Image www.worryisuseless.files.wordpress.com
First reading Exodus 20:1-17
The Law given at Sinai
God spoke all these words. He said, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
‘You shall have no gods except me.
‘You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me; but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
‘You shall not utter the name of the Lord your God to misuse it, for the Lord will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.
‘Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath for the Lord your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why the Lord has blessed the sabbath day and made it sacred.
‘Honour your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God has given to you.
‘You shall not kill.
‘You shall not commit adultery.
‘You shall not steal.
‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.’
Responsorial Psalm 18(19):8-11
You, Lord, have the message of eternal life.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
they gladden the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
it gives light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is holy,
abiding for ever.
The decrees of the Lord are truth
and all of them just.
They are more to be desired than gold,
than the purest of gold
and sweeter are they than honey,
than honey from the comb.
Second reading 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
The crucified Christ, the power and wisdom of God
While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Gospel John 2:13-25
Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up
Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money-changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.’ Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.
During his stay in Jerusalem for the Passover many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he gave, but Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to them; he never needed evidence about any man; he could tell what a man had in him.
Reflection
Today’s Gospel ends on a very sobering note: ‘Many believed in Jesus when they saw the signs which he gave, but he knew them all and did not trust himself to them’(John 2:25). I believe in Jesus. I find his life and especially the way he died, very attractive and convincing. I’m sure it is the same for you. So the Gospel poses for us the question: Can he trust himself to me?
He knows me through and through. So I ask myself: Can he entrust himself to me as his priest to preach his word and not just my own pet thoughts?
Can he entrust himself to me, confident that when people come to me in trust I will listen to them, and share with them the teaching and wisdom of the Church and not just my own view of things?
Can he trust me with his grace, that I will draw other people to him and not siphon off their affection for my own enjoyment, seeking their love and their praise for myself?
He comes to me in communion. Can he trust that I will be a sanctuary for him, a holy place where his word will be safe, where the Spirit of his love will be at home, where his Father will be loved?
‘Many believed in him, but he knew them all and did not trust himself to them’. He wants to love me and to love through me.
Do I force him to withhold his love and his trust because of the way I will abuse them? He seems to love a little bit through me. Maybe he would like to love a lot more, but I keep getting in the way.
These are the kinds of questions which today’s Gospel forces upon me.
My response is to join the author of the today’s Entrance Antiphon: ‘My eyes are ever fixed on the Lord. Please look on me and be merciful.’
Fr Michael Fallon msc
