THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B

Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 18:8-18
1Corinthians 1:22-25
John 2:13-25

THE PASSION IN PERSPECTIVE

Today is the third Sunday of Lent, a time for conversion and coming back to God. But for some of us, Sunday has become like any other day for business, a day for morning jogging, recreation, shopping or enjoyment. And Christianity is becoming more of an entertainment industry, a means of making money. But Sunday must be for us a day holy to the Lord, a day of worship. This is what the third of the Ten Commandments asks of us as presented in the first reading (Ex. 20:1-17).

Today’s gospel speaks of the cleansing of the Temple. Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive away those selling and buying in the Temple. Why did Jesus do that? Because the people had turned the House of God into a market, the Temple into a supermarket, the house of prayer into a business center. Religion had become an enterprise.

Moreover, it was hard for the Jews to understand what Jesus meant when he said: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” But the text explains that he was speaking of the temple of his body. This event therefore invites us to have in mind what lies before us in this Lenten season: the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (John 2:13-25).

This is the centre of Christianity: the cross and the empty tomb. We preach a crucified Christ, says Paul in the second reading. The drama of the cross, however, was nonsense for the pagans and a stumbling block to the Jews. But for us, it was and is still the power and wisdom of God. For on the cross hang the one who has saved us (1Cor. 1:22-25).

May the Lord help us to accept the reality of the cross and follow Christ carrying our own crosses.
Amen.