Today, on the third
Sunday of Lent, we have a very vivid Gospel story of Jesus going into the
Temple. Here is the supreme place of
worship for the Jews in Ancient Israel, a place where they came to make
sacrifices and offerings to God, a place that was seen as God’s special
dwelling place. But there were merchants
in the Temple selling animals that were used in these sacrifices. The money changers were also there to help
facilitate these financial transactions.
Jesus looked out at this scene where he saw so many people caught up in
the commerce and finance of what was going on.
He saw the spiritual aspects of this holy place being degraded,
disregarded, and disrespected. Jesus took
out his frustration and anger as he cleansed the Temple of the money changers
and the merchants. He took a whip,
overturning the tables, spilling the coins all over the floor. These coins falling onto the floor can be a
good symbol for us during Lent. Just as Jesus cleansed the Temple of the coins
in our Gospel reading this morning, our lives of faith need to be cleansed from
all that is degrading our lives and tearing us down, of all that is distracting
us, of all that is keeping us from God.
Those who saw what Jesus was doing in the Temple didn’t understand his words; they didn’t comprehend his actions in the cleansing of this holy place. So they ask: “What sign can you show us, (Jesus), for doing this?” They want him to perform some sort of miracle, I suppose. So often we want our own sign, we want Jesus to fit into this neat and tidy box, we want him to meet our own expectations. Yet, Paul tells us, that although many demand more signs from Jesus, we proclaim Christ crucified. The Roman Empire used the act of crucifying someone to death to humiliate, suppress, and silence those who were upset the status quo, those who were seen as the enemies of the Empire. But for us as Christians, the cross is the means of our redemption and our salvation; the cross is the means by which the Son of God is revealed to us in his fullness. Paul sees the crucifixion of Jesus as the means by which our Lord has chosen to interact with us in a very special way in his service to humanity. We may attempt to encounter God on our own terms, to find him in wisdom or in miraculous signs of our own choosing. Finding spiritual significance is Jesus’ death on the cross is not something we could rationally imagine for ourselves. But it is the way that God chose to bring us redemption.
I think about those coins Jesus spilled from the tables in the Temple, of the cows, the sheep, and the money changers that were driven away. Christ’s death and resurrection changed everything. Nothing else was the same in the history of salvation after what happened on the cross. I wonder what Jesus would think of us, if he would come in here in disgust to overturn our tables, our pews, our altar. Or would he approve of the way we are forming a Christian community in his name, in the ways in which we are living out our Christian faith?
The symbols we have in our faith can be interpreted in different ways. We can think of the coins that were spilled out in the Temple by Jesus in anger. We can also think of those few coins that the widow placed in the collection plate, those coins that did not add up to a lot of money, but that represented a huge sacrifice for her. We have been collecting money in our Outreach Jar during Lent. The children and youth have had their own collection jar as well, giving alms as part of their observance of this holy season of Lent. Those coins put in these jars represent our way of reaching out to others, of making a commitment to care for people in our community, especially those in great need. Recently, some of the youth from St Richard’s gave me some coins in Euros from our trip to Rome last year. What a nice remembrance of our trip. It was so thoughtful of them to do so, to remember me in that way. To me, these coins remind me of our pilgrimage to see where our Church is headquartered and of that experience I shared with those youth and their parents.
God is calling out to us as we journey in faith during Lent. He asks us to think not only of those things that need to be cleansed out of our lives, but also what the cross, the coins, and the other symbols of our faith mean to us. We are called to ponder the way in which we can use these symbols of faith to help us make this a truly meaningful time for us.
Those who saw what Jesus was doing in the Temple didn’t understand his words; they didn’t comprehend his actions in the cleansing of this holy place. So they ask: “What sign can you show us, (Jesus), for doing this?” They want him to perform some sort of miracle, I suppose. So often we want our own sign, we want Jesus to fit into this neat and tidy box, we want him to meet our own expectations. Yet, Paul tells us, that although many demand more signs from Jesus, we proclaim Christ crucified. The Roman Empire used the act of crucifying someone to death to humiliate, suppress, and silence those who were upset the status quo, those who were seen as the enemies of the Empire. But for us as Christians, the cross is the means of our redemption and our salvation; the cross is the means by which the Son of God is revealed to us in his fullness. Paul sees the crucifixion of Jesus as the means by which our Lord has chosen to interact with us in a very special way in his service to humanity. We may attempt to encounter God on our own terms, to find him in wisdom or in miraculous signs of our own choosing. Finding spiritual significance is Jesus’ death on the cross is not something we could rationally imagine for ourselves. But it is the way that God chose to bring us redemption.
I think about those coins Jesus spilled from the tables in the Temple, of the cows, the sheep, and the money changers that were driven away. Christ’s death and resurrection changed everything. Nothing else was the same in the history of salvation after what happened on the cross. I wonder what Jesus would think of us, if he would come in here in disgust to overturn our tables, our pews, our altar. Or would he approve of the way we are forming a Christian community in his name, in the ways in which we are living out our Christian faith?
The symbols we have in our faith can be interpreted in different ways. We can think of the coins that were spilled out in the Temple by Jesus in anger. We can also think of those few coins that the widow placed in the collection plate, those coins that did not add up to a lot of money, but that represented a huge sacrifice for her. We have been collecting money in our Outreach Jar during Lent. The children and youth have had their own collection jar as well, giving alms as part of their observance of this holy season of Lent. Those coins put in these jars represent our way of reaching out to others, of making a commitment to care for people in our community, especially those in great need. Recently, some of the youth from St Richard’s gave me some coins in Euros from our trip to Rome last year. What a nice remembrance of our trip. It was so thoughtful of them to do so, to remember me in that way. To me, these coins remind me of our pilgrimage to see where our Church is headquartered and of that experience I shared with those youth and their parents.
God is calling out to us as we journey in faith during Lent. He asks us to think not only of those things that need to be cleansed out of our lives, but also what the cross, the coins, and the other symbols of our faith mean to us. We are called to ponder the way in which we can use these symbols of faith to help us make this a truly meaningful time for us.
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