If we carefully observe nature, we will realize, everything around us has a structure. Every structure is for a purpose. Planners begin with function and design structures. Now lots of user-friendly structures have evolved because of that: like ramps, escalators, low-floor buses, etc.
In the 12th century, Fibonacci came up with a sequence of 0,1,2,3,5,8,13,......by which all plants, fruits, waves, galaxies, are structured. His golden rectangle taken from this sequence is what is followed in the digital screens. TV or computer monitors can't be square any more.
Computers understand only binary numbers or "0" and "1" and that's the sign we see on the power button of any modern electronic equipment. What is it? Male and female joined together. Architects call it solid and void. All structures are made of male and female elements. In the first chapter of Genesis, we read God made them male and female.
A female body is designed with a larger derriere than male for child-bearing and child carrying. There are similarities between a woman giving birth and a snake swallowing an animal in terms expansion and as how the child comes out head first or snake swallows head first. The Lord seems to have carefully designed all of nature with a clear purpose and function in mind.
There are over 6.5 billion finger prints on earth and no two are the same. We begin to realize a creator God who has so wonderfully ordered nature and creation and his commandments are for our good. And so Jesus calls us to be partners with him to go about cleansing a world, a religion, a Church, our education and health ministries, a society and each of us that tend to abuse natural resources, people's faith for personal gains, use religion to divide people and finally live unmindful of the fact that our bodies are his temples. Be vary of preachers who quote all kinds of Biblical numbers and turn them into financial blessings and eventually into dollars into their pockets. Many Catholic shrines that began as a celebration of a Saint or our faith expressions have turned into money-making centers. As soon as India celebrated the gift of a few saints from their own soil, heated discussions erupted on rights as to who should run the shrines in their honor: religious congregations or dioceses. Money talks. After Vatican II many statues disappeared from the Catholic churches, now they are coming back!
When ordinary people travelling miles and days carrying small gifts to fulfill Leviticus (Chapter 9) commands as sin or thanksgiving or purification offerings, they were fleeced at the temple gates or worse inside by the priests' own people. They have got to pay a commission to money changers as coins with other inscriptions or engravings of other gods were not allowed in. Examination meant to verify the animals were one year old, male and without blemish. A crooked beak or a twisted claw or a faded feather would mean immediate rejection even after paying them an examination fee. But not from inside the temple precincts. No examination fee, no rejection except pay 5 times or so more. How about that? That explains the righteous anger of Jesus. You have made my house into a den of thieves.
Not only our churches or institutions need this cleansing, but our government offices, politics, parliaments, assemblies, etc. Let us begin with each of us.
This cleansing can invite trouble. That's Jesus' way to Jerusalem. Are we ready? If you are a whistleblower, speak out your mind, stand up against injustice, be prepared for that journey. (This is also a good place to reflect on righteous anger because Jesus is often portrayed as a nice guy. His rare expression of anger - another normal human emotion - was not for his selfish needs but for protecting his father's structures and values for this world and his Kingdom). Even your closest friends and allies may abandon you and you might find yourself in a lonely journey. Not exactly. The Lord would be there, Veronica's, Mary's and centurions would be there too. Happy journey!
-Tony Kayala, c.s.c.
****
Michel DeVerteuil
Textual comments
This Sunday we have John’s account of the cleansing of the temple. The passage is in two sections:
– verses 13 – 17, the cleansing of the temple by Jesus;
– verses 18 – 25, a discussion between Jesus and the Jews.
Three questions to ask yourself:
What are the temples that people turn into market places today?
Why is Jesus cleansing these temples?
How is he doing it?
John’s approach is different from that of the synoptic gospels. They lay stress on the dishonesty of the vendors – they had come to do business but end up turning the place into “a den of thieves”. John does not speak of this problem at all. His complaint is not against those who profit from their illegal vending. The fault of the vendors is that they have turned the Father’s house into a market, no longer a place of sharing and transparency but one where what a person is worth gets primary importance. They forget what the temple was really about; they see nothing beyond what they have set themselves to achieve.
The person who is intent on cleansing these temples is none other than the man Jesus. We cannot afford to see him as some kind of trouble maker or disturber of the peace – we must recognise and celebrate him for who he is. This is often difficult or even impossible for those of us who are intimately involved in this kind of trade.
Let us look finally at the dialogue between the Jews and Jesus. We see two opposed mentalities. The Jews are concerned with the sanctuary which takes forty-six years to build so that its destruction is a disaster. Jesus is concerned for a different kind of temple – one that can always be rebuilt in three days.
It is only when we have experienced true death and true resurrection that we can understand certain lessons of life. We must now ask ourselves the basic question: how have we ourselves come to this new insight? Has it been for us an experience of death and resurrection?
Scripture reflection
Lord, there are so many temples that people are turning into market places today:
– children are a sacred trust, but we project our own ambitions and our hurts on them;
– our relationship with our spouse we turn into a battlefield where we make sure
to occupy the higher ground;
– we enter into friendships to get advantages for ourselves;
– the land we see as a source of easy profit;
– the human body we treat as an object of competitions;
– a church community becomes a place for prestige and power.
We thank you for the times you sent Jesus into those temples;
he made a whip out of some cord and drove us out,
scattering our coins and knocking our counting tables over.
We were angry, hurt and confused,
but looking back we now recognise
that it was zeal for your house which devoured you.
Lord, there was a time when we had made our relationship with you
a matter of rewards for good works.
We complained that you let us suffer,
that you left our prayers unanswered,
that others we considered less virtuous than ourselves
were more blessed than we were.
But all the time it was Jesus cleansing your house,
driving away the baggage of the market place,
so that we could come to you in humble adoration and trust.
Lord, forgive us that we are no longer indignantwhen sacred places are being violated.
We thank you for those whom zeal for your house has devoured:
– Martin Luther King overturning the segregation counters
in the Southern United States;
– Steve Biko communicating a sense of self worth
to his fellow South Africans;
– labour leaders in the Caribbean who brought dignity to workers;
– those who work for peace in a country torn apart
by long and painful strife;
– those who saw and made public the physical and sexual abuses
of our downtrodden women and innocent children
in so many of our church institutions across the world.
– those who opened our blind eyes to so many injustices in out midst.
Lord, we are always fearful of losing what is secondary to your church
– large numbers, popularity, the patronage of the powerful –
fearful that what has taken forty-six years to build might be destroyed.
As a result we compromise and tolerate and remain passive.
Remind us, Lord, that the only sanctuary that counts
is the body of Jesus, his love,
his solidarity with the poor and the oppressed;
and once we are truly his body in our society,
we can rebuild in three days whatever the earthly powers destroy.
Lord, there are so many deep lessons about life
that we learn from our parents and grandparents,
but it is only after we have passed through resurrection from the dead
that we remember what they taught us and we believe the words they spoke.
Lord, be with your church in our moments of success,
when many believe in us because they see signs we give
– our schools and other institutions, our lively liturgies and our rallies.
Remind us what people have in them,
so that we may not put our trust in their approval
but only in our fidelity to you.
********************************************************
Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration
Lent is a time when we renew our minds and hearts by reflecting on what is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who came to do the Father’s will, to establish the new covenant, and who shares his conquest over death with us all.
Homily notes
1. Today we see the value of having a lectionary with fixed readings: this gospel presents so many difficulties –and seems to have always done so – that if we were not required to read it, it is a passage that would be skipped and forgotten. So how can we approach this reading and then elucidate it so that a contemporary community is helped to draw nourishment from it? (Incidentally, in all likelihood this was the ideal setting that the writer had in mind as the location when his text would be voiced and heard.)
