TAKE THESE THINGS AWAY
{Image from: Jesus Cleanses the Temple (findshepherd.com)}
(John 2:13-25)
We are in the third week of Lent.
Our attention is drawn to how we are purging ourselves with the spiritual
activities and the Divine worship. Jesus visits the temple. He wants to know
how we are doing in His abode. He comes to take a look at our mode of worship.
He wants to moderate our retreat. He comes to supervise our spiritual
examination and evaluation. He comes to encourage our efforts and reprimand us
for our carelessness. Thus, He directs us on what to keep and what to remove.
He admonishes us on what to destroy and what not to destroy. He tells us to
focus on the indestructible and try not to fall into the temptation of waging a
war against the Holy.
If Jesus is indeed our supervisor,
he tells us what we must remove, what we must not take with us as we proceed,
what we should not allow to implicate us in this journey. He wants us to search
ourselves well. He wants us to stop and search ourselves. He doesn't want what
we put in nor what any other person put in us to hinder our spiritual progress.
Just as it is done before
boarding a flight, Jesus wants us to remove the 'unnecessaries' and the 'not
needfuls'.
WHAT YOU MUST TAKE AWAY
Whatever that is unacceptable in
the sight of God must be far removed from us. Jesus came into the temple and
found people doing unholy exchange in the temple and He made a whip out from
chord and drove them away. This act is very symbolic. He wants us to put a stop
to every form of ungodly exchange.
FALSE WORSHIP
Have you allowed the true worship of God to be
watered down? Have you replaced the true religion given to us by God with a
false one that is not in spirit and truth? Take away deceptive and lip service
method of worship. Come with sincerity of purpose to worship the Lord and not
for ulterior motives. Endeavour to purify yourself through the word of God, the
commandments of God and the Sacraments of the Church as well as the Liturgical
rites of this Sacred Period. Take away pride and be humble. Feel sorry for your
failings. Present yourself to be washed that the blood shed by Christ for you
may not be in vain. It purifies.
We are to take away all forms of
diabolism, every kind of romance with evil spirits and all types of union with
people who defile us. Let us come to God with deep respect and reverence and
allow him to touch us with holiness.
MATERIALISM
Jesus wants us to detach
ourselves from material things. The money changers saw the temple as a place
for making money. Religion for them became a business. All that mattered was
their bank account and how much coins they picked in a day. The worship of
money and moneybags became the order of the day.
Take away your act of allowing
business to be an excuse for the lapses evidenced in your spiritual life. Are
you the type who say: 'God will understand' and you do not make out time to
worship Him? Are you the type that stay at shop during Masses, stations of the
Cross and prefer to do it online when you can actually attend and come back?
Money is not everything. Wealth
is not all that matters. Let's put God and the things of God first. Jesus wants
us to take away the inordinate quest for money in order to be pure before God.
He sees all people do for the sake of money and acquisitions. Jesus condemns
the blood baths, the ritualism, the fraudulent activities in the high and low
places, the sex for marks, for employment, for help, etc.
Jesus frowns at the unholy ways
we treat our bodies which is the temple of the Holy spirit.
UNHOLY BODIES
Jesus wants us to take away unholy bodies from
God's sight. He wants us to stop deceiving ourselves thinking that the offering
we make nor the ‘packagings’ will suffice for the sanctity He desires from us
in body and in the soul. He wants us therefore to remove fornication, adultery,
homosexuality, and indeed all forms of sexual immorality from our bodies. Jesus discourages destruction of life,
killing of all kinds.
We should therefore destroy
everything that comes to destroy the temple of the Lord that is our bodies and
endeavour not to destroy others ourselves. God wishes to raise these bodies on
the last day. It cannot be raised if we allow it to be pulled down in sin. It
can't be raised if we refused to raise it in holiness. It cannot be raised if
we give it all that it wants. Let us nourish our body and soul being the temple
of the Holy Spirit with worthy feeds. Let us decorate and dignify the temple of
God by our dignified worship and life of sweet-smelling fragrance that honours
God. Let us remove those things that do not honour God.
Tell yourself the truth. You know
the various ways you have used to defile God in the Eucharist and indeed the
ways you have dishonoured God in your flesh.
LET US PRAY
Thank You Lord for coming in to
discover that the things that should be removed from our lives. Purge us,
cleanse us, wash and purify us to be whiter than snow. As we worship You today
in Your temple, accept us as perfect offerings and make Your home within us as
tabernacles pleasing to You. Give us the grace to expel and destroy the forces
that want us to exchange godliness for sinfulness through Christ our Lord. Amen
Happy Sunday (Third Week of Lent)
Rev Fr Julian O Ekeh
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Thanks, fada Osy for this spirit filled reflection.
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