Third Sunday of Lent Yr B
Third Sunday of Lent Yr B
04 Mar 2018
Homily
We should not approach the 10 Commandments as a set of prohibitions. A wise lecturer once said to my class that when applying “the rules” one should look at the values the rules are protecting. If we do that, we can see that in fact the 10 Commandments rather than being a set of ‘thou shalt nots” is in fact a very positive guide to how we should our environment and each other.
We begin our week by strengthening our relationship with God. They continue with us positively valuing our families and neighbours – who of course are everybody!
What is your reaction to the Jesus we hear in John’s Gospel today? If it doesn’t shock or make you pause, you have missed the point! This is no “gentle Jesus, meek and mild,” is it? But if we see exploitation and do nothing, then we are enabling it!
What the Temple traders were doing was, on one level, completely practical – they were serving a need. After all, people needed to be able to get an animal fit for sacrifice. It would be expensive to buy or bring an animal to the Temple only to discover that it was in some way unfit. They also needed to change the Roman money they brought with them to the shekels used in the Temple.
The trouble was that the Temple leadership had turned this into a practical monopoly. They would only accept animals bought in the Temple. They set the rate at which the money was changed. They were exploiting the worshippers and sharing the profits with the traders. It was this exploitation of ordinary worshippers that enraged Jesus –as any form of exploitation should enrage us!
There can be a danger that accept things as simply being “the way things are” or “it meets a need”. We do not have to look too far to see examples of that in our own world.
In this gift of Lent, this time to reflect, are there any injustices to which we have become blind to? Where do we need to be shocked or made to reflect? In the picture portrayed in today’s Gospel passage, where are we?