Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St. John 2: 13-25

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.

1. "Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"

This is a direct message, unadorned and without compromise. This challenge issued to the temple merchants and their clientele speaks loudly to us on this third Sunday of Lent. We might find surprising the harshness with which Jesus provokes the sellers of the Temple. Anger. Indignation. Inquiry. Sadness. So many words that crack like a whip, like the one that Jesus himself made with cords. But, wasn't that whip necessary? 

Because, far from being a malicious anger, it was an anger that expressed the suffering of Christ. How has this place of encounter with God - the Temple - become over time like the world stock exchanges? A place of commerce, exchange, bargaining? This is a place that should be used for offerings. How could one forget King David's desire to build a house for the Lord that would be the permanent reminder of God's presence for all? (2 Samuel 7: 2). The whole history of Israel has shown how much the people of God have suffered from being deprived of their place of assembly, but even more from the trace of God present in all history. Could the people of Israel have lost the memory of what the Temple represents?

Forgetting, fatigue, lack of vigilance, love that goes astray over the days ... The same is true of our relationship with God as in any human relationship where we haven't made time to take care of our covenants. The parasite of boredom, apathy, sterile repetition is doing its work of destruction. So it's good that a bold interruption bursts into our imagined tranquility to wake us up, to get us out of our spiritual monotony. This is one of the issues of this Lenten season. God invites us aside to refashion us, to strengthen us. Gone are the days of a routine faith. It is time for the encounter. This is the moment of rebirth. God invites himself into our history. 

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him…” the book of Revelation reminds us (Rev. 3:20).

Already the Book of Exodus, the first reading of this Sunday, warned us: 

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3).

It is a call to an active memory. Do not forget! Remember the blessings of God. What about us today? Have we remained faithful to this word? The risk is always there to build our own relationship with God as we would build an idol. Easy to manufacture and easy to dominate. God is always the One who frees His people from slavery. He wants us free. Have we entered this space of freedom desired by God for his children, in fidelity with the divine project? In what God am I the believer? In a God who liberates, who saves us in his Son Jesus or a God who would oppress, who would limit all freedom? It is to a renewed and loving relationship that we are invited, that is, to meet an I who speaks to a YOU: God speaks to each of us, to our histories, our desires, our faith, our sin. A dialogue opens with words steeped in history and time. They have not lost their strength and flavor. How good am I at a dialogued, open relationship with my God revealed in Jesus? Is the Law of the Lord a path of freedom opening to an encounter?

St. Paul challenges us in today's second reading, as he takes liberty to question the inhabitants of Corinth. 

"We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:23-24).

Which God do I like to proclaim? A product of my "fabrication" or God revealed in the Scriptures? Is the Book of Scripture always open at home and visible, for our daily nourishment, or have we closed it too quickly since last week? Jesus, crucified Messiah and Wisdom of God: are we properly conveying this message or does it scare us? Are there not moments in which we would like to construct a representation of God according to our own personal criteria, that is to say, those criteria suited to us, that fit into our equation, that please us?

As Paul announces, it is to this “folly” that we are called: to express the love of God for all in his Son Jesus, crucified Messiah. Might we have mitigated or toned down the message of the Gospels to make it more palatable to others according to our criteria? Let's agree to look at this message of faith that we want to announce: is it the message carried by the Church or a softened and rewritten production, like those products on the market that no longer have flavor but that look like a quality product? They may have the name and taste, but have lost their strength. This time of Lent is the time of review, of "technical inspection" of our life of faith. In whom did we put our faith?

2. "God wants to possess our heart exclusively. "

In whom did we put our hope? The question is open. Let's take a little time to answer it. Our brother Lawrence of the Resurrection can help us by his testimony. He asks us about the means we take to allow God to join us. Let's admit that our prayers are sometimes too talkative: we multiply the words or gestures, forgetting that what is essential is our relationship. Brother Lawrence helps us to not confuse the end and the means, the purpose and the methods. Such a way of praying (novena, rosary, ...) is useful if it helps me to enter into relationship with the Lord, but it inhibits me if it becomes in itself a way of pleasing myself. Let's listen to Brother Lawrence:

“God desires to possess [our heart] exclusively,and he can not possess it exclusively without first emptying it of everything other than himself; neither can he act within it nor do there what he pleases (...) ‘I have,' he says, ‘infinite treasures to give you' (...) To advance in the practice of the presence of God we must, however, place all our trust in God and let go of all our cares, including a multitude of private devotions, very good in themselves but often carried out for the wrong reason, for these devotions are nothing more than the means to arrive at the end.” (Letters 3, 1 & 4)

To those who are tired of hearing Brother Lawrence talk about the importance of getting used to living in the presence of God, the Parisian Carmelite responds. He persists and ratifies it:

“You will tell me that I always say the same thing. It is true. I know no other means more appropriate or easier than that! And since I practice no other, I recommend it to everyone. We must know before we can love. To know God we must think of him often. And when our love is strong we will think of him very often for our heart will be where our treasure is. Think about this often and think about this carefully!” (Letter 8)

fr. Didier-Joseph Caullery, ocd (Convent of Avon, France)