Overturning Tables

3rd Sunday of Lent Mar. 11, 2012 (Jn 2:13-25)

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." His disciples recalled the words of scripture, "Zeal for your house will consume me." At this the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

Jesus' message is nothing petty; His is a radical one, a call to a complete change. His fellow Jews have corrupted their relationship with God. They took their covenant with God for granted. Still under the guise of practicing religion and obeying the law, they have actually turned away from a pure and faithful covenant with God.

The purification of the temple from vendors and money-changers who cheated the people is Jesus' way of reminding the Jews of the importance of a pure and faithful relationship with God. The complicated morality they have developed have led them to superficiality and unfaithfulness to God. Jesus wanted to "overturn" this.

Sometimes, like the Jews, we also tend to hide our sins under the guise of religion or of goodness. Sometimes we feel our relationship with God is merely going to Mass and praying. We don't care anymore if we sin because we pray anyway. Or sometimes, we use good deeds or good intentions as justifications for our wrongdoings. We think it is alright to cheat or to steal because we help other people anyway. We think it is acceptable to step on other people because it's for our success anyway. This way of thinking is of the world, not of God.

Jesus wants to overturn this attitude. In our First Reading (Ex 20:1-17), we are pointed back to the basics - to the Ten Commandments of God. If we want to purify ourselves from the filth of a confused and deceptive perception of what is good, we must go back to God's law. We should not try to escape from God's law; neither should we try to go around it. We should submit ourselves to what God has legislated and be faithful to it. Only then can we be free from all sin, especially from sin disguised as obedience.

The obedience that Jesus showed us in giving His life for our salvation is the perfect example of true obedience. According to our Second Reading (1 Cor 1:22-25), God's wisdom is not acceptable to the world. The world considers it foolish that Jesus, God Himself, should sacrifice His own life for men. But this foolishness of God is wisdom that is so much wiser than human wisdom. And as Christians, we subscribe to God's wisdom, which is embodied in Jesus. The world considers wise those who cheat their way to success, those who do everything in their power to gain wealth, power and fame. But as Christians, what we consider to be wisdom is complete obedience to God, even to the point of having to sacrifice.

This Lenten season, Jesus invites us to overturn our tables. He invites us to return to God and to His law, completely overturning the false teachings of this world. May we come to see what is true and good and may we realize and find in our lives the wisdom of God.

The Greatest of All - Love

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Oct. 26, 2008 (Mt 22:34-40)

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment."

"The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

In the Gospel, Jesus is again tested by Jewish religious leaders. He is asked what the greatest law was. Jesus answered with great wisdom by saying that love of God and love of neighbor are the principal commandments.

Jesus, of course, was aware of the existence of more than 600 laws which burden the Jews. Many unlearned Jews are becoming paranoid if they are breaking a law or not. On the other hand, the Pharisees who asked Jesus the question feel very good about themselves as they are certain that they are following the law. Their self-righteousness is the reason why they are not to find salvation. And their observance of meaningless rituals makes them without love.

The law that anyone follows becomes meaningless if there is no love, for love is the essence of the law. This is what Jesus knew and taught. He abstracted love from the so many detailed rituals and strict prohibitions and imposed this love as the new commandment.

Saint Paul explains this in his first letter to the Corinthians, "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." (1 Cor 13:1-3).

In the Gospel, we are reminded to love God above all. As was said in last week's reflection, we all belong to God. Therefore, He is deserving of all our love. This imperative to love God is oftentimes overlooked. We always assume that we love God enough. I have heard people say, "Oh, God will understand! I'm very busy" just to justify their failure to attend Mass or to pray. Of course, if asked, many Catholics would deny that they don't love God. We would say we do. But how much do we really love God? Would He be on top of your list if you would be asked to honestly list down the ones you love in order of how much you love them?

Our love for God is required of us because it is God who loved us first. God thirsts for our love back. Remember Jesus' words, "I thirst" (Jn 19:28)? It is up to us to quench God's thirst for our love. People say that love hurts. Does it really? Or isn't it not getting loved back that hurts? Imagine how God feels when so many people refuse to love Him back.

The Pharisees would not have been surprised when Jesus answered love of God as the greatest commandment. But they might have been when Jesus added love of neighbor as the second and closely related commandment.

Love of God and of neighbor are often described as two sides of the same coin. Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me." (Mt 25:40). We cannot give God anything aside from our love, praise and service. God is not in need of any material object we can give Him. But, our love for God can be shown by caring for all His creation. And, of course, His greatest creation is man. We are His obra maestras, every one of us. We are images of the invisible God. Therefore, we must treat each other with love and respect.

Saint John makes this clear in his first epistle, "Those who say, 'I love God', and hate their brothers are liars; for those who do not love a brother whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers also." (1 Jn 4:20-21)

I have also heard people say, "Why should I help my neighbor when I myself am poor?" This is a silly statement. First of all, money is not always needed to help one's neighbor. One can help others by lending a helping hand, sharing time, talent and maybe a little treasure, but that's not required. So long as you have shared whatever you can, that's enough to make them feel loved. One can also extend help through praying for others. Secondly, we should remember that Jesus said in our Gospel, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself". He did not tell us to love ourselves first. He didn't also tell us to love our neighbor first. Rather, we shouldn't be selfish and we also shouldn't forget to take care of ourselves.

God loved us first. And just as God loved us though we are not worthy of His love, we should also love our neighbor.

Let us ask ourselves, are we the reason why Jesus thirsts for love? Do we break His already wounded heart by our sins and our refusal to love our neighbor? Are we the reason why God has a heartache?