HOMILY LENT SUNDAY 3 – B
Living a Religion of the Heart
(Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 18; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-25; John 2:13-25)
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An elderly lady was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country. “Is there anything breakable in here?” asked the postal clerk. “Only the Ten Commandments,” answered the lady.
The readings for this third Sunday of Lent invite us to express our faith in God by living out a religion from the heart.
The first reading from Exodus begins with the line, “God spoke all these words” and continues with the Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue that God gave to Moses, the great giver of the Law. The God who delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt was now gifting them with a way to life. The purpose of the Law was to make them a people set apart, a chosen people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. It was to make them so gifted and special that they were to attract all the other nations to God. In a sense, the Law was to empower them to reverse the sin of Adam and Eve, the sin of disobedience and stubborn self-will.
Turning to the Gospel, we see that it begins with the words “the Passover of the Jews was near.” That is a significant note. The Passover was the greatest feast of the Jews, a celebration of their liberation from slavery in Egypt through the flesh and blood of a sacrificial lamb. It was also a celebration of the gift of the Decalogue to them as a people.
However, we know that these commandments were written on stone, but not on their hearts. They rebelled and repeated the sin of Adam and Eve. They went even further, fashioning for themselves an idol, a calf out of gold that they could take where they wanted to go, instead of following where God wanted to lead them and teach them. From this event we learn the limits of the Law. It could only name sin, not change human hearts. The consequences of that shortcoming affected the Chosen people right up to the time of Jesus.
What Jesus encountered was a court of the gentiles within the temple that had become a market place. The poor were being gouged because the purity laws dictated that they had to buy their sacrifices from the temple at a higher rate than elsewhere. The commercialism also meant that the gentiles could not worship and thus were being excluded. In short, like their ancestors in the desert, the Jews were unfaithful to the covenant, to the Decalogue. Only now this infidelity took place in the heart of their religion, the temple. The temple worship had become corrupt and sacrificial only, still written on stone, and not yet on their hearts.
In Ezekiel, we are told that the corruption of this temple worship was so bad in his time that the shekinah or glory of the Lord rose up and left the temple in the direction of the East. One of the roles of the expected messiah was to restore the glory of the Lord to the Temple. Others believed that the messiah would “perfect” the temple. It is for this reason that Jesus cleanses the temple. He is the messiah fulfilling the role of the messiah, restoring and perfecting the temple.
When questioned about his actions, Jesus simply tells the Jews, “Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up.” John goes on to say “But Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body.” So, Jesus is not just the messiah carrying out the role of the messiah. He is also the new temple, then new dwelling place of God among us.
John tells us that the people believed in his name, in who Jesus is, the messiah, because of the signs that he was doing. We also have the prophets and the words of Jesus to teach us and guide us. How strong is our faith in Jesus as the messiah, the new temple? After all, just as God gave the Law to the Hebrew people in the desert, so too Jesus has given us everything – his intimate, loving relationship with the Father, his friendship, his knowledge of the Father, his unconditional love, and the fullness of his Spirit.
John cautions us against a quick and superficial answer to this question. Jesus knew what was in people’s hearts, minds and spirits. He knows what is in our hearts. We are also temples of the Holy Spirit. Are our hearts lined up accordingly?
While the Decalogue has been superseded by the Great Commandment, it is good to revisit it, especially the command against any idolatry (in a society that is so addicted to idols), honouring our parents (in a society that has so many dysfunctional families), not using God’s name in vain (in a society where there is so much swearing and cussing) and no coveting (in a society of so many Ponzi schemes and the taking advantage of the poor). The Decalogue, the Ten Commandments can serve as an examination of conscience for us with regard to how well we are responding to the awesome gift of God’s love.
The Eucharist is our new Passover meal. We ponder the Word of God and are nourished by the Body and Blood of the true Lamb of God. Our response must surely go far beyond the response of the Israelites in the desert, and the religion of the religious leaders at the time of Christ. May the law of love be truly written on our hearts and may we express our faith in God by living, day in and day out, a religion of the heart.
