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The Athenaeum of Ohio

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati

March 26, 2000
Third Sunday of Lent (B)
Exod 20:1-17; 1 Cor 1:22-25; John 2:13-25
Terrance Callan

The readings for the third Sunday of Lent remind us that Jesus’ teaching is authoritative and that its authority is based on his death and resurrection. They also remind us that the death and resurrection of Jesus fundamentally challenge our way of looking at things.

The reading from the Gospel according to John tells the familiar story of Jesus’ cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover and found in the temple people who sold oxen, sheep and doves, as well as money changers. He made a whip of cords and drove all these people and animals out of the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers.

Jesus told them to "stop making my Father’s house a marketplace." The people that Jesus drove from the temple were there to serve those who came to worship God in the temple. Since Jewish pilgrims came to the temple from all over the world, there was a need for them to convert foreign money into the money used in Jerusalem. Worship of God in the temple was largely a matter of offering sacrifices; it was necessary for worshippers to buy sacrificial animals. Quite possibly the people Jesus drove from the temple saw their activity as entirely compatible with the worship of God for which the temple existed. However, Jesus did not see it this way.

The gospel reading does not explain why. The reading from the Book of Exodus offers a possible explanation. This reading is the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is to have no other gods besides the God who brought Israel out of Egypt. Perhaps Jesus thought that changing money and selling animals for sacrifice in the temple made money a god alongside the God worshipped in the temple. We know from our own experience how easily that happens.

When Jesus cleansed the temple, he was naturally asked for some proof that he had the right to do so, a sign. He answered mysteriously, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." Those who heard it thought he was referring to the temple building, but he was actually speaking about his death and resurrection. This would be the sign that he could speak authoritatively about proper conduct in the temple. After his death and resurrection, his disciples remembered that he had said this and believed. For them it functioned as a sign. However, it was not the kind of sign for which the people had asked.

The reading from the first Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians speaks about the way the death and resurrection of Jesus confound human expectations. Paul says, "Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom." Jews look for the exercise of divine power. The resurrection might qualify, but crucifixion is the opposite of divine power. Greeks look for rational coherence, but crucifixion makes no sense as basis for faith in Jesus. The crucifixion of Jesus is "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles." But to us who have been called, who have received the gift of faith, Christ is the power and wisdom of God.

In order to put faith in Jesus, we must give up our natural expectations about power and wisdom. We must recognize that what people regard as power and wisdom is not truly power and wisdom. Only when we are prepared to see that "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength," can we believe that Jesus saved us by his death and resurrection, and accept his teaching.