Treating our bodies like temples
John 2:13-21
Things are
not always as obvious as they seem. Of
course, people say things like, “That’s as plain as the nose on your
face!” But is the nose on your face so
plain? Do you know where you nose came
from? One day a little girl asked her
mother, “Where did people come from?”
Her mother answered, “God made Adam and Eve and they had children, and
that’s how all mankind was made.” A
couple of days later, she asked her father the same question. He said, “Many years ago, there were monkeys,
which the human race eventually evolved from.”
The confused girl returned to her mother and asked, “Mommy, how come you
told me we were created by God, but Daddy said we come from monkeys?” The mother smiled and said, “Well, dear, it’s
really very simple. I told you about my
side of the family and your father told you about his.” Sometimes things are not as plain as the nose
on your face. Even your nose is not so
plain.
In the gospel
today it’s not very plain what Jesus is talking about either. Is he talking about the temple, or is he
talking about his body? First Jesus
says, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” So, clearly he means the temple, right? And that’s what the Jews thought. But one verse later, it says, “But he was
speaking about the temple of his body.”
Can you blame the Jews for being confused? Actually, Jesus is talking about both, that
is, he’s drawing a kind of correlation or connection between the temple and his
own body, saying that his body is the “true temple.” You see, that’s why Jesus took so much
offense at the way the Jews were disregarding and desecrating the temple,
because Jesus felt as if they were virtually disregarding and desecrating his
own body. Years later, St. Paul will
make the similar connection for the Corinthians, when he writes: “Do you not
know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor. 6:19). In other words, God did indeed create our
bodies (like that mother said) – we’re not just an upgraded version of monkeys!
(like that father thought) – but even more, he created our bodies to be
temples. For Jesus, that connection
between the body and the temple was as plain as the nose on your face, that is,
the nose on your face is part of the temple of the Holy Spirit.
You know,
there are lots of things that are not so plain about our faith and our church
and we have to think carefully so we don’t get confused like the Jews did. Consider these humorous examples. One day a little boy was feeling sick to his
stomach in church and told his mom he didn’t feel well. She said, “Go outside behind the bushes and
throw up.” The boy left but came back
quicker than the mom expected. She
asked, “Are you feeling better?” The boy
smiled and said, “Yes, but I didn’t have to go all the way to the bushes. There was a box by the door that said, ‘For
the Sick’.” By the way, that’s why the
box by the door at our church says, “For the POOR”! Church signs can be confusing! One morning a husband and wife were in the
kitchen discussing who should make the coffee.
The wife said, “The man should definitely make the coffee. It says so in the Bible.” The man asked, “Where in the world does the
Bible say that??” The woman opened the
Bible and said, “Right here, see in HEBREWS.”
You’re welcome, ladies! You see,
often our faith requires a second look; it is not as plain as the nose on our
face.
Something
else not so plain to people is this penitential season of Lent. Why do Catholics make sacrifices, like giving
up T.V. and Facebook, chocolate and soft drinks? What’s the point of disciplining our wills by
more prayer and penance and helping the poor?
Do we Catholics just enjoy pain and like making ourselves
miserable? No, not at all! We do all this because our bodies are really
temples! And just like Jesus had to run
the money-changers, and buyers and sellers, and doves and oxen and sheep and
goats out of the Temple in Jerusalem, so we too must drive our selfish desires
out of our bodies, out of these “flesh and blood sanctuaries of the
Spirit.” Lent is kind of like a “cord of
discipline” to drive out laziness and greed, to get rid of gluttony and lust,
to leave no room for pride and vanity.
Lent returns the body once again into a house of prayer and love, not a
marketplace. You see, every Lent we
should feel what Jesus felt: “Zeal for your house consumes me!”
A few
years ago, I read a short book by Fr. Robert Barron called, “Heaven in Stone
and Glass.” He explained how the ancient
gothic churches and cathedrals – a lot like the church you’re sitting in right
now! – were built by people of deep faith.
Those Christians easily and effortlessly saw the harmony between their
bodies and the churches they built; that one was a mirror reflection of the
other. Listen to this stirring
passage. Fr. Barron writes: “There’s a
wonderful description of the construction of Chartres Cathedral that has come
down to us from the twelfth century. It
says that people from all walks of life and social strata – lords, ladies,
soldiers, and common workers – came together in the grueling task of
transporting stones, wine, grain, and oil to the work site. They labored side by side and in reverential
silence – and all forgave their enemies.”
Wow, sounds just like our Spaghetti Supper a few weeks ago! But that is a perfect snapshot of Lent: we
sacrifice legitimate passions so we can serve other people; we drive out the
meanness of the marketplace so we can give generously to the poor; and we
forgive our persecutors so we can find true peace. We do all this in and through our bodies,
because our bodies are temples. And, and
by the way, for a Christian: that is as plain as the nose on your face.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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