Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Osmond Anike

Readings:

First Reading: Exodus 20:1-17 – The Law given at Sinai

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 18(19):8-11 – You, Lord, have the message of eternal life.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 – The crucified Christ, the power and wisdom of God.

Gospel: John 2:13-25 – Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up.

The first reading of today recounts the most central collection of the laws of the OT referred to as the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments). The first three of these commandments are “vertical”, regulating the relationship between God and people. The other seven are “horizontal”, and are concerned with one’s neighbours. Jesus very accurately summarized the Ten Commandments as love of God and love of neighbours. The Decalogue is not unique to Christianity. As a matter of fact, it was adopted from Judaism. And even at that, the laws contained therein are sets of ethical rules that cut across various religions and cultures. Some of them are just “common sense” rules of behaviour which any civilized culture naturally adopts in order to live harmoniously with one another.

However, in our contemporary society that tends to equate the so-called freedom with the absence of law and order; and in a society that abhors anything described as law, it is often a challenge to talk about the Ten Commandments. In such a society, while people might be compelled to obey the law, they sure like hell detest both the law and the law giver. And remember, if they obey or keep the law, it isn’t that they are convinced of the essence of the law. No. It is rather because they fear the consequences of law-breaking. In the Western world for instance, people have come to “respect” (and even fear) the police more than they respect God. And the reason is obvious: the police instantly punish law breakers; but God takes his time. In this society, people would conveniently prefer to stay back at home on Sundays rather than risk over-speeding or beating the traffic light to attend masses. And remember, it isn’t that they are convinced that over speeding or beating the traffic lights are risky and dangerous. It is rather that they fear that the police might catch them since there are normally more police control on weekends and Sundays. By and large, they keep the law in so far as the police are watching. If they are sure that the police are not watching and that the traffic light cameras are not functional, they break the law without any qualms of conscience and carry on with their business.

For us Christians, God has given us his Divine laws – the Decalogue, the famous Ten Commandments. Do we obey the commandments because we are convinced of them or because we fear the divine punishment resulting from their disobedience? If, for instance, we discover that there is no Hell, how many people will still come to church on Sundays? Which means that we are coming to church not necessarily to worship God but to avoid Hell? And if we discover that God is not watching, should we still continue to keep the commandments? These are serious questions that we ought to sincerely consider and not just dismiss as mere rhetoric; for unless we address these questions, we are making God nothing more than a police officer.

In this regard, our idea of God has many things in common with our perception of the police. Our attitude towards the police has tragically become our attitude towards God. The police are avoided as much as possible by keeping the law. In a similar way, God is avoided as much as possible by keeping the commandments. The visit of a police officer is viewed with suspicion and consternation. The first inherent reaction if someone knocks at your door and you open to discover that it is a police officer is to do a very quick examination of conscience and ask yourself what you have done wrong to warrant the visit of an officer. In the same way, if God were to physically visit people, his visit would be viewed with suspicion and consternation. People would ask similar questions – What have I done wrong to warrant God’s visit? Which commandments did I break? As we associate the visit of the police with wrongdoing on our part or with a problem somewhere, so do we unconsciously associate God’s visit with wrongdoing on our part or with a problem somewhere. The police are remembered and called upon only when there is a problem. God, likewise, is remembered and called upon only when there is a problem.

This police-like perception of God distorts the true image of God as love. God is love; and his commandments are primarily for our own good. If the police insist that we obey the traffic rules for instance, it is primarily for our own good and safety and not necessarily that of the police. Likewise, God’s commandments are for our own good and not that of God. If we understand it this way, then we shall realize that the Ten Commandments are still necessary and important today in spite of our society that are fast spiralling into lawlessness all in the name of freedom and liberty. The commandments should be approached from the point of view of love rather than law. It is no wonder that when Jesus was asked about the greatest “commandment”, he summarized the commandment by talking rather about “love” of God and “love” of neighbour. With this summary he wants us to view the commandments from the point of view of love rather than focus on the legalistic interpretations of them as was common among the Pharisees of his time. Unfortunately, it is this pharisaic tendency in us that push some people, even of our time, to institutionalized legalism in their understanding and interpretation of the commandments in such a way that they have conveniently fitted God into the mould of a police officer. The consequence is that, as people don’t tend to love the police but must respect the law anyway in order to keep the police as far away as possible, so also do we tend not to love God but are compelled to keep the commandments as much as we can in order to keep God as far away as possible.

Brethren, the cleansing of the Temple today by Jesus figuratively suggests to us that our minds are clustered and need to be cleaned up. We must get rid of all those false images of God we have in our heads – the image of a ruthless senior police officer-like Being whose sole function is to hunt down and severely punish those who break the commandments – the kind of image that make people to hate rather than to love God. If you worship God only because of fear of punishment, if you cannot worship God in freedom and in love, and if you keep the commandment only to avoid the wrath of God, then the God you have in your head might as well be a senior police officer and not the God who the Scripture describes as “Love”.