3rd Sunday of Lent - Year B - 3rd Sunday of Lent & “Amazing Grace / My Chains Are Gone”
In this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus gets angry. He is upset with the merchants and money changers in the temple area who are taking advantage of the people looking for something to sacrifice in their worship of God. These greedy merchants are selling oxen, sheep, and doves for inflated prices and turning the Temple into a highly profitable personal money-making venture for themselves. Jesus has a reason to be angry. At the end of the Gospel for today (John 2:13-25), we read, “(Jesus) knew all people and needed no one to testify about human nature, for he himself knew what was within the human person.” Jesus is able to read the hearts of men and women. He knows their good intentions and their wicked ones. He knows us, both the good and the bad in us.
In the Old Testament reading this weekend, God gives the Ten Commandments. These were the laws for human happiness and social peace. Do not worship false idols. Do not use God’s name in vain. Keep the Sabbath Holy. Honor your mother and father. Don’t kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, or covet what belongs to someone else, like his wife or his goods. Over a lifetime, how many of these have we broken? What should we do? Jesus knows our hearts, our temptations and our weaknesses. He knows what we need to become stronger, holier. We need his mercy and grace. We must go to him with humility in order to receive it.
The merchants were so public about their sinfulness that they almost took pride in their greed and showed off their lack of reverence. Jesus got angry about that. This is in contrast to the mercy that Jesus showed to the woman caught in adultery (who was not proud of her sin). He showed her his compassion because of her humility. In similar fashion, let us ask for God’s grace, bow down and say, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
In honour of this weekend’s readings, we would like to share our latest video, "Amazing Grace / My Chains Are Gone" where the lyrics of Chris Tomlin’s praise and worship version of this traditional hymn are a beautiful reminder of the freedom that comes from accepting God’s forgiveness and grace. The chorus of the song speaks to this freedom, “My chains are gone, I’ve been set free, my God my Savior has ransomed me.”
Video can be watched by clicking here or on the picture below:
