--- title: Daily Readings for 3/15/09 description: Daily Readings for 3/15/09 --- [![catholic-mom-logo-v2](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/images/catholic-mom-logo-v2.svg "catholic-mom-logo-v2")](https://www.catholicmom.com/) [![facebook](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-facebook.svg)](http://www.facebook.com/CatholicMomCommunity) [![twitter](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-twitter.svg)](http://twitter.com/CatholicMomCom) [![instagram](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-instagram.svg)](http://instagram.com/catholicmomcommunity) [![youtube](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-youtube.svg)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUqHCVPDzyMgSMaMZxxug?view_as=subscriber) [![search-icon](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/search-icon.svg)](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/2009/03/15/daily-readings-for-31509#) # Daily Readings for 3/15/09 Mar 15, 2009 4:00:58 AM  |  by [Guest](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/author/guest) Reflection on the Daily Readings for 3/15/09 by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM [Today’s Readings](http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/031509.shtml) Scripture:  Third Sunday of Lent (B cycle). Exodus 20:1-17. Psalm 19: 8.9.10.11. I Cor. 1:22-25. John 2:13-25. Lectionary # 29: Lent is now almost half over as we move into the third Sunday of the B Cycle. We are now going to see more of John's Gospel as we get closer to Holy Week--even the Sunday readings turn to John during the following weeks and sometimes on the Sunday. Today's Gospel is unique in where it situates the event of Jesus' cleansing the Temple.  It is not to be seen from a chronological point of view but from its symbolic meaning and its theological perspective.  The fact that all four of our Gospels contains this event point to it as historically true.  It would be another reason why the road to the Cross is certainly ahead of Jesus' days.  Since all four Gospels do contain it, the scene is called one of "multiple attestation."  This is one of the principles that those who favor the historical critical method of studying the Bible affirm with great confidence. As we search for its meaning within the Gospel of John we realize that it could be reflecting the final act of Jesus as a type of foretelling of it. The sign at Cana has strengthened the faith of his mother and disicples for the beginning of his active ministry; now they are being prepared for the end of his life here on earth.  Those who do not catch the message but rather look toward a literal explanation of the destruction of the Temple are doing precisely what Jesus' opponents do--interpreting him literally.  Irony, paradox, and symbolism are always to be kept in mind as we meditate upon John's Gospel and Jesus' acts and words within it.  It is a Gospel of Revelation primarily meant for those who believe in the Person of Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  All of these words are symbolic of who Jesus is for the believer. John is not unaware of the historical Jesus. In fact, his Gospel is a profound Christian reflection on the historical events that really happened in the life of Jesus.  Even here we have an example to show that he is quite aware of Jesus' age.  The Temple was still being rebuilt. Herod the Great was behind this project already in 19 B.C. Now John tells us that the Temple is in its 46th year of being rebuilt.  This means the event of the cleansing is probably happening in 26-28 A.D.  We have some markers here that help us reconstruct even the chronological age of Jesus.  It is also in this Gospel that the Judeans say to Jesus, "You are not yet fifty years old..." (John 8:57). John then gets the reader to look more at events from a "kairos" point of view, that is, from the perspective of God and not from a "chronos" point, that is, from the way humans calculate time in events. It is the reality of faith that the temple that is the body of Jesus will be raised up. He is not speaking of the Temple in Jerusalem but of his own temple filled with the Holy Spirit of God which he will breathe forth on the Beloved Disciple and his own Mother Mary as he dies on the Cross thus creating  something new in them-- the Church.  John uses his historical memory of Jesus in helping us to learn how to read the signs of Jesus' time in the light of his realized eschatology or the theologcial view of looking at the bigger picture in the light of faith.  Raymond E. Brown, S.S. says, " Thus the Jerusalem Temple, which has been turned into a marketplace, has been replaced by the body of Jesus as the true holy place." (Intro. to N.T.page 341). This third Sunday of Lent helps prepare us for the coming of Holy Week just as our reading from John does in his second chapter. (John 2:13-25).  Amen. ### Share this article [![Share on Facebook](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/facebook-24x24.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2009%2F03%2F15%2Fdaily-readings-for-31509%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook) [![Share on Twitter](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/twitter-24x24.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2009%2F03%2F15%2Fdaily-readings-for-31509%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2009%2F03%2F15%2Fdaily-readings-for-31509%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&source=tweetbutton&text=Daily%20Readings%20for%203%2F15%2F09) [![Share on Email](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/email-24x24.png)](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2009%2F03%2F15%2Fdaily-readings-for-31509%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail%20&body=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2009%2F03%2F15%2Fdaily-readings-for-31509%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail) ** #### About the Author ![Guest](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/Profile%203.jpg) ### [Guest](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/author/guest) We welcome guest contributors who graciously volunteer their writing for our readers. 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