Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent
Thus far our Lenten Sunday readings have helped us to enter into this time where we are given grace to struggle like Christ in the desert (first Sunday’s Gospel) and to catch a glimpse of the glorious end to which we aim in Christ’s Transfiguration (second Sunday’s Gospel). At first glance, the readings for the Third Sunday of Lent may seem to have no immediate, obvious relationship with our Lenten journey. In today’s lectionary, in Year A Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well; Year B, Jesus cleanses the Temple; Year C, Jesus corrects false interpretations of recent tragedies. Perhaps what these very different selections have in common is the theme: “You ain’t gettin’ it”.
Each reading has Jesus shedding light on a subversion of God’s plan. The Samaritans don’t obey anything outside the books of Moses and worship in their own semi-pagan way. The Temple had become a marketplace. People report a sacrilege and blame the horror on the sins of the slain. In this last passage, Jesus responds “do you think there were guiltier than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Lk 13:2). He continues to tell a parable about a fig tree which for years has had no fruit and finally the master decides the tree needs to be cut down.
Apparently, Jesus really liked figs but never seemed to find any.
This parable and these Gospel scenes are about repentance. As we come to this Third Sunday of Lent, we should examine our hearts: are we getting it? Or are we fig trees full of leaves of exterior acts but without the fruit of conversion? Today is a new day to re-commit ourselves to living this time of Lent well, not so that we can say we’ve conquered some of our attachments or lost 5 pounds, but to turn to God in repentance. Maybe the conversion has been small, but we can thank God for His grace if in any way we see that our hearts have softened, that we’ve been able to recognize our failings and weaknesses in a clearer light, and have learned to trust in God more, that the turning away from our own comforts and desires has led us to be attentive to the needs of those around us. We cry out anew in the entrance antiphon, “Turn to me and have mercy on me, for I am alone and poor!”
The cleansing of the Temple that we read from St. John’s Gospel (Year B) takes place at the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry, rather than the week of his death. From the start, Jesus shows that He has not come so that people can live comfortably. Not that God’s law was comfortable to start with—how many of us can listen to the 10 Commandments in the first reading (Year B) and say that we live them entirely? Maybe I don’t miss Mass on Sundays, but do I keep the day holy by keeping it wholly for the Lord in my heart and my actions? Maybe I don’t kill, but do I use my words with kindness to build others up or do I keep quiet without defending myself or even do I engage in slander or gossip?
By clearing out the merchants making a dishonest profit within the Temple, the holiest place in the world because it was the dwelling place of God, Jesus is not simply a reformer defending Jewish standards of holiness. Jesus comes not to abolish but to fulfill the law (Mt 5:17). Here, his words and actions are reminiscent of the prophet Jeremiah who fought for unity of worship and life “against a politicization of the faith that would see God’s constant protection of the Temple as something guaranteed, for the sake of maintaining the cult. But God does not protect a Temple that has been turned into a ‘den of robbers’ [Jer 7:11]’” (Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week by Pope Benedict XVI, 20).
The warning of Jesus goes further than Jeremiah’s prophecy of the Temple’s destruction. Asked for a sign for why he had done so, Jesus replies, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). John adds that he was speaking about his body. From an early point in the disciples’ collective thought Jesus’s words are given its fuller meaning: his cross and resurrection are the sign. The new Temple is the Risen Christ. As Jesus tells the Samaritan woman (Year A), the time for worshipping on a mountain or in Jerusalem is coming to an end, and “the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth” (Jn 4:23).
If Jesus, through his passion, death, and resurrection, is the new Temple that we are called to worship in, we do so because He has made us a part of His Body. In Baptism, we are made temples of the Holy Spirit. In our souls is the indwelling of the Trinity! How much more imperative is it, then, that this new temple is one of faithful worship to God? With as much zeal as when he overthrew the tables and fashioned whips out of cords, Jesus wants to cleanse our hearts. Pope Benedict XVI points out that in Matthew’s Gospel after he has kicked out the merchants, Jesus heals the blind and the lame:
“In contrast to the cattle-trading and money-changing, Jesus brings his healing goodness. This is the true cleansing of the Temple. Jesus does not come as a destroyer. He does not come bearing the sword of the revolutionary. He comes with the gift of healing. He turns toward those who, because of their afflictions, have been driven to the margins of life and society. He reveals God as the one who loves and his power as the power of love” (Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week Pope Benedict XVI, 23).
Jesus is anxious to free us from our demons of fear, hate, and guilt. He longs to heal our blindness and our lameness. This Third Sunday of Lent, let us open ourselves to His healing love. Let us allow ourselves to be purified by faith in the Risen Lord! If we ask Him, He will give us the courage and grace to let Him kick out the money changers from our hearts. Then will the exterior acts of Lent bear fruit; then we will be able to worship in spirit and truth in the Temple of His Body.