nunblog: Read the Bible with Me!

Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! We've been reading the Bible clear through this year. We've reached the New Testament, so read along with me. But first, let us pray:

Father,

When the fullness of time had come, you sent your Word in the One who said, “Whoever sees me, sees the Father.” No revelation can surpass this, until Jesus comes again in glory.

Open my mind today to the gift of life and truth your Word offers me through the Church. By your Holy Spirit, grant me wisdom and strength to put this Word into practice and to become, myself, a presence of Jesus for people who are looking for you.

Jesus, eternal Word and Son of the Father, live in me with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Today's chapters are John 2-4.

As we read the story of the Wedding at Cana (John 2), I once again recommend Dr Brant Pitre's wonderful book, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary: Unveiling the Mother of the Messiah. That is because Mary appears at two pivotal moments in the Gospel of John, moments that show her as more than just the "mom" in the story. In both places, she identified not by name, but only as "the Mother of Jesus," and in both events Jesus addresses her with the biblically powerful title, "Woman." Mary, who calls herself "the handmaid of the Lord" (in Luke's telling of the Annunciation) gives herself completely to her mission as mother of the Church in a mysterious way at Cana—and at the Cross.

John puts the "cleansing of the Temple" at the beginning (not the end) of Jesus' public ministry. Jesus throws down the gauntlet early on: "destroy this temple"—his own body—"and in three days I will raise it up." These words, of course, will re-echo at his trial. For now, his followers can only puzzle over them.

Cana appears several times in our reading today. And then Jesus passes through Samaria, where another woman engages him in conversation. Jesus, tired and thirsty, waits upon her for water, and promises to give her "living water." On the Cross, one of his last words will be "I thirst."

Start reading here.

Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary: Unveiling the Mother of the Messiah presents the Mother of Jesus in the light of the Old Testament types which we already saw in our readings over the course of the year. This is especially important as we read the Gospel of John. Dr Pitre is an engaging author; I made great use of the Catholic Introduction to the Bible (Old Testament) that he and Dr Bergsma co-authored.

I am happy to recommend this volume of The Four Gospels in an edition directed to young readers and their parents. The text of all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the New Revised Standard Translation is accompanied by FAQs that a middle-school reader might ask (or, to be honest, anybody reading the Gospels for the first time). The footnotes were prepared by a team of Scripture scholars for parents and guardians, making the book ideal for family Bible reading.