Scripture Readings: Exodus 20.1-17; 1 Corinthians 1.22-25; John 2.13-25
“Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” – John 2.6
Jesus seeks to reclaim the temple as a place of prayer rather than commerce. His short explanation is a great Tweet: “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disruptive actions of dumping out money and overturning tables would become breaking news online today.
Similarly Pope Francis has made direct, quotable statements about repairing Earth, which he reverences as God’s creation and our sacred home. He urges us to stop pollution and our wasteful ways. “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth,” he says (#21). “Earth is a shared inheritance. God created the world for everybody” (#93).
Jesus’ actions to cleanse the temple calls us to clean our houses this Lent and to examine our hearts. Our fast-paced, productive lives can erode our relationships with God and make us feel like cogs in the wheels of commerce rather than friends of God and one another. Lent calls us to assess what we consume and what consumes us.
What housecleaning do you need to do in your life? How can you change to help clean up our common home, the Earth?
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