Lent 3 B Cleansing of the Temple
In today’s Gospel Jesus is going to the Temple to pray, but he is going to do something completely different. It was the feast of the Passover, the most important day for the Jews and the temple was overflowing with people. They had to offer a sacrifice of an ox or a sheep, if they were wealthy, or two pigeons if they were not. Also they had to pay a half shekel, the Temple money. Other coins in circulation were considered impure because they bore the image of pagan rulers. There was a lot of business activity, the of selling of animals and the changing money. The priests of the Temple benefited from these commercial transactions. Jesus couldn’t bear the sight of his Father’s house converted into a shopping mall. He made a whip with cords and drove them out of the Temple all by himself. It must have been an amazing scene. Try to do the same in your shopping center; in no time you’ll be tackled by the security guards.
They couldn’t stop him. He was filled with holy anger. Oxen and sheep running around, pigeons flying away happily to be free, coins dropping everywhere. Men running away from the famous prophet, afraid of his miraculous powers. The authorities of the Temple looked at the pandemonium without doing anything; they couldn’t stop him because he was right. They only asked him about his authority to do so. Jesus told them about the temple of his body, the future place for all of us to worship. They didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Jesus gives us an example of how to react when confronted by sin, that separates us from God. We could think his actions are over the top, that there is no need to take such extreme measures. It depends of how we look at our salvation, of how keen are we to reach heaven. We are normally more concerned about our body than our soul. Jesus didn’t care much about what people thought about him and did what he had to do. He helps us to open our eyes and follow his example.
We can look at ourselves and discover how many oxen, sheep and pigeons we have in our soul, too many money changers. What would Jesus do if we let him in, into the temple of our soul? We are afraid of him, hiding our vices under all sort of excuses. This time of Lent is an opportunity to open our soul and discover our lust, pride, envy, greed, anger, gluttony or sloth, what we call the seven deadly sins, those sins that are present in our soul in one form or another. If we fail to identify them, Jesus won’t be able to drive them away. We can also go through the Ten Commandments or the Seven Works of Mercy.
The Gospel says that when his disciples saw Jesus driving everyone away from the temple, they remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” We ask the Lord to have the same zeal, the same holy anger, to drive away what separates us from God, not only for us, but also for others. Not to be afraid to help others to see what oxen and sheep they have in their souls, whatever is there that Jesus doesn’t like. We cannot forget that Jesus is coming, and we don’t want him to find anything in our soul that is not pleasing to him. And if we ask what right does he have to enter into our souls, he would tell us that he has created them in his image and likeness.
josephpich@gmail.com
Lent 3 B Cleansing of the Temple
In today’s Gospel Jesus is going to the Temple to pray, but he is going to do something completely different. It was the feast of the Passover, the most important day for the Jews and the temple was overflowing with people. They had to offer a sacrifice of an ox or a sheep, if they were wealthy, or two pigeons if they were not. Also they had to pay a half shekel, the Temple money. Other coins in circulation were considered impure because they bore the image of pagan rulers. There was a lot of business activity, the of selling of animals and the changing money. The priests of the Temple benefited from these commercial transactions. Jesus couldn’t bear the sight of his Father’s house converted into a shopping mall. He made a whip with cords and drove them out of the Temple all by himself. It must have been an amazing scene. Try to do the same in your shopping center; in no time you’ll be tackled by the security guards.
They couldn’t stop him. He was filled with holy anger. Oxen and sheep running around, pigeons flying away happily to be free, coins dropping everywhere. Men running away from the famous prophet, afraid of his miraculous powers. The authorities of the Temple looked at the pandemonium without doing anything; they couldn’t stop him because he was right. They only asked him about his authority to do so. Jesus told them about the temple of his body, the future place for all of us to worship. They didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Jesus gives us an example of how to react when confronted by sin, that separates us from God. We could think his actions are over the top, that there is no need to take such extreme measures. It depends of how we look at our salvation, of how keen are we to reach heaven. We are normally more concerned about our body than our soul. Jesus didn’t care much about what people thought about him and did what he had to do. He helps us to open our eyes and follow his example.
We can look at ourselves and discover how many oxen, sheep and pigeons we have in our soul, too many money changers. What would Jesus do if we let him in, into the temple of our soul? We are afraid of him, hiding our vices under all sort of excuses. This time of Lent is an opportunity to open our soul and discover our lust, pride, envy, greed, anger, gluttony or sloth, what we call the seven deadly sins, those sins that are present in our soul in one form or another. If we fail to identify them, Jesus won’t be able to drive them away. We can also go through the Ten Commandments or the Seven Works of Mercy.
The Gospel says that when his disciples saw Jesus driving everyone away from the temple, they remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” We ask the Lord to have the same zeal, the same holy anger, to drive away what separates us from God, not only for us, but also for others. Not to be afraid to help others to see what oxen and sheep they have in their souls, whatever is there that Jesus doesn’t like. We cannot forget that Jesus is coming, and we don’t want him to find anything in our soul that is not pleasing to him. And if we ask what right does he have to enter into our souls, he would tell us that he has created them in his image and likeness.
josephpich@gmail.com