an Eastern mystery
play. The monk tells us to live the Christian life completely so that
the priest will not have to tell lies at our funeral.
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3 Lent
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Third Lent: The Ten Commandments
A
while ago, the Supreme Court of the United States made two momentously
silly decisions. OK, they’ve made a lot more than two, (think Roe vs
Wade, Dread Scott, etc. Actually, those were devastating
decisions, nothing silly about them at all, just everything
immoral.) The silly decisions I am referring to was when the
Supreme Court was considering public displays of the Ten Commandments
on the walls of two Kentucky courthouses and on the grounds the Texas
Capital in Austin. The political correct crowd wanted the
commandments removed saying that they were fostering Judeo-Christian
morality. God forbid that morality and law should have any common
ground! On the other side, the Christian Right argued that the
commandments represented the Law of God and that God had a proper place
in a courtroom or on public grounds. The Supreme Court ruled that the
commandments on the walls in Kentucky had to come down, but the
commandments on the grounds in Austin could stay up.
How
silly! I don’t know who needs to get a life more, those on either
side of the case or the members of the Supreme Court, although I have
my suspicions. The commandments themselves have no power. Their
value comes from how well they are followed.
And
they are not always followed all that well.
It
is rather natural, certainly human, for us to want to do everything as
easily as possible. This includes the very actions we were
created for: to know, love and serve the Lord. We tend to cheapen
our following of God. We tend to cheapen the foundation law of
God's covenant with us, the Ten Commandments. Just look at the
first commandment. We cheapen the first commandment into, simply, don't
practice
idolatry, as though we are inclined to offer incense to a statue in our
homes. But the commandment is much more than this. It is a
commandment not to put anything before God. The materialist is an
idol worshiper. His god is his money, his stuff. A person
caught up in promiscuity is an idol worshiper, his god is his
body. The selfish narcissistic individual is an idol worshiper,
his god is himself. The Jewish Temple priests of today’s Gospel were
more concerned with the money they were making in the Temple than
worshiping God in the Temple. Jesus accused them of making money
their god, violating the first commandment. He threw them out of the
Temple.
Look
at the third commandment. We talk about keeping holy the Sabbath Day
and note the obligation we have to celebrate the Lord's Supper on
Sundays. But the question comes, would our Churches be crowded if
we did not have that obligation? I hope that for most of us, the
obligation to attend Church and receive the sacraments is secondary to
our deep need to experience the real presence of the Lord in His Word,
at the Last Supper, on the Cross, and in the
Eucharist. Still, I am certain that some people only
attend Church out of fear of a punishment if they didn’t attend.
Consider the fourth commandment, Honor thy father and mother. We
tend to push this commandment down the throats of our children, but we
often don’t realize that the commandment does not have a particular age
limit on the parents who are to be honored. When I go into the
nursing homes and see so many elderly who have no one there, but do
have children, grandchildren and great grandchildren some where else, I
have to wonder what those people think of the fourth commandment.
Recently there have been sad discussions on euthanasia, saying that
people have a right to demand their own death when they are sick.
Aside from the question of violating the fifth commandment, Thou shall
not kill, I find horrible immorality in the fact that many of the
elderly would be pressured to allow their lives to end so their savings
would not be used up on medical care. Believe me, this is not far
fetched. One time I was asked to speak to a woman in a local
hospital about having a trachiometry performed so she could survive
pneumonia. Her daughter had called me up and asked me to speak to
her Mom. So I went to the hospital and reasoned with her: the
doctors feel confident that you will live and that the tube will be
able to be removed once you are cured. Then, the daughter came
in. She was furious with me. She told me that I had no idea how
much money her mother was spending on her health and that she hoped I’d
tell her to just leave well enough alone. She wanted her mother
dead so that Mom’s money would be available for other members of the
family. You might want to consider this true story the next time
you feel that euthanasia should be allowed. Obviously, the
daughter didn’t think she was violating the fifth commandment and
trying to kill her mother by convincing her not to have the
procedure. I’m also sure that the daughter would claim that
throughout her life she followed the fourth commandment. I am not
so sure that she had a clue of what the fourth commandment is.
