When Jesus visits his temple, will he find it habitable?

When Jesus visits his temple, will he find it habitable?
Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B

Holy Names Catholic Church

Memphis, Tennessee, USA

March 15, 2009

Dearest beloved, today being the 3rd Sunday of Lent, the Church presents us with what seems to be Jesus’ first show of anger. Today’s Gospel taken from the Gospel of Saint John, seems to be the first recorded outburst of the Lord. Today, he confronted wrongdoing in a very significant way. Jesus had just performed his first miracle at Cana in Galilee; he needed to go up to the Temple in Jerusalem to pray and to preach the Good News that he had come to bring to the earth. On getting to the Temple, he was amazed to find that the House of God, the House of Prayer was no longer being used for worship and prayer. He did not find people in prayer; he did not find Levites and Priests carrying out their ministry; he did not find the choir rehearsing songs for worship; he did not find various ministries holding their meetings or fellowships; he did not see any religious activity in the Temple. What did he see? He saw merchants, traffickers, money-changers, buyers and sellers, people who seem interested in only one thing: amassing money. Jesus was and is not against the rich; he was and is not against the businessmen; he was and is not against making money. He was upset that the house of God was turned into a market-place. He was upset that the people he met there were not ready for any religious activity. On entering the Temple, the Lord saw that the Temple has been turned into a market place. Sellers were selling their goods, and buyers were also buying. Animals like oxen, sheep, and pigeons were being sold. The money changers were also wrapped up in their own business of changing money. When Jesus saw all these, he was so disappointed. When he looked at what was going on in the house of God, he saw cheating and deception; he saw lies being cooked and served to the unsuspecting people; he also saw land-grabbers plotting to uproot and unsettle the widows. The Lord saw that evil and wickedness have entered the Holy of Holies. He saw that the religious leaders were drinking, toasting wines and getting drunk. He could not believe that the same Temple that took forty six years to build is now being abused and misused. The purpose and the sacredness of the temple were being undermined. If God’s house would be treated that way, what does it say about the people? Jesus was amazed at their irreligiousness and their lack of the sense of the sacred and mystery.
He came to the House of God expecting to see people in prayer, expecting to see people ever-ready for the coming of the Lord. The Psalmist in Psalm 84: 10 says “A day in the house of God is better than thousands elsewhere.” The beginning of the same Psalm says “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.” For the people that Jesus met in the Temple, every day is business; every day is all about making money, thinking less of God and God matters.

Brethren, the temple of God is not only the Church building where we gather together to worship the Lord. We are the Temple of God. In 2 Corinthians 3: 16-17, St. Paul wrote “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him (or her); for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” 1 Corinthians 6: 19 also says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are the temple of God. The temple of God is not only the Common house of prayers, as a matter of fact, church buildings can be pulled down and destroyed. We can worship anywhere; we can worship in the outside, in the field, in soccer play ground, we can worship in a university auditorium. We are the temple of God. And that is why St. Paul urges us to keep our bodies free from sexual immoralities. In 1 Corinthians 6: 13b he says “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” We are the temple of God! But the question now is: should Jesus Christ visit the temple- you, me and us, what would he find? Would he find us watching in prayer, ready to meet him? If Jesus visits his temple (which is you and me), what would he find? Will the Lord find us ready? Will he find us in the same situation he found those in today’s gospel reading? Will he find us buying and selling, merchandizing, getting busy with only the things of this world; will he find us heavily occupied with our careers and professions and less interested in God matters? When Jesus finds us, will we be ready? When he calls us, where will we answer from? What will be the state of your life? What will be the state of my life? Will the Lord find his temple habitable, clean and decent? Or will he find his temple dirty, smelling of alcohol and hard drugs, unkempt, inhabitable, and disgusting? You are that temple, I am that temple.
May our Blessed Mother, Virgin Mary, who was so pure help us to keep our bodies, the temple of God pure and holy for God.