Third Sunday of Lent [B]

 


THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT [B]


We are responding to the First Commandment when we offer our worship to the Lord (see Exodus 20:1-6). From an Old Testament standpoint, the highest form of worship would be the worship that takes place within the Jerusalem temple. Originally erected in the year 961 BC, this temple would go on to be destroyed by the Babylonians (587 BC), and then it would later be reconstructed during the governorship of Nehemiah in the year 537 BC. 


This is the temple that Jesus visits in the Gospel of John, chapter two. Along with disrupting the commercial activity, he will also deliver a multi-layered prophecy (2:13-22). This prophecy will produce, not one outcome, but actually two: Jesus will be sentenced to death by crucifixion; and the second temple will suffer the same fate as the previous temple. The Babylonians brought down the first temple, and now the Romans will be responsible for demolishing the second temple (70 AD). In addition, the Romans will also be responsible for the execution of Jesus. Pontius Pilate was a Roman official, functioning as the “governor of Judea” (Luke 3:1). He was acting on behalf of Rome when he agreed to hand Jesus over.   


Given this turn of events, you might expect the Roman system of worship to be the system that will ultimately prevail. You can’t expect the Jewish system to prevail, now that the temple has been decimated. And you can’t expect the Christian system of worship to prevail, with their Messiah having been executed. If you expect either of these systems to prevail, then you’re defying the odds; in effect, you’re looking for roses to blossom in the dead of winter. 


Conventional wisdom tells you that you shouldn’t expect to find roses blooming in the dead of winter. Nevertheless, appearing on Tepeyac Hill, the Blessed Virgin Mary assigns a particular task to the peasant, Juan Diego: take these roses to your bishop; he’s due for a remedial lesson concerning the subject of miracles. Does the remedial lesson sink in? History allows us to answer in the affirmative. This results in the birth of a new devotion: devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. 


So clearly, the 1531 lesson was a lesson that registered. It registers and it communicates a timeless message: be open to the miraculous. Question the conventional wisdom. Does the conventional wisdom ever fall short of the mark? Should we rule out the possibility that the Jewish system of worship might outlast the Roman system of worship? Or should we rule out the possibility that the Christian system of worship might outlast the Roman system of worship? How do we explain the fact that the Roman system has all but disappeared by the time we reach the period of the early Middle Ages? 


How do you explain it? You explain it by pointing to Our Lady of Guadalupe. You explain it by pointing to St. Juan Diego. Furthermore, you explain it by referencing First Corinithians chapter one. Conventionally speaking, the cross represents something catastrophic. It would be “folly” to think of it in any other way. We hear however that, when God underwrites the folly, then it’s the folly that will prevail—not the conventional wisdom. 

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