Consider the sixth commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery. O
no, Father isn’t going to talk about that now is he? Well, I have to
tell you a number of years ago I was hearing the first confessions of
our seven and eight year olds and a little boy told me that he
committed adultery. I told him that he didn’t, only adults do
that, that’s why it’s called adultery. OK, so I cheated, but I
had a hard time to keep from cracking up. Anyway, people tend to
only consider the sexual dimension of the sixth commandment. It
is a lot deeper than that. Adultery is not just about sex.
It is about putting others and things before the one we are committed
to in life. Essentially it is a violation of a vow made to God and to a
husband or wife.
Everybody wants religion to be easy. The Jews wanted signs so
they would not have to take steps of faith. Many people today
travel throughout the world looking for miracles to be the basis of
their faith. The gentiles, the Greek philosophers wanted neat theories
on who God is and who Jesus is. Many people today get caught up
in rationalizing their way out of faith and morality. “We,” St.
Paul says to the Corinthians, “offer something that is not based on
rationalization nor on wonders. We preach Christ
crucified.” (1 Cor 1:23). The crucifix both reminds us of Christ's
sacrifice and calls us to join Him in sacrificing ourselves for Him and
for His father's kingdom. This is not easy. This is,
though, the way of the Lord.
The
Ten Commandments call us to a way of life that is out of tune with much
of society. Honesty, respect for parents, fidelity, respect for
property, putting God before all else, giving Him a day a week, are all
ways that we are distinct from others. To be distinct, to be
separate for the Lord, is what we mean when we say, “We are called to
be holy.” We live these commandments so that ultimately we might not be
wrapped up in ourselves. We live these commandments in response
to God's preference of us as his chosen people.
Memorizing the Ten Commandments or posting them on public property is
not what the Ten Commandments are about. The Ten Commandments are a
covenant made by Moses with God for us, the People of God. They are not
outdated. They must not be minimalized. They are our
way of responding to the covenant to be God’s people. |
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* available in Spanish - see
Spanish homilies
3 Lent
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A
Jealous God
(March 15, 2009)
Bottom line: Unlike human jealousy that destroys, God's jealousy puts
things back in order.
With this Third Sunday of Lent we have arrived almost at the heart of
the season. Our readings focus on God's jealousy. In giving the Ten
Commandments, the Lord makes an astonishing admission. "I am jealous
God," he says. Then he threatens severe punishment on those who worship
idols, false gods.
How do we understand God's jealousy? Let's start by looking at human
jealousy. A little bit of jealousy can be a good thing. I hope none of
the husbands here are like some Norwegians I know - more anxious about
their fishing boats than their wives. They have their priorities mixed
up. A man should have a certain protective jealousy first for his wife,
his children, then for his job and his property.
But human jealousy can quickly get out of hand. None of us possesses
any person or thing in an absolute sense. Jealousy can ruin our
relationships. For example, as pastor I should have a protective
jealousy about my parishioners. But how terrible if I started thinking
I am the only one who can meet your needs!
That's what happened to Saul. He was the first king of Israel and - up
to a point - a pretty good king. Then along came a young man named
David who was a better fighter than him. One day Saul heard the women
of Israel singing:
"Saul has slain his thousands
and David his tens of thousands. (1Sam 18:7)
Rather than be glad he had a powerful warrior in his own camp, Saul
became jealous. He wanted to destroy David - but he wound up destroying
himself. Shakespeare says to beware of jealousy: "It is the green-ey'd
monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on."
Jealousy can be a horrible thing. For us, as humans, it is often fatal.
None of us can say, "my wife, my children, my parish, my job, my car,"
in an absolute sense. If we reflect even for a moment, we see how
foolish jealousy is. You and I have been thrown into a turbulent,
chaotic world - and sooner than we think, some illness or accident will
remove us. At the beginning of Lent, we had ashes smeared on the
forehead. They remind us what low-cost materials make up the human body
- and how easily our bodies are unmade. How foolish to think some
person or thing belongs to me in a final way! No, they are gifts,
entrusted to our care for a time. They belong to the One who made them.
You and I - when we are at our best - recognize that we are Stewards of
God's gifts.
