Cycle B - Year I:  

7 March 2021: Third Sunday of Lent

(Liturgical Color: Violet)

Readings:

First Reading:        Exodus 20:1-17 ( or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17)

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 1:22-25

Gospel:  Please Read  John 2:13-25

"Keep God's Temple holy and sacred!"

Christians are known as meek and humble of hearts.  But sometimes, it becomes an excuse for doing nothing at all, or not getting involved, in the midst of our chaotic world.  And "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," says Edmund Burke, an Irish political philosopher.

Is getting angry alien to our Christian faith?

In this Sunday's Gospel we read about our Lord Jesus getting angry Himself.  In His zeal for God's house, Jesus cleanses the Temple of defilement by proclaiming in strong words "..stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" (Jn 2;16)

The evangelist John tells the incident in today's Gospel: Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover, which is customary time of pilgrimage for the Jews.  When He was there He found the outer courtyard of the Temple chaotic, with money changer doing business, animals are being sold for sacrifice.  So Jesus used physical force to expel those doing trade in the Temple courtyard.

Few times in the Gospel do we see Christ act or speak out in anger, and when He does, it is always to condemn hypocrisy.  By all appearances, the Temple officials were directing their fellow Jews in proper ritual worship. In actual fact, however, they were adulterating that worship.

We hear Jesus call the Temple "my Father's house".  Jesus is saying something very important here about Himself:  He is the Messiah, the Son of God.

And Jesus is also saying something about the Temple of Jerusalem.  The Temple is the dwelling place of God.  Thus, it is a sacred place, a  house of prayer and worship dedicated to the glory of God.  Thus, it should never be made chaotic, like "a house of trade" or a marketplace.

Now, our Lord Jesus knows what is in our hearts because we are each personally Jesus' Temple, His tabernacle.  We must do our part to keep ourselves vice free and not allow disruptions.

In today's Gospel incident, we see Christ as the ultimate defender of mankind's authentic relationship with God, and therefore He cleanses the Temple (an architectural symbol of that relationship) of everything that detracts from true faith and heartfelt worship.

In our time, the same also applies to our local parish.  A church, or chapel, is a house of prayer and the house of the Lord.  It is not a social hall or picnic grove where people meet, or even playground for children.  The church, or chapel, is properly the dwelling place of the Lord.  It deserves our respect. For what good is the church building if we do not make God's presence real in that place?

Let's go back to the question about "getting angry"; what does Church catechism say on this?

Well, it teaches that the feeling of anger is one of the passions. "In the passions, as movement of the sensitive appetite, there is neither moral good nor evil in them. (C.no. 1773)

Thus, as passion, anger itself is neither good nor evil per see.  It can be noble if it is directed toward maintaining justice and correcting vice.  One can think of anger as a passionate desire to set things right in the face of perceived evil.

So then, just as Christ cleanses the Temple of Jerusalem of "impurities" in today's Gospel incident, we must also be ready to do the same whenever the need arises in our time.  And the Season of Lent is a good time to "cleanse our hearts" of all that is not God's.

A blessed Sunday to us all.  And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!