THIRD SUNDAY -- March 8, 2026

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Theme: Accountability and Social Responsibility

Readings:

• John 2: 13-25
• Psalm 33: 4-5

"Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade." (John 2:16)

Reflection

The image of Jesus overturning tables in the temple is one of the most confronting in all of the Gospels. This is the Lord walking into the centre of institutionalised exploitation, names it for what it is, and refuses to look away. The temple, meant to be a place to commune with the purpose of encountering God, had become a space where the poor were extorted simply for coming to worship. Faith had been turned into a transaction.

Lent asks us to sit with that image honestly: 

• What have we allowed to become corrupt that was once meant to be sacred?
• Our institutions, our public resources, our communities, have they become spaces of justice, or have they too become marketplaces?

Today also marks International Women's Day, and it bears saying: among those most consistently harmed by corruption, economic exploitation, and systems that prioritise profit over people, are women. Particularly those in poverty, in vulnerable employment, in communities where accountability is scarce. Christ who overturned the tables of those exploiting the poor is the same Lord who saw, dignified, and restored women throughout his ministry. His anger in the temple and his compassion for the marginalised are not two separate things. They are one.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Lent, let us not mistake omission for peace. Accountability is not a political concern that sits outside our faith. It is a spiritual discipline. Corruption thrives when people decide that looking away is safer than speaking up. We are called to more than that, no matter who we are.

Our worship is incomplete if we are unchanged and unbothered by injustice.

As the Psalmist reminds us:

"The word of the Lord is upright, and all his works are done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice." (Psalm 33:4-5)

This Lent, may our fast include a fast from indifference. And may our prayer move us from reflection to actioin.

AMEN!