synagogue

In the Gospel According to Mark 1:21 (NABRE), we see that the synagogue was one of the major places where Jesus engaged in his public ministry. The role of these synagogues, especially at the time of Jesus when the Temple still was standing, easily can be overlooked.

The word synagogue comes from the Greek word συναγωγή (sunagoge), which means an assembly or a gathering. There’s some debate about when such gatherings became common among Jews, but one plausible idea is that the people began to meet together in Exile when they no longer had access to the Temple.

At the time of Jesus, Jews were required to travel to Jerusalem and the Temple there three times each year for the major religious feasts, but these were not the only feasts nor were they the only times of the year when people would learn about and worship God. Local synagogues provided a place where people could go for that purpose.

Why do you think it is that Jesus chose to focus his efforts on visiting synagogues? What obstacles to you think he might have run into at these gatherings?

related topic: temple

you also may like our two-part study of the prophets
Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume I: A Kingdom Divided examines the prophets in their historical context using the First and Second Books of the Kings and other Old Testament passages written before the Babylonian Exile in 586 B.C. Volume II: Restoration & Redemption looks at the post-exilic prophets. This 51-lesson Catholic Bible study builds on The United Kingdom of Israel: Saul, David & Solomon Foreshadow Christ the King. Click on the books’ covers to view a sample lesson from each volume.

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