3rd SUNDAY OF LENT – B

March 16, 2009

Ex 20:1-3.7-8.12-17
1 Cor 1:22-25
Jn 2:13-25

In one African country, there was a great famine. There was too little rain for five years. People were really suffering from hunger. Animals, too were lying dead everywhere and were decomposing. Imagine the stink in the air.

Rations from abroad came to the rescue. Tons of maize flour, powder milk, canned products and ready mixed food came in big quantities enough for the people. Systematic arrangements were made for the distribution. In each district, a team of government people were to give to each family the amount needed.

One day, a chairman of one of the helping International Organizations came to see how the rations were being given out. Earlier, reports had reached his Headquarter that things were not as they should be. He was known to be a very kind and gentle person. But what he saw filled him with anger. He saw many bags of flour and milk in one dark room, and the canned food being handed in plastic bags were old and expired. He noticed a number of people coming by the back door and leaving with big bags and boxes that disappeared into their private cars. To his shock, there were mothers with children outside waiting for long hours under the sun, hungry and tired only to be given a very little fraction of what they are rightly to get. In his anger, he lambasted those distributing the food, kicked the chairs on all sides and turned tables upside down. People who were there were amazed in disbelief!

In today’s Gospel, people were also amazed in disbelief to have seen and heard Jesus very angry. He, too, was known to be kind and gentle. The Jews were annoyed and scandalized with his actions.

How about us, do we see a very different Jesus too? Different from the images we hung at home like the Sacred Heart, the Good Shepherd and so on? Yes, we see an angry Jesus. Why?

I consider three reasons. First: The Synagogue as a sacred place is not given due respect. “Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.” Second: Some things are not in their proper places. “He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there.” Third: Dichotomy in Faith. The Jews (traders) take only Saturday (or Sunday) as God’s day therefore sacred but the rest of the week were purely for business. (Take note of the words “money changers” and “marketplace”)

Jesus being angry in the Gospel today does not betray his “gentle and humble in heart” (Mt. 11:29) image nor his being compassionate and emotional as he shed tears at the death of his friend Lazarus (Jn. 11:39). This does not mean that He is weak. He is just “neither cold nor hot” (Rev. 3:14), in fact, his actions today show He is firm and strong. He stands courageously for what he believes and he does things with conviction. Like the chairman in our story who courageously stood his ground on the irregularities in the distribution of food supplies in Africa.

On March 2, 2009, on the occasion of the 159th Foundation Anniversary of the Province of La Union, a “La Union Service Award” (Posthumous) was given to the late Fr. German Cabillo, SVD as an acknowledgement of the Province of La Union for his fearless and courageous voice against injustice, corruption, crimes of all forms, etc.

Fr. Gerry was a man who had guts and conviction worthy of emulation as Christians. Unfortunately, many of us only have an aching backbone, not healthy and strong “backbone”. For example, if I ask you who are in this church today, who among us would act the way Jesus did when he found the church’s sacredness disrespected? When I say “Church,” I am not referring only to the premises Jesus cleansed, but the Church as a body, a community of supposedly principled individuals. Who has the “backbone” to stand up and defend it from those who abuse it? When we see weak people crushed by those in authority and those in power, who among us would stand up for them? When we see bribery and corruption taking place in our “backyard,” are we strong enough to condemn or to take action against it?

Lent is indeed a time to act even if it means to get “angry” with the kind of anger the chairman in our story and that of Jesus in the Gospel today demonstrated. In as much as the society, church, and surroundings need some cleansing, Lent is inviting each one of us for an inner introspection.


Fr. Emil Pati, SVD
PHN Mission Secretary
Divine Word Missionaries
Pindangan, Parian, San Fernando City
La Union