Texts taken from the “On Your Word” Missal March-April 2024

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)
3rd week, alternate cycle

FIRST READING

From the Book of Exodus (Ex 20:1-17)
In those days, God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery: You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for the fathers’ guilt on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not leave unpunished anyone who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God: you shall do no work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your cattle, or the resident alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day he rested. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land the Lord, your God, is giving you. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” – The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the first reading

The Decalogue is presented in the biblical texts twice: in Exodus and Deuteronomy, but the entire history of Israel is based on these “ten words,” upon which the relationship between God and humanity is built. Much is said about the first commandment because it is the nail that holds the whole picture together: the oneness of God and the prohibition against worshiping other supposed divinities that seek to replace him. Everything else follows from this, and the rules can simply be listed without much further explanation: do not steal, do not kill, do not commit adultery, and so on. Why is the relationship with God given priority above all else? Because it is what constitutes us, creates us, and “makes” us. If a child does not recognize himself as a child, how can he feel loved and part of a family? But if I welcome God as Father, I consequently accept all the rules of the household, which will in fact seem right and necessary to me. It follows that the worst of evils is not immorality but atheism. A child may fall and make mistakes, but he knows whom to turn to for forgiveness, to rise again and return to life.

SECOND READING

From the first letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians  (1 Cor 1:22-25)
Brothers and sisters, while the Jews demand signs and the Greeks look for wisdom, we proclaim Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles; but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. – The word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the second reading

It is easy for a speaker to take the side of the audience and say what they want to “hear.” Some want grand signs, things that amaze; others are not interested in such phenomena and seek above all philosophical, inner reasoning that provides a way of interpreting reality. Then Paul arrives, and what does he do? He does not take the side of his listeners but of God, and announces what is truly necessary: not signs, not ideologies, but God himself as Savior. This deeply engages the listeners, because I can see grand signs at the circus too, and they do not convert me; I can hear profound ideas at university or read them in books, and neither do these convert me. But being told that God came to earth for me, that he died for me, that he gives me the Holy Spirit and asks for the complete gift of myself - this can convert me and change everything. The saints are precisely those who laid down their arms and surrendered to love. They want neither signs nor arguments, but love. And they find it in Jesus crucified and risen. 

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to John (Jn 2:13-25)
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple those who were selling 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, along with the sheep and oxen; he overturned the money changers’ tables and scattered their coins, and to those who sold doves he said: “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” At this the Jews said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. While he was in Jerusalem for the Passover, during the feast, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he understood human nature and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well. – The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

The prophets of the Old Testament often performed striking and symbolic actions to make God’s will clear to the people so that they would remember it. By driving out the merchants, Jesus follows this prophetic tradition, so much so that the leaders of the Jews are deeply affected; they do not rebuke him for causing a commotion and ruining the vendors’ market day, but ask him who he is to do such things: is he a prophet or not? Does he speak in God’s name or not? In his reply, the Lord makes it clear that he does not consider himself merely an Old Testament prophet, but rather the One who would usher in the new age of Grace by rising from the dead. The language was still mysterious, but today its meaning appears clear and radiant to us. Jesus has risen from the dead and gives life to those who believe in him. The new and true sacred temple, then, is the Mystical Body of Christ, the place of encounter: it cannot be turned into a marketplace through various forms of idolatry, impurity, or other improper thoughts.