2. By that time there was already a clear distinction between Christians and Jews. The two religions had become separate and there was a widening gulf between them. In this reading ‘the temple’ stands for the Jews, and Jesus represents the new group, the Christians. Yet there is both continuity and discontinuity between the temple and Jesus in this reading, and John knows that his audience must acknowledge this continuity, even if his community have already reached a position when they want to distinguish themselves from the Jews as clearly as possible. Jesus is the one who is in continuity with the temple. The temple is not something alien, different from him, his work, his message. The temple is not something belonging to some ‘Old Testament God’ (to use an expression often heard on the lips of Christians when they think the religious history of Israel is irrelevant to them), but his Father’s house. Moreover, John wants to stress that all the work of Jesus is to be understood in terms of ‘the scriptures’ — a term that refers to what we call the Old Testament. From this perspective, Jesus is the one who purifies and perfects all that has been done in Israel. Jesus is the continuation of what has been revealed by the God of Israel.
3. Jesus is also the one who, from the perspective of his followers, transcends the temple, and so is in discontinuity with it. The new meeting place between humanity and God is not a building made by human hands with stones, metal, wood, but the living body of Jesus Christ who relates to us in his being a human being and who relates to the Father in his being the Son. Because his living body is the link that reconciles us to the Father, Jesus is the new temple and the final High Priest who connects us, God’s people, with God. His risen body is at once with us when we gather in his name, and radiant in the Father’s house.4. Jesus inherits, perfects, and transforms the whole history of Israel, he endorses the covenant made by God in ’the law and the prophets’, yet at the same time he stands in judgement over them and establishes in his death and resurrection the new covenant. It is this paradox of continuity and discontinuity that stands behind many phrases used in modern studies of Jesus, such as ‘Jesus — a marginal Jew.’ This paradox of continuity / discontinuity would have been felt more deeply by an early community than it is felt by us today.
5. John stresses that the disciples only understood the events in the temple after the events of Easter, when they knew in faith that Jesus was risen, but he was no longer with them. Thus his congregation — or we today for that matter — are not in ‘second position’ compared with those who saw Jesus in the flesh: Jesus is only really known by those who celebrate his death and resurrection. This activity of celebrating the death and resurrection, whether for the community in AD 100 or today, is the sharing of his body as real food and his blood as real drink (see Jn 6:55) in the Eucharist.6. Christ, then, is the one who when on earth could know people ‘through and through’. So now, with the Father, how much more does he know of what each of us is made
***************************************************
Sean Goan
Gospel notes: John 2:13-25
For the next three Sundays the gospel will be taken from John and will set before us the way in which the fourth evangelist understands the mystery of the cross and resurrection. Of all the evangelists, John relies most heavily on symbolism to communicate the meaning of Easter and what it reveals to us about God and the story for today is no exception. On the face of it what Jesus in cleansing the temple was a rejection of corrupt practices in the temple that distracted from true worship of God. But there is more at stake in his dramatic gesture and this becomes apparent as Jesus responds to the authorities who oppose him. The real issue here is the true worship of God and that will come about through the death and resurrection of Jesus, for as the Word made flesh he is the true temple or dwelling place of God and in him we will come to abide in God’s love, which is what true worship is all about.Reflection
With the passage of time and the familiarity of the cross or crucifix as a religious symbol it may be that we have lost the sense of what Paul and John are saying. We almost seem comfortable with the idea of a crucified Lord. Perhaps the scandal it contains would be clearer to us if we used the used the symbol of a gallows or an electric chair. Ever since Good Friday our faith is not in God the miracle-worker but in the God who chose to be known through weakness and vulnerability. The love of the new and everlasting covenant is to be experienced not in the glorious parting of the Red Sea but in the love and forgiveness offered by Jesus on the cross.The true temple of God is no longer to be found in some holy and far away place but is within, as Jesus has made us all temples of the Holy Spirit and in the process challenges us to know God not through mere ritual observance but ‘in Spirit and in truth’ (Jn 4:23-24).
***********************************************
Donal Neary SJ
God’s building
Why is Jesus angry? – they have missed the point and the religious leaders are allowing this to happen! Religion has come down to ritual, and the centre is missing. Jesus was not much at home in the temple. He went there sometimes, and always caused trouble. The finding in the temple, the words – my body is the temple. Jesus is more at home at the table – the loaves at the lake, the fish on the beach, the last supper in a home. This is where he is most himself.
The falsity of the occasion was the using of the temple to be entrapped by riches. The poor were being overcharged to pay for the materials for sacrifices. This caused the anger of Jesus.
The forty six years are over, and the three days of the rebuilding have been going on for years, in the hearts of all who are faithful to God’s love. The building continues still and we are the living stones.
****
From The Connections:
Pilgrims to the temple were expected to make a donation for the maintenance of the edifice. Because Roman currency was considered “unclean,” Jewish visitors had to change their money into Jewish currency before making their temple gift. Moneychangers, whose tables lined the outer courts of the temple, charged exorbitant fees for their service.
Visiting worshipers who wished to have a sacrifice offered on the temple altar would sometimes have to pay 15 to 20 times the market rate for animals purchased inside the temple. Vendors could count on the cooperation of the official temple “inspectors” who, as a matter of course, would reject animals brought in from outside the temple as “unclean” or “imperfect.”
Jesus’ angry toppling of the vendors’ booths and tables is a condemnation of the injustice and exploitation of the faithful in the name of God. So empty and meaningless has their worship become that God will establish a new “temple” in the resurrected body of the Christ.
Of course, the leaders and people do not appreciate the deeper meaning of Jesus’ words, nor did the people who witnessed his miracles understand the true nature of his Messianic mission. John’s closing observations in this reading point to the fact that the full meaning of many of Jesus’ words and acts were understood only later, in the light of his resurrection.
Lent is a time to invite the “angry” Jesus of today’s Gospel into our lives to drive out those things that make our lives less than what God created them to be. To raise one’s voice against injustice, to stand up before the powerful on behalf of the weak, to demand accountability of those who exploit and abuse others for their own gain is to imitate the “holy” anger of Christ.
Our late winter yearning for the newness, freshness, warmth and light of spring mirrors Jesus’ angry expulsion of the merchants from the temple. Christ comes to bring newness to humankind, to bring a springtime of hope to a people who have lived too long in a winter of alienation and despair.
Frank is angry. He believes the town is spending money foolishly. His taxes have gone up and up and up. So he rallied folks just as angry and they elected Frank to the town council. Frank now votes no to every proposal, every hiring, every expenditure. It doesn’t matter what the issue is, Frank votes no. Frank has managed to grind everything to a halt. But ask Frank what he would like to accomplish or change, he merely glares. Frank is operating on anger — pure, cynical, destructive anger.
Anger is a very powerful emotion that can get the better of us — or bring out the best in us. Jesus is uncharacteristically angry in today’s Gospel — but his anger compels him to act to restore the temple to what it was intended to be: a house of prayer for all people. Consider during these Lenten days what makes us angry — angry enough to change ourselves: our attitudes, our perspectives, our understandings, in order to restore and re-create our lives and world in the compassion and justice of God.
****
The Snake and the Angry Swami: A Cautionary Tale
On the train to Brindavan a Swami sits beside a common man who asks him if indeed he has attained self-mastery, as the name “Swami” implies.
“I have,” says the Swami.
“And have you mastered anger?”
“I have.”
“You mean you can control your anger?”
“I can.”
“And you do not feel anger?”
“I do not.”
“Is this the truth, Swami?”
“It is.”
After a silence the man asks again, “Do you really feel that you have controlled your anger?”
“I have, as I told you,” the Swami answers.
