3RD SUNDAY HOMILY OF LENT [YEAR B]  

3RD SUNDAY HOMILY OF LENT [YEAR B] 

THEME: Marketers in God’s Temple

BY: Fr. Justus Oruh

(a) Jesus was familiar with God’s Temple from infancy and from that time he knew what it used to be like, a place of prayer and of teaching the Word and Commandment of God, a place of sacrifice to God. On his first experience when He was dedicated, it was a sacrifice made to God, (the parents had to come with at least a pair of turtle dove or two young pigeons Luke 2:24), prayerful people; Simeon and Anna were the type and caliber of people met in the serene Temple. The former was prompted by the Spirit and he went to the temple (Luke 2:27). The later worshipped God in the Temple with fasting and prayers, day and night. Thus maintaining the decorum of the place of worship. Jesus was seen in the Temple teaching and instructing elders. In the Temple, he read and taught from the scriptures – the prophecy of Isaiah. Today, he came and saw that the Temple has become another thing altogether, everything has become awry, filled with the caliber of marketers. The Temple has become a market place, a place for profit making. This was not the Temple Jesus knew from infancy. And he did not keep silence about that. He made a whip!

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(b) What has become of the Temple and the Church in our Time. A noisy place? a movie industry? A place of entertainment? A place to seek for suitors? A place to seek Miracles, signs and wonders? A place of money and profit making, A business Limited? A place of political campaign? A place to seek and register selfish and personal interest, to be seen? Are we still prompted by the Spirit like Simeon to go to the Church for worship? Is the Word of God really relegated, what about the commandments as listed in Exodus 20:1-17, Have they “in our wisdom” become obsolete? Are true Christian teachings and catechesis still going on in the Church and some worship centres? These teachings and commandments make no sense anymore for some people, “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1Cor.1:23). “Modernism” seems to have eaten deep into us. What urges us to come to Church or to minister to the people? St Paul says, “the love of Christ urges us” (2.Cor.5:14) and for Jesus, the zeal of my Fathers house consume me (John 2:17) Are we consumed in all honesty for the Church of Christ. Amid the crowd in the Church today, God knows those who are His own (2Tim.2:19). He can distinguish true worshipers of the Father from the marketers in His Temple. If Christ is to visit our Church today and our worship centres, what type of whip will he make?

(c) “And the Temple He was talking was his body” And our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit(1Cor. 6:19). What goes on within us, the Temples of God? What type of thoughts do we entertain in our hearts? May they not be such that will make Jesus make a whip against us on the last day. Jesus tells us now in time, “take these things out of here, stop turning my Father’s house into a market place” (John 2:16). Let us take away evil and immoral thoughts away from our hearts and bodies and strive to maintain the sanctity and serenity of the Temple. So will our hearts not be noisy, distracted with mundane cares and a market place. Let us occupy ourselves with the Word and Law of God. “Blessed is the man who delights in the Law and Commandment of the Lord (Ps. 1:2), the favour of the Lord is on Him. “My eyes are drawn to the one who trembles at my Words”. (Isaiah 66:2). “Take these things out of here…” (John 2:16). May we utilize these 40 days of Lent to take away from our minds and bodies those evil thoughts and behaviours.

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