BIBLE STUDY #80
THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
March 11, 2012

READING 1
EXODUS 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."
OR EX 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17
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 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.
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."

The Word of the Lord

READING 2
1 CORINTHIANS 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.

The Word of the Lord

GOSPEL
JOHN 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.

The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection

The Temple in today’s Gospel was dedicated in 515 B.C. Herod had an extensive restoration to the Temple from 20 B.C. to 64 A.D. The Temple wasn’t completely restored at the time that Jesus cleansed it. The cleansing of the Temple in the other gospels happens in the last days of Jesus life (in Matthew and Luke, on the day he enters Jerusalem; in Mark, on the day after). This difference is due to theological, not historical, reasons.

This is the first time Passover is mentioned in Johns’ gospel; it’s also mentioned in 6:4, and 13:1; which indicates a minimum of a 2 year ministry for Jesus. John calls it “the Passover of the Jews,” indicating that the Christian community isn’t celebrating it anymore, but because through Jesus, the Passover has been fulfilled.

The animals that are in the Temple are used for sacrifices for major feasts. The doves were offerings for the poor (Leviticus 5:7). According to Exodus 30:11-16, every male over 19 years old paid a Temple tax of a half shekel coin, which had to be paid in Syrian currency. The money changers were needed for those with other types of currency. They collected high profits on the currency exchange.

Jesus drives all the traders out of the Temple with a wrath that could not be resisted. This type of trade was considered a desecration of the Temple. This could refer to Zechariah’s vision of a Temple free of traders; it could refer to Jeremiah’s words in 7:11-14 when he said that these evil doings are destroying the temple, or it could refer to Tobit in 14:7-10 when he envisioned a Temple that had no commerce. Notice, however, that his wrath was only directed to the traders who detracted form worship, not to those leading worship. As it says in Psalm 69, Jesus is consumed with “Zeal for your (God’s) house.”

Fund raising is an important part of parish life, but we must be careful not to let the vestibules and gathering places of our churches become marketplaces for anyone and everyone who needs to make money, regardless of the worthiness of their cause. We priests need to limit second collections and the times we talk about money. We need to focus on the spiritual more than the temporal.

Jesus refers to the Temple as “my Father’s house” which he does 27 times in John’s Gospel. This phrase affirms Jesus special relationship with the Father which he was (and still is) willing to share with us.

The Jews want a sign of his authority. Jesus says, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." But Jesus was not referring to the Temple, but his body. The previous section of this gospel is the wedding feast at Cana. Just as the water was changed into the wine of salvation at Cana, so the Temple and its liturgy are being replaced by Jesus. Animal sacrifice is no longer needed because Jesus offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. As both priest and sacrifice, Jesus offered the perfect liturgy. Jesus is both the sign and what is signified.

Jesus is not out to destroy Judaism, but to complete it. Ezekiel said that in the time of the Messiah, the Temple will be rebuilt (chapters 40-46). Jesus is the new Temple, the center of our worship, because he is the one who bridges the gap between us and the Father; he brings us to God, and God to us.

The sign that Jesus offers is his death and resurrection. Signs are something that reveal Jesus identity if understood in faith, and they are also a call to faith in him. Jesus death and resurrection reveal that he is the long awaited messiah who dies for our sins and who conquers death. We are called to a belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and to be missionaries of God’s great love for us.

The disciples didn’t understand right away, and how could they? They began understanding after the resurrection when they remembered Jesus’ words and actions, and things began to make sense. This is especially true after Pentecost, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Our faith grows slowly also. We don’t always understand, but when we keep seeking the Lord, his grace will help us grow in our understanding and faith

In the first reading from Exodus, the Israelites have been released from slavery in Egypt and are their way to the Promised Land. God leads them, feeds them, gives them water, and most importantly, gives them laws.

There are many laws in this section of Exodus (go look it up – you may be surprised what is there). Today, we have the Ten Commandments that tell us about our relationship to God (the first 3 commandments) and each other (the other 7 commandments). They reflect the covenant between God and His people. A good meditation for Lent would be to pray and reflect on each of these Commandments for their meaning and application to our lives.

