Third Sunday of Lent (Year B)

Third Sunday of Lent (Year B)

Ex 20:1-17(20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17); 1Cor 1:22-25; John 2:13-25

Our God is God of All

Image courtesy: Google

A priest who was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark only to be accosted by a robber who pulled a gun at him and demanded, “Your money or your life!” As the priest reached his hand into his coat pocket the robber saw his Roman collar and said, “So you are a priest? Then you can go.” The priest was rather surprised at this unexpected show of piety and so tried to reciprocate by offering the robber his packet of cigarettes, to which the robber replied, “No, Father, I don’t smoke during Lent.” 

You can see how this robber is trying to keep the pious observance of not smoking during Lent while forgetting the more fundamental commandment of God, “Thou shalt not steal.”

In the first reading we have Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God at Mount Sinai, which became the foundation of Israel’s new relationship with God. These commands were the basis of the religious life of the chosen people of the Old Testament. Already God had protected the people in the desert by nourishing them with food and protecting them from enemies.  Now he gives them these commandments to protect and build up their spiritual bond with God.  Therefore he makes a demand on them that God must come first in their lives before anything else.

The reason why Jesus was angry with the religious establishment of his day was their practice of religious particularity over against universality, of exclusiveness over inclusiveness. 

Some knowledge of the design of the Temple will help us here. The Temple had five sections or courts: (1) holy of holies (2) court of priests (3) court of Israel (4) court of women (5) court of Gentiles. 

Though these were seen as five concentric circles of sanctity, the design made room for everybody in the house of God. It was a universal house of God “for all the nations” where every man or woman on earth would find a place in which to pray. But the Jewish leaders forgot that and thought that it was meant for them alone. So they decided to turn the court of the Gentiles into a “holy” market place for selling the animals required for sacrifice and for exchanging money. You could bring Roman money as far as the court of the Gentiles but not into the other four courts. The court of Gentiles was no longer regarded as part and parcel of the house of God, it had become a market place. Now it was this court of Gentiles that Jesus cleansed. In so doing he was making the point that the Gentile section was just as holy as the Jewish sections. God is God of all and not God of a select group.

Therefore, the anger of Jesus is not an emotional outburst. It is a justified anger. Where there is injustice we are called to be disturbed. When some section of the society is always oppressed, when some laws are enforced to curtail the freedom of one group or section of the society, we are supposed to get disturbed. 

The leaders of the temple during the time of Jesus followed the Ten Commandments with its minute details but they forgot the very essential aspect that God is God of all. At times our drawback during the time of Lent could be, we are engrossed in sacrifice of meat and fasting, so on and so forth. We forget the very essential aspect of cleaning our hearts and keeping our body pure, so as to experience the glory that is awaiting us.

(You are most welcome to add your reflections and thoughts in the comment section below)

Happy Sunday