The Noontimes

John 2:13-25: Clearing the Temple

Monday, March 11, 2019

Today’s Gospel from John tells us that: 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”.  Jesus clears out the holy precinct and turns it over to the one who creates all.  This is an apt reading for the Lenten season because these words call us to the work of our Easter journey.  They call us to clear out the temple of our interior, to make all ready for the indwelling of the Spirit, to prepare for the Word to take up residence within.

Spend some time today with The Jesus Bridge reflection on this blog and examine how we prepare our own temple to receive the Word.  Do some of our relationships need mending?  Do we know someone who looks for companionship as they struggle to put a first foot on the path to reconciliation?  Have we really begun our journey to wholeness?

We remind ourselves that we are all traveling up to Jerusalem with Jesus.  How do we prepare?  What is our attitude as we step off into the morning mist?  And when we reach our destination, are we willing to clear out the temple and rid ourselves of old addictions?  We will only know once we spend some time with God today.

This is a season of journeys and paths. As you reflect, enjoy the photos at this link . . . and begin to clear out the Temple.

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You may want to explore amazing paths in: amazing-paths 2019-march 11 images received from a friend earlier this month.

A re-post from March 11, 2012.

Image from: http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20090309JJ.shtml