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.”
No comments:
Post a Comment