Homily Lent 3 March 8, 2015
By Lee Stewart
I have been talking about these readings all week long to anyone who will listen.
One person I spoke with was Hillary. We talked about the relationship between
the Gospel today and the OT reading. I give her credit for a lot of this
homily. These are my words but with many of her thoughts. You can talk to
her about it later!
In the OT God gives Moses 10 commandments- this is certainly about Law and
order, order for society, people living in community together, for the good
of the whole. Laws give order to our world. Traffic laws are the most
obvious to me, what if someone just decides to drive on the other side of
the road as they come up from Duluth to GM on HWY 61? It’s amazing to
me that people follow highway rules as well as they do whether out of a
realization of self-preservation or just obeying the law. Both I believe. And
Laws are like that… related to preservation.
Joan Chittister, RC nun, theologian, in her book titled Laws of the Heart has a
way of looking at these laws with positives instead of negatives. For
example, “thou shalt not steal” becomes the “law of sharing”, sharing what
we have with others, “thou shalt not kill” becomes “the law of respecting
all life”, “honour thy father and mother” becomes “the law of caring” …
“remember the Sabbath day” becomes ‘the law of remembrance”
In the 10 C., God is giving structure, order and preservation for the community
that has been freed from Egyptian bondage and led into the wilderness.
The Laws are a structure of how to live with God and in community, they
are like a lamp to guide God’s people.
They are a proclamation…not just a series of rules. They are a link between God
and human nature. And they are a gift from a merciful God to shape our
relationship with God and each other.
God has shown love for people, taken them out of their bondage, fed them with
bread of heaven, now a gift, Order, to shape their lives, to preserve their
lives.
An Ordered Community -- what does order give us? Peace of mind, assurance,
security, understanding, knowledge, agreement on how we are going to be
together in community.
Jump from Moses to Jesus. How many centuries is that?
The Passover Celebration is near and Jesus comes to the temple. Imagine a
devout Jew –one who knows the Law-has a depth of faith, a focused heart
and mind on the Exodus, and the Temple as a sacred space, a dwelling
place for God on Earth, AND the gift from God of the Commandments. He
knows all of this well. It is his faith.
When he enters the Temple what does he see? --Open market, animals for sale, all the activity going on. The world entering into the sacred space. But more
-- what is the main message from Jesus?
Love God and love your neighbor – love all, care for all- God for all. The very
structure of the Temple was arranged as a worthiness system. The
antithesis of his teaching. High Priest in the inner section, with the priests
and rabbis in the next, then Circumcised Jews, then women and children,
and on the outer section - the rest – the Gentiles. This is troublesome for
Jesus - all this on top of the money changers, the Taxes, the Roman rule and
all are taking advantage of the poor… not at all what Jesus is about. Jesus is
not interested in a closed system.
The Jesus of our Gospel today acts in a very human way. He is angry. He loses his
temper, has a fit. He is profoundly disappointed by what he sees. What
happens when Jesus sees the order and disorder at the Temple? How does
he feel? He is frustrated, he is beyond frustrated, and he becomes angry, in
a rage….
In the OT, God has had many times like this. The God of Mercy has thrown many
fits. In the Temple the people have flaunted order and this leads Jesus, God
incarnate, to anger.
What happens in the Temple on that occasion? Jesus sees the disorder. The
human side of Jesus is clear. He has been anticipating this holy space. What
do we do sometimes when we are so disappointed it actually hurts? When
people flaunt things we feel strongly about? It can lead to rage, deep hurt
and anger, a very human reaction. Jesus, God incarnate, acts in a very
human way.
And there is misunderstanding from the priests and the disciples and us – we all
want explanations. The explanations don’t seem to help
understanding. Do we understand? We think that we know what
Jesus wants of us, but that is a Jesus of our own making. The Jesus
we are comfortable with. I can say, I am not comfortable with a Jesus
with whips, destruction and rage.
Judaism was built on order for community life. The 10 Commandments are part of
the order to keep community safe for all, given by a loving God. What
if someone gave you a gift like that? A gift to keep you safe given out
of love. Laws of the heart for the heart, and you just blew it off or
paid no attention,
God does get angry, it doesn’t mean that he’s not a loving God.
Jesus in the Temple is God -- having the same fit, just doing it as the incarnate
God. Jesus is saying “pay attention to what you are doing”
I think we get an uneasy, unsettled maybe even fearful feeling when we picture
Jesus with whips and “throwing a fit”. We are supposed to feel uneasy.
I get an uneasy feeling about my own most human monsters within me; anger,
fears, feelings of inadequacy, disappointments, frustrations. For me there’s
a very unsettling feeling about those human monsters. They are a wakeup
call. Pay attention to the disorder, to the world entering sacred space.
So during Lent we are called to repent which really means to turn back to God.
When we turn back we are reminded of the faithfulness of God. The Laws
we read today are our merciful God’s desire for us to have what we long for
–LOVE- and these laws are God’s love for us.
On Handout read together Ps 19 vs 7-11 “The law of the lord is perfect… In
keeping them there is great reward” AMEN