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Third Sunday in Lent • Year B
March 3, 2024
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Historical Collect
Almighty God, consider the worthy desires of your humble servants. Reach out to defend us from evil by the word and work of your majestic right hand. Grant this, we pray, through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Gelasian Sacramentary, 7th Century)
Thematic Collect
Holy Father, you made it clear to your chosen people that you are the one true God who is worthy of our worship. Grant us grace and boldness to cast aside all pursuits that can so easily become our idols and keep us faithful in our worship of you; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.
The Common Thread
The law of the Lord is perfect. This is why we teach the commandments to our children; it makes the simple wise. The whole of the law is founded on the Decalogue, and the second table based on the first table. Therefore, the love of neighbor cannot be supported or even understood unless the love of God, the objectifier of law, is its buttress. When the Objectifier comes before us, we either see him as the cornerstone of law or as a stumbling block. Though fools stumble over him, he remains the Rock and Redeemer, the perfect Lord of the law.
First Reading • Exodus 20:1-17
The Ten Commandments contain both law and mercy. There are not just commandments but also precious promises in the Decalogue. His steadfast love is secure for those who love him and keep his statutes.
Psalm • Psalm 19:1-14
Notice how God redeems his people throughout the Scripture. The perfect law of the Lord directed the people of old to the Lord and to the sacrifices prescribed for their errors. Though “in many and various ways God spoke to his people of old by the prophets ... in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb 1:1). God is still redeeming — eternally.
Second Reading • 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
"I will pull myself up by my bootstraps," some proclaim. "I am self-reliant!" Others insist that there is no hope at all, even in themselves. Both of these attitudes would insist that the cross is the folly of fools. They can put no stock in a Savior, particularly one who cannot even save himself from the cross. But for those who trust in Christ, the cross is the agency of salvation. We boast in the folly of what we preach, for we preach Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 1:23; 2:2).
Gospel • John 2:13-22, 23-25
Oh! What an assertion — however it was received, as the temple or as Jesus' body — that Jesus would raise what was destroyed, and in only three days' time. It took 46 years to build that temple, they insisted. But what would be the more difficult achievement: to rebuild a temple of stone or to raise oneself from the dead? In hindsight, his disciples would come to understand. May we, by the grace of God, believe.
Lent 3 Small Insert Full Text (The Small Insert shortens the psalm in the interest of space. This file includes the readings in their entirety.)
Resources
Links to Worship Resources for this Service
