The Old Testament reading for this week is taken from the first book of Kings, the 8th chapter. We are reminded that the temple was a place for all people to come into God’s presence.
The New Testament reading comes from the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. He reminds the church that all people are being built together God’s living temple.
The Gospel lesson is from John’s telling of the life and teachings of Jesus, the second chapter, where Jesus drives the moneychangers and merchants from the outer court of the temple where gentiles were meant to worship.
41 “People will hear about your great name,
mighty hand, and powerful arm.
So when people who are not Israelites
come from distant countries because of your name
42 to pray facing this temple,
43 hear them in heaven, the place where you live.
Do everything they ask you
so that all the people of the world may know your name
and fear you like your people Israel
and learn also that this temple which I built bears your name.
The New Testament reading comes from the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. He reminds the church that all people are being built together God’s living temple.
11 Remember that once you were not Jewish physically. Those who called themselves “the circumcised” because of what they had done to their bodies called you “the uncircumcised.” 12 Also, at that time you were without Christ. You were excluded from citizenship in Israel, and the pledges [a] ⌞God made in his⌟ promise were foreign to you. You had no hope and were in the world without God.
13 But now through Christ Jesus you, who were once far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 So he is our peace. In his body he has made Jewish and non-Jewish people one by breaking down the wall of hostility that kept them apart. 15 He brought an end to the commandments and demands found in Moses’ Teachings so that he could take Jewish and non-Jewish people and create one new humanity in himself. So he made peace. 16 He also brought them back to God in one body by his cross, on which he killed the hostility. 17 He came with the Good News of peace for you who were far away and for those who were near. 18 So Jewish and non-Jewish people can go to the Father in one Spirit.
19 That is why you are no longer foreigners and outsiders but citizens together with God’s people and members of God’s family. 20 You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. 21 In him all the parts of the building fit together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord.
The Gospel lesson is from John’s telling of the life and teachings of Jesus, the second chapter, where Jesus drives the moneychangers and merchants from the outer court of the temple where gentiles were meant to worship.
13 The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons in the temple courtyard. He also found moneychangers sitting there. 15 He made a whip from small ropes and threw everyone with their sheep and cattle out of the temple courtyard. He dumped the moneychangers’ coins and knocked over their tables.
16 He told those who sold pigeons, “Pick up this stuff, and get it out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
17 His disciples remembered that Scripture said, “Devotion for your house will consume me.”
18 The Jews reacted by asking Jesus, “What miracle can you show us to justify what you’re doing?”
19 Jesus replied, “Tear down this temple, and I’ll rebuild it in three days.”
20 The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. Do you really think you’re going to rebuild it in three days?”
21 But the temple Jesus spoke about was his own body. 22 After he came back to life, his disciples remembered that he had said this. So they believed the Scripture and this statement that Jesus had made.
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