The Sacred: Giving the Lord his due

Homily for 3rd Sunday of Lent Year B 2015

Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25

Introduction

Being Jealous is an emotion we usually associate with human beings, but not with God.  And yet in today’s first reading God says of himself: “I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God.”

Similarly, getting upset is an emotion we usually associate with human beings, rarely with God.  And yet in today’s gospel we see one of the rare occasions when Jesus is really ticked off.

And so, we must ask: Why would God be so jealous as to punish for sins down to the third and fourth generations?  Why would Jesus be so upset that he physically drives the traders and money changers out of the temple?

Scripture and Theology

The answer to these questions is as simple as it is straightforward.  The readings of today tell us that when God does not get what is due to him, bad things tend to happen to us.

In the first reading, God gives the Ten Commandments to the people.  The  first three require them to give God his due.

1.    “You shall not have other gods besides me.”

2.    “You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.”

3.    “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day of the Lord.”

And why should the people of Israel do these things for God?  He says: “I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.”  That surely should count for something.  Because God is God and because he has done great things for the people, he surely deserves love, respect for his name, and reverence for his day.

No wonder then that in the gospel, Jesus is compelled to stand up for his Father’s honour.  “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace,” he tells the traders and moneychangers.  Jesus has a special love not just for his Father, but for his Father’s house too.  You will recall that when Jesus was Twelve, on one of their annual trips to Jerusalem, his parents left him there by mistake.  When three days later his parents found him and asked him why he done this to them, his answer was: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

It should not surprise us then, that when Jesus comes to the Temple as an adult, and finds that it has been changed from a place of worship for God, to a meat market and a stock exchange, Jesus gets really riled up.

·        You can imagine the annoying bellowing of the oxen, the bleating of sheep and the repetitively aggravating bird noises, to say nothing about the awful smell that the animal waste must have left behind.

·        You can also imagine the mess caused by large numbers of people trying to get change from the bankers.  If you have ever gone shopping on Black Friday, you know what I am talking about.

But it is not this mess that upsets Jesus. What upsets Jesus is more basic; the place for worshipping God had been turned into something else.

To be fair, the traders and bankers at the temple actually provided an important service to the worshippers who came to offer sacrifice.  Most Jews travelled from very far to come to Jerusalem.  It was therefore much more convenient to buy an animal for sacrifice at the temple itself.  Think about Joseph and Mary who had to travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem.  According to mapquest Nazareth is about 100 miles from Jerusalem, a two and half hour journey by car today, but several days’ journey on foot at the time of Jesus.  So such long-distance pilgrims preferred to buy the animals right there at the temple.  Besides, the animals for sacrifice had to be perfect or else the priests would reject them.  Would you want to take the risk of carrying your sheep all the way from Nazareth only for it to be declared unfit for sacrifice?  So the safe thing to do was to buy an animal from the temple precincts, from the “approved” merchants whose stock was certainly kosher and acceptable.

As for the money changers, their main purpose was to serve those who brought money for alms and donations for the temple.  Most people came with Roman currency and the currency of other foreign nations.  But this money usually had an icon of their pagan rulers, just like our dollar bills do.  So, since this currency bore those pagan images, it was not acceptable in the temple.  The money changers exchanged this unacceptable money for acceptable Jewish coins.

Christian Life

Would we today pass the test of God’s jealousy?  Would Jesus today approve of our places of worship?  In other words, do we give God what is his due, exclusive love for him as God, respect for his name, observance of his day and most of all due reverence for his house?

Thankfully we have not yet turned our churches into a Winn-Dixie, Walgreens or Walmart, although some people would probably want us to have some vending machines for snacks and drinks at the back of church.  Thankfully we have not turned our churches into banking halls, although I have heard it suggested that if we installed ATM machines at the back of church, the collections might go up.  But we don’t do these things, because they would be a distraction from the primary reason for which we come to church, which is, to pray to God, to grow in our relationship with him.

• That is why our churches are quiet places, especially before Mass, to give us time to recollect ourselves, to transition from our world of noise, to God’s world, where he speaks to us in the quiet of our hearts.

• That is why our churches are adorned and decorated differently from our living rooms, from our offices, from conference halls; they are adorned with images of Jesus, Mary and the saints, rather than our worldly heroes, with altars and pews, instead of tables and chairs, a tabernacle instead of a cabinet.  These things should remind us about God and bring us closer to him.

• That is why what takes place in Church, the words we use, the music we sing, the ritual actions we do, standing, kneeling, bowing, genuflecting, are not things we do in our daily life; we do these special things for God, because he is God.

Conclusion

And yet, despite our best efforts, we could do better; we could give God more; we could avoid doing things that might just tick Jesus off, were he to come to our churches today.

·        He would ask some of us to dress a little more respectfully, perhaps more formally, since we come here to encounter a great Person, God the Father.

·        He would ask some of us to behave and speak in church in ways that create an atmosphere of prayer, rather than a place of entertainment or a carnival.

·        He would ask some of us to dedicate a little more time to God, arriving at church well before Mass begins to recollect ourselves.  He would certainly not appreciate that some of us leave right after communion.

There is no better time than the Season of Lent, for us to rededicate ourselves to God.  As we do our almsgiving, our fasting and abstinence, our prayer, may we always give God what is due to God: dignified worship and devoted service.