Homily-Reflection on the 3rd Sunday of Lent

Two weeks ago, we were in the desert…last week we traveled to a mountain top…and today, we find ourselves in the Temple. Each of these places presents a special encounter with Jesus. The desert was a time for discerning how Jesus was to follow His Father’s Will. Last week was an encounter of how we will ‘see Jesus and share in His glory’ when we listen to Him and follow His way in doing His Father Will. Today, we encounter Jesus when we fail to follow God’s Will by sacrilegiously misusing His sacred space by what we are doing to others. Jesus is not happy and He doesn’t keep His feelings to Himself.

In all the other Gospels, this passage takes place right at the end of Jesus’ ministry…right before He enters into His Passion. In John’s Gospel [today’s] it is at the beginning…right after the wedding feast of Cana [His first miracle]. Remember that event? Jesus had not ‘gone public’ yet. He was living the simple life in Nazareth and was invited to the neighboring town of Cana for a wedding. For whatever reason the wedding coordinator had not planned well and the wine was running out. Jesus’ Mother, Mary, was also at the wedding and informed Jesus of this dilemma. Jesus gave an odd response, “My hour has not come,” but Mary would hear none of that…and Jesus steps up to the plate….and we know the rest of the story. Jesus is now OUTED!!!
As Jesus is now in the public eye, today’s Gospel is the VERY NEXT INCIDENT of what He does. Talk about going from a non-known carpenter to HEADLINE NEWS…Here’s Jesus! In these two scenarios in the 2nd Chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus’ unveils two important aspects of what His Mission in life will be. Bring joy to people’s lives and turn the tables on all those who abuse, misuse and extort others…especially those who use the name of God or His Temple to try and do so.

Jesus is riled up in this passage we just heard. He goes ballistic because the way the Temple
worship no longer reflects God’s original idea of a worshipping community. The religious leaders had put rituals over morality. The common practice was when you came to the Temple, you gave a sacrifice. But, not any sacrifice was acceptable. It had to be what they saw as proper. The
religious administrators of the Temple worship took pains to see that worshippers were duly supplied with high quality cattle, sheep and doves for sacrifice And, only what they provided, was good enough…and the price you paid was their inflated price. Another thing, you could not just pay with any money. They made sure that the “dirty” money people brought with them could be exchanged for the “holy” Temple money …so, before you could pay for your sacrificial offering, you had to change money into the Temple currency. Only ‘they’ held this money…and their exchange rates were in the pits. All this in the NAME OF GOD! Jesus, seeing this, could not walk by and do nothing.

He is angry. He is angry at injustice. He is angry at evil. And, He does something about it.

Today, as we continue to journey through Lent, we need to keep ourselves connected to each
of these last 3 weeks’ Gospel…fighting temptation by doing God’s Will as Jesus….being transfigured into His life by listening to Him…and this listening leads us into ACTION…to stand up against injustice and evil, especially evil by using God’s name and sacred space to take advantage of people. As Christians and followers of Christ, we have duties and responsibilities to do what we can to eradicate injustice and wrong.

So, what riles us? Not just people cutting us off in the parking lot; but, deep down, what makes us angry? Or what doesn't -- and should? Does poverty make us angry? Does homelessness? Abortion? Exploitation of the poor? Discrimination? Infidelity? Racism? What will anger us in the name of the Lord? What will force us into action?

esus came to do His Father’s Will….re-create us into the image and person we were created
to be. When we allow this to happen, we will share in God’s glory….when we fail to let this happen or prevent it in happening to others, we see today that God does not close His eyes or turns the other way. He upturns the tables and says NO to injustice and abuse. In the name of Christ, we are called to do no less!