“Then do you mean to say, you never feel anger, even–”
“You are going on and on–what do you want?” the Swami shouts. “Are you a fool? When I have told you–”
“O, Swami, this is anger. You have not mas–”
“Ah, but I have,” the Swami interrupts. “Have you not heard about the abused snake? Let me tell you the story.”
“On a path that went by a village in Bengal there lived a cobra who used to bite people on their way to worship at the temple there. As the incidents increased, everyone became fearful, and many refused to go to the temple. The Swami who was the master at the temple was aware of the problem and took it upon himself to put an end to it. Taking himself to where the snake dwelt, he used a mantra to call the snake to him and bring it into submission.”
Rolling Thunder, who had been staring into the fire as I talked, suddenly looked at me. I began to relate what the Swami said to the snake. Immediately Rolling Thunder interrupted: “What was the mantra?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think the mantra itself was part of the story. At least I never heard it.”
“Go ahead.”
“The Swami then said to the snake that it was wrong to bite the people who walked along the path to worship and made him promise sincerely that he would never do it again. Soon it happened that the snake was seen by a passer-by upon the path, and it made no move to bite. Then it became known that the snake had somehow been made passive, and people grew unafraid. It was not long before the village boys were dragging the poor snake along behind them as they ran laughing here and there. When the temple Swami passed that way again he called the snake to see if he had kept his promise–“
Again Rolling Thunder interrupted: “He didn’t say anything at all about what words the Swami used to called the snake? Just thought they might probably be familiar to me. Must be something like the words I would use.” Rolling Thunder did not wait for me to repeat what I had told him, but asked some question to pick the story up again.
“The snake humbly and miserably approached the Swami, who exclaimed, ‘You are bleeding! Tell me how this has come to be.’ The snake was near tears and blurted out that he had been abused ever since he made his promise to the Swami. ‘I hold you not to bite,’ said the Swami, ‘but I did not tell you not to hiss!'”
That was supposed to be the end of the story. Rolling Thunder quietly looked into the fire. When he saw I was finished, he considered a moment and then he looked straight up and laughed. “That’s right!” he exclaimed. “That’s right!” His face became serious and he stared into the fire as though he had begun to consider again. Then I felt him thinking of the pinyon forest chaining (clear-cutting) issue and the other struggles in which he was involved. His “That’s right!” sounded to me like he was speaking for the snake. “Sure would be interested to hear that mantra,” he said. “You suppose Swami Rama himself would be familiar with that particular mantra?”
“If he does know, I’m sure I could find it out.” But I regretted my words as soon as I’d spoken them. Would Swami Rama tell me if he knew, and would it be permissible to ask? Even for Rolling Thunder’s sake? I wondered whether Rolling Thunder would ever tell me his mantra. I would never ask him. I turned to look at him. His eyes stared thoughtfully into the flames. I watched the shadows from the dancing fire hammer upon him as thought they were trying to deepen the lines in his face, and I could see he had nothing more to say.
******
1: Righteous anger, good anger, healthy anger:
Abraham Lincoln was angry at slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. was angry at
racial discrimination, Mahatma Gandhi was angry at the racial discrimination
against the “untouchables” by the “high castes” in India … righteous anger.
Nelson Mandela was angry at apartheid in South Africa. That was righteous
anger. When we see a bully beating up on a young kid, when we see a thief
stealing an old woman’s purse, when we see a group of girls being catty and
mean to another girl at recess, when a husband beats up his wife — the list
goes on and on. The Lord God has wired us in such a way that most healthy human
beings are angry inside when we see evil and injustice being done to someone.
“Anyone can be angry. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree,
at the right time, with the right purpose … that is not easy.” (Aristotle).
Today’s Gospel pictures the righteous and healthy anger of Jesus, seeing the
desecration of a holy place. (Pastor Edward F. Markquart; online).
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2: “Never argue with him when he’s drunk!” A man
was driving without his seatbelt when he spotted a patrol car right behind him.
He grabbed for the belt and put it on. But it was too late, and the red lights
began to flash.
“You weren’t wearing your seatbelt,” said the officer. “Yes, I was,” said the
man, “and if you don’t believe me, ask my wife.” “So how ABOUT it, ma’am?”
asked the cop. “Officer,” she said, “I’ve been married to this man for forty
years, and there’s one thing I’ve learned: Never argue with him when he’s
drunk! Just give him a ticket for not wearing the seat belt.” In today’s
Gospel, Jesus doesn’t bother to argue with the unjust merchants and
moneychangers who have converted the Temple of Jerusalem into a noisy
“marketplace” and a “hideout of thieves.” Instead, he frightens them with his
angry order and chases them away, holding a whip in his hands.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3: Nitroglycerine and salad bar: Someone has
compared anger to nitroglycerine. Nitroglycerine is an unstable liquid which,
in paste form, constitutes dynamite. However, nitroglycerine in very small
amounts is what is given to heart patients to keep their hearts beating. The
little molecule that dilates blood vessels wherever they are in the body is
nitric oxide. It is the active ingredient in nitroglycerine, which is a widely
used as a little pill for the treatment of heart pain (angina). When the heart
arteries are constricted, the heart becomes starved for blood and a crushing
chest pain results. Put a nitro pill under the tongue and “ah, relief!” as the
nitric oxide relaxes the arteries and allows the blood to flow again. Anger, of
itself, is not sinful. The sin is in getting angry over the wrong things.
We get angry when someone cuts us off in traffic, or when someone takes credit
for something we’ve done at the office. We get angry at the kids when they are
too noisy and at our spouses when they don’t meet our expectations. Sometimes
we get angry when we’re simply tired and cranky. We don’t even need anything to
set us off. The media reported sometime back on a fight that broke out in
a nursing home. The Spring Haven Retirement Community in Florida found
their peace disrupted over a nasty incident at the salad bar. Mealtime turned
ugly when an 86-year-old man complained to another gentleman about picking
through the lettuce. Name-calling soon gave way to punching and the police was
summoned. Those in the way paid a price. One resident was bitten in his
attempt to stop the fight, another knocked down. While no one was seriously
injured, one of the men was expelled from the home.(www.PalmBeachPost.com) You and I get
angry over all kinds of things, some of them exceedingly silly. Sinful
human beings exploit religion just as they exploit everything else and for the
same reasons–wealth, power, prestige. Jesus got angry when he saw people
exploiting religion for their own gain. That’s a little different from getting
miffed over a salad bar. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4: Devouring monstrous “zeal” in the Church: There is
a funny story about the childhood days of the former American president,
Theodore Roosevelt. Little Teddy Roosevelt had a problem. When he was a child
his mother, Mitty, found that he was so afraid of the Madison Square Church
that he refused to set foot inside it alone. He was terrified, as she discovered,
of something called “The Zeal.” It crouched in dark corners ready to pounce
upon him. And when she asked him what zeal might be, he said that he couldn’t
exactly describe it, but he thought it might be something like an alligator or
a dragon, and he had heard the pastor read about it from the Bible one day. So,
using a concordance, Mitty read him those passages containing the word zeal
until suddenly he stopped her and, very excited, said, “That’s it!” The line
was from the Book of John, Chapter 2, verse 17, and it was the King James
version- “And his disciples remembered that it was written ‘the zeal of Thine
House hath eaten me up.”
5. Commercials in the Church: A little girl was taken
to the Church for the first time. As she was leaving with her parents, the
pastor asked how she had liked the Mass. “I liked the music,” she replied, “but
the commercial was too long.” (Liguorian, March, 2006).
