Not all the parishes will be reading the same Scripture passages at Mass this Sunday and the two following. Catholic Sunday Mass readings are divided into three annual cycles. This year we are in Cycle B. However, in any parish where candidates are being prepared to receive the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil, the readings are taken from Cycle A. So much for the notion that Catholics do the same thing everywhere and always.

In my parish we will use the Cycle B Gospel passage from John 2:13-25. What a great day, to see the Son of God angry enough to drive the buyers and sellers out of the Temple and promising he will raise up the true Temple of God within three days after it is destroyed. Every Christian knows what he really means. He himself is the true dwelling place of God among us. He promises he will rise three days after his death, so that the dwelling place of God can remain with us until the end of the world.

But what about that fit he threw in the Jerusalem Temple? How is that being God-like? Aren't our human angry emotions un-Godly? On the other hand, what if God is so close to us in the humanity of Jesus that everything about our humanity is now capable of revealing what God is really like - even our emotions? What a great mercy that would be!

When the church prays "Lord, have mercy" we are appealing not just to be saved from God's anger but to experience God's love. The word in Greek for mercy is eleison, which comes from the word for olive oil in Greek, elaion. When we ask for mercy we are asking for the soothing love of God, like having soothing oil rubbed into our tired and sore bodies.

Thus, when God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt he gave them Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) to sooth their tired and afflicted bodies and spirits. They were given one day, the Lord's Day, off every week to rest. They were told to worship One God who would always care for them, rather than the many gods of Egypt, all of whom had to be placated or else their wrath would flare up. Honor would be given to parents, so that the children could be assured of a long life in which their children would care for them as well. They were urged toward an end to theft, lying, cheating, murder, envy, jealousy, adultery.

What soothing oil for the human spirit! May the Lord, have such mercy on us all.

Now what has mercy to do with that angry cleansing of the Jerusalem Temple? The Gospel quotes Psalm 69 as the reason for Christ's action: "Because zeal for your house consumes me." You might think that the psalm means anger, but not so. Praying Psalm 69, one understands that the speaker does not mean he is angry. Rather, the speaker is admitting that those who witness his actions are making fun of him and want to destroy him. He is very aware only God can rescue him.

Christ is not boasting to say he will raise up the temple of his body on the third day. He is instead counting on his Father's mercy. Only the soothing love of God can raise him up from the dead. What human emotion after all is Jesus showing? Could it be a love so tough that this is what being the Son of God is like, determination to fulfill the will of the Father while completely dependent on God's mercy?

Father Richard Chiola is a certified counselor, pastor of St. Cabrini Parish in Springfield and diocesan director for the ongoing formation of clergy.