WEEKLY READINGS

The First Lesson

Ephesians 2:14-22

Reader: The reading is from the letter to the Ephesians.

For Christ is our peace; in his flesh he has made all into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. Jesus has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself a single new humanity in place of [Gentile and Jewish believers], thus making peace, and that he might reconcile all to God in one body through the cross, putting to death hostility through it. So Jesus came and proclaimed peace to you all who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Jesus all of us have access in one Spirit to the Creator of All. So then you all are no longer strangers and aliens, but you all are citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the women and men who were apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In Christ the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Messiah; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Reader: Word of God, word of life.

People: Thanks be to God.

The Psalm

Psalm 48:1-3, 9-14

1 Great is the Ageless God and greatly praised

in the city of our God is God’s holy mountain.

2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the earth,

Mount Zion, in the far north,

is the city of the great Sovereign.

3 Within her citadels God

has made herself known as a bulwark.

9 We contemplate your faithful love God,

in the midst of your temple.

10 Like your Name, God, your praise,

reaches to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is filled with righteousness.

11 Let Mount Zion be glad,

let the towns of Judah rejoice

because of your judgments.

12 Go about Zion, go all around her;

count her towers.

13 Set your hearts upon her ramparts;

go through her citadels,

that you may recount to the next generation:

14 For this God is our God, our God forever and ever.

She will be our guide until we die.

The Gospel

John 2:14-22

Celebrant: The Holy Gospel according to John.

People: Glory to you, O Lord.

In the temple Jesus found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Makin a whip of cords, he drove them out of the temple, [including] the sheep and the cattle. Jesus also poured out the coins of the money changers and threw over their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these of of here! Stop making the house of my Abba a house of commerce!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Then the other 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.” They then said, “For forty-six years this temple has been under construction, and will you raise it up in three days?” But Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body. 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 has spoken.

Celebrant: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, O Christ.

Readings are from A Woman's Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W, by Wilda C. Gavney. Church Publishing, 2021.