tears and anger

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Yesterday we saw the triumph of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his enthusiastic welcome. Today we see his entry from an emotional perspective. Jesus is touched by being in Jerusalem and knowing that he will be rejected. He's known that for a long time, since he's told his disciples about his death three times, but there seems to be something powerful about being in the city in person. Jesus weeps for Jerusalem because it doesn't recognize the opportunity to return to God through his visit. Knowing Christ means knowing peace; Jesus knows that Jerusalem as a whole will not know him.

We get anger as well as grief in this scene as Jesus drives the merchants out of the temple. He's angry because commerce seems to have overwhelmed faith. The commercial activity actually started out with good intentions. Sacrificing animals had always been a part of temple worship, so making animals available for people from far away made sense. Roman money, which most people would have to use in their daily lives wasn't acceptable to give to the temple because it had an image of Caesar on it in conflict with Jewish law. "Money changers" in the temple exchanged Roman money for coins without the image so people could make a financial offering as well. To Jesus' eyes at least, this activity distracted from the worship of God and may have been an opportunity to cheat people, especially the poor. Are there any distractions we need to drive out of our worship life to focus on God?

God bless,
Sam

Luke 19:41-48

41As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

45Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; 46and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” 47Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; 48but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.