- A leader in the Presbyterian Church (USA) was in the Sudan. As the church members arrived for worship one Sunday, he noticed that most people were wearing secondhand clothes that had been donated by Americans. The church leader was able to tell that because of the English words and the American logos that the Africans had on their clothing, and he knew that none of the church members knew how to speak or read English. He was particularly amused when the pastor stood up to preach, and he had on a T-shirt with the words; "It's a tough job being sexy, but someone has to do it." Although such attire might lead one to conclude that that church was engaged in mere foolishness, the church leader later learned that that particular congregation had baptized 8000 new Christians within the past year" (1)
We wonder, however, how much knowledge we bring to the weekly celebration of Mass, to worship. Have we read the Scriptures beforehand? Have we prepared for the Mass by reading the lessons for the day at home and prepping ourselves to be ready to be open to what the homilist might say?
In other words, do we work at informing ourselves about our act of worship? And while at Mass, do we participate with full faith that Jesus comes down on our altar, that he gives himself to us under the form of bread and wine? Do we listen to the words of the hymns and take them into our hearts? Do we truly embrace our brother, sister, at the gesture of peace and hope they are as glad as we are to be together, celebrating as a family?
In today's gospel Jesus, as we would say, "gets mad." Whom is Jesus mad at? He is angry with the money lenders in what was called the Court of the Gentiles. That area was for Gentiles and others to exchange their Roman and other foreign coins for the approved Jewish script. Most foreign coins had images of emperors on them, and Jewish law strictly forbade bringing into the temple any coin with images on them. This was considered blasphemy.
In that court also animals were sold for worship. Animals from turtle-doves, which, we remember, Joseph and Mary bought to offer up as their sacrifice when they presented the child Jesus in the temple, to animal as big and expensive as oxen.
There was nothing wrong with this exchange of coins and buying of animals for sacrifice. But tradition has it that the sellers sold the animals at exorbitant prices and pocketed the profit. Also they charged excessively for converting the coins into approved Jewish legal tender. Both these abuses are what Jesus is angry with. The temple, as Jesus points out, is the Father's house...and these sellers have made it a den of thieves.
Jesus took worship very seriously. He probably attended worship in the temple or synagogue each Sabbath. He probably had most of the scriptures memorized, for in his ministry we hear him quoting quite liberally and easily from the Old Testament. For Jesus, worship is a serious business, it is what we owe in all due respect to the Father. Jesus became very incensed to think that these sellers had made the temple into a den of thieves.
How would we apply this gospel to our modern worship? What comes to mind first of all are televangelists, who take about fifteen minutes or more from an hour program to push money, to sell their religious statuettes, and some of whom even promise miracles if you will send in a certain amount of money, usually quite exorbitant.
Of course, God understands that it takes money to run a parish or church. In the Old Testament God commands the people to tithe, that is, to give ten percent of their income to support the upkeep of their churches and other religious duties such as helping the poor, the orphans and widows. It's interesting that Protestants are much more generous than Catholics in this area of tithing, perhaps because they have been trained to tithe from little up. Catholics do give generously to support their church's building programs when needed. But Catholics still are at the bottom of the list when one sees how much all churches contribute.
God is not interested in money as such, however. He is interested that we contribute of our goods, our money, to help the needy, the poor, the homeless, those in the missions. That's why our Catholic church takes up second collections: to help, for instance, the home missions here in the United States, or to help the Catholic Relief Services, or the Campaign for Human Development.
Our weekly worship is about much more than money. The collection is just a throwback to the days when people, mostly farmers, brought their goods to church--crops, vegetables, produce--and put them before the altar. Afterwards needy families came forward and received what they needed to feed their families. Today we substitute a collection of money for this purpose.
Today we must be concerned about what we are doing at our weekly act of worship. Does our daily life reflect what we do in church on Sundays? If we realize that on Sundays we celebrate Jesus' sacrifice of himself for the redemption of all mankind, then during the week we, too, will reflect that we have absorbed this lesson by how we go out to our brothers and sisters, how we love one another, how we help one another in need.
- There is a powerful scene in the movie The Godfather, Part III. Perhaps some of you remember when the Godfather, Mr. Corleone, is forced to visit the distinguished Cardinal Lamberto to tell him the bad news that a legitimate business deal involving the Vatican Bank has gone bad. The bank is run by an Archbishop and a coalition of Catholic businessmen. The Cardinal listens to the Godfather. Then the cardinal says something quite profound. He picks up a stone and says "Look at this stone. It has been lying in the water for a very long time. The water has not penetrated it." Then he smashes the stone. "Look," he says peering at the smashed insides of the stone, "perfectly dry. The same thing," the Cardinal continues," has happened to men in Europe. They have been surrounded by Christianity for centuries, but Christ does not live in their hearts."
