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BIRD AND NEST [1]MARKETPLACE ATMOSPHERE1. When Jesus was an infant, Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple in Jerusalem for religious purification rites and to present him to the Lord. Because they were not wealthy, they offered for the sacrifice a "pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons". [Lk 2:24] Years later, nearing the end of his ministry, Jesus stands in the outer precincts of the Great Temple of Jerusalem.[2] He was quite familiar with the ongoing construction of the Temple complex begun by Herod the Great in 20 BC. Our Lord observes the money-changers supervising the worshippers payments of their religious taxes and purchases of animals for temple sacrifices; he is disturbed by the marketplace atmosphere of wheeling and dealing. Improvising a whip from cords, Jesus overturns the money tables. He starts a stampede of livestock in the temple precinct. Sheep and oxen scatter everywhere. Halting in front of those selling doves, Jesus commands: "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house, a house of trade." [Jn 2:16] We would do well to consider the emotions of Our Lord as he strode through the vast outer courtyards surrounding the Jerusalem Temple Holy of Holies. Sacred Scriptures reveal that as he neared his own passion and death, Jesus life was punctuated by experiences of anger, distrust, weeping, alienation and discouragement. Perhaps the Messiah thought about the history of the Jewish people, his ancestors' Egyptian captivity or the prophet Jeremiah's call to a radical interior conversion worthy of God. Our Lord was aware that, in many ways, the people of his generation had lost their direction. He lamented that the Jewish religion of his day so emphasized external practices that it could be controlled and quantified by commerce and profit. He was discouraged that religion was doing little or nothing to bring people to the Father. As he observed the brisk machinery for selling doves, oxen and sheep, what did Jesus see? Did the Son of Joseph and Mary see himself as a sacrifice soon to be offered before a depleted nation? He was anxious about his impending passion and death. How could he fail to notice the pride and arrogance of pharaoh firmly entrenched in Israel's heart? The spiritual aloneness and loneliness of the people burdened his heart. Their listless faith troubled him. What had happened to authentic prayer and true worship of God? Prophetically, perhaps even pathetically, Jesus scourged the temple precincts even as the centurions would soon scourge the temple of his body. The new and more perfect Moses would soon offer himself as the unblemished lamb of sacrifice. A sign of contradiction, the passover celebration masked Our Lord's imminent passover from life to death. Another sordid passover awaited him. The people, hearing Pontius Pilot's offer of clemency, would demand the release, not of Jesus of Nazareth, but a common criminal. Scripture recounts that Jesus distanced himself from those who, during the Passover feast in Jerusalem, believed in his name: "Many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; but Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man." [Jn 2:23-25] Jesus would not conform himself to their sinful hearts nor would he seek admission to their enclaves. The hour of Our Lord's gratuitous offering of himself had not yet come. Concerning the urgent need for conversion, it was for the House of Israel the eleventh hour; each day the sun fell on Israel as it illumined the imperial city of Rome. For the present, it was enough for Christ to present himself to Israel. They would choose decisively for or against him. EMBEDDED IN THE COLLABORATOR2. Though it would argue otherwise, this generation is fascinated with the junk of compulsions and distractions huckstered by the Prince-of-this-World. All of us have cooperated with Satan--any cooperation with evil is a shocking breach of one's self-interest--and many of us have filled up our lives with subtle and cleverly crafted idols. Such fascination is deadly. How speedily sin embeds itself in the soul of the human collaborator! Like a parasite, it devours its host. It compels its host to cooperate in its dissemination. The ranks of the spiritually homeless are growing; inexplicably, many prefer spiritual idleness over gainful employment in God's Kingdom. They impoverish themselves by frittering the invaluable resource of faith: "For all men who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know him who exists." [WisSol 13:1] The marks are there for all to see. The spiritually homeless man pushes an old shopping cart along the periphery of life's road--filled with a mountain of emotional and spiritual debris--bitter memories, sins not forgiven, past disappointments, hurts, failures, useless power strategies, worthless possessions, addictive behaviors and meanness. He will defend