First Reading Introduction: The Commandments: Charter Of Covenant Fidelity
God gave his "ten words" to his people not so much as laws to be obeyed than as a charter of their freedom. By following this, they expressed their loyalty to the faithful God of the covenant.
First Reading: Ex 20:1–17
In those days, God delivered all these commandments:
"I, the LORD, am your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.
You shall not carve idols for yourselves
in the shape of anything in the sky above
or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;
you shall not bow down before them or worship them.
For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God,
inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness
on the children of those who hate me,
down to the third and fourth generation;
but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation
on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.
"You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
For the LORD will not leave unpunished
the one who takes his name in vain.
"Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
Six days you may labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God.
No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter,
or your male or female slave, or your beast,
or by the alien who lives with you.
In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
the sea and all that is in them;
but on the seventh day he rested.
That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
"Honor your father and your mother,
that you may have a long life in the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife,
nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass,
nor anything else that belongs to him."
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11
R./ Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R./ Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R./ Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
R./ Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R./ Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
Second Reading Introduction: Is Christ A Stumbling Block?
To those who look from the outside, Jesus' death on the cross is either a folly or a failure. But for those who believe, it is the source of life.
Second Reading: 1 Cor 1:22–25
Brothers and sisters:
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we proclaim Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Gospel Introduction: Toward A New Temple
Christ purifies the Jewish Temple from being a place that confines God. The Romans will destroy it. For we can encounter the Risen Christ anywhere and he will be the foundation of the new People of God.
Gospel Reading: Jn 2:13–25
Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
"Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to 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."
The Jews said,
"This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?"
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they came to believe the Scripture
and the word Jesus had spoken.
While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
many began to believe in his name
when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all,
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.
Jesus drove the sheep, the oxen out of the temple and then he overturned the tables of the money changers. What did Jesus mean by his gesture? He simply said that God did not want animal sacrifices, nor any sacrifice because God’s favours cannot be bought. We cannot give anything to God, because his gifts are completely free. To offer something to God to obtain his blessings is a buying and selling or bribing God!
He gives his love freely and when we welcome it, we are happy. We have nothing to give to God. Jesus never spoke of sacrifices to be offered to God. When he spoke of it he said ‘I want works of mercy, not sacrifices.’ Our liturgies, our songs, our good deeds are a manifestation of our joy of being with Him, of our gratitude for the love He showed towards us, but they give nothing to God.
Jesus has cast out the sellers and the buyers because they are relating with God as if they are on a business deal. At the 8 gates of the temple esplanade, the Levites– the sacristans of those days – conducted a screening of the people to ensure that the blind, the lame, the deformed, the hunchbacked, the paralytics, the lepers and the sinners were prevented from entering the temple. Because they had nothing to offer to God except their own misery, weakness, and their own frailty.
Jesus challenged the Priests and religious authorities, that the current sanctuary is obsolete but Jesus would raise a new one in three days. The Sanctuary was the central part of the building where the Israelites believed that the Lord was; whoever wanted to meet God should go to this sanctuary. But today, the function of the ancient sanctuary is finished. Dismantle this temple, do away with it. Why? Because Jesus is now the sanctuary where God manifests himself. God shows his face is not in a material temple, but in his person. It is in Jesus where we see the face of God. Paul tells us “You forget that the Spirit of God dwells in you, that the same divine life circulates in you, that you are the sanctuary of God, in the risen Christ.
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