Lent

March 7, 2021

Scripture Reading:
John 2:13-22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Indignation– typically intense deep-felt resentment or anger aroused by annoyance at or displeasure with or scorn over something that actually is or is felt to be unjust or unworthy or mean. *

Jesus was righteously indignant when he entered the temple area and found the money changers, practicing their form of greed on Holy ground. I am struck by the fact that Jesus was not immediately arrested and removed from the scene. There were temple guards, and even the Romans had no tolerance for anything that might get out of hand. Jesus was well enough known, perhaps even feared, that the response of the Jews was: give us a sign prove yourself. The sign he gave harkened to his death and resurrection, which was understood in retrospect, if ever.

The Jewish response suggests that they knew in their hearts that taking advantage of people buying animals to sacrifice was wrong. Greed steals in through crevices of self-righteousness. One of the most significant challenges people of faith face today, probably always, is differentiating between righteousness and self-righteousness.

We are living in a plague of self-righteousness in our world today, where the loss of privilege is deemed oppression. Jesus’ concern regarded God’s righteousness is always inclusive, not exclusive, ruled by love, not hate, and filled with hope, not despair.

Prayer: God of love help us distinguish between self-righteousness and righteousness. Guide us in realizing your justice throughout the world. Amen.

*https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/indignation

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.