Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for March 19, 2006
Liturgical Year B-Cycle II
3rd Sunday of Lent
by Fr. John Carney
Topic: The Cleansing of the Temple 
+  +  +

Gospel
John 2: 13-15
Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,  as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,  and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables,  and to those who sold doves he said, “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. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them,  “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said,  “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,  and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,  his disciples remembered that he had said this,  and they came to believe the Scripture  and the word Jesus had spoken.


While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,  many began to believe in his name  when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all,  and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the previous two weeks, the scriptures, to some degree, have focused on God’s love for us.  In the last two weeks, in my sermons, I focused on the fact that Jesus weeps in love for us. He weeps when we sin because he loves us so and he knows that sin hurts us.  Last week, we heard that the Father loves us so much that he sent us his only son.  He was willing to sacrifice his only son out of love for us.  In the scripture today, particularly in the Gospel, we again see God’s love for us except this time Jesus is not shedding tears from sadness; he’s shedding tears with anger.  Jesus is clearly angry as he cleanses the temple.  He makes a whip and drives man and beast alike out of the temple area because the zeal for his Father’s house consumed him.  Jesus was angry.  He was indignant and displayed righteous anger over what had happened to the temple.
 
This scripture is important for a couple of reasons.  Oftentimes, people think that anger in itself, is sinful.  Now, we all know of course that anger is considered one of the seven deadly sins.  At times, it is sinful not to be angry.  When you are faced with injustice, when you are faced with desecration of God’s temple, the right reaction is to be angry.  
 
Now, there are some who are permanently angry and that’s not what we’re talking about.  Indeed, they are a poison to the body of Christ and need the help of confession or a psychiatrist.  However, it is good to be angry about the right things because Jesus shows us it is okay.  He was angry because of what was going on at the temple.  Of course, you know that the temple was the center of Jewish life.  Jews believed that God was in the temple physically.  They believed He was omnipresent but they believed in a very particular way that He resided in the temple.  In the middle of the temple was the Holy of Holies that contained fragments of the Ten Commandments that we heard about in the first reading from Moses.  This was the Word of God and therefore, where the Word of God is, God is.  That was the center of the temple and all was built around it. 
 
The temple had been desecrated a number of times.  Most recently, some two hundred years before Christ, the ruler of the region, King Antiochus from Syria, had desecrated it.  He turned the temple into a place of his personal worship.  Indeed, the god Zeus was worshiped there and the temple was desecrated.  A great rebellion occurred and Judas Maccabee cleansed the temple and then rededicated it.  That is where the Jewish feast of Hanukkah comes from today--the rededication of the temple in about 175 BC.
 
Jesus knew that and the people knew it.  Nevertheless, Jesus looked at the temple and realized that it was time again to cleanse it.  It needed some “spring cleaning” and he went about to do that.  The temple had grown into a place of commerce.  Jews weren’t permitted to have any symbol of the Gentiles on their person when they were in the temple.  Of course, the coinage of the day had an image of Caesar on it.  So, they would have to exchange the Roman coins for shekels, the Jewish coin.  In so doing, someone made money and in fact, someone made a lot of money.  Additionally, they would buy sacrificial animals to offer sacrifice and they were charged exorbitant prices and were cheated.

Jesus saw all of that and realized what had happened to the temple, His Father’s house. He became indignant and cleansed it physically and violently. 
 
Now, that’s all very interesting but what does that have to do with us, on this Third Sunday of Lent, in the year 2006?  We never gather here to have a history lesson.  The history of the scriptures is important and interesting but it’s not why we’re here today.  We’re here today to get something out of the scriptures for ourselves, something to make us better and more holy.  I think the Church, in her wisdom, put this scripture about the cleansing of the temple at this time, about midway through Lent, to remind us that it is time for us to cleanse our temple. 
 
Each one of us in baptism became a temple of the Holy Spirit.  In an hour or so, this little boy, William Carl will be baptized and he’ll become the perfect symbol of the Holy Spirit.  Look at him.  Could you stand and show us William Carl?  See?  All right.  We were like that once too.  What happened to you?  Look at you.  We need to be cleansed.  Original sin is taken away in baptism.  The spirit of God rests on this boy.  When the Father looks at William, he’ll see Jesus, his son, whom he loves perfectly.  That’s what baptism will do for William and that’s what baptism has done for us. 
 
Now, over the years, this temple has become sullied. It has become cluttered with all the noise of life and the busyness of life, with all the relationship issues and problems, with all the worries and concerns.  Our temples are so filled with these things there is little room for God.  Today is a good day to clean them up. 
 
I would ask you to join with me in prayer now, as we pray for God to be with us in these final days of Lent, to give us the grace to set things right with Him and to be pure and holy as He is.  Please bow your heads as we pray.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.  Create in me a clean heart, open and receptive so that I may be present to you as you are to me.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, cleared of the refuse of old battles with others and deadly opposition with myself.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, with the courage to confess my sins and amend my life.  Create in me a clean heart; free from the clutter of a busy world so that I can enjoy the beauty of life’s simple things and relish the gifts I easily take for granted.  Create in me a clean heart, cleansed from harsh thoughts, shame, and perfectionist tendencies.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, brushed free of frantic busyness, so that I will have time to dwell with you in the listening space of solitude and silence.  Create in me a clean heart, scrubbed of racism and prejudice.  Draw me toward all as my sisters and brothers.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, washed with your mercy and strengthened by your love, helping me move beyond whatever keeps me from union with you.  Create in me a clean heart this day, O God, cleansed of anxiety and lack of trust, restoring in me an enduring faith and the simple trust of a baby in your abiding presence and unconditional love.  Create in me a clean heart, we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.