6. “I don’t smoke during Lent.” The story is told of a priest who was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark only to be accosted by a robber who pulled a gun at him and demanded, “Your money or your life!” As the priest reached his hand into his coat pocket the robber saw his Roman collar and said, “So you are a priest? Then you can go.” The priest was rather surprised at this unexpected show of piety and so tried to reciprocate by offering the robber his packet of cigarettes, to which the robber replied, “No, Father, I don’t smoke during Lent.”
18- Additional anecdotes
1) Beware of whip-lashing Jesus in April while you file
your tax returns! A man was having trouble sleeping because of
frightening dreams of an angry Jesus chasing him with a whip in his hands.
He knew in his heart it was his conscience that was keeping him awake.
He’d been less than honest in filing his tax return, and it was getting to him.
So he sent a check to the IRS with the following note: “Dear Sirs, in filing my
2016 tax return, I did not report all my income. Therefore, I am enclosing my
check for $100.00. P. S. If my conscience still troubles me with those dreams
of whip-wielding Jesus, I’ll send you the rest.” Guess what happened next!
Today’s Gospel challenges us to examine ourselves to see if Jesus will
have to take a whip when he comes to our hearts – the temple of the Holy Spirit
– in Holy Communion. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) “You’re never gonna go to school with white boys.”
One of the angriest young men picked out by the American spotlight over the
past five decades was the black activist of the sixties, Stokely Carmichael.
Remember Stokely, with his rhetoric of hate and rebellion? Why was he so angry?
There were reasons. Let me give you an example. A school was being
desegregated and Stokely Carmichael took his six-year-old niece to the school
to begin kindergarten. Six years old. Remember that. The cops in that southern
town weren’t about to let the school be integrated. One cop grabbed Stokely’s
niece, put the girl on the ground, put his boot on her neck, stuck his gun in
her ear, and said, “This is the last time I’m gonna tell ya. You’re never gonna
go to school with white boys.” Carmichael took his niece home in shock.
Naturally, she was a frightened mess. At that moment Stokely Carmichael vowed
that he would never let a boot hold down the neck of another black person
again. He would kill the person wearing the boot rather than let it happen.
[Larry King, The King, (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1988).] There
are times when it is right to get angry. Jesus was angry when he drove the
money-changers out of the Temple. Christ’s example tells me there are times
when a Christian ought to get angry. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) “Mother Who Abandoned Son Wins Half of His $300,000
Estate.” Did you read about a Connecticut Supreme Court case in which
the court reluctantly ruled that a Suzanne Benson is entitled to half the
estate of her dead son? If the newspapers are correct, this mother abandoned
her two-year-old son 13 years ago. Recently the son was killed in a car/bicycle
collision. His dad’s insurance company awarded $300,000 to the son’s estate.
Mrs. Benson showed up after all this time to claim half the money. Under
Connecticut law, if Mrs. Benson had officially terminated her parental
responsibility, she could not have profited from the money. Abandonment of a
baby, however, does not constitute formal parental termination. [“Mother Who
Abandoned Son Wins Half of His $300,000 Estate,” The Knoxville News
Sentinel (May 10, 1989), Section A, P. 7.] So she collected
$150,000. That violates my sense of justice, doesn’t it yours? It’s not
fair. It’s not right. But listen. There are far worse injustices taking place
in our world than that one isolated case. We all know it’s true. There are
racial injustices, religious injustices, economic injustices. In today’s Gospel
Jesus reacts forcefully against religious injustice. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) “In his note there was a very naughty word.” Paul
Harvey tells about a robber in Oceanside, California wearing a motorcycle
helmet and carrying a gun who strode into a branch bank. He selected a teller
who appeared fiftyish, soft, kindly, an easy mark. He handed her a note
demanding money or her life. The woman reached for the cash drawer. Then she
looked again at the note and her eyes flashed, her lips clenched. She pulled
the entire cash drawer out, but instead of giving him money, she clobbered the
robber over the head with the drawer. And again and again. She was scolding
him. Money was flying everywhere and she was beating him and shouting shame on
him and bouncing blows off his helmet “until the young man turned and ran.
Police caught him in nearby shrubbery. Then they asked the woman teller how
come she was about to give him money at gunpoint and then, suddenly, instead,
became enraged? She said, ‘In his note there was a very naughty word.’” (Paul
Harvey’s For What It’s Worth“). Different people get upset at
different things. Jesus shouted, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my
Father’s House a marketplace!” Jesus got their attention. Sometimes we need to
get angry. Anger can lead to creative and constructive solutions. However,
Jesus’ anger is not the focus of this story. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) The court had to let Sweeney go free. There
is a most interesting story from American history about a man named George
Wythe (pronounced with), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and
perhaps one of the period’s most noted legal minds. In 1776, George Wythe,
Thomas Jefferson, and Edmund Pendleton began the task of reworking and updating
the laws of the state of Virginia. The task took most of their time for three
years. It was really an extraordinary piece of work. However, there was at
least one flaw – a flaw that would one day haunt the family and friends of
George Wythe. In 1806, Wythe suffered for almost 2 weeks from what almost
certainly was arsenic poisoning and finally died. It is also reasonably certain
that Wythe’s grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, had added the arsenic to his
elder’s coffee. However, the only person who saw Sweeney commit this act was
Lydia Broadnax, Wythe’s devoted mulatto housekeeper; and negroes and mulattoes
were forbidden under Virginia law to testify in court against whites – a law
that George Wythe had chosen to let stand during his revision process. So,
despite fairly certain knowledge that Sweeney had murdered Wythe, the court had
to let Sweeney go free. [Brother C. Edward, FSC. “The Law That Failed,” American
History Illustrated (Jan., 1973), pp. 38-45.] I suppose we might
consider that a case of poetic justice. If George Wythe had recognized the rights
of African Americans, his killer would not have gone free. Justice does not
always work out that neatly, of course, but we should tremble when we reflect
that God is a just God. For eventually justice does prevail. There is a time
when Christians ought to get angry about some of the inequities and injustices
in our world. As Melvin Wheatley once said, “There are situations in life in
which the absence of anger would be the essence of evil.” There is a time for
anger. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) “Somebody ought to do something about that.” A
man named Leonard Haslim got angry watching the 6 o’clock news. Hundreds of
people had died in an airliner crash in Washington, D.C. because the plane’s
wings iced up, making it too heavy to fly. Haslim decided to make sure it
didn’t happen again. Haslim came up with a brilliant, but rather simple
solution. Everyone who has studied science knows that opposite charges attract
and like charges repel. Haslim used that principle to come up with the ultimate
wing deicer. He wrapped a thin sheet of rubber around an airplane wing, with
wire ribbons carrying electrical current underneath. When he threw the switch
on, the positive wires jumped away from each other, as did the negatives,
breaking the ice that had frozen to the layer of rubber above them. “It’s
like snapping a hall carpet,” drawls Haslim, “and watching the dust fly.” His
invention can pulverize ice an inch thick on the surface of a wing. Yet it uses
no more power than a single landing light, and costs less than an airplane
tire. “It’s so simple, lightweight, and cheap, it’s nauseating,” says Haslim.
