Reflection - Third Sunday of Lent
Expulsion of the merchants from the temple by Andrei Mironov. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Mark’s gospel is ‘out’ until Palm Sunday and John’s gospel is ‘in’. This Sunday’s gospel describes Jesus going into the Temple and attacking the money changers and people selling animals for sacrifice.
The text says that the disciples later remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. Certainly, Jesus shows that there is an aggressive side to his nature. When he healed the leper he groaned in anger at the disease ruining the man’s life.
He was stating that the time of fulfilment had come and in doing these cleansing actions in his Father’s name, he had the authority to do them.
The cleansing of the Temple is in the early part of John’s gospel. Jesus waits around, he does not run away he disputes with the authorities who are outraged by his behaviour.
But what did one of the disciples think of this behaviour – Simon the Zealot? We don’t know from John’s gospel when Simon became a disciple but no doubt he heard of Jesus actions and approved.
Simon belonged to an aggressive political party that wanted to overthrow the Romans and any Jews who were in league with them. No doubt Simon was fired up. This Jesus, he is the man! The Messiah to set the Jewish nation free.
But it wasn’t like that. It was only in retrospect that the apostles and disciples came to understand the meaning of Jesus’ action - in the light of the resurrection: his body the new temple would replace the old temple.
The gospel was written for future generations of believers who did not see him or hear the spoken testimony of the disciples who knew Jesus in the flesh. We come to believe that he is the one sent from God to establish God’s reign by reading the scriptures and by faith given by the Spirit.
The fact is that the cleansing of the Temple was hardly a big deal, the trade would have started again after Jesus’ interruption, giving the people something to talk about. ‘This is the prophet from Galilee! He is giving the authorities a run for their money’.
What was he doing? The authorities believe the Temple worship would go on as it always had. The Temple would continue to be built and worship of God would continue under trying circumstances of Roman occupation.
They do not understand that Jesus is the new Temple, who will be raised up to new life; they misunderstand what he is saying. But he is speaking in the tradition of the prophets who heard God’s word and spoke it to God’s people.
Inevitably the prophets were persecuted and treated badly: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and Hosea spoke God’s word. But God’s people, true to their nature, refused to move on. Jesus, according to John, was the one closest to the Father’s heart. Extraordinary the way God’s people kill God’s prophets; extraordinary that such a cruel demeaning death would be the means of our salvation. We witness the power of God who gives us life.
Columban Fr Gary Walker is currently living at the Columban house in Sandgate, Brisbane.
