Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR B THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT - 19.3.06 Ex 20,1-17; 1 Cor 1,22-25; Jn 2,13-25 What's eating you...alive? Cleansing
Sacred Space. The Gospel of today is not from Mark but from John & it
presents a special event in the life of Jesus: the purification of the Temple.
All 4 Gospels talk about this event, & whereas Matthew, Mark & Luke
place it in the last week of Jesus life, John has it at the start of Jesus'
Public Ministry. Obviously each writes gives his personal interpretation,
understanding & meaning to the event. In John's Gospel, Jesus takes the
extraordinary step to 'make a whip' with some cords & drive out of the
Temple cattle & sheep; scatter the money chargers & knock their tables
over..., while shouting: "Take all this out of here & stop turning my
Father's House into a market'. Here
John remarks that the disciples remembered the words of Scripture: 'Zeal of your
House will eat me alive (Zac 14,21), & began to understand Jesus' teaching
about the Real Temple: not the one built by human hands, but the Temple of his
Body, the Body of Christ, the Church united to her Head, the Risen Lord. When
challenged by the Temple Officials, by what authority he had acted so
inappropriately, Jesus replied: 'destroy this sanctuary & in three days I
will raise it up. Again John's Gospel reminds us that Jesus was referring to the
Temple of his Body, & when He rose from the dead, the disciples remembered
& believed. In between the lines, we sense that among the early Christians
there were heated discussions & dissentions
between Jewish & non-Jewish Christians about the all important topic of the
Temple & Temple-worship in the life of each believer. For all its glory, the
temple of Jerusalem was replaced by a New Temple, made of living stones, and
called the Church, the New People of God, the Body of Christ. Reverence
for the Sacred. Today's story, packed with extraordinary energy, reminds us that
the Prophets foretold how the Messiah will be 'eaten alive' by zeal &
reverence for the House of God. Reverence for the 'Sacred' in all its aspects is
at the heart of every religious experience & practice. Every religion aims
at taking us aside & away, in silence & solitude, so we may experience
an indestructible craving for the beyond, and in return we
may reverence our life, our world and God himself in appreciation &
gratitude. The Temple in Jerusalem had its 'Holy of Holies' as the focus where
God was thought to be dwelling, & where pilgrims & devotees would
express their reverence as in a shrine or a sanctuary. We Christians
however are told to reverence God's presence in the Body of Christ, a Temple
made of living stones; in Christ we form one Body & form the Temple of his
glory. So, the Body of Christ is holy; in it we are living stones, built into a
Temple. Question:
Does such language make us feel uncomfortable? Jesus was angry when he found
that in God's Temple there was exploitation, trafficking & marketing. If He
came in our Churches today how would he react against our approach to the
Liturgy which at times is casual & even irreverent, or against our petty
attitudes towards one another? Sadly in our society we are constantly pushed
into greed, indulgence & even drug abuse. Lent is a time to counter-act this
tendency, a time to be 'eaten alive' by an inner desire for holiness of life: a
desire for sacred space, sacred building, sacred time, sacred rituals. Fortunate
are we if we have a zeal for inner holiness, reverence for the 'sacred' &
gratitude for our baptismal dignity, which made us 'living stones & Temple
of the Spirit'. ______________________________________ |
