Third Sunday of Lent: Gospel B

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 

· This is the first of three Passovers that John mentions in his Gospel. The other two are found in Jn 6:4 and 13:1.

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." 

· In the synoptic Gospels of Matthew and Mark the cleansing of the Temple by Jesus takes place at the end of his ministry just prior to his passion. But for John it fits better theologically here. It sets the stage for his ministry.

· The sheep and oxen and doves were the animals offered in sacrifice in the Temple. The doves were what the poor could afford. Recall that this was what Joseph and Mary could afford when they presented Jesus in the Temple. (Lk 2:24)

· “Zeal for your house…” Look up Ps 69:10.

· When have we felt such zeal for God’s glory?

· Do we feel at times the same is happening in our churches today?

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. 

· This is one of the charges that will be hurled against Jesus during his trial before the leaders.

· How often do we look for signs, when God is looking for response to the signs he has already given us of his love?

· The greatest and final sign of Jesus’ true identity is his death and resurrection. But even this will not be enough for some.

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.

· Even though many people believed in him, their faith would be shaken by his arrest and death. Even the apostles faltered at the time of his death. Only the fact of the resurrection restored them.

· How strong is our faith in Jesus? Where have we faltered in our journey?

· Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. What needs to be cleansed within us so that God may be better glorified?

We look more like Peter in his response to the word of God. Having been told by the Father to listen to Jesus, sometime later Peter was able to act on that admonition. After Jesus' teaching on giving the disciples his Body to eat and his Blood to drink, many disciples left Jesus. Peter's response was: "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and we recognize that you are the Christ, the Son of God." In that instance, he heard and he submitted without  understanding. Unfortunately, he could not do the same when Jesus spoke about his upcoming passion and death. Even when Jesus forewarned Peter that before the crock crows twice Peter would deny him. Peter objected vehemently. But he failed when pressed. How attentive do we listen with our hearts to God's word? How often we to succumb like Peter? What can we do but get up and start again.

"This is my Beloved Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him." Do we listen with our ears or hear with our heart? Do we listen attentively to every word or do we have selective hearing? Do we listen, seeking understanding, or do we question everything we hear with skepticism?  What is more important, the person speaking, or the words spoken? The Father's voice told the three disciples, witnessing Jesus being transfigured by his past and future glory, to listen to him. They had just witness a glimpse of Jesus true identity in his transfiguration. In reality, the Father was telling them to accept what Jesus is telling them as truth, because of who he is. In accepting his word they were to submit to  him in obedience. How attentive do we listen with our hearts to God's word?

"Man is never wholly free from temptation...but with patience and true humility we become stronger than any enemy. The patience and humility required to defeat the enemy come by following Christ every day and from learning to build our life not outside of him or as if he did not exist, but in him and with him, because he is the source of true life. In contrast to this is the temptation to remove God, to order our lives and world on our own, relying solely on our own abilities. This is why in Jesus God speaks to man in an unexpected way, with a unique and concrete closeness, full of love, because God has now become incarnate and enters the world of man to take sin upon himself, to overcome evil and bring man back into the world of God" (Pope Benedict XVI).

Temptation and sin are part of the human experience, with two exceptions, Jesus, because he is God and Man, and Mary, because of God's prevenient grace in lieu of being the Mother of Jesus. Without the grace of God and our cooperation, it would be hard for us not to fall into sin because of concupiscence. Only in Jesus, who in his humanity has shown us how to confront the many arrows Satan throws at us, can we be victorious. We must never fight Satan on our own. We should always let Jesus fight him, as we stand behind Jesus.

 "Sin is that process which makes us change our hearts from good to bad, which takes us downhill, something which grows, slowly grows, then infects others and ultimately excuses itself....When we find ourselves in a sin, in a fall, yes, we must go to ask the Lord for forgiveness, it is the first step that we must take....But then ask yourselves, how did I come to fall there? How did this process start in my soul? How did it grow? Who have I infected? And how in the end did I justify myself for falling?" (Pope Francis)

The Devil is a cunning creature, who has perfected his art of tempting us and deceiving us. He starts with small enticements that seem insignificant and harmless at first. But in reality they could be the beginnings of a deeper future pitfall. One step leads to another and one misstep leads to another. He is patient. He convinces us that it is not a big deal. It is like cooking a frog. You start with the frog in a pot of room temperature water on the stove. Then gradually you increase the fire, letting the frog adjust to the heat. The frog doesn't jump out of the pot. Eventually the frog is cooked. This is the process the Devil uses with us, unless unlike the frog, we jump out of its net by the grace of God.

