Jesus Clears the Temple Courts

March 07, 2021, Sunday
Third Sunday of Lent (Violet)
CYCLE B - YEAR I
RDGS: EX 20:1-17 or EX 20:1-3. 7-8. 12-17/ PS 19:8. 9. 10. 11/ 1 COR 1:22-25
GOSPEL: JN 2:13-25

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.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Jesus signed his death warrant when he cast commerce out of the temple. He stood up for the truth about God and about religion and the poor, as the business people of the temple were exploiting the poor with high prices. Lent gives us new insights into how Jesus lived his life, always within the shadow of his death. Even this scene at the start of the gospel has us remembering that this would lead him to death and to glory. The glory of God here is Jesus fully alive to the exploitation of the poor, the mistreatment of the house of God, and fully alive to the faith that was beginning to grow in his disciples.

PRAYER:

Lord, when I look at First Communion outfits, Christening and Confirmation parties, and the manic expenditure on weddings, I feel we need you to come back and purge the worship of God from the distractions of getting and spending. Your anger spelled out a message: money and religion are a dangerous mix.