7 March 2021-Third Sunday of Lent – Year B

 

There is so much in today’s readings but we’ll have to settle for an elaboration of the second commandment with a slight detour via the money-changers.  I used to think of the second commandment, “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain,” in terms of cursing or swearing oaths.  However, I’ve come to believe that to dishonour what is God’s is to dishonour God, that is, we take the Lord’s name in vain.

Sheep by Rev. Dr. Victoria Marie

We are all God’s children.  Our Creator gave us teachers, starting in biblical times with the prophets and ending with Jesus.  In post biblical times, there are men and women whose lives and writings show us that God continues to send us teachers, if we would only listen.  St. Francis of Assisi and Dorothy Day are examples of what I mean.  In St. Francis’ time, lepers were the outcasts of society, forced to live apart.  Before his conversion, Francis found lepers intolerable.  Then he decided to change his life and follow Christ more completely.  Jesus cured lepers, so Francis kissed, nursed and befriended lepers.   Dorothy Day modelled, as well as urged us to break bread with the lepers of our time: the poor, the racialized and the migrants.  What I am saying is that honouring God’s name has three components:  love God, love God in and through our neighbour, and act like we do.  When we don’t do this and call ourselves Christians, we take the Lord’s name in vain.

Roman coins, which bore the image of the emperor, were forbidden for use in the temple.  We may have heard that the money-changers exchanged Roman coins into coins that could be used in the temple.  What we may not have heard is this.  Jews from all over came to Palestine and Jerusalem with foreign currencies that had to be converted, not only into coins that could be used for the temple but also into local and Roman coinage.  Furthermore, ordinary deposits were often handed over to the Temple authorities for safe deposit in the Temple treasury.  So, Jerusalem became a sort of central exchange mart, and the Temple vaults served as "safe deposit boxes" for every type of coin.  The money-changers also served as bankers, and would receive money on deposit to invest and, contrary to Jewish law, would pay out interest at a fixed rate.  Thus, the money-changers were: (a) a foreign exchange service, (b) exchangers of large denominations into small ones, and vice versa, as well as (c) bankers.[1]

The temple and its grounds are supposed to be a place of worship and prayer, the house of God.  One could say that in today’s gospel, Jesus is reacting to an expanded meaning of what comprises taking the Lord’s name in vain.  Turning the Temple into a marketplace and bank makes God into the Jerusalem’s banking CEO.  That is definitely taking the Lord’s name in vain by renaming God as the ultimate Palestinian banker.

Gen. 1:26 says in part, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.  Today, when the world needs unity in diversity and inclusion, we see the rise of racism, xenophobia and scapegoating.  The rise of these evils is a symptom of amnesia about who each human being is, that is, we forget that each human being is a child of God and an image and likeness of God.  Hateful speech and acts towards another human being, an image of God, is taking God’s name in vain precisely because doing so is an attack on the image of God. 

In Mark’s gospel, Jesus summarized the first three commandments into one saying, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”[2]  So when one insults God’s name by turning a place of worship into a business concern or by treating another human being as anything other than a child of God, one has ceased to follow the Gospel.  The second commandment that Jesus gives us is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”[3] Jesus teaches us that there is no other commandment greater than these.  These two commandments sum up the ten commandments, which can be broken up into two categories: first, how we are to behave towards God and second, how we are to behave towards everyone else, including ourselves.

Which brings me to my last point, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”[4]  Therefore just as you look after your family and friends, take the time to look after your own spiritual and physical health.  This Lent instead of giving something up, do something, start eating something, create something that is beneficial to your bodily health.  Lent is a good time to begin to take sabbath time out to give your body rest from the hustle and bustle of daily life.  Take the time to love yourself.  It is unlikely that you will take God’s name in vain if you love God, love yourself and love your neighbour.  The Spirit is always with you and the Spirit in me honours the Spirit in you.  Amen.

 

Please share your thoughts.


[1]  Encyclopedia Judaica (2018), "Money Changers"   http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/money-changers

[2] Mark 12:30 (NRSV)

[3] Mark 12:31 (NRSV)

[4] 1 Corinthians 3:16 (NRSV)

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