Jesus drives sin out of our souls, making us holy temples

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, March 11, 2012, the Third Sunday of Lent | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Ex 20:1-17
• Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11
• 1 Cor 1:22-25
• Jn 2:13-25

Parish bulletins are not usually memorable. But at least one is stuck in my memory banks. Several years ago, visiting a parish, I was surprised to read a pointed message from the pastor in the bulletin. After lamenting several moral failings within the parish, the priest wrote (and I paraphrase): "And so I have concluded that everyone could use a refresher course in how to live as a Christian should." And then he listed the Ten Commandments.

Is it fair to say we hear about the Ten Commandments far more often than we hear or read the actual commandments? I think so. Thankfully, we get to hear them in today's Old Testament reading. There were, of course, hundreds of other commandments given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai. But the Decalogue—the "ten words"—form the moral heart of the Mosaic covenant and the Law. 

The historical background and spiritual context for the commandments was the liberation of the Israelites from four hundred years of slavery in Egypt. Together, the commandments described and prescribed "the conditions of a life freed from the slavery of sin" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par 2057). But the commandments were not to be followed out of mere fear or in a state of blind subjection. Yes, God stated that he is a "jealous God" who punishes wickedness, but he also made it known that he bestows mercy "on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments." Far from being a distant God without care or concern, the one true God is active and involved in human history; he is a Creator who loves his creation.

The love and obedience due to God are to be demonstrated by man through holiness and worship—that is, through right relationships with other men and with God. The establishment of the Sabbath was unique. No other people of the ancient world had anything like it. They measured time based on lunar phases and the solar cycle, but the Sabbath is not based on the sun, moon, or stars. Its creation is rooted in the seven days of creation and points to the Creator outside of time and beyond nature—the One who created both time and nature.

For first century Jews, the Temple in Jerusalem was God's dwelling place on earth, the house of the Creator and the embodiment of God's covenant with King David (cf. 2 Sam 7:8-16). It was where sacrifices were made for the atonement of sins. But during the time of Christ it was also the home of a lucrative system of money changing and the selling of animals to pilgrims who came to offer sacrifices during Passover and other feasts. There were fees for changing currency and for having the to-be-sacrificed animals inspected and confirmed as pure and unblemished according to the Law. Price gauging was common. The house of God had become, in many ways, a supermarket and a "den of robbers" (Jer 7:11).

The actions of Jesus are shocking, even violent. But it is the righteous violence of love, the zealous passion of a Son for his Father's house. Such love cannot give sin free reign or allow impurity to go unchallenged. Casting out the moneychangers, St. John Chrysostom wrote, was not "the actions of a pretender but of one choosing to suffer everything for the order of the house."

In fact, Jesus' actions in the Temple were part of the announcement, initially cryptic but clear in hindsight, of His death and Resurrection. He is "the true temple of God" (CCC, par 1197), and he came to establish a new law, a new covenant, and a new household. This was, Paul told the Corinthians (in today's Epistle), a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 

Jesus is the only one able to drive sin and impurity out of our souls, making us holy temples. Who better to show us how to live as a Christian—a disciple of Christ—with love and obedience?

 (This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the March 15, 2009, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)