Gospel Jn 2:13-25
Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.
Homily
As many of you may be aware, I love western movies probably because they epitomize the characteristic most common to human beings. Human beings do not like limits. We push against barriers always. In western movies there are almost always persons pushing the limits of the frontiers in spite of terrible dangers. This, almost necessity to resist limits, is at times good, at times essential, but at times it can be evil especially when the limits against which we push are the rights of other human beings and the rights of God.
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In the Gospel given to us today for our meditation we have an example of the evil which results from pushing against the rights of God. All the Gospels describe Jesus’ cleansing of the temple. We take it for granted therefore that this was a historical event. For the Israelites of the time of Jesus, roman denarii and attic drachmas carried the portraits of pagan or roman leaders and were therefore unacceptable for paying the temple tax. Remember the prohibition in the law against graven images. Money changers were therefore necessary for exchanging these coins for the coins which bore no portraits. Animals, too, were necessary for sacrifice, but it seems the danger of an escaped animal entering the holy of holies was a risk originally avoided by keeping them outside the Temple precincts. It was likely Caiaphas who introduced them into the Temple precincts. The temple and the Holy of Holies was God’s space. It was a place for prayer and communion with God. There were clearly limits set which would ensure that the temple would remain a place of prayer. The inclusion of commercial activity within the temple was and is a clear example of pushing back the limits which had been set but the distractions which these activities brought with them had clearly robbed the temple of the climate of the holy and made it difficult for the believer who went to the temple to commune with God. Jesus’ action was meant to restore to the temple the climate or atmosphere it was meant to have. What does Jesus action mean for us today?
We live in an age in which we have pushed the frontiers of life to extraordinary levels. We have extended the frontiers of space, of medicine, of human endurance, of speed to levels which fifty years ago we thought impossible. The danger in all of this is that because we have pushed limits so far we have begun to think that we are God and we no longer accept the limits which God has placed on us especially where morality and ethics are concerned. The Ten Commandments are no longer inviolable. We decide what is right and what is wrong. We decide who must live and who must not. We decide who is worthy of love and who is not. Because of this we live a relativism in which each one considers him/herself the arbiter of right or wrong and the unchangeable moral law is set aside. Such a way of life is unacceptable for the person who considers him/herself a disciple of Jesus. Disciples of Jesus do not exempt themselves from the demand to love their enemies, to turn the other cheek, to love the other as Christ loved, to forgive seventy times seven, to not commit adultery etc. This is how the saints, our heroes in the faith lived. They accepted the limits set by God. Their lives tell us that we can live in that way also.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, you set limits for us for our good and the good of those who surround us. History has taught us that when we resist these limits we court disaster. Give us the wisdom to understand and accept these limits, confident that you know better than we do what is good for us and that they are signs of your love for humanity. Never let us set ourselves up as if we are God for that road leads to all the selfishness which surrounds us. Help us to imitate the great saints and through acceptance of your limits make this world a better place for all. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and Jesus your son. Amen.
