My Brothers in Christ,
This weeks Gospel Reading is the only time
where Jesus is seen losing His temper. He is visibly upset and drives the
merchants out of the Temple using a whip, overturns tables, and berates all who
are present. Why was this situation different? Why with all the wrongs in the
world and situations that Jesus interacted with within His ministry was this
circumstance so different that he actually got physical? There is a messsage
here in His actions. He obviously wanted to get our attention and sometimes
actions do speak louder than words. It is like Jesus has grabbed our face with
His hands and put His face two inches from ours. He is trying to tell us
something.
One of the biggest feasts on the
Jewish Calander is the Feast of Passover. In the time of Jesus, Jews from all
over the world would come to the temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrafices to God
and fufill their religeous obligations. What was once a very solemn event had
turned into a money-making opportunity. The Jewish Community had lost their
focus and the true meaning of the ritual was lost. The temple was becoming a
center of commerce. Its true purpose was blurred. What was once a testament to
their faith had become a cultural center. Jesus was sending a clear message:
“You have lost your focus!”
Today, Jesus is sending that
message to us in the form of a warning: “Don’t lose your focus!” We have just
passed the Third Sunday of Lent and our journey has just barely begun; yet with
the lures of society and the lures of sin it is very easy to forget why we are
here. It is very easy to forget our religeous obligations. We need to keep
ourselves empty of everything except for Jesus. It must be the central aspect
of this season as we journey with Him carrying our own crosses to Calvary. It
is so easy at this point to throw down our cross and abandon the journey. That
is what temptation is all about: we are here because we want to be here. We
have responded to Jesus’ call for us to love Him. Yet, we can always ignore Him
instead of confronting our own pain, sin, and short-comings. We can always
forget that we are part of something far bigger than ourselves. We do not need
to help our brothers and sisters and treat others as we expect to be treated:
with love and compassion.
It is so easy to take the road
that offers no challenges and lowers expectations. Christian Life is not easy.
It is arguably the hardest life that one can choose to live; but the rewards
our endless. We become one with our God and that relationship becomes so
intimate and personal like no other realtionship we can ever comprehend having.
Let the Holy Spirit move you and let Jesus love you. There is no better feeling
than being moved by the Spirit and knowing that Jesus is with you always.
“DON’T LOSE YOUR FOCUS.”
DEACON TOM
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