Recently, evangelist and now pastor David Wilkerson, who wrote the book The Cross and the Switchblade, shared with pain and remorse that, "The hardest hearts in this world are not among the ungodly, but among God's people." (2)
- The life of Christ is paralleled in the Canadian film Jesus of Montreal by the actions of Daniel, an actor hired by a priest to rewrite an old Passion Play. Daniel becomes so immersed in Christ's character as he delves deeply into modern Christian scholar ship that he, in a sense, becomes Christ. Daniel's parallel to Jesus' cleansing of the temple occurs when he accompanies the actress playing Mary of Magdalen, Mireille, to an audition for a TV commercial. The product is beer, and the men and women who hope to be chosen are ordered to strip off their clothes. Mireille is treated with disdain by the director of the commercial, a former lover, and by the snooty woman in charge of the ad agency. Daniel becomes so enraged at their demeaning of her that he strides forward and demands better treatment. When they not only haughtily refuse but insult her still further, Daniel sweeps the products off the table, turns over tables and TV monitors and cameras. Taking hold of some of the electrical cords, he flails them about like whips, driving the frightened television crew out of the studio. (3)
- Archbishop Oscar Romero imitated Jesus in his daring confrontation with
corrupt authorities in El Salvador. In the film Romero, the
once-conservative shepherd of his people has begun to oppose the government
death squads when even his own priests are found murdered. He is warned by
one of the military leaders that he is marked for death if he continues.
Romero continues his opposition, using the church-owned radio station to
broadcast his weekly homily to the people. In these talks he not only
condemns the crimes of the military but comforts the people and affirms them
as the body of Christ. In their suffering, he asserts, Christ suffers, and
in their deaths, Christ dies.
When the archbishop appeals to the United States to stop its aid, asserting that it is financing the killing, and then, speaking directly to the soldiers, he tells them to disobey their orders to kill the innocent, his enemies carry out their threat. Soon after that broadcast Oscar Romero is gunned down while saying mass in a hospital chapel. His blood joins that of the martyrs. What his killers did not count on, in their efforts to silence his voice, is that they enshrined him in the hearts of the people forever. In their memory and in many books containing his words and the story of his life, Oscar Romero frees people from their fear and their blindness to the way of Christ. (4)
- There is a story going around about a man who was visiting a certain church.
He parked his car and started toward the front entrance. Another car pulled
up nearby, and the driver, with a little irritation in his voice said, to
him, "I always park there. You took my place!"
The visitor went inside and found that Sunday school was about to begin. He found an adult class, went inside and sat down. A woman approached him and said, "That's my seat! You took my place!"
The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After Sunday school, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down in an empty pew. Within moments another member walked up to him and said, "That's where I always sit. You took my place!"
The visitor was troubled, but said nothing. Later, as the congregation was praying for Christ to be present with them, the visitor stood, and his appearance began to change. Scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and cried out, "What happened to you?" The visitor replied, "I took your place."
Let us remember, Jesus took our place on the cross.
1) "The deed that freed from greed," Lectionaid 8 (2): 21 (LectionAid, Inc.,
P.O. Box 19229 Boulder 80308 - 2229) March 2000.
2) "Times Square Pulpit Series," 9-1-97, p. 1, as quoted in "Beware,
Jesus is coming to church!" Dynamic Preaching 15 (1): 78 (Seven Worlds,
310F Simmons Road, Knoxville TN 37922) March 2000.
3) "The deed that freed from greed," Lectionaid 8 (2): 20 (LectionAid, Inc.,
P.O. Box 19229 Boulder 80308 - 2229) March 2000.
4) "The deed that freed from greed," Lectionaid 8 (2): 20-1 (LectionAid,
Inc., P.O. Box 19229 Boulder 80308 - 2229) March 2000.
5) "Beware, Jesus is coming to church!" Dynamic Preaching 15 (1): 78 (Seven
Worlds, 310F Simmons Road, Knoxville TN 37922) March
(Comments to Jerry at padre@tri-lakes.net. Jerry's book, Stories For All Seasons, is available at a discount through the Homiletic Resource Center.)