The vision for St Thomas More's Catholic School is to be a vibrant, positive, and energetic learning community, where every child is valued, and where relationships, the Gospel, and our Josephite charism are at the heart of every aspect of our educational program.

We have high expectations for student learning and student behaviour, and aim to support our students to grow into independent and confident learners, but community-minded contributors to society.

Students are invited into an intimate relationship with Christ. We know we have achieved this goal when our students smile when they arrive at school, and are still smiling when they leave.

THE NEW TEMPLE

“Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!’” - John 2:15-17

This Sunday’s Gospel (3rd Sunday in Lent, Year B), provides a recount of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem. The actions of the Johannine Jesus here are often described as emerging from anger; but it is not anger driving these behaviours - it is revolution.

The cleansing of the temple in the Gospel of John takes place at the commencement of Christ’s ministry, which is a very different stage of the narrative to when it occurs in the Synoptic Gospels. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the story takes place following Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the Festival of the Passover. Every year for the Paschal celebrations, thousands upon thousands of Jews would make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. So when Jesus makes his entry into the city, he was entering into city of civil unrest, a city of burgeoning hostilities between the imperial Romans and the oppressed Hebrews, a city on edge and overcrowded with the addition of thousands of pilgrims, a city where both the aristocracy of the Roman Empire and the ruling elite of the Jews were aware and wary of the person known to his followers as Jesus the Christ, King of the Jews.

And with this cauldron of political unrest, one might think that Jesus would enter quietly into the city, but no. Instead there is a literal ticker tape parade of palm tree leaves, adoring crowds cheering and singing, and men removing their cloaks to lay before the feet of Jesus. All that was missing was some confetti! To say that this caught the attention of Roman and Jewish officials is an understatement. Then Jesus proceeds directly to the Temple, the heart of the city, and the very centre of the city’s culture and religion, a place of faith, love and charity. But what does Jesus find at the heart of the city when the doors were opened to Him? The selfishness, envy and greed of economics and politics. Jesus reacts by overturning tables, instructing the vendors to leave, and making quite the scene. It is little wonder that after entering Jerusalem with a huge parade and ending it with a riot in the temple, that Jesus and his Disciples leave the city immediately to find refuge and safety in its outskirts. 

So, is this a simple case of Jesus being angry with what he found in the temple? No. Jesus’ decision to forcefully drive out the vendors was a revolutionary act. An extraordinary act of love. Jesus is redefining the temple. He identifies his body as the temple (John 2:21). The new temple is the human person; we are the body of Christ. The message to the intended audience of the Gospels, is that we must examine and interrogate our own hearts. And what will we find there? If we find any traces of selfishness, envy and greed, we must drive them out. Indeed, when we open the doors of our heart for Christ, He will drive them out.

So no, it was not anger that drove Jesus to cleanse the temple. It was a revolutionary act, and a revolutionary message to put faith, love and charity at the very centre of our being, at the very centre of our relationships, at the very centre of our families, at the very centre of our communities, and at the very heart of the Kingdom of God. 

Mr Casimir Douglas

Wednesday 28th February, 2024