Many years ago, when I was a university campus minister, one of the members of our student club sent me a link to a very funny website.  The website purported to offer online confession and absolution.  The creator of the website had an irreverent sense of humor, but a great deal of insight, as well. 

The website displayed an animated figure of an emaciated priest dressed in nineteenth century clerical garb.  The animated priest glowered at site visitors and shook his index finger as if he was issuing a severe scolding to sinners.   

A drop-down menu of sins was located immediately below the animation of the judgmental priest.  Penitents had the option of choosing from a comprehensive list of offences. After clicking on the applicable sin, a button marked “Repent” appeared.  A click of the “Repent” button changed the priest’s judgmental frown into a rapid animation of the Sign of the Cross and Absolution. 

Irreverence notwithstanding, the website creator offered a poignant commentary on popular religiosity.  Religion is often portrayed and practiced as a means to avoid one’s own responsibilities while condemning others for their perceived lack of moral uprightness.  Although this understanding of religion has always been popular, it is a falsehood. 

The expanded version of the Ten Commandments that appears in today’s first reading enumerates the terms of the Sinai Covenant.  As with all covenants, the Sinai Covenant consists of an exchange of promises.  God promised to free the Israelites from Egypt, give them a homeland as a perpetual inheritance, and bless them in their newly settled lives.  The People promised to worship only God and to act responsibly toward one another. 

Consistent with the format of covenants, there were penalties specified for failure to be faithful to the covenantal promises.  If the People failed to fulfill their side of the Covenant, they would forfeit the blessings promised by God.  Although it is not expressed overtly, there was a potential penalty for God, as well.  If God failed to fulfill God’s side of the Covenant, God’s reputation for justice and holiness would be discredited publicly. 

Like contracts, covenants apply fully and only to the parties named in the covenant agreement.  The Sinai Covenant did not condemn those who were not parties to the Covenant; nor was it intended to be used as a means of condemnation.  Despite God’s command to the People not to mistreat the foreigners in their midst (Lv 19:34), the Ten Commandments are often used today to threaten, coerce, or pass judgment on other people. 

In Hebrew religion and Christian religion, the terms of God’s intended relationship with the righteous are addressed directly and solely to those who hear them.  The message of repentance that Jesus preached was addressed only to those who heard his words, and it was addressed to them for the purpose of leading them to experience God’s mercy. 

Jesus’ rather shocking behavior in today’s Gospel reading was just such a call to repentance.  The animal sellers and money changers provided necessary services to Temple worshipers.  The animal sellers provided animals that would be acceptable sacrifices, and the money changers provided Jewish shekels in exchange for Roman coins.  Jesus did not object to the worshippers or their acts of devotion; rather, he objected to what would be called today price gouging. The vendors who professed to serve pilgrim worshippers had devolved into using pilgrims’ religious needs as an excuse for extortion. When this event occurred, the “cleansing of the Temple” was a call to repentance directed to opportunistic vendors and complicit Temple leadership. Today, it is a call to repentance directed to us; rather than an excuse to point a finger of blame at people who are long since dead, it is an invitation for us to repent of self-serving worship. 

Funnily enough, both the website parodying sin and absolution and the Scripture readings this weekend invite us to point the finger of blame, but only at ourselves. Both warn of the danger of self-serving religion, and both hold up a mirror intended to show us the reflection of our own iniquity. 

When religion is used for any purpose other than one’s own repentance and reform, that is, when religion is used to blame or judge others, then sin is trivialized and repentance is, as well. The biggest challenge and the greatest opportunity presented by the season of Lent is the task of repenting of our blaming and judging so that we can repent of everything that separates us from God and one another.