Year B - Third Sunday in Lent, March 3, 2024
Love the Lord Your God
Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not get dominion over me; * then shall I be whole and sound, and innocent of a great offense. (Psalm 19:13)
The cleansing of the Temple is one of the few stories appearing in all four Gospels: (Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46, Matthew 21:12-17, John 2:13-22). It is a rare moment when Jesus loses composure. He is rude, destructive, and uncivil.
In the other three gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) Jesus accuses vendors of plundering the Temple goers, but in John's account Jesus shouts they have made the Temple a market. The tradesmen were there to serve worshippers' needs for Passover: sacrificial animals and coinage to pay the Temple offering. How could Jesus be upset?
While being a divine Messiah, Jesus is also a prophet standing in the tradition of Hebrew prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Amos, and so on. Their message, like Jesus, is that following Torah, keeping the commandments are expressions of love to God. A dove, coin, or unblemished calf offered from a heart of gratitude or repentance was to be relational, not a transaction.
Think of it this way, we sometimes give gifts when we aplogize. A spouse forgetting an anniversary may buy flowers along with making up the misstep. A child who breaks classroom rules may offer a drawing as part of apologizing to their teacher. A company that harmed their neighborhood may pay fines and build a playground. A government running afoul of their citizenry can issue a statement of repent, even change some laws, but backing it up with material reparation is necessary to establish trust. The gift is not the point, the change of heart and desire to repair the relationship is the core.
The Prophets of the Hebrew scriptures span several centuries and consistently had the same complaint as Jesus: worship isn’t a bartering arena between sin and forgiveness. The Reformation Movement in 16th century Europe recognized that same transactional trap in the abuse of confession and penance by the Medieval Catholic Church. Purgatory, penance, indulgences issued by a bishop or Pope: these held the same “marketplace” ideology as those peddlers whipped by Jesus.
Protestants do not get a pass, not even good, inclusive Anglicans. We say our checklist of sins is cleansed by the sacrifice our Divine Messiah gave on the cross; we can’t work out our only salvation. So, how do we hoodwink Jesus into taking on all those sins? Follow all the rules of the bible and get your profession of faith exactly right. Still commerce between the letter of the law and getting into heaven.
God loves us. From the first covenant with Abraham to Moses to the Prophets all the way through the Resurrection God’s commandments are meant to foster a relationship of God to image of God.
Today’s passage from Exodus is the introduction to the Torah. It is a covenant not a checklist. It begins, “I am Yahweh your God” (Exodus 20:1a). And what kind of God: “who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:1b). Then buried between commandments one and two God expresses the core of the covenant: “steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:6).
Immediately after the big Ten, the people tell Moses to keep God at bay, that they are terrified of being close to God. Moses replies, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only …to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin” (Exodus 20:20).
Sin, as our Catechism teaches, is to seek our own will above God’s will causing harm to our relationship. Jesus’ Jewish perspective is vital to his teaching. The two Great Commandments of love were not his mortal invention, but part of Torah for a thousand years before the Incarnation.
Only loving obedience can reconcile a broken relationship. In this scene from John’s account, the vendors and moneychangers along with their sponsors and customers have eroded the law into a list. Jesus drove them off then predicted the Resurrection – the key event reconciling all of humanity to God’s love.
Lent is the season of repentance, a time to cleanse our lives and hearts of bargaining transactions with God. It is simpler than checklists, and harder. All that is required is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength,” and to “Love your neighbor as yourself”. (Mark 12:29-30)
Dean Vanessa Clark+