Word to the Wise
Sunday, March 15, 2009 - Third Sunday of Lent
[Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25]"Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." His disciples recalled the words of Scripture: Zeal for your house will consume me.
Scripture scholars agree that Jesus' actions in creating a scene in the Temple galvanized his opponents against him! But the action went much further than that, as the gospel passage shows. Twice the disciples are described as recalling the words of scripture or the words of Jesus afterward and understanding the whole meaning of the scene. In this particular case, there is a new temple being presented. The old one is shown as having been corrupted. Of course, by the time this gospel was put into writing, the temple had been in ruins for twenty or more years after the Roman destruction in 70AD! Thus, the whole account has a symbolic purpose in the story of Jesus' life! Like the disciples we are challenged to reflect on this action by Jesus and "apply" it in our own lives! A couple of suggestions occur to me and I share them with you. The first has to do with the person of Jesus. If he is the new temple, are we finding him to be the focus of our faith, or do we worship the temple itself - i.e. do we worship the church or the Lord who founded it. Is the church an institution or is it the Body of Christ? The second is related but more oriented to what is being preached by the way we shape our Catholic observance on the local level. Does our church resemble a "marketplace" for various unrelated interests? What is the meaning of sacred space? Perhaps you will find other approaches to this highly symbolic action on Jesus' part! There is always much to remember and much to do! AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
67 ms
4
