3rd Sunday of Lent: Year B, 4th March 2018

May you realise by the celebration of this sundays Eucharist that Jesus Christ is the medium of God's presence among us and through whom we worship God the Father in spirit and truth. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Exodus 20, 1-17; 1 Cor. 1,22-25;

John 2, 13-25;  3rd Sunday of Lent: Year B, 4th March 2018)

Let us listen to the gospel reading to find out how it portrayed Jesus Christ especially in what he did and said. This gentle Jesus, who spent a quiet life in the village (John 1,29) and saved a marriage feast in Cana very efficaciously is now being shown under a different aspect. Coming from Galilee to Jerusalem in a private and personal pilgrimage, during the paschal feast, he procured a whip which he used in a serious manner in the temple of Jerusalem. In this way, according to St. John’s Gospel, Jesus started his mission in Jerusalem. In the temple courtyard Jesus met a real and boisterous market: sales of animals destined for sacrificial victims in the temple; bureau de change for foreign pilgrims who needed to pay temple tribute. It could have been very convenient having very close at hand animals for sacrifice in the temple as well as coins for temple tribute and all under the controls of the temple authority, but it did not agree with Jesus’ concept of the house of his Father. He called God his Father and this influenced his behaviour with regards to the house of God, the temple; not everything practical or that brings in money is justifiable. Selling animals for sacrifice is commendable/honourable but it should be kept afar from a place designated as embodying the presence of God where God is venerated. Even though, commerce is regulated by the commandment of God, it should be kept clearly distinct from the house of God. Jesus perceived the abuse; he was not indifferent to it and did not wait but intervened openly, and declares decisively his mind on the issue. The house of the Father manifests the Presence God and this fact should occupy the thoughts and actions of all who are in its precincts; other things are to be eliminated and removed away from the house of the Father. The Jews considered the action of Jesus as presumptuous and wanted to find from him the proof of his authority. Jesus hinted to them in a veiled manner, in signs, the ultimate and decisive confirmation of his action and claim.  With the words: Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up, alluded to his violent death and resurrection. But they understood the words of Jesus as referring to the temple of stones; they miss-understood him completely. Jesus was telling the Jews: You can kill me; you can even challenge my ultimate claim. I will, however, complete my work and will be definitely revealed. Already, in this first conflict between Jesus and the Jews, it was becoming evident what will be the outcome/consequences and what would be the goal of the mission of Jesus: his death and resurrection. Jesus claims would lead to violent death. Through such death a new temple will be raised. The Risen Jesus will be the definitive medium, of the presence of God among his people and, of adoration of God on the part of his people; he would be the perfect house of the Father. The Jews will not be able to prevent the zeal for his Father to reach its perfect end.

           Jesus was always accompanied by his disciples. Here the Evangelist brings their importance to the fore. The disciples are the people through, and in, whom the work of Jesus reaches its conclusion; they are the people who understand and believed in him. Twice in the gospel of John, after Jesus had spoken or performed some work, it was said: His disciples remembered (John 2, 17, 22). The meaning of remembering here is not just bringing out of our memory facts of what had happened before, but a remembrance that helps to understand deeply how things really are. The evangelist expressly declares that such understanding is the outcome of Christ’s resurrection. The disciples have a very long journey to travel, not only, to accompany Jesus but also to understand him. Communal living with him, as such, do not give an instantaneous and deep knowledge of him. It is a special grace for the disciples to remain in such a journey with Jesus, carrying with them all they have experienced, even when they do not fully understand or only when they partly understood. It is by remaining faithful and in exercising patience that they would be led to the full understanding. Accompanying Jesus in his ministry will make it possible to have a glimpse of his life, his words, his works and entire mission. But it is only his resurrection that would throw light that  will illumine all darkness. 

            The affirmation in the gospel reading: Zeal for your house will devour me is taken from Psalm 69 which is a prayer of an ancient persecuted person. This psalm will be quoted another three times in the gospel of John (15, 25; 19, 28. 29), all in reference to the passion of Christ. Though, in 2,17, in our passage, it is affirmed not only that Jesus was full of zeal for the house of the Father but also that this zeal will cause his death. Remembering this, the disciples understood the true reason or cause of his death and understood that such death finds confirmation in the word of God. In Jesus’ death, there is the issue of God and the understanding of God. Jesus did not die because he offended God, but because he was engaged in a very unique way for him. Remembering, the disciples understood through the Scriptures the death of Jesus and believed in the Scriptures; they also understood the words of Jesus and believed in him. The words of Jesus acquired, for them, the same value as the words of the Scriptures; it became for them the word of God. Taking signal from the Scriptures, they understood the reason for the death of Jesus and taking a move from his words of Jesus, they understood the meaning of the resurrection as the definitive medium of the presence and of all the search of God. The new temple or the place of worship is his divine body. It is the privileged place to experience the presence of God, the place of meeting with God, because as St. Paul holds, the whole fullness of Deity (Divinity) dwells bodily in him (Col 2,9). In this vein, recall how Jesus retorted to Phillip who wanted him to show him the Father, he said: Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14, 8-9). He also told Thomas: I am the way, the truth and life: no one comes to the Father, except through me (John 14,6). In a way, one can say that Jesus is the centre of the universe, the medium of our communication with God, and the very presence of God in our midst. What is your reaction to this reality about Christ? When we accept him in faith, we are accepting his claims. We accept that he is the centre of the universe, the medium of our communication with God, the presence of God in our midst. We may profess this belief, but do our lives reflect it? We should, therefore, make effort to get connected to him through prayer, reception of the Sacraments, works of charity, reading and reflection on the Word of God. Happy Sunday!+John I. Okoye

graphics  by charles