3rd SUNDAY OF LENT

The image of the Temple filled with crowds, moneychangers, animals and birds for sacrifice was an assault on the senses: the sight of cages and holding pens; the sounds of bleating, flapping wings and shouting voices, the smells of manure, urine and smoke. It was also a place where the complicity between Roman taxes, priestly corruption and caste divisions was a visible mockery of everything the Temple stood for.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus was enraged to find the sacred Temple reduced to a marketplace for sacrificial animals. He was filled with zeal for justice and true worship. With both feet planted firmly on the ground of righteousness, Jesus could take it no more. He approached the vendors and moneychangers. He tipped over their tables, spilling coins everywhere. Wielding his whip of cords, he drove them out of the Temple area.
Deacon Dick Folger