HOMILY FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B (6)

1st reading – Ex. 20:1-17

2nd reading – 1 Cor. 1:22-25

Gospel – Jn. 2:13-25

The language of our topic sounds force-like. It suggests that Jesus really applied some force (“making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple – Jn 2:15). Yes, it is a Divine Operation which Jesus carried out to ensure that His Father’s house, nay, His own house is cleaned up.

After Jesus had done the clean-up exercise, the Jews questioned his authority for doing that. “Tell us, they said, what authority have you for acting like this? Or who is it that gave you this authority?” – Lk. 20:2. Yes, they were right to have asked such. Had anybody ever dashed forcefully into another person’s house to enforce sanitation, much more to do it by self? It must either be that the house belonged to Him or the owner mandated Him. The question was too demeaning for Jesus to answer them a word directly or to argue on who owns the temple. Psalm 24:1 says “The Lord’s is the Earth and its fullness”. Vs7-10 commands the gates to be opened. They needed not ask, the prophet Malachi foretold that the Lord they seek would suddenly enter into His Temple. Mal. 3:1. I love that song “My father owns the land x2..”

It is perplexing to know that Jesus went further again to speak of the destruction of the temple. Is it just the same temple He had fought violently to save? He made it clear that it was the temple of His body. The body of Christ is the true temple where this sanitation must be done. It is in St Paul that we understand effectively that we are the very Temple of God. In 1 Cor 6:19, we are told clearly that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. In Gen 2:7, God breathed His Spirit into man and he became a living being. Without the Spirit of God, the house makes no more sense.

Jesus’ earthly ministry took much interest in casting out every illegal occupant of the temple of the Holy Spirit – the human body. He cast out demons inhabiting this temple. He cast out diseases that tormented the human person – Acts 10:38. Effectively, the God who never changes still goes about cleansing the temple and undoing what the devil has done – 1 Jn 3:8. In this Divine operation, Jesus would cast out everything that is turning this temple into what it is not meant for. Every satanic transaction that the evil ones are making in the lives of God’s people, the body of Christ, is to be frustrated. The devil’s table is to be turned upside down. Yes there are many evil tables in this temple. Tables of sickness, grief, confusion, wasted efforts. Believe God the owner of this temple, your body, and these tables must come down. There must be a serious uproar in the kingdom of darkness. The source of their livelihood must be taken away from them because they are feeding on your life’s progress and on your happiness. The owner of the temple has come. Every day for the thief but one day, today is for the owner.

Wait a minute, who is it that defiles the temple of God? Take care you do not turn, by yourself, the temple of God into a robber’s den. Our yardstick for finding out these is given in the 1st reading from the book of Exodus – the Ten Commandments. Thus, some temples where God should rule are now being ruled by charms and “Baba lawos”, some temples where God should be praised are now houses where the name of the Lord is constantly mocked. Some temples where Holy things should dwell are now comfortable rooms for harlots. Some have become slaughter houses where little children are murdered in cold blood. Others have become cemeteries where unborn children are buried. What is going on exactly in the temple of the Holy Spirit which is your body? Jesus is here. He has His whip in His hands. He is carrying out a fierce operation. Don’t wait for Him to get to you. Sweep clean, REPENT and escape God’s wrath.