Obsession for your House - Third Sunday of Lent

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent

Based on the Jn. 2:13-25 (Gospel); Ex. 28:1-3, 7-8, 12-17 (1st Reading); 1 Cor. 1:22-25 (2nd Reading)

From the Series of “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”

Obsession for your House - Jn. 2: 17

1.       Obsession versus Zeal:

The gospel uses the word “zeal” in Jn. 2:17: “Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me.’”. So does Psalm 69:9, when it says: “Zeal for your house devours me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.”

Why do we use “obsession” for our title of this homily instead of ‘zeal”. Obsession is better understood at one glance than “zeal”.

Obsession and zeal are all one and the same thing.

According to Microsoft Encarta Dictionary (Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation), obsession is defined as a “preoccupation: an idea or feeling that completely occupies the mind”, or “state of being obsessed: the state of being obsessed by somebody or something, and in Psychiatry, “the uncontrollable persistence of an idea or emotion in the mind.”  While, according to the same source, the meaning of “zeal” (from 4^th Century Latin zelus, from Greek zēlos, "eager rivalry") is an “energetic and unflagging enthusiasm, especially for a cause or idea.”

2.       Obsession in today’s Gospel:

                Obsession for God’s house is the message of the story about Jesus Christ’s cleansing of the Temple. The story of the incident, as reported in Jn. 2:13-25, goes this way:

Just before the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons; and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cords, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocking their tables over and said to the pigeon sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’ Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me.’ The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up. The Jesus replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary; are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.

During his stay I Jerusalem for the Passover, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he gave. But Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to them; He never needed evidence about any man, he could tell what a man had in him.

                The cleansing of the Temple was done by Jesus Christ in order to preserve it is a house of prayer, according to the following texts and footnotes:

Mt. 21:12-13 - Jesus went into the Temple and drove out all those who were selling and buying there; he upset the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling pigeons.^c ‘According to scripture’ he said ‘my house will be called a house of prayer; but you are turning it into a robbers’ den.’

Footnote c of Mt. 21:12  says: “They provided pilgrims with the coinage and sacrificial victims necessary for oblations: a practice which,  however legitimate, lends itself to abuse.”

Mk. 11:11,15-17 - He entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple. He looked all round him, but as it was now late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.  So they reached Jerusalem and he went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling and buying there; he upset the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling pigeons. Nor would he allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple.  And he taught them and said, ‘Does not scripture say: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples?^a

Footnote a  of Mk. 11:17 says:  “Of the Synoptics, only Mk. quotes, no doubt deliberately, these last four words of Isaiah’s text: they foretell the worldwide worship of the  messianic age.”

Lk. 19:45-46 - Then he went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling.’ According to scriptures.’ he said ‘my house shall be a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a robber’s den.’

                Jesus Christ’s anger has a parallel in the book of Nehemiah (Ne. 13:8) that says:  “This made me very angry, I threw all Tobiah’s household furniture out of the chamber.”

What Jesus did with the whip is reported in the Book of Malachi (Ml. 3:1-4) which states that: “Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me.^a And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter the Temple: and the angel of the covenant^b whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says Yahweh Sabaoth. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and a fuller’s alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver; and then they will make the offering to Yahweh as it should be made. The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be welcomed by Yahweh as in former days, as in the years of old.”

Footnotes a and b of this text (Ml. 3:1-4) says:

^a – The precursor of Yahweh, already spoken of in Is. 40:3, will be identified with Elijah, Ml. 3:23. Mt. 11:10 applies text to John the Baptist, the new Elijah, Mt. 11:14.

^b– The angel of the New Covenant is not the precursor spoken of above, since his arrival at the Temple is simultaneous with that of Yahweh. It is probably an enigmatic designation of Yahweh himself, derived from Ex. 3:2; 23:20, cf. Gn. 16:7+. Mt. 11:10 implies its implication to Jesus.

