Pastor's Letter 20210307 - 7 March 2021 - Laws and Worship

[Father Michael]

March 7th, 2021

Third Sunday of Lent

Today’s Theme:  

“Laws and Worship

Jesus driving out moneychangers from the Temple

A Message from Father †Michael

 

Reflections of Today's Scripture Readings

In today’s Gospel selection (John 2:13-25,) we hear about Jesus’ action of cleansing the temple—His protest against the commercialization of religion, and the desecration of a holy place.  In a deeper way it was symbolic, in the fashion of an Old Testament prophet (ref: Jeremiah 7:11; Malachi 3:1,) through which He passed judgment on the Jewish sacrificial system. He was declaring that temple worship, with its ritual and animal sacrifices had become irrelevant, and could do nothing to bring people to God.  His actions signified the replacement of the “sacrificial” with the “spiritual.”  (Modern day celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass continues in this vein.)  

Jesus also protested the way religion in His day had become narrow, nationalistic and exclusive.  Israel had failed in her universal mission of bringing God into the life of all humanity. His actions showed everyone that God intended the Temple to be a “house of prayer” for all nations.  Nonetheless, Temple worship continued as the jealously-guarded preserve of Israel.  No Gentile dared venture beyond that area known as the “court of the Gentiles,”  under threat of penalty, even death. Jesus declared that salvation was not just for Jews, but for all people.

Our Readings today begin with one of two versions of The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17…the other is found in Deuteronomy 5: 6-21.)  Referred to as “The Decalogue,” by theologians, they have become a “map of life” for people who enjoy a special relationship with God.  As such, they should be viewed as a “gift,” rather than as a “burden.”  However, Christians must not live by the Ten Commandments alone, but also by the “law” of Jesus:  His was the New Law, which was more exacting—The Law of Love.  

†Paul advises the Christians (in our Second Reading, 1 Corinthians 1:22-25,) not to demand “spectacular” events in worship—requiring “excitement” before they participate—he also admonishes them not to be so rational as to crave wisdom, analysis and insight—without including values of mystery, intuition, love and faith—aspects of religion that cannot be analyzed without being destroyed.  As a sign of the fulfillment of the law, †Paul preached a crucified Christ, as the supreme reason for worship.  To some, it made no sense, whereas, to those with faith, it was a sign of the wisdom and power of God.

Righteous Anger

The image of an angry Jesus, with a whip in His hand doesn’t “sit” well with most people’s traditional image of a “meek and smiling” Savior.  Given what we know of Jesus from the rest of the Gospels, it could seem that it is, “out of character” for Him.  But we should not summarily dismiss it.  Of course, Jesus was “gentle.”  But that doesn’t mean He was weak.  When occasion demanded it, He could be very strong and assertive.

Still, it might come as a shock to see Jesus not just angry, but resorting to violence.  This comes from a mistaken predisposition to the concept that “all anger is sinful.”  In itself, anger is just an emotion, a feeling, and as such, is neither good, nor bad, morally.  True, anger can be dangerous and result in our saying or doing things we may later regret.  But it also can be good, when it spurs us to put right something that is blatantly wrong.  Sometimes we should be angry, as when we encounter an unjust situation.  Then, our anger can become an expression of love!  

It’s important that we carefully scrutinize those things that evoke anger in us.  There’s an old adage that says, “You can measure the size of a person’s soul by the size of things that make him angry.”  However, it could be said that most things that routinely cause us to get angry are motivated by self-interest, and are “petty.” Jesus’ anger didn’t arise from personal interest.  Rather, it came about from His love of God and of His neighbors.  He wanted to remove the sense of entitlement and exclusivity that Temple worship had become, so as to include everyone.   Worship demands more from us than simply offering “things” and performing certain rituals.  God wants us to offer the worship of our lives to Him.      

Keeping the Commandments

In his 18th century seminal work, The Law, Fredrich Bastiat wrote that, “All laws are negative.”  That is to say, they proscribe some aspect of human behavior. *  However, when we consider the Ten Commandments, we must not make the mistake of approaching them purely in a negative way, because this leads us living, being guided by only the bare minimum. Rather, we must keep them in the right spirit.  Our obedience must spring from love, not fear.  We don’t keep the commandments so that God will love us, but because God loves us. Jesus’ scope of the law went beyond simple obedience and became proactive, when He espoused His Law of Love.  In this way, He made God’s law a way of life, free from presumed constraints.

*Whereas the fifth through the tenth commandments actually derive their reason for existence in “restriction” of human behavior, the first four derive theirs only from the law of love. (Matthew 22-24.) This becomes clearer when we understand all of them in the light of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (“The Beatitudes,” ref: Matthew 5:7.)  But in every sense, obedience to the commandments should always be motivated by love!  When we are “right-hearted,” we are called to obey the commandments out of love, not out of fear.  

One who lives their life in a state of simple conformity to law is like a person who still uses candlelight, in an age of electricity.  The true effects of light are seen in goodness, right living and truth.  Once mankind was enslaved to sin, but now we live in freedom, as the children of God.  The Lord, our God, is no longer strange and distant, but is our Friend and Counselor.

When we approach our worship as a step along our journey to salvation, our chosen obligations become a foretaste of the joy to come.  Predisposed in this way, we will see the compassion and love of God not just in the personalities of family members and close friends, but in everyone.  Concentrating on love assigns to others the same fidelity as that offered to close relations, without judgment or fear.  Physical fidelity to our marriage partner is a wholesome gift, but fidelity of the heart is even better.  

Giving love and honor to friends and acquaintances, allows us to avoid temptations of lust or envy, which diminish our esteem for others.  Such qualities lead us to be charitable with our care and attitudes as well as our wealth.  In so doing, we become beacons of light, to buoying, supporting and comforting our neighbors.

On the off chance that anyone finds “ten commandments” too many or too restrictive, we should recall how our Blessed Lord reduced the Commandments, and the Laws of Moses, to two:  “You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, mind and soul; And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Reflection: The House of God

“Lord, we pray that You make the door of Your house:

•  Wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship;

•  Narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife;

•  Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children, nor to straying feet;

•  Make this a house of prayer and a gateway to Your kingdom.”

~~Found written over the door of an old church~~

May God Richly Bless You!

“Jesus reminds us that following the law and the prophets is difficult work… In need of discernment, open to the Spirit and guided by integrity”

~~Kate Ott, Catholicwomenpreach.org~~   

To view a live stream of today's Holy Mass, click here:https://youtu.be/qEj8rvdZi8Q

My Soul Waits for the Lord.mp3

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Father Michael