"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience," (Col 3:12)

Jn 2: 13-25

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there.He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changer sand overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said,“Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him,“What sign can you show us for doing this?”Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

Sometimes, when you love someone, for their good you have to forbid them from doing something, say stop, even if that person is dissatisfied. And God also tells us "stop", not out of anger, not out of spite, but out of love. The commandments of God that today's first reading tells us about are not just a set of orders and prohibitions that we think we must fulfill because if we don't, we will go to hell. They are a covenant between man and God, a certain agreement between two parties, an invitation addressed to us so that by living them we do not clutter our lives with sins, rot our hearts and make them a house for demons. What seems to us to be a nasty act of God wanting to impose His will on us is an expression of His concern for our lives, the wisdom of the Father who does not allow his children to do everything so that they do not get spoiled and get lost later in life. It's a pity that many people do not understand this and cannot break through the veil of slavish treatment of God and faith. Misunderstood freedom is worse than slavery because it unleashes incredible levels of evil in man and reduces him to an animal, unleashing his worst instincts. There is no other option than to make certain demands on him, make them with love, so that he understands that not everything he wants and thinks about is good. Today we would probably be outraged at any priest who would dare to say a word of admonishment to someone who does not know how to behave in the temple. Such a person would ostentatiously leave the church and be offended at God, priests, and all the faithful, but not himself. People today know how to behave in an office, they can put on a suit or neat clothes for a job interview, but they come to church in torn jeans and low necklines. They can silence their cell phone in the cinema and put it in their pocket, but they cannot do it in church. God is holy and has the right to require us who believe in Him to respect this holiness, first in us and then next to us. Jesus has the right to run over our backs with the scourge of God's love so that we do not forget whose children we are and do not animalize our souls, turning them into temples of greed, impurity and idolatry. Jesus shows us with his behavior not to underestimate God, not to approach faith as a fashion that changes and which we try at all costs to bend to our beliefs, because in our opinion... Faith is not a bazaar where you can bargain with God for Which commandment to fulfill and which to abolish is not a space for wrestling with God as to whether He will forgive me or not, whether He will turn a blind eye to my sin or remain indifferent without saying anything. Faith is your covenant with God, based on clear rules expressed in the commandments, based on zeal for your relationship with Him. Either you are into it or you don't really care about God, you just want to run a business based on faith…

Father Marcin Cwierz, OSPPE

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"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience," (Col 3:12)