The temple shall be purified as a house of prayer according to God’s original intentions as reported in the Book of Zachariah (Zc. 14:21) herein stated: “And every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall become sacred to Yahweh Sabaoth; all who want to offer sacrifice will come  and help them for their cooking; there will be no more traders in the Temple of Yahweh Sabaoth, when that day comes.” Footnote o of this text (Zc. 14:21) also says: “The author, remembering Ezekiel, foresees the sanctification of everything in the land of Israel in the messianic age.”  

                This thought is elaborated more in the First Reading from the book of Exodus (Ex. 28:1-3, 7-8, 12-17) which orders the furnishing of the Tent of Meeting of the priesthood with their proper vestments for their consecration.

“From among the sons of Israel summon your brother Aaron and his sons to be priests in my service: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, sons of Aaron. For Aaron your brothers you are to make sacred vestments to give dignity and magnificence. You are to instruct all the ablest craftsmen, whose ability I have given them, to make Aaron’s vestments for his consecration to my priesthood. It must have two shoulder-straps fitted to it to join the two ends together. The woven band on it to hold it is to be similar workmanship and form one piece with it: this must be of gold, purple stuffs, violet shade and red, crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen. You are to fasten the two stones commemorating the sons of Israel to the shoulder-straps of the ephod. In this way Aaron will bear their names on his shoulders in the presence of Yahweh, so as to commemorate them.  You must also make golden rosettes, and two chains of pure gold twisted like cord; you are to attach these cord-like chains to the rosettes. You are to make pectoral of judgment, finely brocade, of the same workmanship as the ephod. You are to make it of gold, purple stuffs, violet shade and red, crimson stuffs, and fine twined linen. It is to be square and doubled over, a span in length and a span in width. In this you are to set four rows of stones. Sard, topaz, carbuncle, for the first row.” (Ex. 28:1-3, 7-8, 12-17).

The above provision for the tent of Meeting is necessary in order to make it always fit for God’s worship as provided by the prophet Malachi (3:3): “He (God) will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver; and then they will make the offering to Yahweh as it should be made.”

The tent of meeting and the Temple share the same purpose, that of being a house of prayer, as again provided by the prophet Malachi in the above text that says in v. 4:  “The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be welcomed by Yahweh as in former days, as in the years of old.”

3.       Sign or miracle for the Jews:

Concerning the sign or miracle that the Jews demanded from Jesus Christ, this is spoken of in the second and last part of this Third Sunday of Lent’s Gospel, which states that:

“The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up. The Jesus replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary; are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.”

The above citation is also corroborated by today’s Second Reading from 1 Cor. 1:22-25 that says:

“And so, while the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom. Here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:22-25).

The sign or miracle which the Jews demanded from Jesus Christ is what he himself told. It was about his crucifixion and eventual resurrection from the dead. He told them that: “Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up. The Jesus replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary; are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this…”

Footnote i of Mt. 38:40 states that:   “A miracle that would prove Jesus had authority and show what sort of authority it was, cf. Is. 7:11f; Lk. 1:18+; Jn. 2:11+. He refuses to give any other sign but the decisive one which is his resurrection, here obscurely foretold.”

Elaboration of the gospel could be taken from Mt. 26:61 which also says:

This man said, ‘I have power to destroy the Temple of God and in three days build it up”’.^s

Footnote s of Mt. 26:61 also says that: “What Jesus had in fact foretold was the destruction of the Temple and of the Jewish cult of which it was the symbol, ch. 24. A new Temple was to be substituted for the old one, and this was to be, in the first place, his own body risen after three days, 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Jn. 2:19-22, but beyond that, it was to be the Church.”

There it is! The resurrected body of Jesus Christ, which rose after three days after his death on the cross, is the Church, that community of his disciples, the community brothers in Jesus Christ’ faith that lives in a teleological relationship of love and unity. This is the sure sign or miracle which Jesus Christ gave to these unbelieving Jews and to the rest of the pagan world.

This is the temple of God that rose after the death of Jesus Christ, the temple that was destroyed but in three days was raised; and this temple is the New Testament Church of God.

“Obsession for your house,” therefore, applies also to an obsession for the Church, which is the house, or Temple of, God in the New Testament dispensation of salvation.