Homily 3rd Sunday of Lent - Cycle B - Spring-cleaning and cleansing our temples

It looks like winter is finally coming to an end and spring is just around the corner.   After being cooped up in the house for the last few weeks of cold and snow I bet you’re ready for some warmer weather and a change from the drab scenery.   Along with the warmer weather comes everyone’s favorite activity: Spring-cleaning.   It’s time to do some deep cleaning and get rid of the clutter that’s accumulated in the house and garage over the winter, and freshen things up.   It’s amazing after a thorough cleaning how you can see things in a new light.   This season of Lent helps us to clean up and get rid of the clutter in our spiritual lives, so we can get ready for the new season of Easter.

Jesus was doing some clean up today as we hear the Gospel of the cleansing of the temple. He was doing this with an attitude to make a point.  We hear he made a whip out of cords, overturned table of coins, and drove animals out of the temple area.  Why would he do this?  The moneychangers and merchants were necessary for the pilgrims’ visit to the temple.   People had traveled a long way on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and had to make an offering to God in the temple.  They weren’t able to bring offerings with them on these long trips so they needed to purchase them when they got to Jerusalem.   They also needed to exchange the Roman coins that had pagan symbols on them, which were prohibited in the temple, for Jewish money that was acceptable for use in the temple.  These merchants & moneychangers were located in the court of the Gentiles and outside of the temple proper and weren’t interfering with worship. So both of these services seemed to be legitimate to the needs of the people, but their presence was probably distracting.

When Jesus enters the temple it makes these offerings obsolete, because the temple was no longer necessary to worship God.    Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, the person of God in human flesh and blood.  He was there to fully reveal God to humanity through His presence.  Jesus is making the point that He is the new temple, through the temple of His body.   He will reveal who he is through the miracles of healing, casting out demons, and forgiving sins. But he knew the people of Israel would be slow to accept this.  They were too caught up in their old ways of worship and could not recognize who Jesus is, the Messiah and Son of God. So he stirs things up by cleansing the temple.   When challenged by Jews in the temple of why he did this his response is: “To destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  The Jews had no idea of what he meant by this.   It took forty-six years to build the temple, and they could not fathom what he meant by rebuilding in three day.    This would only make sense to those who heard it after his crucifixion and resurrection.

We can as well get caught up in our old routines that clutter up our ability to recognize Jesus and who he is if we don’t take time to do some spiritual cleaning of our own temples. As baptized Christians we make up the Body of Christ.  If Jesus is the new temple, we participate in it as being part of the Body of Christ.  How do we clean up our own temples individually and as a community:  Through our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and alms giving that bring us to repentance.   During Lent we have plenty of opportunities to clean up our temples by assessing what’s cluttering up our spiritual lives and receiving the sacrament of reconciliation.  

If we are going to make a good confession, we need to take some time and do a good assessment of our relationship with God and our neighbor.  Last week Father Vince gave us some good ideas to start on this assessment by reflecting on attitudes we need to fast from and also feast on.  This week we read about the Ten Commandments to given to Moses.  By following these it helps us to live as Jesus teaches: to love God and neighbor.  These commandments help us assess what clutter to remove from our lives. Most of the commandments are written in a negative context: thou shall not.  In the Lenten spirit of the changing our hearts & repenting it may be better to think of these as actions to avoid or in some cases to do, so we can be free from sin and love God and neighbor. When we review the commandants its a good idea examine our sins of omissions as well which the actions we should be doing, but may not be doing that well, to show our love for our neighbor.  For example have I been generous with the gifts God have given me and shared them with those who are most in need?  The beatitudes are a good tool to reflect on this as they help us determine if our actions are being Christ like.

So as you do some spring-cleaning at home remember to clean out the clutter that keeps you from being in relationship with Jesus, so you can be prepared at Easter to recognize Jesus as our Savior who builds up the Body of Christ.  May God bless all of you!