Don't Mess With Jesus' Wife!- Nov. 9, 2008

The central theme of this week's readings is the Church. The first reading talks about what the fruits of the Church are and how the Church brings life. The 2nd reading tells us how we ARE the Church and how the Holy Spirit is in each of us. Finally, the Gospel reading reveals Jesus' love and dedication to his Church (his spouse-don't mess with her!).

Reading 1
Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

The angel brought me
back to the entrance of the temple,
and I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,
for the façade of the temple was toward the east;
the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple,
south of the altar.
He led me outside by the north gate,
and around to the outer gate facing the east,
where I saw water trickling from the southern side.
He said to me,
"This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,
and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."

Life Flows From the Church

The first reading describes the Church. What does Church mean? Church means an assembly or gathering, generally for a religious purpose.1 The Church isn't just a building nor is it a city in Italy. It is us baptized believers joined intimately to Jesus Christ who is our head. The first reading talks of Church (the temple) and how it brings life. Water flows from it in every direction. Even the leaves of the trees along the bank of this water shall never fade.

All of this is a reference to the Church (the baptized and Jesus the head). The Church gives life because it is only through the Church that we can receive baptism, the Eucharist, and the other sacraments. Jesus says that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you".2 Jesus also says that baptism is necessary for salvation. We can receive neither of these without the Church!3 We thank God that he charges less than $100,000 for the gift of life through the Church. Actually, he charges us nothing!

Let us remember that the sacraments give us growth and healing.4 We are given salvation and access to all other sacraments through baptism. How can we possibly grow without God whom we are united to through baptism? As far as healing goes, few of us know a greater healing than forgiveness. God grants us incredible healing when we go to confession. Some of the healing we are aware of, some of it we are not. Life cannot be experienced without God's grace. God's grace comes from him through his Church. This is the meaning and context of the first reading and the temple whose water brings life in abundance.

Reading II
1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17

Brothers and sisters:
You are God's building.
According to the grace of God given to me,
like a wise master builder I laid a foundation,
and another is building upon it.
But each one must be careful how he builds upon it,
for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there,
namely, Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God's temple,
God will destroy that person;
for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

We the Temple

In the second reading, Paul says that we are temples of God. We are temples of God because in baptism, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and we are joined to God. "the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members."5 Yes, it's wonderful that the Holy Spirit is inside of us but Paul warns us that "one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ." In order for us to share this life-giving "water" with others, we have to remain attached to Jesus who is our head and our boss.

Jesus gives us orders which we must follow in order to remain in our baptismal grace. After all, as Catholics we believe that this grace we receieve at baptism can be lost by grave (serious) sin.6 We must never commit serious sin and if we do, we must ask forgiveness immediately and then go to confession. Confession comes from the Church and is part of this life-giving water described in the 1st reading. Confession is part of how God keeps his promise that " their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine." (1st reading). Confession is like all sacraments, giving us growth and healing. Next, let's take a look at Jesus' bride and what he thinks about her.

Gospel
Jn 2:13-22

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold 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 area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money-changers
and overturned their tables,
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 answered and said to him,
"What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Jesus answered and said to 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.

Jesus' Bride

Many of us have heard that we (the Church) are the bride of Christ. In John 3:29, John the Baptist announces Jesus as the bridegroom. Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom in Mark 2:19. In 2nd Corinthians 11:2, Paul says that we are betrothed to Christ. That means that we are meant to be with Christ from the beginning and he came to take us as his bride. And what does Jesus say about husband and wife in Matthew 19:6? They are no longer two, but one flesh. Does a husband have deep intimacy with his bride? Absolutely, and just the same, our flesh becomes one with Christ each Sunday at the Eucharistic altar. We the Church are his bride.

The Catechism tell us that God reveals himself by what he does. God wants us as his BRIDE. He wants us to be joined not as two, but as one. He wants us never to separate. He chose us as his betrothed. And what does this tell us about God? It tells us that God loves us as a perfect husband loves his wife with the highest intensity. He loves us and he desires union with us.

The Gospel reading, speaks of this famous scene where Jesus gets angry because the temple (the Church- his bride) is being degraded. Jesus gets upset when someone messes with his bride. So, through this week's gospel, we are reminded that Jesus loves us deeply and wants us to be his forever and he will fight any evil that attacks us. Yet, in this we must remember that we ourselves are the "money-changers" who sin against our bridegroom, Jesus is the perfect spouse. He does his part perfectly as the one who loves us beyond comparison. From this day forth, how will we respond to his love and faithfulness?

Real Life

I know a married couple (married around 30 years) and they are missionaries. I once saw them dancing before mass. They were arm in arm dancing in a circle and completely full of joy. Since I had been hanging out with them for a while, I already knew that they loved each other. But on this particular day, I was amazed at how much joy they had and how much they truly loved each other. On another occasion, I saw the wife give a second helping of food to her son despite the fact that she had eaten nothing herself and nothing remained from dinner. She was selfless and incredibly generous to her kids and seemed to be unconcerned with herself. It seems that the closer we are to God, the more we begin to resemble him. God wants us as his holy spouse and our union is fruitful because it is rooted in God, who is love.

He loves us!




1-CCC 751
2-John 6:53
3-Even if we are baptized by a non-priest, the authority to do so comes from the Catholic Church.
4- CCC 798
5-797
6-CCC 1446
7- Matthew 19:6