Third Sunday of Lent

Reflection

“Zeal for your house will consume me.”  This verse from Psalm 69 was recalled by Jesus’ disciples witnessing His dramatic “cleansing of the temple” told in this Sunday’s Gospel.  It is a scene the evangelist John puts at the start of Jesus’ ministry, and which the other Gospel writers save till near the end.  Bookends to frame His teaching and healing: start and finish with zeal for God’s house.  Mark presents it as an opening up of God’s house to the gentiles.  John interprets it as signifying that Jesus Himself, not the building of stone, is God’s dwelling place.  In any case, something of deep and lasting import happened here, some sign that challenged all who witnessed it, disciples and opponents of Jesus alike.  How does it challenge us, here and now?  A re-ignition of “zeal,” perhaps.  Excitement and fervor.  Commitment and action, commitment to action.  It would have to be an action, though, that starts with myself: a cleansing of this house of God, this “temple of the Holy Spirit” which I am by baptism.  I can’t use St. Paul’s phrase without thinking of Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Temple of the Holy Ghost,” in which a young girl daydreams of “being a saint,” but doubts she could because she was “deliberately ugly to almost everybody.”  On the other hand, “she thought she could be martyr if they killed her quick.”  Quick, though, is not an adjective to describe Christian vocation, its everyday-a-new-day challenge.  So, we are given Lent: the season of cleansing the temple and relighting the fire.

Prayer

A prayer from the rite of baptism:  “O God, who has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ, now and for ever.  Amen.”

Fr. Richard Berube, S.S.E. ’66, Emeritus Professor, Religious Studies

Scripture

First Reading: Exodus 17:3-7

Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9

Second Reading: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

Gospel: John 4:5-42

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website