Wednesday, March 11

John 2:13-22

"When He had made a whip of cords , He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" John 2: 15-16.

The similarities to the actions of Jesus in this passage and our hopes for our times seem uncanny. Didn't Obama say that he would not take money from lobbyist and that he would see to cleaning them out of Congress? Cleaning up the economic woes of our country are his first priority—some, at least have seen him as a modern "savior" for our country. Or at least that is what we hope for.

However, the "righteous anger" that Jesus displays could be aimed at countless issues that we face today; have we not squandered our environment to the point of putting the entire planet and all of it's inhabitants in danger? Our gluttony of material things seems to have over-run our country, and overturned our values. We can all point to others that have gone to extreme excesses—the multi-million dollar bonuses for CEO's, but we've all participated in the age of excesses. (I live in a modest home, but every closet is full.  But, I can still put the car in the garage!) What kind of "righteous anger" would Jesus unleash on us if he were here today?

In this passage from John after Jesus runs off the merchandisers, the disciples ask Jesus, "What sign do You show us, since You do these things?" and he answers, rather cryptically, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." Certainly, he was referring to his resurrection after three days, but he was also talking about a new era with justice for everyone. This is his challenge to us still.