John 2:13-22
Lead in: In John 2:13-22, Jesus enters the temple and sees money chargers. In today’s language, loan sharks. They had turned his Father’s house into a marketplace, what we call a shopping mall in today’s terms. Jesus drives them out of the temple with a whip He made out of straps of leather. In doing that, Jesus confronted a system that was exploiting the poor.
Prompt: With Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple, what does that say about our role as Christians when we encounter situations where we see vulnerable people being taken
advantage of?
Lead in: According to Paul in I Corinthians 3:9-17, the Church is not just a brick and mortar structure, but the living body of Christ – the faithful who walk as disciples of Jesus. Hence for Paul, God’s temple is no longer a building. It is God’s people – the place where God dwells.
Prompt: Reflect on a time this week when you most felt the presence of God dwelling within you.
Lead in: I’ve heard the miracle of Easter described as the life of the Risen Christ creating streams of flowing water that bring life wherever it flows.
Prompt : Where in your life do you most need to experience the lifegiving waters that flow from the Risen Christ?
Lead in: If the risen body of Jesus is the new temple of God’s presence in the world, the gathered people of God are the body of Christ on earth.
Prompt: If the gathered people of God are the body of Christ on earth, how might you respond to those who hold that the only true members of the Catholic Church are those who attend church on Sunday?
Lead in: In Ezekeil 47, the prophet has a vision of flowing waters that come out from the temple’s altar and flow toward the sea, and wherever the river flows, life abounds. The prophet’s vision can be seen as a precursor to the new temple of Christ’s body from which flows the lifegiving waters of Christ’s church in our midst.
Prompt: Reflect on a time you experienced the Church community as a reservoir of lifegiving water that gave you the strength you needed to keep going.
Lead in: In I Corinthians 3:16 Paul says, “Did you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Prompt: If our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, what is the balance between caring for our bodies without letting that care for our bodies become a worship of our bodies?