Joke: A priest was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark when a robber came behind him with a gun on his back and demanded, “Your money or your life!” As the priest reached his hand into his coat pocket, the robber saw his Roman collar and said, “Oh no, I cannot get your money, Father!” The priest was rather surprised at this unexpected show of piety, and so he offered him a packet of cigarettes, to which the robber replied, “Oh no, Father, I don’t smoke during Lent.”

Civil laws and Church laws, perhaps, are an invitation for us to meditate throughout this third Sunday of Lent on what is outlined in all today’s readings concentrated on three letters: CGP, not Certified Green Professional, but rather, Commandment, Guidance, and Progression in our spiritual journey, especially during these forty days of Lent. We might not be certified green professionals, but we might be certified guided professional Christians.

Commandments, in today’s first reading, taken from the book of Exodus, the book of laws rather, Moses delivers God’s commandments to the Israelites to follow. What are these commandments if they are not the instruction to live out one’s Christian life? Eight out of the Ten Commandments begin with the statement: “You shall not.” You shall not have other gods; you shall not use God’s name in vain; you shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not covet neighbor’s wife; you shall not covet neighbor’s goods. These Ten Commandments are the laws, the norm of moral and religious actions according to the definition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). They are the guidance to help us follow God. The question is: How do we follow it since we never kill anybody with any weapon; we hardly take the wife of our neighbor; we hardly steal from anybody’s anything; we believe in God and worship him; etc.? Really? The moment that we say unkind words to someone, the moment that we implant in someone’s mind and heart a knife that each time he or she thinks about our unkind words, the knife pokes in his or her mind and heart causes bleeding that we might not even see nor know it. We are killing them not instantly but slowly. We might not steal someone’s money, but it doesn’t mean that when we are lazy at work, spending more time surfing online than working, spending more time to chit chat rather than working, we don’t think that is stealing. We say that we believe in God and we worship God only, but we don’t even bother to drag our feet into the Church at least once a week on the weekend to thank God for the gift of life that every one of us cannot bring ourselves into the existence by ourselves. Perhaps, we memorize all Ten Commandments, but do we follow the guidance of these Ten Commandments? These commandments are not just letters of the laws, but they are the guidance pointing out the ways to live our Christian life.

Or we believe in God and worship him just as it says in today’s second reading, taken from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthian community, that the Jews demand signs and the Greeks look for wisdom and hardly accept that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died to save us. Saint Paul says very clearly that it is not about the signs that the Jews demand, and the wisdom that the Greeks look for, but rather, the suffering and the passion of Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God when he says, “Jews demand signs & Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews & foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” This is not only a stumbling block to the Jews to seek signs and the Greeks to seek wisdom from so many years ago, but it is still a stumbling block nowadays for us to seek signs and wisdom rather than to accept to face and deal with the challenges and difficulties of life when they come.

In today’s Gospel, Saint John describes a scene where Jesus comes and whips out all those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers out of the temple area. They recognize that it is a sacred place to come to worship, but at the same time, they have no problem coming to sell what are the oxen, the sheep, the doves, and even the money changers. Why is it not a place for the sick, the paralytic, and the homeless for shelter, but those people selling and exchanging money in the temple area? What is a Temple for the Jews? They don’t take Roman money, so for people to come to the temple, they have to change Roman money to temple money. What is temple money if it’s not called shekel as history told us? They set up a table in the temple for money changes. When they come, for example, they shout out loud, “I, John, give 100 shekels.” When Jesus saw all these activities happening in the temple, he swept them out of the temple, and the Jews asked him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” Jesus mentions the temple that He with God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit has created, the human body, His own body, and our bodies. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, who can raise them if it’s not God, our Author of life?

We are all familiar with God’s commandments and the guidance of these Ten Commandments, especially when Jesus condensed them into two: Love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, what do we need to do if it’s not to try to progress our Christian life in following these commandments and their guidance? Commandments, guidance, and progression are to make us perfect as our perfect heavenly Father. The decision is yours.