Reflection on the Gospel of the Tuesday In The Thirty-Second Week In Ordinary Time |
John 2:13-22 |
In today’s Gospel Passage, two things stand out
- The festival was that of the Passover
- (v.13 – The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem)
- In preparation for this festival, which commemorated the Exodus/the Saving of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.
- The Jews were instructed to remove all leaven from their places of abode
- and cast the leaven out of their towns and villages.
- Leaven was associated with corruption
- It was n truth they needed to learn, in relating to God
- If they compromised their pursuit and love of God,
- Then they would slowly and surely slip away from the fullness of God
- Just as Cain descended into wholesale sin, because he compromised his love and the place of God in his life
- In the midst of his cleansing, Jesus informs the people, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
- Yes Jesus was angry
- But his actions were in accordance with him instructing the people
- Leaven did not mean only yeast
- But it meant all compromise
- It meant everything that put God in second place
- Leaven also meant not trusting God to provide.
- And what is Jesus’ Father’s house in this context?
- Not the Temple
- You and me.
- And we must not reduce ourselves to a market place
- If we do so, we have rejected God
- And by our actions tell him we do not believe that he has created us purely for himself.
- We fix an ulterior motive to all his actions of care and love of us.
Today is the feast of the Lateran Basilica in Rome and the Church has chosen for itself this Gospel reading and correctly so. Again the Church is not those wonderful structures where the Christians meet, but it is all the Christians themselves. And the Church the bride of Christ is called to love God with all its Heart, Mind and Soul. Come Holy Spirit, guide us and lead us in this vocation to Love and Serve God.