God, on the other hand, does possess things in an absolute way. He
created them - and us - out of nothing. When God says that he is
"jealous," it implies no disorder. Unlike human jealousy that destroys,
God's jealousy puts things back in order. We belong to him - and we
will have no happiness apart from him.
A positive word for jealousy is "zeal." The two words come from the
same Greek root. We hear today about Jesus' all-consuming zeal. To
remove barriers between God and his people, Jesus tips over tables,
scatters coins and stampedes cattle. He is willing to unleash some
chaos - in order to get our attention. Seeing such zeal, such jealousy,
it makes you wonder: For the sake of our souls, to what lengths will he
go? In a few weeks, we will find out.
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Intercessions for Third Sunday of Lent (from Priests for Life)
Spanish Version
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3 Lent
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3 Lent
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Gospel
Summary Return to All Homilies
Mar, 15, 2009
John 2:13-25
Campion P. Gavaler, O.S.B.
Third Sunday of Lent
Gospel Summary
Since the Passover was near, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem to celebrate
the festival with his fellow Jews. When he arrives at the temple area,
he drives out those who were selling animals for sacrifice as well as
the money changers, saying, "Take these out of here, and stop making my
Father's house a marketplace." When the temple authorities (the "Jews")
demanded a sign from Jesus for what he had done, he said, "Destroy this
temple and in three days I will raise it up." After Jesus was raised
from the dead his disciples remembered what he had said. They realized
he was speaking of the temple of his body, and came to believe the
Scripture and what he had spoken. John adds that Jesus was able to
recognize true belief in him because he could read the human heart.
Life Implications
The idea of where one lives or dwells is perhaps the central theme of
the fourth gospel. John begins his gospel by telling us that Jesus is
the Word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us. "In the
beginning" the Word was dwelling with God, and the Word was God.
Immediately after his baptism in the Jordan, we hear the first words
that Jesus speaks in the fourth gospel. He sees two disciples of John
the Baptist following him and says to them, "What are you looking for?"
They reply. "Rabbi, where do you dwell?" Jesus replies, "Come, and you
will see."
We already are alerted to the fact that John's gospel is a gospel of
incarnation. Its essence is sacramental or symbolic: the extraordinary
is actualized in the ordinary. The eternal Word becomes present and is
revealed by dwelling among us. Thus we realize that the disciples'
question about where Jesus is dwelling is not merely about a street
address somewhere in Galilee. When Jesus replies "Come, and you will
see," we realize he also means seeing with the eyes of faith. When he
speaks to his disciples, we realize he is also speaking to us.
The astonishing good news that Jesus reveals is that anyone who
believes in him will dwell where he dwells, with the Father. John's
gospel is the narrative of the signs that Jesus does so that those whom
he encountered then, and those who hear the gospel now might believe
and have life in him (20:30-31). John presents various types of people
who refuse to see the "extraordinary" through the signs, and also the
beloved disciples who do see and come to believe in Jesus.
Today's gospel is a prophetic warning so that we will not be like the
temple authorities that do not see that Jesus is the one sent by God to
dwell among us in new ways. Jesus' action in the temple is in the
tradition of the prophets. They rebuked the people who thought they
were safe by coming to the temple while committing all sorts of
abominations (Jer 7). Jesus like the prophets before him loved the
temple, but he is warning us that even the most holy created realities
can become obstacles to believing in him and believing what he has
spoken. The temple truly was the dwelling place of the divine presence:
the holy place of prayer and communion with God. The temple authorities
believed this, but they had narrowed their vision, and thus were unable
to see that Jesus himself was the new temple. He himself is the
indestructible dwelling place of the divine presence, of prayer and
communion with God.
We can reduce the meaning of the Christian sacraments to suit our own
purposes, and thus close our eyes to other signs of the divine presence
to which the sacraments point. For Catholics the most holy sacrament of
the Risen Lord's presence is the Bread of the Eucharist. It is possible
to believe in this sacramental divine presence and at the same time to
ignore what Jesus has spoken to us of his presence in the least of his
brothers and sisters. It might give us pause to note that the criterion
of final judgement that Jesus tells us about is not whether we
recognize his presence in the Eucharist, but whether we respond with
compassion to his presence in the least of his brothers and sisters (Mt
25:31-46).