It may be that over the next several years, hundreds of lives will be saved
because Leonard Haslim got angry watching the 6 o’clock news. (Success,
October, 1990). Is there something making you angry? Is there some evil
in the world that a voice within you keeps saying, “Somebody ought to do
something about that.” That is what Jesus did, as described in today’s
Gospel, by cleansing the Temple. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) One-man army: Two men stood in front of a
taxicab arguing about who had the right to the cab. While they argued, the wife
of one of the men stood and watched. After they had argued for a few of
minutes, one man became calm, opened the door for his opponent, and returned to
his wife. Curious, his wife asked him why he’d suddenly allowed the other man
to take the cab. He explained, “You see dear, he needed the cab more than we
did; he was late for his martial arts class. He’s the teacher!” Today’s Gospel
tells us that Jesus had no such fear in confronting the animal merchants, the
moneychangers and the Temple police in the Temple of Jerusalem in his cleansing
of the Temple operation with prophetic courage. [The Pastor’s Story File (Saratoga
Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), January 1996.] Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) Herman Kahn and nuclear war: Herman Kahn who
founded the Hudson Institute, a private center for research on national
security and public policy, had been working on a paper on nuclear warfare,
which he was to deliver at the Pentagon on July 8, 1983, when he died very
suddenly on July 7. For 23 years he had been repeating the same theme: that
nuclear war was not only a possibility but a probability, insisting that a
nuclear war would not mean the annihilation of civilization. He believed in
“degrees of awfulness,” and prescribed arms control, negotiated disarmament,
and a strong military deterrent to nuclear war. Kahn’s critics insisted that he
minimized the dangers of nuclear war and played into the hands of the
militarists calling for more powerful weapons systems. Some claimed that his
thinking, writing, and speeches merely supported the system when he ought to
have been challenging it. Jesus could never be accused of such a sell-out in
the scheme of things prevailing in the Temple. He shook the building – and the
system – right down to the very foundations of both. Why wouldn’t the priests
and the other leaders be upset with him and begin to consider how they might
get rid of this Jesus? Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) The Temple Jesus cleansed: It had a series of
ascending courtyards. Your first entry was into the outer courtyard … the place
that was called the Court of the Gentiles. You could be admitted there …
because anybody could be admitted there. But if you were a Gentile … which
virtually all of you are … you could not go beyond there. For it was “death”
for a Gentile to penetrate further. Next came the Court of the Women, entered
by the arch that they called the Beautiful Gate. Any Israelite could go there.
This was followed by the Court of the Israelites, entered by Nicanor’s Gate (a
gate of Corinthian bronze which required 20 men to open and shut). It was in
this court that the men of Israel assembled for Temple services. Lastly, came
the Court of the Priests, into which only the priests might enter. There could
be found the great altar of the burnt-offering … the lesser altar of the
incense-offering … the seven-branched lamp stand … and the table of the shew
bread. It was at the back of the Court of the Priests that the Holy of Holies
stood, accessible only to the High Priest, and that only once a year. To enter
the Holy of Holies was to approach the very throne of God, which is why legend
has it that more than one High Priest attached a rope to his ankle before
passing through the veil, thus ensuring that (should he be struck dead by the
power of God while praying), his colleagues would be able to pull him out
without endangering themselves. So when Jesus went into the Temple for purposes
of “cleansing,” where did he go? Not to the Holy of Holies. Not to the Court of
the Priests. Not to the Court of the Israelites. Not even to the Court of the
Women. Jesus went into the outer court … the Court of the Gentiles. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) Jesus and the IRS: The voice on the other
end of the line identified its owner as a representative of the Internal
Revenue Service. The caller asked, “Did John Jones give $10,000 to your Church
last year?” The pastor thought for a moment, and then carefully replied, “He
will!” If there is anything that strikes terror into the hardiest of hearts it
is the dread acronym: IRS. “The Infernal Revenue Service.” Er, I mean, the Internal
Revenue Service. Someone has said, “You may not agree with every department in
the government, but you really have to hand it to the IRS.” Another cynic has
said, “Death and taxes may always be with us, but at least death doesn’t get
any worse.” Arthur Godfrey once said, “I feel honored to pay taxes in America.
The thing is, I could probably feel just as honored for about half the price.”
Benjamin Franklin said, “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
The one we will have to confront but once; the other, like Gospel on Jesus’
cleansing the Temple of Jerusalem, comes around once a year, frightening us
about what would happen if Jesus had to come to our hearts with a whip in his
hands. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11) The Ten Commandments Indicator: On 3rd
February 1959, 10,000 meters above the Atlantic, Captain Lynch took a last look
at the flight panel of the Boeing 707. The co-pilot was studying a map. Captain
Lynch decided to stretch his legs, thinking that the worst was over. Shortly
after leaving Paris they had run into a 120-kph headwind. But by now they had
climbed above the storm. The captain made his way down the aisle. Just then the
Captain felt the right-wing tip and he was thrown against the seats on the
right-hand side. At the same moment all the lights in the plane went out. Next,
he found himself lying on the floor. But then he realized it was the ceiling he
was on. The Boeing was on its back. He began to make his way back to the
cockpit. He decided to try to hold the plane at 2,000 meters. The co-pilot had
been knocked unconscious. He came to again and he and the captain managed to
bring the Boeing to the horizontal. A few more seconds and the plane would have
crashed. The whole incident lasted four minutes. What caused it? While the
co-pilot was studying the map, he did not notice the blue light on the
indicator panel warning that the automatic pilot had stopped working. God has
given us an indicator panel to guide us through life. That indicator panel is
the Commandments. The Commandments are a gift from God to help us enjoy life by
not getting lost along the way. (Author Unknown; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) Living the Law: Several years ago, a
preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a Church in Boston, Texas. Some
weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the bus from his house to the
downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the bus driver had
mistakenly given him a quarter too much in change. As he considered what to do,
he thought to himself, “You’d better give the quarter back. It would be wrong
to keep it.” Then he thought, “Oh, forget it, it’s only a quarter. Who would
worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare;
they will never miss it. Accept it as a ‘gift from God’ and keep quiet.” When
his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then handed the quarter
to the driver and said, “Here, you gave me too much change.” The driver with a
smile, replied, “Aren’t you the new preacher in town?” “Yes,” he replied.
“Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I
just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I’ll see
you at Church next Sunday.” When the preacher stepped off the bus, he literally
grabbed the nearest light pole, held on and said, “Oh God I almost sold your
Son for a quarter.” Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read! As
someone has said, “We need Christians to make Christians.” (J. Valladares in
Your Words Are Spirit and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) Knowing the Law: One of President Reagan’s
favorite stories involves a farmer and a lawyer whose cars collided. The farmer
took a look at the lawyer, then reached in the back of his car and took out a
bottle of whiskey. “Here, you look pretty shook up,” “Take a nip of this; it’ll
steady your nerves.” After taking five or six gulps, the lawyer suggested the
farmer have a drink himself. “Not me,” declared the farmer. “I’m waiting for
the traffic police.” (Christopher Notes; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) 
Picasso’s Bad
Shepherd: The famous modern artist Pablo Picasso was born into a
Catholic family in 1881.But he rejected his Catholic upbringing in his early
20s, mostly because he saw religious morals as an obstacle to
the hedonistic fashions of his age. Picasso never publicly returned to the
Church, although a priest was present at the artist’s funeral. Throughout his
life, he associated himself with various secular movements, one of them being
Communism, a violently anti-Christian ideology. Soon after Picasso became a
Communist, he made an interesting sculpture called “Man with Sheep.” It was a
conscious re-interpretation of a famous and beloved image in Christian art, one
we are all familiar with because it is taken directly from the Gospels – the
Good Shepherd. In traditional sculptures and paintings of the good shepherd, a
tranquil lamb curls gently around the shepherd’s shoulders. This is how
shepherds used to teach rambunctious and foolish lambs that would run off on
their own and leave the flock. The shepherd would break one of the lamb’s legs,
so that it couldn’t run off into danger, and then carry the wounded lamb for
weeks, until it healed. By that time, the lamb would have learned that the
shepherd is good and trustworthy, and so it would never again stray away from
the shepherd into danger. Picasso’s “Man with Sheep” is a complete contrast. In
this bronze sculpture, the shepherd is a stark, distorted man with the bulging
eyes and a fierce expression. He clasps the sheep in one arm, while the animal
twists its head away, open-mouthed and protesting, resisting with all its
might. Picasso’s figure seems like a butcher bringing a lamb to the slaughter.
