Homily for 20 Nov 2015

20 Nov 2015

It’s never a pretty picture when you try to change the status quo.  Of course, Jesus knows that firsthand.  Who would’ve thought you could stir up so much trouble by trying to do the right thing . . . by trying to “cleanse the Temple” of everything that didn’t belong there?  But, Jesus wasn’t that naïve; he knew what he was coming up against. 

He told the moneychangers and the vendors to get out of the Temple not only because it was right and just . . . but because it was his Temple.  If there’s anybody who had the right to say how things should be in the Temple, it was Jesus.  It was his Temple. 

And if there’s anybody who has the right to challenge the status quo, it’s Jesus—“through whom, with whom, and for whom” all things are created.  And that includes us.  We are his living Temples; we are his wonderful creations.  If there’s anybody who has the right to challenge the status quo in our lives, it’s Jesus.  And that’s because we are his.

Or do we sometimes forget that we are baptized by him, into his life?  That we’re anointed with Holy Oils and filled with his Holy Spirit?  That all wisdom and knowledge, and love and mercy come from him?  We forget.  The status quo gets in the way—our human conventions and habits of thought get in the way—and we forget.  We forget who we are and what we’re about. 

And so, Jesus enters into the Temple which is us; us as individuals, as a society, as a parish.  He enters in and tries to get rid of everything that shouldn’t be there.  And, you know, sometimes that doesn’t make for a pretty picture.  Who would’ve thought you could stir up so much trouble by asking people to love God and to love their neighbor?  Who would’ve thought?  But then again, the status quo is hard nut to crack.    

Of course, not everybody in the Temple is hard-of-heart.  Not everybody worships human conventions more than God.  There were, and are, lots of people who just “eat up” everything Jesus has to offer.  For them, the only status quo is to keep God as the foundation and center of life.  May we be some of those people.

May we “eat up” everything he has to show us, like a child going through life with eyes wide open.  Then we won’t fall into the hard and stiff hands of the status quo.  Instead, we’ll be cleansed and restored to something beautiful, by God himself, who lives within us.