Campion P. Gavaler, OSB
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
3 Lent
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Third
Sunday
Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Cor 1:22-25; John 2:13-25
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It was with great anger born of reverence for his Father and zeal for
his glory that Christ confronted the desecration of the Temple. "And
making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out
of the temple." (Jn 2:15)
"Like the prophets before him Jesus expressed the deepest respect for
the Temple in Jerusalem. It was in the Temple that Joseph and Mary
presented him forty days after his birth. (Lk 2:22-39) At the age of
twelve he decided to remain in the Temple to remind his parents that he
must be about his Father's business. He went there each year during his
hidden life at least for Passover. (Cf. Lk 2:41) His public ministry
itself was patterned by his pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the great
Jewish feasts. (Cf. Jn 2:13-14; 15:1, 14; 7:1, 10, 14; 8:2; 10:22-23)"
(CCC 583)
Greater by far is the temple, not made by human hands, of our Lord's
Body, of which he says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up." The temple in Jerusalem as a sign of God is now far
superceded by a perfect temple. "I and the Father are one." (Jn 10:30)
Yahweh now provides in the eternal Son the perfect priest, altar and
victim of the one Sacrifice. The Creator is infinitely greater than his
creatures. Far beyond the ability of mere creatures is the worship due
the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Lamb of God. Only in the Son
can we worship the Almighty in a fitting way. Now adopted by God in
baptism we dare to call God "Father" and to approach the Holy of Holies.
No mere monuments of cold lifeless stone are our "temples". Our
churches are the authentic descendants of the temple in Jerusalem. Each
tabernacle housing the Body and Blood of the Lord is a true "Ark of the
Covenant". It is the presence of the living God himself who makes each
church and chapel a true temple, where we must bow down in awe before
the all-holy God.
"Jesus went up to the Temple as the privileged place of encounter with
God. For him, the Temple was the dwelling of his Father, a house of
prayer, and he was angered that its outer court had become a place of
commerce. (Cf. Mt 21:13) He drove merchants out of it because of
jealous love for his Father: 'You shall not make my Father's house a
house of trade.' His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal
for your house will consume me' (Jn 2:16-17; cf. Ps 69:10) After his
Resurrection his apostles retained their reverence for the Temple. (Cf.
Acts 2:46; 3:1; 5:20, 21)" (CCC 584)
"I will be with you always." Because of Christ our churches today are
indeed a "privileged place of encounter with God." Our reverence for
the temples of today should far outstrip the reverence of the apostles
for the Jewish temple. Peter and the Apostles have handed down to us
through the true priesthood the living Christ in the Eucharist, far
greater than the manna, the treasured "show bread" kept hidden from
view in the Ark in the innermost court of the Temple.
Do we offer the reverential worship demanded of us by Christ's divinity
as we stand in his presence before the tabernacle? Do we mistake his
silent presence for permission to ignore him?
Do we genuflect upon entering and prior to departing our churches? Do
we genuflect in procession to receive the living God? Do we struggle
against the temptation to turn our churches into auditoriums, rehearsal
halls, or theaters? Do we call attention to ourselves in needless
conversation?
We love God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength in our
reverential love for Jesus Christ our Eucharistic Lord with our whole
heart, mind, soul and strength. "He who has seen me has seen the
Father." (Jn 14:9) Like Christ, we too must express the "deepest
respect" for God. We worship the true temple, the Lamb of God, in the
Lord's Body and Blood. Destroyed and risen again in three days, Christ
himself present in the most august sacrament of the Eucharist makes a
mere church building the holiest place on earth.
Preserve in church a reverent silence for true prayer and authentic
worship. Spend an hour today in the saving presence of the Lord in the
tabernacle. Volunteer for an hour per week if you have the privilege of
perpetual adoration in your community. Start a weekly period of
adoration in your parish. "So, could you not watch with me one hour?"
(Mt 26: 40)
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we
"meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick (Publish with permission.)
www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/ |
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
3 Lent
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Father Bonar will not be posting homilies for Cycle B to allow himself
time for other projects. His collection of homilies (including homilies
for Cycle B) is available at www.clydebonar.com.
3 Lent |
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These
homilies may be copied and adapted for your own use;
however, they may not be commercially published without permission of
the author. |
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