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William Roberts:Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple |
The Sunday gospel text demonstrates that Jesus definitely had hot buttons that could be pushed. Confronted with the busy, bustling scene in the temple courtyard, Jesus was suddenly struck by the futility of all that activity: the waste, the deception, the manipulation of God's intentions for selfish human purposes. The sickness of this system hit Jesus in the face and lit up his hot button
Jesus got whip-crackingly mad.
- Mad at the temple being turned into a selling place.
- Mad at the money-changers who had turned a holy obligation into a lucrative profession.
- Mad at the Passover pilgrims, who saw the temple as a place of business and a place of God's holy presence.
Jesus got whip-crackingly mad.
- Mad at the temple being turned into a selling place.
- Mad at the money-changers who had turned a holy obligation into a lucrative profession.
- Mad at the Passover pilgrims, who saw the temple as a place of business and a place of God's holy presence.
- Mad at the priests, who had let their love of law and ritual take precedence over their love for God.
Do we still have the ability to get whip-cracking mad for Christ's sake? What needs to be cleaned out of our own selves in order to make ourselves places where the Holy Spirit blows and breathes?
Do we still have the ability to get whip-cracking mad for Christ's sake? What needs to be cleaned out of our own selves in order to make ourselves places where the Holy Spirit blows and breathes?
