In our recent spring newsletter, the Prior Provincial, Fr Kevin Alban suggested how we might understand the gospel for each of the five Sundays of Lent, and how we might pray them. Each Friday, we'll add these reflections to our blog so you can read them and prepare for the Gospel before Sunday:
Third Sunday of Lent: 4 March – Jesus the new temple (John 2: 13-25)
We now switch to John’s gospel to help us understand not only the who of Jesus, but the why of his story as well. The scene in today’s gospel where Jesus throws the buyers and sellers out of the Temple. This is a shocking scene: the Temple was the heart of the nation, the presence of God among His people, but also the focal point of politics and commerce. Everyone accepted what the Temple had become. And now this unknown preacher from Galilee comes to turn everything upside down – literally… Yet there is an important point here: Jesus identifies Himself as the true location of God in this world, He has pitched His tent among us. This scene also explains the opposition to Jesus of Jewish officialdom and the religious establishment. Do we see Jesus as the place where God is?
I hope that Lent proves to be a fruitful time for you. One way of deepening our appreciation of this season might be to read the Sunday gospel during the preceding week so that when we hear it again at Mass we are really familiar with it.
Fr Kevin Alban, O.Carm
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