Christ, the Power of God

Third Sunday of Lent Year B

It is perhaps fair to say that most Christians do not quite realise the outrageous character of the most basic and taken-for-granted hallmarks of Christianity. Some may attribute this to years of Catholic “indoctrination” and “normalisation” of such outlandish ideas such as – that the All-powerful invisible God, a purely spiritual Being, should be en-fleshed and take on the form of a weak vulnerable baby; that this God-man would eventually die a scandalous and horrific death; that the very symbol which we Christians revere as the sign of salvation should be an ancient instrument of torture, humiliation and execution. It is no wonder why Christianity is negatively viewed by modern folks in terms of the many claims it makes.

But such opposition is nothing new. It had existed from the very beginning of nascent Christianity and even during the time of Christ Himself. Both the second reading and the gospel shows us instances where the claims of Christians and that of Christ are considered so outrageous that the very growth of Christianity should have been regarded as divinely inspired and a miracle in itself. St Paul in the second reading explains the nature of this opposition, which seems to be universal: “the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom.” And so, the crucified Christ which Christians are preaching would meet opposition from both groups - “to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, and to the pagans madness.”

But St Paul proceeds to argue that both these objections are untenable and unreasonable. If you suppose that the Jews required a sign, that sign is given: the miracles that Christ wrought upon earth were signs more than sufficiently abundant; and if the Jewish people had but the will to believe, they would have found abundant signs and reasons for believing in Christ and His apostles. And as for the Greeks who prided themselves over their sophisticated intellectual and philosophical tradition, if they would only humbly and honestly seek to investigate further, they would discover a profoundness of wisdom—a depth where the most gigantic intellect might be drowned. It is no shallow gospel, but a deep truth which we preach, for Christ is the Wisdom of God, and His gospel is the highest of all sciences. If you wish to find wisdom, you must find it in the word of revelation, for what loftier wisdom can there be but the wisdom of God Himself?

We can, therefore, understand why the Jews in the gospel demanded a sign from the Lord to authenticate His authority in having wrecked the foundation of the sacrifice system of the Temple. To a modern reader, this may seem to be a strange request as most people would think that the Lord is attacking the commercialisation of religion, for did He not say, “stop turning my Father’s House into a market”? We often think that the pedlars who were selling animals and the money changers are the ancient equivalent of those religious article pedlars who push their goods to parishioners after Mass. In truth, these “business” people actually formed the foundation of the sacrifice system in the Temple. They provided the animals which were meant for the sacrifice, the basis of Temple worship, and the money changers exchanged the civil currency which was considered unclean and idolatrous, for the kosher Temple currency.

So, the action of our Lord was not the result of outrage, targeting the commercial elements that had invaded the Temple but it was targeting the entire Temple institution itself. You see, if there are no sacrificial offerings, there is no need for the Temple because the Temple exists to make those offerings. On the one hand, the Lord’s actions were prophetic - it pointed to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. On the other hand, the Lord was announcing that such Temple worship was obsolete because He was the new Temple, He would be the nexus between man and God, in Him God and man meets and unites, and He would render the ultimate perfect sacrifice which would abolish the need for any other sacrifices - the sacrifice of His own life on the cross. From the time of Christ’s death and resurrection, a new temple made from the Body of Christ was established for all nations. All who wanted a sign to locate the Creator’s presence, learn His wisdom, and enjoy His forgiveness can do so simply by embracing the Messiah, “Christ who is the power of God.”

All that the temple had meant for Israel for almost one thousand years, was now to be found in Israel’s Messiah. The presence of God which human beings so longed for was to be found through a personal connexion with Christ, not in a building in East Jerusalem. The hunger for Wisdom that would inspire could be satisfied, not in the courts of a glorious sanctuary, but by feeding on the words of Jesus. True “pilgrims” could henceforth declare their praises, not within the walls of one sacred building, but wherever people gathered in honour of the Messiah. And forgiveness of sins could be enjoyed through the one priestly sacrifice of Jesus, not through the ineffective sacrifices of animals. To the Jews, this may be an obstacle they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, to the modern man a mere fairy tale, but for us Christians, “Christ is the power of God.” He is the Sign by which we know we are saved, the Wisdom by which we come to know God, and the Temple by which we can worship Him.