Commandments and Zeal: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent

Ex 20:1-17

Ps 19

I Cor 1:22-25

Jn 2:13-25

We adore Thee or Christ and we bless Thee

Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

What we know as the Ten Commandments or the Decalogue is not unique to Genesis in either the Hebrew or the Christian scripture. All of the laws and prohibitions appear elsewhere throughout scripture though not necessarily in identical form. But, they are unique in the history of the ancient world. They are unique because God was the author. This belief set the Jewish people apart from all others in the Ancient Near East. Elsewhere the laws were believed to be the product of human minds, particularly the king, perhaps with divine inspiration of some sort, but ultimately, law was a human conception. The laws, commands, or edicts of the Decalogue however, were given directly from God to Moses who relayed them to the people. Thus, obedience to the law--both the moral law and the civil law--became religious duties. This explains, in part, Jesus' response to His interlocutors who asked about paying the tax to the Empire: "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's." Thus, the laws against adultery or murder are as morally binding as the laws to observe the Sabbath and have no false gods are religiously binding.

The first three commandments define our duty toward God. The remaining commandments describe our duty toward family, community, and society in general. Killing. Adultery. Stealing. Lying about or bringing false witness against another, or coveting another's possessions all destabilize the community or devastate the family. Of all these sins none has a more devastating effect on the family than adultery. Adultery ruptures family bonds, destroys friendships, has the potential to cause economic insecurity and hardship, damages reputations, sometimes beyond repair, and, particularly if young children are involved, impairs their developing sense of trust in the world around them in ways that may not become conscious or apparent for many years.

The Gospel narrating Jesus' cleansing the Temple from profanation that violated the first three commandments, is an important reminder to, if not an antidote for, those who see Jesus as permissive of all things, sanctioning even immorality if it is enacted in the guise of love, and, at least according to the s

Speaker of the House of Representatives, having no problem with killing of infants in the womb.

This episode forces us to confront our ideas of how Jesus is and what He demands. It is not a warm and comforting scene. There is no gentle, hugging, or smiling Jesus here. This is not the Jesus of accommodation. There is no compromise or equivocation. For those for whom zeal and reverence for God’s house. or whose observance of the commandments is a sometimes thing that shifts with current social trends, the encounter with this Jesus is uncomfortable because it is a reminder that He is not a Jesus of accommodation to current social mores. He is not one to adapt to what people want, to what everyone is doing, or to water down the law as we are reminded in Matthew's gospel, "I have not come to abolish the law or the prophets, I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. . . . Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place." Thus, these frequent whines hold no water.

"Oh, c'mon Jesus everybody is selling animals in the Temple these days."

"Keep your religious belief out of my life."

"My body, Myself."

"I am the only one who can determine what is moral for me."

The Jesus of the gospels challenged political authorities. He challenged society at large in condemning adultery, divorce and extortion, among others. The Jesus of the gospels called a spade a spade. He did not cave in to secular society. He would not tolerate desecration of His Father’s house. We do well to remember that. The scene of Jesus overturning tables in the Temple and driving the money changers out with a whip bothers many. They are bothered because Jesus is not gentle, affirming, or negotiating. There is no way to manipulate his words or actions to be anything than what they are. The late Jesuit Father Stanley Marrow, made an insightful comment on this gospel passage in his commentary on this Gospel.

“One puzzling aspect of the narrative is how generation after generation can hear this account and persist in clinging to their cherished image of Jesus. . . so 'gentle and mild' as to be incapable of overthrowing anything, including the reader’s smugness. . . . The Jesus in this, or any other gospel, is not exactly a standard-bearer for bleeding hearts. The aim of the Gospel is not to provide us with the biography of an inspiring hero, who fits . . . our ambitions, conforms to our ideals, or meets our conceptions of what constitutes greatness.”

Fr. Marrow could have included that Jesus was not a standard bearer for political correctness, the politics of either the left or the right, or the au courant gender silliness. Without zeal for God’s house the Church cannot survive. Without the Eucharist, without the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Church does not exist. Everything else the Church does--peace, justice, health care, education-- is beside the point if it does not emerge from the Eucharist, from Christ's Real Presence among us.

Without zeal for God's house we might as well stay in bed on Sunday and watch the shopping channel, football , or 'The View.' Only zeal for God's house, only time spent in prayer and contemplation, will allow us to understand the basic truths we heard in the psalm.

"The decree of the Lord is trustworthy,

giving wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart,

the command of the Lord is clear,

enlightening the eye."

The Lord truly has the words to everlasting life.

If we are willing to hear them and listen to them.

We adore Thee or Christ and we bless Thee

Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

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One of the great joys of photography is looking through photos randomly and allowing them to trigger memories of the place, the reason for the photo, and many associated feelings. These are three.

The Church of Saint James (sv. Jakob) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The church was built between 1613-1615. It has been repaired, remodeled, and refreshed a few times over the centuries. It is a Jesuit church separate from sv. Jože (St. Joseph, built in the early 20th century) not too far away.

The books set up for vespers in a monastery.

Wandering through Ljubljana one very cold night. The candle and ashtray were on a table at an outdoor cafe. I took quite a few shots inadvertently because my hands were so cold I could not feel my fingers or tell when the shutter had been pressed.

+ Fr. Jack, SJ, MD