In the RCIA program we are in the period of purification and enlightenment which coincides with Lent. There will be scrutinies on the next three Sundays at the 10 am Mass for those in this program who are to be baptized (called the elect). These scrutinies are “rites for self searching and repentance and …are meant to uncover, then heal all that is weak, defective, or sinful in the hearts of the elect; to bring out, then strengthen all that is upright, strong and good…to deliver the elect from the power of sin and Satan, to protect them against temptation, and to give them strength in Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life” (from The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, paragraph 141) . Each Sunday a prayer of exorcism is prayed over the elect to achieve these ends. Through the exorcisms they will “receive new strength in the midst of the spiritual journey and they open their hearts to receive the gifts of the Savior (paragraph 144).” These scrutinies should “complete the conversion of the elect and deepen their resolve to hold fast to Christ and to carry out their decision to love God above all” (paragraph 141). We also have special readings for these scrutinies. At the 10 am mass only, we will hear the Gospel of the Samaritan Woman at the Well this week; the Man born Blind next week, and the raising of Lazarus in 2 weeks. Here is the gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well:

CHAPTER 4

The Samaritan Woman. 4He had to* pass through Samaria. 5So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,* near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.a 6Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
7A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. 9* The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”b (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) 10* Jesus answered and said to her,c “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11[The woman] said to him, “Sir,* you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?”d 13Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; 14but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”e 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” 17The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ 18For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”f 19The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.g 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;* but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”h 21Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews.i 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;* and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. 24God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”j 25* The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming,k the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” 26Jesus said to her, “I am he,* the one who is speaking with you.”l
27At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman,* but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, 29“Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 30They went out of the town and came to him. 31Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.m 35Do you not say, ‘In four months* the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.n 36The reaper is already* receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.o 37For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’p 38I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”
39Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman* who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” 40When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41Many more began to believe in him because of his word, 42and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”q

The Gospel of the Lord

This unnamed Samaritan woman is at the well at noon during the heat of the day which was unusual. I wonder what forced her to avoid the other women who would have been at the well first thing in the morning when it was cool? Would they have looked down on her as somehow being ‘less’ because she was married so many times? Was she tired of their looks, sneers, and comments and thought this was a better alternative? She must have been very lonely.

I wonder why she was married so many times. Was it the Levitical marriage system that forced her marry after her husband died? Was she forced to marry men she didn’t love nor want? How did that make her feel? Or was she just divorced 5 times and decided to live with the sixth? Divorce was easy for men, impossible for women. If so, she must have felt bad about herself for being rejected so many times, and she must have felt bad that the sixth wouldn’t marry her. How difficult her life must have been. Everything seems to be working against her.

She meets Jesus at the well. She is surprised that he even talks to her, since he is a Jew. But this encounter will be transformative for her and all she ends up bringing to Jesus. At first, he is only “a Jew” to her; then a “greater than Jacob”; then she sees him as “a prophet;” then he is “the Christ.” After he stayed with the Samaritans for a few days, they began to “believe in him because of his word.”

As Jesus talks with her, she faces the problems of her life; the missteps, the sins, the problems in relationships, and those things that have estranged her from her own people. He accepts her, but he never condones her sins, either. He offers her ‘living water.’

In the Old Testament, this idea of flowing water in an arid country is a symbol of God’s self revelation. Jesus offers her living water, that is, the gift of himself, which is a gift from God for everyone that confers eternal life on those who receive it. This living water is also the gift of the Holy Spirit for those who accept Jesus.

The grace of the living water allows her (and us) to start over again. All is forgiven. All are accepted. Regardless of our past problems, sins and mistakes, we can always be transformed by Christ if we just turn to him. He is waiting for us – the only unforgiven sin is the one not confessed. We are like this Samaritan woman, because we fail, and keep failing. It doesn’t matter how many times we fail, Jesus is always there to give us his living water: to refresh us, to lift us up, to give us meaning and peace, and to confer eternal life.

In thanksgiving, let us be a spring of new life for others.


Fr. Phil