Third Sunday:-Lent

Exodus 20:1-17  Ps 19   1 Cor 1:22-25 John 2:13-25

1. If there is one thing we concentrate on in Lent, it is the cross and the One crucified on it. In all the three liturgical years, Lent begins with the Temptations and the Transfiguration. This year, the Gospel switches from St. Mark to St. John and the dramatic narration of the Cleansing of the Temple. John’s gospel makes us take a fresh look at the cross and death of Jesus and the significance of this mystery. Today’s cleansing of the temple points out to the Last Supper. Jesus will give a new command: “Love as I have loved you.” Jesus will make a new covenant, which will be signed with his blood. Thus the old order of things will be replaced by the new. The Temple will be replaced by the Ecclesia, (Church) the Body of Christ.

2. In the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) this event takes place just before the Passion. The Scribes and Pharisees were afraid of the prophetic impact of Jesus and they wanted to get rid of him. The cleansing of the Temple was the proverbial last straw that broke the Camel’s back.

John however puts this event right at the beginning of his ministry. It was a throwing of a challenge to the Scribes and Pharisees who preached the Law and the Prophets in a way that suited their lifestyles and gave them a lot of fringe benefits: places of honour at banquets, front seats in the synagogue, treated obsequiously in public places, and given titles of honour. Some may say that the Church leadership (thanks to Constantine) has managed to keep these fringe benefits in our day and age.

Jesus tells his plan of ministry. No one could claim later ignorance later on. Jesus gives the message loud and clear in three dramatic statements:

• The temple is his Father’s house.
• The temple will be destroyed and replaced.
• The temple will be his own Body.

3. It also gave a three fold message to the people,

Firstly, because he called it his Father’s house, Jesus made himself equal to God. This was blasphemous to the Scribes and Pharisees.

Secondly, he said that the Temple would be destroyed and it would no longer be the centre of their lives. He would repeat this message in Chapter 4 of John’s gospel, when he would tell the Samaritan woman at the well, that it would not be necessary to worship either in the temple at Samaria nor the one in Jerusalem.  This would be tantamount to saying to a Catholic that, neither the Vatican nor the Pope were relevant for their salvation. In fact the institutional church could implode and it would not make the slightest difference because the Body of Christ would be alive. Imagine a priest saying that today, imagine the thoughts of the Sunday congregation!

3a Thirdly, the Body of Christ could either mean the members or believers in Christ. This assembly, this ecclesia was very strong and explicit especially in reference to Paul’s dramatic conversion experience on the road to Damascus. Jesus said to Paul, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?” The Jesus of Nazareth that he was persecuting was the men and women whom Paul threw in prison because of their faith in Jesus. The Body of Christ after the Pauline period, also meant the glorified risen Body of Jesus. In the resurrection, the Body of Christ would continue to give praise and Glory to God. But first, this Christ had to suffer and die on the Cross.

4. Paul preaches the mystery of this cross, to the people of Corinth. In his time, they were mainly a Greek audience. They wanted Wisdom. They wanted a logic which would make sense of the Cross and Death, before they could accept the Risen Christ. Paul would tell them – that the Wisdom they were looking for was the Folly of God who chose to become flesh and dwell among us.

Later, on when the letter was actually written, a large Judaic contingent joined the church of Corinth. They wanted a sign. They wanted something said by the prophets or demanded by the law, before they could accept the Resurrection of Christ. Paul would say, this cross is foolishness for the Greeks, and a scandal or stumbling block for the Jewish people.

The same holds for believers today: - for some of us, the mystery of the Cross is a scandal. We put it bluntly when we are faced with trials, tests, temptations – and we say: How could God do this to us, or permit this to happen in our lives. For others, the cross is a stumbling block. We cannot see the logic in suffering and difficulties. If God is an intelligent God, then there should have been another way rather than Pain and suffering. These are signs of a weak and powerless God.

This age old dilemma is best expressed by a wise person, who said: For those who believe, no explanation of the Cross is necessary. For the unbeliever, the Gentile, no explanation will be sufficient.

And so we seek security, and insurance in our journey to God. We have the commandments as seen in the first reading. But they are only the first step in the Journey to God. The rest will unfold as we move forward. Some times, our acceptance of the Christian Message may seem foolishness like it was to the Gentiles. We seek another and easier way. There is only one way : The Cross. At other times it might seem a stumbling block, why would a good and loving God “allow these things to happen” even when I go regularly to Church, say my prayers, and avoid sins. As Paul would again explain to us, now we only see in a mirror darkly, but there will be a time, when we will see clearly. Till, then we travel through this season of Lent, trusting in a God who is mercy and compassion.