Today is the first Sunday of Lent that we celebrate and pray the Scrutinies. The Scrutinies are read on the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sunday of Lent and are accounts of the Samaritan woman at the well, the man born blind and Lazarus raised from the dead. We read, pray and reflect upon each Scrutiny at the mass during which the newly elect are present. This Sunday that will be at the 11:00am mass. I invite you to visit the Lent tab of the Children’s Liturgy website and read about the Scrutinies and our purpose and our enrichment for them on our Lenten journey. No matter which mass you are presiding for children’s liturgy, it is well worth mentioning the elect of our parish and reminding the children to include them in their daily prayers and to discuss that week’s Scrutiny at least briefly and particularly to highlight the purpose of the Scrutiny and it’s importance to the elect and to all of us.
The prescribe readings for this Sunday are for the 3rd Sunday of Lent and focus our reflections on our misguided sense of self-sufficiency and our greed.
In the first reading today we are presented with the Ten Commandments. First and foremost we should recognize God as the one true God, not worship any other gods. This isn’t a one way relationship, for God begins his commandments by saying, “I am your God. I brought you away from the country of Egypt and freed you from slavery.” We know that God has done many other things besides that confirm and illustrate his deep love for us and his desire to have us with him. It was God’s love for us that brought Jesus to us. Jesus told us that the second most important commandment, one that is almost as important, is that we should love one another as God has loved us. How can you love some body more than God becoming man to suffer and die for our sins so that we, like Jesus, could be resurrected into new life, forever in his presence?
In the Gospel according to John we are a bit shocked by the violent behavior of Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem. There are people selling cattle, sheep and pigeons and changing money for people. They are using God’s house as a marketplace. Jesus drives everyone out of the temple and overturns the tables and yells, “Get them out of here! Stop using God’s house as a marketplace!” When the Jews ask Jesus by what authority he can behave this way he replies, “Tear down this temple, and I will raise it up in three days!” They do not understand that Jesus is talking about his body, not the building of the temple. Later when Jesus is raised from the dead on the third day his disciples remembered his words! And they believed!!
So, we are directed to focus on the fact that we are a people who continue to fall prey to our own weaknesses because we focus, not on God, but on selfish desires, and greed. Jesus is ridding the “temple” of the material focus of the world, which is what he would have us do for the temple that is OUR body. Remove the self-centered aspects of our selves, remove our unhealthy desire for earthly treasure and pleasure and we will have a clean temple in which to love our God, and form a close relationship with our God.
Lent is about our relationship with God and removing the walls we have built between ourselves and God. If we rely on our own self-sufficiency, if we are selfish, if we focus our lives on material wealth and elevated importance then our temple will surely not stand strong because it is built with weak material on unsteady ground. God is our strength, God is our salvation and God will raise us up! Through God all things are possible! God=Love. God/Love is more powerful than anything man can create. It was God’s love that placed Jesus on that cross; it was God’s love that raised him on the third day. Our focus should be on the Resurrection of Christ Jesus because that is our intended final destination. Jesus is trying to tell us, “Hey! You’re focusing on the wrong things!”
The Psalm this week is Psalm 19: Lord You Have the Words of Everlasting Life Music Link Lead Sheet