them to the death rather than face himself honestly. He would starve before undertaking a meaningful examination of conscience. He relates to evil abnormally; far from realizing his danger, he cooperates with evil and hastens his demise. "What agreement has the temple of God with idols?" cried St. Paul. "For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." [2Cor 6:16] Are you tempted to choose spiritual unemployment? Running away only will make things worse. Your idols will multiply as a coefficient of rampant frustration. Do you stagger under a burden that you have no right to carry? Only one person is strong enough to free you from the crushing weight of sin. If you were crushed to the ground, would anyone care? Jesus Christ loves you, and he cares. He waits for you to call out to him, but you must submit to his remedy of love and authority. It will not be easy. You will be expected to exert a great effort. You are joining the revolution of Christ, "...the most complete revolution that has ever been preached; in fact, it is the only true revolution, because all the others demand the extermination of somebody else, but this one means the death of the man who, for all practical purposes, you have come to think of as your own self."[3] Our Saviour offers us an open window, a way to escape the unnatural confinement of sin. Recall that Jesus understood his own body as a temple. From our vantage point of faith, this makes sense. In his personhood dwelt the divinity of God. In his hands resided the power of healing. In his heart existed a refuge for sinners. GRACE AND MERCY EACH DAY3. To those who heard Jesus speak, this was gibberish. The crowds that followed him could not grasp that the temple of Jesus body was of far greater value than Herod's temple of made of stone and wood and precious metals. Affronted by Jesus' cleansing of the temple precincts, the Jews demanded, "What sign have you to show us for doing this?" [Jn 2:18] Jesus answered, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." [Jn 2:19] To which was Jesus referring, the temple of his body or Herod's temple? The temple of his body. Who could understand this but Mary Magdalene who saw Jesus die on the cross and witnessed his resurrection from the dead on the third day? The Apostle Paul was not slow to grasp that human personhood receives its incomparable value from the sanctifying passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." [1Cor 6:19-20] Take this teaching to heart: your body is God's gift to your soul. Not even the angels received such a temple from God. Therefore the grace of Jesus Christ is a gift of love and a duty. Your respect and reverence of your body is an act of justice toward God. By glorifying your body in holiness, you give God the praise he is due. The number one dead idea to discard is the notion that your body is your personal property. It is not your personal property. Your body belongs to Christ, and he has entrusted to you the divine revelation governing its safety and well-being. If Our Lord's own glorious temple means little to you, if Our Lord is expelled to the periphery of your life, then the center of your life holds nothing of value. In fact, there is no center, for the man who rejects Christ has sold his body over to corruption. And where the body is, there also is the soul. God has implanted his natural law into your hearts at the moment of your conception. You were made to seek God and to be good. Are you leading a life worthy of the Holy Spirit you received in the blessed community of faith? Well then, make your home in God's Church. Pray and worship in the simplicity of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Reconcile yourself to the divine revelation he has entrusted to the Church. Nourish yourself with his sacred Word. Feast on the teachings of his Church. Know that the Spirit of God is the wise and attentive steward whom Jesus the master has set over the temple of your body. [Mt 24:45] The Spirit will apportion to you the grace and mercy you need each day: wisdom, understanding, right judgment, knowledge, courage, reverence, wonder and awe. [cf. Isa 11:2-3] Ready yourself. Let God decide what you are able to do. Offer him a willing heart. As our Holy Father has written, "Allow (your) spirit to be overturned in order to make it turn towards God."[4] From Nigeria comes a marvelous parable about the human condition. It is about repentance and commitment...and one's personal decision to participate in Christ's definitive victory won on the cross for us 2,000 yrs. ago. It is a prayer: "God in heaven, you have helped my life to grow like a tree. Now something has happened. Satan, like a bird, has carried in one twig, of his own choosing, after another. Before I knew it, he had built a dwelling place and was living in it. Today, my Father, I am throwing out both the bird and the nest."[5] |
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