Worship with reverence!

The Good shepherd is the most familiar image of Jesus that most of us have in our mind. The kind, loving and compassionate Jesus carrying wounded sheep on his shoulder has become synonym with hope. It is unimaginable to conceive such a person acting with anger. However, at least a couple places in the Gospels we find Jesus with a different face, the angry Jesus. Jesus was angry with people who exploited the poor. He was in constant confrontation with Pharisees who made the life of the weak difficult with outdated laws. Jesus became indignant at the sight of people misusing the Temple. Since the gospel reading for the third Sunday of Lent is the scene of ‘Jesus cleansing the Temple’, (Jn 2:13-22) it is fitting to reflect on this incident and draws lessons for our spiritual journey.

Why was Jesus angry? Three things that provoked Jesus:

1. Worship without focus! Recently a High school student came to me for counseling. He was in tears. He said: “I cannot graduate this year. I messed it all up. I am going to lose one year in my life”. What was his problem? He got involved in too many programs. In the process he lost the focus. The High School Student failed to understand the primary reason for his going to school. His misplaced interest cost him dearly. This can happen to any one not only in education but in any area of one’s life. This was the problem in the Jerusalem Temple too. The focus was shifted from worship to wealth. Temple and worship became a business.

Primarily, the Temple is a place of worship/sacrifice. People go to the Temple to celebrate their faith and experience conversion. Jesus found this aspect missing in the Temple. God was pushed to the corner and material interests took the driving seat. The money lenders and the sellers of sacrificial offerings reversed the priorities of the Temple. They exploited the poor by manipulating the temple tax and sacrificial offerings.

Every Jew over nineteen years of age was required to pay the temple tax. The tax was almost equal to two day’s wage. This must be paid in Jewish coins as the Jews considered coins from other cultures and countries were unclean. The temple authorities and their official money changers charged a huge price for their service. For example to change money worth one shekel (equal to a four day’s wage), they charged half a shekel. This made the worship costly and difficult, especially for the poor. The Temple Inspectors also contributed their own share to worsen the situation. Animal sacrifice was part and parcel of the temple worship. The law required that the animals brought to the temple must be perfect and unblemished. The temple inspectors often rejected the animals brought by the pilgrims from their homes unless they were given bribe. This forced the pilgrims to buy animals from the temple authorities with a high price. In short, the purpose of worship was ignored and the selfish interest was promoted. The House of prayer became ‘a den of thieves” (Mk 11:17).

2. Worship without conversion! Rituals are important. Rituals are part of life. They make experience tangible, experiential and communitarian. For example, we offer flowers to our loved ones to express our love. We use flowers as a symbol of love, but a flower is not love. We don’t worship a sign board because it points to a pilgrim center. Rituals have values as long as they point to a greater reality. They are means to an end, not an end in itself. We use rituals in worship. According to the Second Vatican Council “Liturgy is the ritual accomplishment of the redemptive act of Christ” (Sacro Sanctum Concilium). The problem arises when we fail to transcend the rituals. The problem with Temple worship was that they absolutised rituals for monetary reasons. Sabbath is for man and man is not for Sabbath (Mk 2:27). Jesus criticized the ritualistic approaches of Pharisees and corrected their understanding of worship saying, “True worship is in Truth and Spirit” (Jn 4:24). Any form of worship that does not lead us to conversion needs reconsideration.

3. Worship without communion! Religion means relationship. Relationship is the medium through which God operates. Hence Jesus said, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:23-24). The practice prevailed at the Jerusalem Temple was divisive. They promoted class system and exclusivism. ‘The Temple was, for example, consisted of a series of courts leading into the Temple proper and to the Holy Place. There was first the court of the gentiles, the court of the women, then the court of the Jews and then the court of the Priests’. They did not come together as a community but as exclusive groups. The common purpose did not bind them together. This discriminatory attitude shocked Jesus. Jesus came to gather the people into a family where all could pray together the prayer ‘Our Father…” Jesus came to break the man made barriers that divide humanity into classes and casts. So Jesus said,” My house shall be called house prayer for all the nations” (Mk 11:17). This attitude of Jesus is very well reflected in his selection of disciples. Nobody was untouchable to him (Mt 5: 9-13).

Jesus was angry when he saw worship without focus, reverence, conversion and communion. Hence these are the questions we need to ask today: How is our liturgy today? What comes first in our Liturgical planning? What is the focus? How do I participate in the worship? Do I worship with reverence? How do I prepare myself for the Liturgical celebration? How does my worship bring me closer to God and one another? How inclusive am I in my approach? What do I do to make the celebration meaningful and spiritually enriching? Finally, it is also important to consider the way we respect and treat our Body. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “I urge you, therefore, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship” (Rom12:1).