Daily Reading

John 2:13-22 >

Daily Reflection

Jesus turned the temple upside down. He drove out the animal merchants and money changers for making his Father's house a marketplace (John 2:16). This story reminds us that it is possible for spirituality to become misguided.  It can become, in the words of one theologian, "an adventure in missing the point." You and I  may not be able to readily identify with an ancient near eastern temple merchant but we're just as apt to go off course when it comes to life with God.  Jesus tells the astonished onlookers about a deeper spirituality, a spiritual life that will come after he has been raised from the dead. Jesus' resurrected body is the eternal temple of God that will never be destroyed.  The point being that in Jesus the life of God is forever joined to a real human life--he is fully God and fully human. He came to share the "God-life" with real human beings like you and me. We may have a tendency to go off course, but in Jesus we have a good shepherd who knows us deeply (John 2:24-25) and who has promised to show us the way to his Father (John 14: 1-7).

Daily Worship Resources

Morning Readings: Psalm 32 > | Genesis 4:1-16 >
Evening Readings: Hebrews 4:14-5:10 >

Other Resources

Read Introduction to the Lent Tradition >

Download pdf of entire Lent devotion >

Songs For Lent by New York Hymns >