That’s what happens when we try to understand suffering without Christ – it
just doesn’t make sense. But with Christ, all our crosses bring salvation,
wisdom, and deeper intimacy with God. (E-Priest) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
15) No Smoking: Modern life is becoming
more and more cluttered with No- signs. No smoking is spreading like a rash out
of control. No Trespassing is growing abundantly all over the land, and there
is a fair yield of No Fishing and No Shooting in the remoter scenic regions. No
Dumping is to be found here too, but it does well in all types of terrain. The
back-packing hiker will not have to venture far before encountering his first
No Camping. The Don’ts (sometimes called the Do Nots) are another member of the
same family. Don’t Walk on the Grass is a favorite in city parks. Don’t Cycle
on the Pavements thrives on asphalt or Cement. We are familiar with the Don’ts
from childhood. They were the first prohibitions we were taught to recognize,
almost from infancy. Don’t Cry, Don’t Wake the Baby, Don’t Cross the Road,
Don’t Talk to Strangers were mother’s favourites. School was a whole world of
them. Teacher had a whole bagful, graded for every occasion. Some were simple
admonitions like Don’t be Late or Don’t be Long. Others were more menacing like
Don’t be Smart or Don’t be so Stupid. When we emerged from the school system as
young adults, we were ready to face the world and its Don’ts. Since then, life
has fluctuated from an official reprimand Don’t Rock the boat to a wifely pat,
Don’t Worry. When Moses came down from the smoke-wrapped Mt Sinai, he brought
with him two tablets of stone, on which were carved the Ten Commandments and
eight of them were Thou Shalt Nots. Since then, the Ten Commandments have
formed the basis of every legal system in the civilised world. The Don’ts of
the Decalogue have evolved into a charter of human rights. Christ drove the
money-makers out of the Temple with “Don’t turn my Father’s house into a den
of thieves.” (Biblical IE) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) Jesus the meek lamb and ferocious lion: C.
S. Lewis illustrated the contrasting qualities of Jesus in his character Aslan,
the Lion. In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, two children,
Lucy and Edmund, come to a grassy area. The field covers an area almost as far
as the eye can see in greenery, except for one small white spot. The children
can’t figure out what the white spot is from a distance, so they hike down to
it and discover that it’s a lamb. This white woolly creature is not just any
lamb but a lamb that can cook breakfast and have a conversation with them. The
children want to know how to get to the land of Aslan. While the lamb is giving
them directions a marvelous thing happens: “His snowy white flushed into tawny
gold and his size changed and he was Aslan himself towering above them and
scattering light from his mane” (C.S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn Treader,
as found in “What’s it going to take?” a sermon by Rev. John H. Pavelko). Lewis
graphically illustrates one of the great truths of our Faith: Jesus, the Lamb
of God Who takes away the sins of the world is also the Lion of Judah. In
Christ we find both the meekness of the lamb and the ferocity of the lion.
Jesus could be both the strong and gentle man who welcomed children and the
angry man who swung a powerful whip to clear the Temple. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) Divine gift and gracious guidance of a loving God: In his 1965 novel about Israel through the ages, The Source, Michener chronicled the development of an ancient people who shifted their allegiance to a new god “partly because his demands upon them were severe and partly because they had grown somewhat contemptuous of their local gods precisely because they were not demanding.” (James A. Michener, The Source, Random House, Inc., New York: 1965). In the readings selected for the Third Lenten Sunday, the Scriptures invite the gathered assembly to consider some of God’s demands, albeit from a different frame of reference than Michener’s. Whereas the god featured in The Source appears to be the product of human reasoning and imagination and is portrayed as an ever evolving and maturing concept in the minds of believers, the God of the Hebrew and Christian Covenants is the transcendent Creator of all, Who, through Personal revelation chooses to be known immanently and intimately by humankind. For this reason, the demands of the Law, as featured in the first reading and the demands for authentic worship as featured in the Gospel are to be understood, not as orders that burden, and entrench humanity in a maze of moral gridlock, but as a Divine gift and gracious guidance. (Sanchez Files).
****Fr. Jude Botelho:
Dear Friend,
Whenever people are commanded to do something, even if they want to do it, they revolt. When parents say to their child: “Do what I tell you!” the reaction often is, “I will not!” When youth are forced to observe rules and regulations of their college, often they rebel and do just the opposite, just for the heck of it! When laws are enforced in society, there will always be some who challenge the law and there is a breakdown of law and order. We want to do our thing! But God has given us commandments for our own good. Do we care to observe them, living according to them or do we deliberately go against them?
Let’s spend this weekend pondering on God’s law as a means of loving Him!
| Reflection |
| The first reading from Genesis speaks of the Ten Commandments and spells out the implications of these commandments. God did not give the commandments for his benefit but for the sake of the people. When the people observed the commandments they were the gainers, when they disobeyed they themselves were the losers. Someone has called the Ten Commandments ten guidelines to happiness; unfortunately some have interpreted the commandments as restrictions to man’s freedom. The first commandment forbids the worship of false gods, yet all of us at some time or another have created gods to suit us and often these false gods hold sway over our lives. Keeping the law for the sake of the law results in bondage, while observing the law out of love for God and respect for neighbour results in true freedom. The Ten Commandments Indicator On 3rd February 1959 10,000 meters above the Atlantic, Captain Lynch took a last look at the flight panel of the Boeing 707. The co-pilot was studying a map. Captain Lynch decided to stretch his legs, thinking that the worst was over. Shortly after leaving Paris they had run into a 120 kph headwind. But by now they had climbed above the storm. The captain made his way down the aisle. Just then the Captain felt the right wing tip and he was thrown against the seats on the right hand side. At the same moment all the lights in the plane went out. Next he found himself lying on the floor. But then he realised it was the ceiling he was on. The Boeing was on its back. He began to make his way back to the cockpit. He decided to try to hold the plane at 2,000 meters. The co-pilot had been knocked unconscious. He came to again and he and the captain managed to bring the Boeing to the horizontal. A few more seconds and the plane would have crashed. The whole incident lasted four minutes. What caused it? While the co-pilot was studying the map he did not notice the blue light on the indicator panel warning that the automatic pilot had stopped working. God has given us an indicator panel to guide us through life. That indicator panel is the Commandments. The Commandments are a gift from God to help us enjoy life by not getting lost along the way. Author Unknown The first part of today’s Gospel centres around the temple practices which had gradually become oppressive and corrupt. The motive for these practices should have been service of God and neighbour but instead the motive was profit. All the procedures were legal but were against the spirit of the law and done in the name of religion. That is why when Jesus entered the temple he was upset and angry because God’s house was being desecrated. Jesus’ action was amazing and unprecedented considering that the temple had pride of place and by his action Jesus was taking on the whole religious institution and challenging their power and authority. Whereas the first part centres on the temple the second part focuses on Jesus himself as God’s temple. He was referring to his bodily resurrection, but neither the temple authorities nor his own disciples understand the deeper implications. The last part of the gospel of today speaks of Jesus’ interaction with the people. Many of them were impressed by his challenging action in the temple. They did not understand his action but they somehow believed that God was with Jesus, but they failed to understand that God was within Jesus, that Jesus himself was God and that true worship was worship within one’s heart. The heart of all worship would be loving obedience to God and his commandments and therefore the true temple where one worshiped God was within one’s heart. Righteous Anger A man lived on the outskirts of a village. About thirty feet from his house, a large lime tree grew. The tree was something of a village landmark. However, it was getting old. It was clearly only a matter of time before it came crashing down. Every time there was a storm, the man feared for his house and his life. One day, unable to bear the strain any longer, he cut the tree down. He felt sure that the villagers would understand. But he was wrong. ‘Shame on you for cutting down such a splendid tree,’ said one. ‘You’ve deprived the village of part of its heritage,’ said another. It’s amazing how worked up people get when their own interests are threatened, however marginally. But how few get worked up when it’s their neighbour’s interests that are threatened. Jesus didn’t get angry on his own account. His anger resulted from his love of God and of his neighbour. His action in the temple has been seen as a protest against the commercialization of religion and the desecration of the temple. But it went deeper than that. Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy day Liturgies’ Living the Law Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Boston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the bus from his house to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the bus driver had mistakenly given him a quarter too much in change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, “You’d better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it.” Then he thought, “Oh, forget it, it’s only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a ‘gift from God’ and keep quiet.” When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then handed the quarter to the driver and said, “Here, you gave me too much change.” The driver with a smile, replied, “Aren’t you the new preacher in town?” “Yes,” he replied. “Well I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I’ll see you at Church next Sunday.” When the preacher stepped off the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on and said, “Oh God I almost sold your Son for a quarter.” Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read! As someone has said, “We need Christians to make Christians.” J. Valladares in ‘Your Words are Spirit and they are Life’ Cleansing the Temple Billy Martin tells the story of himself and Mickey Mantle in his autobiography, Number 1. Billy says he and Mickey were doing a little hunting down in Texas. Mickey had a friend who would let him hunt on his ranch. When they got there, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he went in and cleared things with his friend. Permission was quickly granted for them to hunt, but the owner asked Mickey to do him a favour. He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind and he didn’t have the heart to put him out of his misery. He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him. Mickey agreed. On the way back to the car a plan formed in Mickey’s mind. Reaching the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door shut. Billy wanted to know what was wrong. Mickey replied that the owner wouldn’t let them hunt there after all. “I’m so mad at that guy that I’m going out to the barn to shoot one of his mules,” Mantle said. He drove like a madman to the barn. Martin protested: “We can’t do that!” But Mickey was adamant. “Just watch me,” he shouted. When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran into the barn and shot the mule and killed it. When he got back to the car he saw that Martin had also taken his gun and smoke was curling from his barrel too. “What are you doing Martin?” Mantle yelled. Martin answered, “We’ll show that son-of-a gun. I killed two of his cows.” Are we ever concerned about whether or not our anger is based on God’s will? Gerard Fuller in ‘Stories for All Seasons’ Worthwhile Objectives In a little country community, a farmer had a dog who spent part of his time sitting by the side of a large highway waiting for big red trucks. Whenever the dog saw a truck come round the corner, he would get ready, and as it passed him, he would take off after it down the road. One day the farmer’s neighbour said, “Sam do you think that hound of yours is ever going to catch a truck?” “Well Bill” Sam replied, “that isn’t what worries me. What does worry me is, what he would do if he caught one!” Many of us run wildly after things we could not use if we caught them. We are passionate about the wrong things in life. Frank Mihalic in ‘Tonic for the Heart’ Knowing the Law One of President Reagan’s favourite stories involves a farmer and a lawyer whose cars collided. The farmer took a look at the lawyer, then reached in the back of his car and took out a bottle of whiskey. “Here, you look pretty shook up,” “Take a nip of this; it’ll steady your nerves.” After taking five or six gulps, the lawyer suggested the farmer have a drink himself. “Not me,” declared the farmer. “I’m waiting for the traffic police.” Christopher Notes May our zeal be for doing the Father’s will in all things, no matter what the cost! **********
From Sermons.com
The portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Gospel appointed for this day has proven to be something of a conundrum for interpreters through the years. What we see is the Lord Jesus in a violent rage driving animals and people out of the Temple. Years ago Bruce Barton, in a very popular book, The Man Nobody Knows, used the story to demonstrate how virile the Lord Jesus was. He surmised that the Lord Jesus was capable of Herculean strength and prowess because of his outdoorsy lifestyle and vigorous walking missionary tours. However, others have been concerned that this public demonstration which had all the earmarks of a near riot was most unbecoming of the normal life style of Jesus. Also, if this were a pique of temper, could not someone accuse Jesus of being guilty of a sin which all of us dislike very much?
Then, of course, there is the additional problem of finding this story in the beginning of the Fourth Gospel, whereas the other evangelists place it in Holy Week at the beginning of his passion. Could it be true that Jesus cleansed the Temple twice? Is John right and the others wrong? Or is it the other way around? Or could there be another reason why John places the story where he does? There is good reason to think that it is the latter. The story of Jesus cleansing the Temple helps us to understand several very important aspects of the church and its worship. 1. The Context and the Importance of the Temple 2. The Shock of Challenging an Old System 3. The Body of the Church and the Sacramental Body 4. Our Worship in the Spirit of the Lord
Lent is a solemn season in the Church calendar. Supposedly, it's not meant to be fun, but rueful. It is a penitential time when devout Christians have typically "given up" some earthly pleasures - meats, sweets, parties, television, movies - to focus instead on spiritual growth - Lenten Bible studies, prayer groups, singular meditation-time. In the words of Lord Williams of Oystermouth, from a 2012 sermon in Rome at St. Paul's Within the Walls, "Every Lent, we ought to be looking at the various ways in which we get involved in manufacturing the gods that suit us. Every Lent is a time to get that little bit further beyond the idolatry that constantly keeps us prisoner and draws us back to the old world. When Jesus has cleared out the temple, when he has thrown out those people involved in manufacturing religion, there he stands with his friends in a great silence and a great space."
But this week's epistle text from Corinthians finds us reading about a topsy-turvy world, a ditzy divine scenario, which suggests the Lenten season is the time when Christians should be preparing themselves not to go all centered and solemn, but to go flat out "crazy."
Paul's declaration in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 is not about rising to be super spiritual, but about daring to be super strange. Lent is the season in the church when we actively "celebrate" Jesus' doomed entry into Jerusalem and anticipate his criminal conviction and his cruel crucifixion upon the cross.
Talk about weird holidays..
A Good Cleaning______________________
When Jesus entered the temple that day he found a faith that was stale, downright dirty. People were taking advantage of others and ritual had become more important than the condition of the heart. What Jesus did, I believe, was challenge a smug, hypocritical religious system that desperately needed to change. Therefore, a little demolition was necessary, not to mention an all out assault to clean house.
Daylight Savings Time - Don't forget this weekend we Spring Forward one hour!The faith community at that time was so wrapped up in rules and ritual the fresh revelation of God could not get through. It was impossible for them to "see" because they were blinded by obstacles that hindered their ability. In this story we get an image of Jesus as a one-man wrecking crew, swinging a sledgehammer. There is no way to make improvements in an old house without making a mess. There is plaster dust, dirt, nails and smelly carpet. It is hard work. It is impossible to paint without getting paint on yourself. I am sure that Jesus absorbed a few skinned knuckles that day, not to mention getting his garment dirty. The faith community needed a good housecleaning and Jesus took it upon himself to do just that with zeal and determination. Keith Wagner, Spring Housecleaning our Faith ________________________
This is also a great time to remind your community to check their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Have your youth group or young adult class reach out to help older members check theirs.
