Homily for Third Sunday of Lent
When we look at the readings today, we can wonder why the Ten Commandments were put together with the Gospel about the cleansing of the temple. There is no clear answer, since the people who put together the lectionary have not always said why some readings are put together.
We could think, however, that the Gospel is an example of the commandment not to have any other gods. Jesus only tells us that we should not make His Father's house a marketplace. But in general we could see what was going on in the temple at the time of Jesus as a way of making God less important than the business transactions that took place there in order to satisfy the laws.
If we read the texts in this light, then we are called to look into our own lives and ask ourselves what importance we place on the presence of God in our Churches? We need to ask what importance we give to being personally temples of the Holy Spirit. Probably many of us don't think in those terms any more, but it is clearly one of our traditional teachings: each human being is a temple of God and we ourselves are temples of God.
Do we respect our own being, our own bodies our personality in ways that help us live out the mysteries of Christ within us? Do we respect others in their being, in their bodies and in their own personalities?
The second table of the Ten Commandments is really about this kind of respect for ourselves for others and for ourselves and it really is based on the first table of the Ten Commandments, which speak about our relationship with the living God.
In this time of Lent it can be helpful to read these Ten Commandments once again and to ponder them-not just read them and forget them! So much of morality in our present world is based on these Ten Commandments. We don't have to read them as some kind of oppressive law dreamed up by our Jewish ancestors and with which we are now stuck! Rather, we can read them as part of the wisdom tradition that tries to pass down an understanding of living that will help each one of us.
Jesus our Lord teaches us that the whole way of life which He invites us to live can be summed up in loving God and loving our neighbour. It is very simple and straightforward and all the other teachings only clarify what is meant by these two basic invitations to live a divine life.
Let us ask in this time of Lent that we might cleanse our own temples, clearing out all that prevents us from being a pure offering of love to God and our neighbour.