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BIBLE STUDY

UNTIL WE’RE ABLE TO MEET AT CHURCH AGAIN, THE GOSPEL READING FOR THE COMING SUNDAY AND SOME QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT WILL BE POSTED EVERY WEDNESDAY.  WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOUR OWN ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS. PLEASE EMAIL THEM TO:      

barbfletcher2@aol.com

 

ALL COMMENTS WILL BE COMPILED (ANONYMOUSLY) AND ADDED TO THE POSTING ON SATURDAY.   WE HOPE THAT YOU WILL JOIN THE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE GOSPEL READING EACH WEEK.

 

BIBLE STUDY FOR SUNDAY, March 7, 2021

 

PRAYER:     Holy Father, by the power of your Holy Spirit, prepare our hearts and minds to receive all that You want us to learn.  As we read your word, shine on us the light of your truth.  May we gain a deeper understanding of who You are and what your will is in each of our lives.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

CONTEXT:  The “cleansing” of the temple in Jerusalem is the only violent act of Jesus that is recorded in the Gospels, but it was important enough to the early church that all four Gospel writers included it.  The temple in Jerusalem was the very center of the religious life of Israel. It was considered literally to be God’s dwelling place in the midst of His chosen people, a sign of divine election and protection.   It is important to note that by the time the people of the early church were reading this Gospel, the temple had been destroyed by the Romans, but Jesus had been raised from the dead.

 

READING:  John 2:13-22

                                   

13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

 

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT:

1.  How were the activities described in verses 13-14 standard procedure in the temple during Passover?  What do you think it was, exactly, that made Jesus so angry?

2. Jesus is commonly thought of as being meek and mild, but here we see a different side of Him.  Isn’t anger a sin?  What can we learn from Jesus? When is it acceptable for us, as disciples of Jesus, to get angry, and when is it not?

3. How might we, as today’s Christians, desecrate our churches in the way the Jews were desecrating the temple?  How can we be certain that we are not doing that?

4. In verses 19-21, do you think Jesus is saying something about “temples” in general?  Was Jesus saying something about himself?  How might Jesus words have been reassuring to the early Christians? How are they reassuring to us?

5. What can we learn, as disciples of Jesus, from verses 17 and 22?

6.  What is a “temple” anyway?  Can each of us be a temple?  What is important for us to remember in that regard?

7.  How has this time of Covid brought into focus the relative significance of our “temples”?  What truths can we take from this reading, and how can we apply them

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