Homily: Second Sunday of Lent Year B

 

Reading 1: Last Sunday we heard of the covenant God made with Noah after the flood. The sign of that covenant was the rainbow.  The reason for the flood was the spread of sin. Much later after the flood, God invited Abraham to follow him. He promised him many blessings, many descendants and a new land flowing with milk and honey.

 

For many years Abraham did not see any descendants. His wife Sarah remain childless. Finally, after she was beyond the natural age of conceiving a child, God appeared to Abraham and said that Sarah would bear a son, whose name was to be Isaac. This was the beginning of God fulfilling his promises to Abraham. After the birth of Isaac God made a covenant with Abraham. The sign of the covenant was circumcision.

 

When Isaac was about twelve, God put Abraham to the test. The question in Abraham’s mind is why would God give him a son and then demand the sacrifice of his only begotten son? The question was would Abraham trust that God could still provide him descendants? Could he obey God in this matter?

 

Abraham chose to trust and to be obedient, even though he didn’t understand. But instead of the death of Isaac, God wanted Abraham to see how strong his response to the covenant was. Abraham chose God rather than self. Isaac’s life was spared.

 

There is a deeper meaning here. Though Abraham’s only beloved son was spared, God, the Father, did not spare his only begotten Son from embracing the cross. Jesus gave his life for ours on the cross, so that we could be spared eternal death and be saved. In this gift Jesus established and sealed the new covenant through the shedding of his blood.

 

Gospel: Last Sunday, we looked at the temptation that Jesus endured as the first stage of his life as our Messiah. He came to confront and overcome the pseudo power of the devil. The temptations were the first volley. Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross would be the final blow that would defeat and break the diabolic bond Satan held over humanity.

 

In preparation for this ultimate moment, Jesus prophesied to the disciples his upcoming passion and death and resurrection. Peter rejected the thought. So Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him up the mountain to pray with him. There Jesus’ experiences the glory that he emptied himself of by becoming man and the glory he would experience once more in the resurrection. This was the Father’s way of preparing Jesus for his passion. It was also to strengthen the apostles.

 

In the vision Moses represented the Law of the Old Testament and Elijah the prophets. Both of them spoke of his upcoming passion and resurrection. Just as at the baptism the Father revealed himself and the Spirit is manifested, so now the Father tells the apostles to listen to Jesus. In other words, heed the words of Jesus about his upcoming passion and death, even though they did not understand.

 

Our theophany or epiphany moments may not be as dramatic, but their purpose is the same. 1) To reveal to us the person of Jesus in a clearer light, seeing or experiencing him in a way we have never done before. 2) To remind us to listen to Jesus, even when we don’t understand. To act on his word. 3) To recognize that God desires to share his eternal glory with us, but first we must experience the mystery of the cross in our life. The cross is that which strips us of everything except God in our life.

 

Reading 2: Where God spared the son of Abraham from being sacrificed, God did not spare his own Son, Jesus, from the wood of the cross and the sacrifice of his life freely for our sake. Is this a sign of God’s condemnation of us or a sign of his love? “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

 

 God tested the commitment of Abraham to God, even if he asked for the death of his promised son. Jesus embraced the will of God to be the sacrificial lamb, a perfect offering for our sins. Abraham loved God. Jesus loved the Father. God so loved us that the gift of Jesus’ life for our salvation was not too much to ask. One can look at the crucified Savior and see nothing but what appears on the surface. Or one can look at the crucified Lord and see the depth of his love for us.  “Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends.” But greater is that love, when one lays down his life for his enemies, those who deliberately chose to sin and to separate themselves from God, not one but repeatedly even after saying they were sorry. The reality of his sacrifice must be seen in context of the repetitive cycle of our sinfulness. That is true love. 

"If in Christ we have been tempted, in him we overcame the devil. Do you think only of Christ's temptations and fait to think of his victory? See  yourself as tempted in him, and see yourself as victorious in him. He could have kept the devil from himself; but if he were not tempted he could not teach you how to triumph over temptation" (St. Augustine).

What do we learn from Jesus in reference to temptation? Never let the devil separate you from God! In all of his temptations, Jesus never lost sight of his relationship with the Father and the Father's will for him. Jesus made doing and fulfilling the will of the Father the mark of his life. The initial temptations were to have Jesus question his identity as Son, to put the focus on self rather than the Other. The pre-crucifixion temptation focused Jesus' thinking on the pain and suffering he would endure. Jesus chose rather to focus on the will of the Father and our salvation. In each case, Jesus triumphed over temptation, because his relationship to the Father and the will of the Father was a greater good than his human needs. What would happen if we followed the same pattern, keeping our eyes on the Father and the greater good, namely eternal life with God?