THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT B
HIS ANGER LASTS A MOMENT
We love a friendly God, and so we have the laughing
Christ, the smiling Christ, and the jolly Christ. These pictures of Jesus are
more appealing and attractive to the young and old of today.
The gospel, Jn 2: 13-25, today doesn’t keep from us another
facet of Christ, the angry Christ. He was so angry that he needed to make it
explode, by making a whip of cords and venting his ire on the objects being
sold and exchanged in the temple area. I can just imagine how people must have
hidden themselves so as not to be found in Jesus path.
What transformed a meek and mild Jesus into someone
with uncontrollable rage? To understand this, we need to recall the first
reading, where we read about a jealous God (Exo 20: 1-17). Jesus was angry for he was jealous; he
was jealous for his Father’s sake.
Jesus became angry becase God was no longer the
center at the temple. The people were close to the sanctuary, and yet, theye
were blind to God’s presence. The people were so familiar with their concept of
God that this did not make any difference anymore. Jesus became jealous like
his Father, for the people were ignoring God for things that were passing and
ephemeral.
Jesus anger did not lead to violence; he did not
hurt people, or even animals. He just drove them away. However he wanted to
express his emotion to shake up and rattle insensitive hearts. He demonstrated
his passion in order to enlighten others. Some people certainly did not
understand what he was doing but some people did indeed learn their lesson.
If Jesus came today to look into our hearts, the
place where we truy honor God, will he find reason to react in the same way as
in today’s gospel? Will his anger rise up because something or someone else is
occupying God’s throne in our hearts? Let us allow the anger of Jesus today to
teach us how to truly value relationship with the Father.