Museum of the Bible Magazine will post the liturgical Bible readings for Holy Week that explore the Passion of Jesus. Check back each day this week (except Saturday) for these readings.
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Holy Monday, April 14
Jesus cleanses the Temple, Gustave Dore, Die Heilige Schrift Alten und Neuen Testaments
Holy Monday commemorates several acts of Jesus’s preserved in the Gospels, but especially focuses on his cursing of the fig tree (Matthew 21:18–19 // Mark 11:12–14), his cleansing of the temple (Matthew 21:12–13 // Mark 11:15–19 // Luke 19:45–48 // John 2:13–17), and his time at Bethany (Matthew 26:6–13 // Mark 14:3–9 // John 12:1–8). Priests will wear purple, representing a time of penitence and preparation.
This year’s reading comes from John’s account. According to John, at Bethany, Jesus taught and interacted with Mary and Martha, along with their brother, Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. While Martha served dinner, Lazarus reclined at the table, and Mary anointed Jesus’s feet and dried them with her hair. Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would betray Jesus, questioned why the oil, worth 300 days’ wages, was not sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus answered, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
These are the readings for this Holy Monday:
Isaiah 42:1–7
John 12:1–11
Find the other readings and other articles related to Easter here.
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