The Gospel for the third week of Lent gives us a glimpse into a side of Jesus that we don’t see often in the Gospels. The Jesus we know and recognize is peaceful and compassionate. But not in this Gospel, for sure. He comes into the temple –the beautiful temple in Jerusalem that has become the dwelling place of God for the Jewish people. As He enters the temple area in Jerusalem this day, He sees the money changers doing business very close to the places where people pray and where the sacrifices are offered, and suddenly, without preamble, His anger erupts! I can imagine the fire in His eyes and the vehemence with which He uses the whip to knock empty cages and baskets of coins off the tables onto the floor.
There would already have been a chaotic air about this part of the temple. People would have been arguing with the money changers who demanded that the common currency be changed into special coins to be used only for the purchase of sacrificial animals, and, predictably, the rate of exchange was unpredictable. There were obviously merchants demanding unfair prices for certain animals. Then, there’s the chance that if people were bringing their own animals for sacrifice (which many did in those days) the sheep might not pass muster with the attendants who examined them for worthiness for the sacrifice. Some things never change. Oh, the human desire for control and for riches….
Now, to have our gentle Jesus suddenly raising His voice and wielding the whip would have caused quite a stir even amidst the cacophony of the otherwise sacred space.
He said, ‘Stop making My Father’s House a marketplace!’ (Other translations read, ‘Stop making [this House of prayer] a den of thieves!’)
The temple authorities are shocked and want to know who He is to think He can just come in and ‘take over’ like that. He responds with the truth and makes them angry. Evidently this incident does not end well for the money changers–or for Jesus.
The last verse mentions that during this stay in Jerusalem He does work some miracles, and some people begin to believe in Him. Now here’s the heartbreaking part, though:
But Jesus would not entrust Himself to them because He knew them all and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He Himself understood it well (Jn 2:25).
He would not entrust Himself to them. Are there sadder words in the Bible? God comes down from Heaven to ransom all of us from the clutches of the evil one, and here early in His public ministry He seems to fail at winning the heart of His people. That crushing feeling of failure is something that Jesus understands. First, His Father’s House of prayer has become a marketplace, a den of thieves. Then people see His miracles and that’s all they see: not that He is God who loves them, but only the miracles. Humanly speaking, Jesus feels the same sense of loneliness and failure at this point in His life that most of us have experienced at one time or another in ours: Who can I trust? The people I love just don’t understand me. What’s so important to me just isn’t important to anyone else. Earlier in the week in the Gospel for Wednesday, we heard Jesus tell His chosen apostles, ‘The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes and will be condemned to death (Mt. 20). For Jesus, ‘handed over’ meant ‘betrayed.’…). Have you ever felt betrayed? Jesus understands about betrayal. Talk with Him about your own struggles with these experiences in your life, especially if they are still tormenting you from the past.
On another note, though, there is the urgency in Jesus’ anger because His Father’s House (temple) is irreverenced by the schemes and sinfulness of those who worked there. During our Lectio Divina in our convent this week when we prayed with this Gospel, two Sisters spoke about what was placed on their hearts by the Holy Spirit as we sat quietly waiting for Him to speak. They felt God pointing out to them that their own souls were the Temple of God, the House of God, since He has taken up residence in all our hearts. They shared that He wants to find in our own personal temples a purity and devotion that befits Him, the King of their souls.
Lent is a time that hopes to be more about rising than about falling. So rather than concentrating on our sins and failings during Lent, it’s good to look to the Gospels and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit as we allow our souls to be transformed into a sacred space for God. Yes, we need Jesus to clear out any patterns of sinfulness within us, but for the purpose of building up the holiness of our inner temple, our House of Prayer. Let us think back to our hopes for Lent when we began three weeks ago, and ask Jesus to show us what He sees in us. We might be pleasantly surprised.
Jesus, tell me what You see
When You rest Your gaze on me.
O Holy Ghost, my soul possess
With Your full flood of holiness.
adapted from the hymn for Daytime Prayer,
Liturgy of the Hours.
Have a blessed Third week of Lent.
and then