Saturday, March 7, 2015

Homily: 3rd Sunday of Lent - Cleansing the Temple



Jesus’ dramatic visit to the temple of Jerusalem made a profound impact on the early Christians, and it is reported in all four Gospels.

For a Jew of Jesus’ time, the temple was everything: it was the economic, political, social, and religious center of the whole nation of Israel. And that he went into that sacred place and turned it upside down, and foretells its destruction must have shocked, chilled, and confused both the religious leaders and Jewish laity alike.

The Temple was the place where sacrifice was offered as an act of worship to almighty God. Pilgrims coming from outside of Jerusalem could not bring animals from their homes because the animals had to be without blemish, and they would likely get bruised or hurt on the arduous journey to Jerusalem. For a long time these sacrificial animals would be purchased in markets away from the temple, but over time, the selling of sacrificial animals crept inside the Temple walls. Money changers would charge a fee for changing foreign coin into the coin of the Temple. It was convenient, but convenient does not always mean holy. The temple, instead of being a house of prayer—a place of reverence filled with psalms of praise and teaching of God’s word, became a congested, noisy center of commercial activity and corruption.

Instead of the holiness of the temple radiating out into the world, the wickedness and corruption of the world had crept into the temple.

From the Church’s first centuries, early Christian writers have made the comparison between Jesus cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem and Jesus cleansing the temple of our hearts and bodies.
The Gospel today refers to the temple of our body, and Saint Paul refers to the body of a Christian in right relationship with God as a “Temple of the Holy Spirit”. Your body, your heart, your person, 

your self is meant to be a temple, a holy place where God dwells and where prayer to God is central.
What goes wrong with the temples of our bodies is the same thing that went wrong with the Temple in Jerusalem. What is meant to be a house of prayer becomes a den of thieves, extortion, and corruption. The evils of the world tend to creep in when we are not vigilant.

Worldly distraction, corruption, and sin are contrary to the reason God made us.

The old Catechism did a fine job in at least instructing a generation of Catholics in at least knowing the purpose of life: why did God make you? To know, love, and serve God in this life. That is the purpose of our Temple. And we have a duty to keep our temples pure of worldly corrupt and sin.
In the Orthodox tradition, the first weeks of Lent are a time of spring cleaning. And this is quite fitting. The word Lent comes from the old Anglo-Saxon Lencten, the word for spring. In spring, before your garden is ready for new planting and new growing, after the snow melts of course, you need to clear the debris, to prepare a place for the new life of spring.

Similarly, during Spring cleaning we clear out the debris, the stuff that has built up through our own neglect, or through the natural wear and tear of winter, to make our homes pleasant and fitting.
So to in Lent, we do some serious introspection, looking inward, to identify the debris, the selfish attitudes which have crept into our hearts.

The most effective act of Lenten spring cleaning involves going to confession. This week every parish in the diocese offered three hours of confession, and many priests I know heard confessions for several hours straight. There are still some opportunities left to go to confession. Our parish will offer a Lenten penance service with confessions on Thursday March 26. Our cluster partner, St. Pascal's will offer confessions on Monday March 23.

If Jesus Christ is not at the center of our hearts, then something else is. Just as he did in the temple, Jesus wants to make our hearts houses of prayer where his Father is honored above all else, he wants to drive sin out of our hearts and remove everything that stands as an obstacle to him. He wants to take up residence in our hearts to such an extent that we glorify God in everything we do, as we go about the many demands of day-to-day living.

When I'm over at the school, sometimes the kids get confused about this Gospel story. More than once the kids have thought that Jesus committed a sin in cleansing the temple, look how angry he appears. But no, Jesus did not commit a sin of wrath, or impatience, rather God's burning desire to cleanse our souls from sin is on display here. God does not want anyone or anything to usurp the love and devotion we are to have for him. What appears to be fiery anger, is burning love, that we might not be enslaved to sin, but be free from idolatry and selfishness and self-worship.

Lent is a time for cleansing the temple, even a time to allow Jesus to make a whip of cords and turn some tables over if need be. What would Jesus chase out of your heart if you gave him a chance? If you let him in, with all of that wonderful righteous zeal that is on display in John’s Gospel, if you let him into your temple, what would he cleanse?

We can become very anxious about letting Jesus in sometimes, we know that the encounter with him will change us, and sometimes we just don't want to change. We like to keep Jesus on the outside, on the periphery, without really letting him into our hearts. But do not be afraid, let him in, let him do what he came to do.


“Take your rightful place at the center of our hearts, O Lord. Cleanse us of all sin and make us pure dwelling places for you. Be with us every day as our comfort, fill us with joy, and empower us to do your will, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.”

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