Lent 3 (Year B)

Jesus “was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body.” (John 2:21)

What happened in today’s Gospel is remarkable and not a little shocking.

It is a little shocking to us, perhaps, because Jesus appears to be angry - he seems to lose his temper. Surely, we suppose, it is wrong to be angry, wrong to lose our tempers. Isn’t Gentle Jesus supposed to be Meak and Mild? And free from sin? Yet one of the many sins we may feel called to confess in this time of Lent, surely is anger.

Of course, we might rationalise a little - he doesn’t lose his temper. He isn’t even really angry - this is enthusiasm, or zeal, or what we might call righteous anger, because he is protesting against something which is wrong and unjust - trading in the temple, exploiting the poor …

Yet it is even more shocking than that. Even if Jesus is right to complain about the traders in temple, it seems an extreme act. After all, they were only providing the things that were need to perform the rituals and sacrifices (not so very different from selling Bibles or Rosaries). And while he may be speaking about the Temple being a place of prayer, turning over tables and shouting protests seems an odd way to do so. A bit like talking loudly at the back of the Church about how awful it is that people show so little respect nowadays. His actions cause great offence to the religious leaders of the time.

Yet, we might argue that this was little more than a symbolic act, rather than a real act of disruption. The Temple was vast, and its courts exensive. The market took place in the outer court. And It had its own police force, the Temple guards. So a bit of a protest in one part might be hardly noticed in another. No, we could argue, Jesus is making a point - but not defiling the sanctuary.

Yet perhaps the most shocking detail, is not what Jesus does, but what he says.

We need to understand that for the Jewish people of time, and to an extent still today, the Temple mount and the Temple itself is not just the central place of worship, but the only place where the fulness of worship can take place. Only here, in the sanctuary, could the sacrifices be performed. Here, to this very day, the Jews gather at the “Weeping Wall” - the only wall which remains from the old temple - to lament the sufferings of their people. The Synagogue became a place of prayer, and study and preaching, but the Temple was the only place where the fullness of Jewish worship and sacrifices, (described in great detail in what we call the Old Testament), could take place, and once that was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, these liturgies, rites and cermonies passed into history.

So, When Jesus speaks about the destruction and the rebuilding of the Temple, Jesus takes the extraordinary step of sweeping away the temple itself. This is surely, for the Jews, is a great blasphemy, much worse than a protest or a little dsiruption. It is clear from the Gospel stories this sets in train the campaign to remove Jesus, the plot which leads us to Holy Week and Easter.

Suddenly, in a phrase, just a few words, and words which perplexed all his listeners, words which even his followers would remember but not understand until much later, he tells us that the God is present not in the Old Temple, but in the very Body of Christ himself. No longer is worship to be in Temple which had been built by Herod the Great, no longer is God present only in the sanctuary which had been established on mount Zion by King David, now God is fully and truly present in a human being, in God become man, in the person of Jesus Christ.

And so we are taken in an instant from the temple mount to the Mount of Olives, to the Garden of Gethsemane and to the Empty Tomb. Here, Christ points us already towards Maundy Thursday, the gift of his Body and Blood, Good Friday, the sacrifice of his body on the Cross, and Easter Day, the rising of his Body to eternal life on the Third Day - the risen body which becomes the true sanctuary, the object of worship.

God is no longer only in the temple, or only to be found in any other building - rather it is in the Body which is his Church, and the sacrament of his Body, and in the community which gathers together, in the Church understood as poeple not as Archetecture, where God dwells amongst us, and where we meet him, in the risen Christ.

Fifth Sunday of Easter : Homily / Sermon

Whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself - he will perform even greater works - because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)

In some ways this statement may appear to be a little shocking. The apostles, the Church, we will do even greater works than Christ himself? Surely not?

And indeed as we believe that Christ is not only a great teacher, but also entirely free from sin, who has made the ultimate sacrifice. God Incarnate. How could we possibly do greater works than him?

And surely, Christians and non-believers over the ages have taken comfort in pointing out to us the perfect teaching and perfect life of Christ, alongside the failings and rivalries and sometimes even cruelties of those who claim his name. It is not just that he is a challenge to Christians, but is almost as if everything started to go wrong the moment after he had ascended to heaven.

And yet, here are the words of the man himself - we will do even greater works.

And think about it, and we will realise that of course it is true. He did not say we would be sinless - no, he said we could be forgiven our sins. He not say his followers would never get things wrong - no, he warned against charlatans, and he prayed for unity rather than division.

But consider what Jesus himself achieved. It may seem so little. As is often remarked, he never led any armies, or founded a nation, or even wrote a book. He never travelled more than a few miles. When he died he was deserted by his followers.

Yet he did not fail - not so much for what he did, but for what his followers did.The recording of his words, and the development of teaching based upon it. The establishment of the Church. The spread of learning across Europe and beyond. Thousands of hospitals and schools. The development of social care for the disabled and the vulnerable. The rehabilitation and education of those convicted of crime. The very concept of human rights. And the science of the "Big Bang". The abolition of slavery - first in South America by Catholic Missionaries, ever before its abolition in this country. Extraordinary artwork and music and architecture. For all its flaws and human shortcomings, the Catholic Church is the largest international organisation in the world, and the Papacy the oldest institution. The Church works with more sufferers of aids than any other non-governmental organisation in the world. There is a presence in almost every city of the world, and in this country a chaplaincy for every hospital and prison, and for many many schools.

All these have been the work of followers of Christ - those who have done and are doing even greater works.

Of course, many of these are not only the works of the Church or of the followers of Christ alone, but do not be misled into thinking that these are not the continuing works of Christ or that his works and his ministry are somehow set in the past, captured in aspic, beautiful to behold yet static and remote.

Far from it. Christ is at work today. In the Church, in you, in us. It is not that we are greater than him, of course. It is that he is so great, that risen from death, and ascended into heaven, his work continues and flourishes.

And he will do yet greater works. Through us.