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A Passover Crowd's Needs
It's estimated that the population of Jerusalem would swell from 50,000 to 180,000 at Passover. Pilgrims would come from as far away as Persia, Syria, Egypt, Greece and Rome. For comparison, think about College Station on the Saturday afternoon of an A&M football game, then double that number and hold on to the crowd for a week, instead of a day. That's a lot of hungry mouths to feed; a lot of weary travelers to put up for the night. Plus, they're coming to the temple to make a sacrifice. They're going to need an unblemished animal for that. They're also going to pay their temple tax. Somebody's going to have to help them exchange their currency. Get the picture? The commercial implications of Passover were enormous, perhaps comparable to the Christmas season in the United States today.
So, I think it's safe to say the merchants were making a killing off the week of Passover, but were they really doing anything wrong? You could say that, by exchanging money and selling birds and animals for sacrifice, they were providing a service. Now, it's true, in the synoptic gospels; i.e., Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus accuses the merchants of cheating the people. He says, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers." (Mt. 21:13)
Perhaps there was some price gouging going on, but this is not the focus of Jesus' anger, according to John. As far as John is concerned, Jesus is upset because all this buying and selling has intruded upon the sacred space for worship. In John's gospel, Jesus says, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace (a house of commerce)." (John 2:16)
Philip W. McLarty, Spring Cleaning
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Destroy the Temple
"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again." Given that Jesus was standing smack in the middle of a literal, brick-and-mortar temple at the time he said this, it seemed merely obvious that Jesus meant the physical building. And so everyone who heard him responded the same way, "It has taken us forty-six years just to get this far, and even so the construction project isn't finished yet! Now you tell us you could do the whole thing from scratch in under a week!? Right!" According to John, Jesus does not reply to this, and even the disciples didn't understand it until years later after Jesus rose again from the dead.
But although he doesn't say it directly, maybe Jesus wanted them to have the wrong idea as a subtle, yet poignant, way to demonstrate that just generally they had the wrong idea. They had the wrong focus. They were obsessed with brick and mortar. Their mention of how long it had taken them to build the temple was a sign that they had lost their way. They no longer had the radical faith of Psalm 69. The psalmist endured insult and injury because of his outrageous belief that the living God actually dwelled in the temple. But some of the Jews in Jesus' day had forgotten. They saw it as their own accomplishment in which they could do whatever they wanted because it was, after all, their place. (I wish that did not sound so familiar).
No Celebration without ConfessionScott Hoezee, commentary on John 2:13-22 __________________________________
Another set of "money-changers" in the church seem to have lost their reason for forgiveness. Catholic priests have expressed concern over the sharp decline in the number of people desiring to take confession. We hear a lot of talk about the word celebration in our church today. There can be no celebration until there is first confession. In the parable of the prodigal son, the banquet does not occur until the boy had first come to himself.
A Sunday School class in a church once made an unusual request one day. They requested that the prayer of confession be taken out of the order of worship. They gave the following reasons:
1. Confessions imply that we are bad people.
2. Our children will get a negative image of themselves.3. Guilt is damaging; we need to think positively. 4. Worship should always be uplifting and make us feel good.
This sounds like the philosophy advocated by that book some years ago "I'm OK you're OK." Tell me then. If I'm OK and you're OK then what are we doing here? The refusal to acknowledge that we are sinful people is damaging the church today, and it is damage that is coming from within, not from without. We have bought in to the modern culture that we should have a positive self-image through positive thinking. Friends, sin is real, and it is too destructive to ignore. The cross reminds us just how serious our sin is. The failure to express our sin before God and one another devalues God's redemptive grace. It is not positive thinking that will remove our guilt; it is God's redemptive action.
Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com
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Looking For a Loop Hole
W. C. Fields once claimed he had studied the Bible for years, in his words, "Looking for a loophole." He never did say if he found one. I wonder, though, if he came across chapter 12 of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, verses 5 and 6 - verses of pure grace: My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; For the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, And chastises every child whom he accepts.
Peter Buehler, Cleansing
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Why the Whip?
What would Jesus find in our churches? Although he probably wouldn't find cattle or sheep, would he find the same attitude -- religious rituals being just a business? Is the church building simply a place where people and God take care of business? Can worship become centered on the things we do, rather than the God who is present giving to us and forgiving us in Word and Sacrament? How can we change faulty worship attitudes?
Can "church as business" be a problem for the "professionals" in the church? Can leading worship for the clergy become simply a job for which we are paid? Does the laity sometimes think that they are "paying" the minister to do the worship for them -- thinking, "We pay them to do this for us"?
Do we think of God more as a vending machine -- put in our sacrifices or offerings or good deeds and out comes blessings? Do we misuse our (supposed) obedience to the Ten Commandments as bargaining chips with God?
Why the whip (only mentioned in John) and the harsh actions? Wouldn't it have been more diplomatic and have caused fewer problems to sit down with the church leaders and discuss the problem? When are swift, harsh actions needed rather than diplomacy? When should a pastor just do what he believes is right, or go through the council or other governing board?
Brian Stoffregen, Questions
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Leaders Have To Make Tough Decisions
Not long ago a friend told me one of his co-workers had been promoted above him. "You wouldn't believe this guy," he said. "Power has gone to his head and he's becoming impossible." "How's that?" I asked. "Well," my friend said, "when I'm late--even if it's only 10 minutes--he says something about it. And he's always on my back about meeting projections. He used to be great to work with, but now no one wants to be around him."
Unfortunately, my friend's attitude reflects the attitude of many people. They don't understand that sometimes leaders have to make tough decisions. Sometimes leaders have to say things they don't like having to say. A leader can't be "one of the guys". Where others might be willing the let things slide, a leader has to deal with the problem.
In fact, this is the most difficult aspect of being a leader: You no longer have the luxury of turning your head and looking the other direction when a problem comes up. Leaders have to take responsibility for making things right, even when the task is unpleasant. Sometimes this calls for taking stock of a situation and cleaning house. This applies to all leaders--pastors, parents, bosses, coaches, managers, or any other person in a leadership role.
There was a time in Jesus' ministry when he found himself in the midst of a bad situation in desperate need of an overhaul. He couldn't--and certainly wouldn't--look in the other direction. Instead, Jesus did something that no one would have expected him to do. The saying "Desperate times call for desperate measures" might apply to this story today.
Steve May, Confrontational Leadership
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You Took My Place
There is a story about a man who visited a church. He parked his car and started toward the front entrance. Another car pulled up nearby, and the irritated driver said to him, "I always park there. You took my place!" The visitor went inside and found that Sunday School was about to begin. He found an adult class, went inside, and sat down. A class member approached him and said, "That's my seat! You took my place!" The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After Sunday School, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down in an empty pew. Within moments another member walked up to him and said, "That's where I always sit. You took my place!" The visitor was troubled, but said nothing.
Later, as the congregation was praying for Christ to be present with them, the visitor stood, and his appearance began to change. Scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and cried out, "What happened to you?" The visitor replied, "I took your place."
Some things that happen in church are silly. Some things are downright scandalous. Some things may even be sacrilegious. But the Church is still the body of Christ and it was for the Church that Christ died.
B. Richard Dennis, Over My Dead Body!
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Priorities
To know and to serve God, of course, is why we're here, a clear truth, that, like the nose on your face, is near at hand and easily discernible but can make you dizzy if you try to focus on it hard. But a little faith will see you through. What else will do except faith in such a cynical, corrupt time? When the country goes temporarily to the dogs, cats must learn to be circumspect, walk on fences, sleep in trees, and have faith that all this woofing is not the last word.
What is the last word, then?
Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music and books, raising kids - all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through.
Garrison Keillor, We Are Still Married, New York: Viking, 1989. From the essay: The Meaning of Life.
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