Theme: The Cross: our victory
A young Nigerian priest wrote a small book entitled, “Selling God at a Discount”. The book is a sharp criticism of the so-called prosperity gospel which dominates much of the preaching in the new religious movements in Christianity. According to these modern-day preachers, immediate personal prosperity, good health and wealth, are signs of true faith. “God has promised to bless those who come to Him and this blessing always and invariably takes the form of visible, material prosperity” they say. Even though this teaching is found more in newfound churches and ministries than in traditional, mainline ones, there is actually nothing new in prosperity theology. Prosperity theology was found among the Jews of old. St Paul in today’s second reading from 1 Corinthians condemns religious thinking which does not recognize the cross as an essential part of the true Christian faith.
For Paul the Christian message, far from being a prosperity gospel is the message of the cross. “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Paul recognizes that this message, which for true believers is the power of God, is perceived as nothing but foolishness by non-believers. The theology of the cross, unlike prosperity theology, recognizes that hardships and contradictions can, and often do, go along with true belief in the crucified and risen Lord. Ultimately, the reward for true faith is out of this world. Believing that the reward for righteousness is always found in this life is nothing but materialism in religious garb.
Paul recognizes that true Christian teaching, the theology of the cross, does not make sense by human standards. The cross represents the weakness and the foolishness of God. But as Paul says, “God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
Paul finds examples of human thinking in the response of the Jews and Greeks of his time to the preaching of the Christian message. “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).
Jews demanded signs. According to their belief, the Messiah, the Son of God would have to prove it by signs and wonders. But Jesus fundamentally said no to a life of signs and wonders. When the devil tempted him to jump down from the pinnacle of the temple and amaze the people into believing, he turned it down. When the onlookers at the crucifixion taunted him, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42) did he act up to their expectations? No. Jesus challenged the dominant prosperity theology of the Jews at every point. As if this were not enough, Jesus gave them a negative sign. The cross was a negative sign. The Hebrew Scriptures have it that “Anyone that is hanged is accursed by God” (Deuteronomy 21:23). To the Jews the fact that Jesus was hanged on the cross, far from proving that Jesus was the Son of God, disproved it. The Jews looked for signs and wonders. What they got instead was the cross, a negative sign.
The Greeks, on the other hand, demanded wisdom. They had developed a logical philosophy of God and expected God to act in accordance with their philosophy. For example, they believed that God cannot suffer. So anyone who suffers and dies on the cross cannot claim to be divine. Here again, the crucifixion of Christ becomes an obstacle in accepting the Christian message.
The cross was an obstacle to true Christian faith to the Jews and the Greeks of Paul’s time. What about us today? It still is a problem. Do we still believe in the prosperity gospel? We worship and praise God when things are going well for us. But will we still worship and praise Him when things are hard for us? May God give us true faith such that we can love and serve Him unconditionally, to continue believing in the sun even when it is not shining, to keep believing, loving and serving God, even when we are hanging on the cross apparently abandoned by God.
Jesus in the gospel reading of today revealed his zeal for God, first of all, by cleansing the temple (John 2:13-17). The priests have established a lucrative business of exchanging foreign money for Jewish currency and also selling the animals needed for the sacrifices. No doubt this “religious market began as a convenience for the Jews who came long distances to worship in the temple but in due time the “convenience” became a business not a ministry.
Jesus am sure was so angry because this business was carried on in the court of the gentiles, in the temple, a place where the Jews should have been meeting the Gentiles and telling them about the one true God. This is because the gentiles who were considered unclean by the Jews, could not mix up with the Jews for worship. For Jesus, this was a tragedy. Any Gentile searching for truth would not likely find it among religious merchants in the temple.
Jesus reminds us that we are that living temple not made by human hands but by the creator himself. He tells us not turn this living temple into a market place. While the Jews authorities sold pigeons, changed coins and traded in all kinds of things, we in our day have turned this body into a cosmetic shop to the extent that we have no regard for God’s temple. We have turned our Churches into a commercial centre. Jesus challenges us about the need to keep his temple clean at all times and used for the purpose for which it was built namely worship.
If Jesus got furious about the misuse of the temple built by human hands, then he will be more angry with us who use our bodies anyhow, a body he redeemed with his precious blood. We are told that “Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to them” (John 2:24-25). Indeed, they killed him to confirm his assertion about them. Today Jesus’ statement is more relevant to us because every day, we crucify him with the way we conduct ourselves.
In conclusion, already on the third Sunday of Lent, the Church anticipates the Paschal Mystery. The cross of Jesus is, therefore, the glory of the Church. The cross is the only way to salvation. All are called to true devotion to the cross and Christ crucified. The Church invites all to embrace the cross with reverence, respect, love and devotion.
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