March 7, 2021 - 3rd Sunday in Lent

(Ex 20:1-17; 1 Cor 1:22-25; Jn 2:13-25)

In our first reading, God gives the Hebrews the Ten Commandments as more than a list of do's and don'ts. They are presented in the context of the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. God starts out with “I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.” With that in mind, we can see the Law expressed by the Ten Commandments as a prescription for remaining free of bondage – the bondage of sin. In that sense, the Law was given to the Hebrews as more of a blessing than a restriction. That is why many other scriptures speak of the law as beautiful and wonderful. It is a way to real freedom, not a limitation on freedom.

Today's Gospel is about Jesus cleansing the Temple of the money changers. The house of God was being turned into a bazaar for selling goats, sheep, oxen, birds, and probably Passover souvenirs as well. It must have been a noisy, messy business. Yet these merchants were approved by the religious elite. Their activities profited from the rituals that kept the Temple leaders in power (along with tacit support from the Roman authorities). Jesus saw this as a great injustice. He took action to speak truth to power. He confronted the powerful with the truth they did not want to hear. It was actions like this that led to the Lord's eventual arrest and crucifixion. Jesus knew what the result would be, but that did not stop him from acting.

Today is also the anniversary of another time when truth was spoken to power. On March 7, 1965, the late John Lewis, Reverend Hosea Williams, and others led a march for civil rights from Selma, Alabama. As about 600 marchers started to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met with a wall of state troopers and county posse. When the marchers knelt down to pray, they were beaten with nightsticks and charged by troopers on horseback. John Lewis suffered a skull fracture, and many others were seriously injured. But less than six months later, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. Truth did win out, just as the Lord's truth won out over the powerful of his time. Indeed it won out over even death itself.

• In what ways might we speak truth to power today?
• In contemporary Catholicism, no purchase is necessary to fully participate in worship. What more can we do to facilitate poor people's access to the Church?
• Have you ever thought that selling something within the confines of a church or hosting a fundraiser was receiving undue attention and drawing people away from worship? What limits would you suggest for such activities?