March 8 - What Was Jesus Thinking?

Third Sunday of Lent

Today's Readings

• Exodus 20.1-17
• Psalm 129
• 1 Corinthians 1.22-25
• John 2.13-25

Readings for the Scrutiny

• Exodus 17.3-7
• Psalm 95
• Romans 5.1-2, 5-8
• John 4.5-42

Today's Reflection:

Every time we read today’s gospel, my son asks how Jesus was not violating the 5^th Commandment by losing his temper with the vendors in the temple.  In trying to find an answer for him, I turned up two common explanations that justify the anger Jesus displays:

·         The people Jesus threw out of the temple were usurious and taking advantage of the poor, and their actions were blatantly disrespecting God’s temple.

·         The Pharisees were focused on catching people who violated laws, but never stopped to consider whether those laws were moral.

When reading this gospel in conjunction with the reading about the 10 Commandments, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a third possible explanation – did Jesus see the market in the temple as a violation of the 1^st Commandment?  We are told not to worship idols, but we seem to idolize money and consumption.  The people selling things in the temple were more devoted to making money than maintaining God’s sacred space.  And similarly, even devout Christians today seem to be far more often concerned with the well-being of businesses than with the well-being of our fellow human beings.

I wonder what Jesus thinks of us when we accept people sleeping on streets and under bridges for lack of affordable housing...and then we fight against the construction of affordable housing in our neighborhoods?

Or when we see a woman struggling to raise two kids on a welfare check of less than $500/month, and we respond by limiting her eligibility to 48 months in her lifetime – regardless of what may be happening to her, or what she will have to do to pay the rent in the absence of an income.  If, in desperation, she turns to prostitution, selling drugs, etc. to keep a roof over her family’s heads, do any of us good Christians care?

Or when people glibly tell the poor to “get a job” – and then allow full-time workers to earn poverty-level wages with no benefits, no paid time off, no job security, no established schedule so the workers can plan their lives from one week to the next.  And meanwhile, corporations make billions in profits and pay ever-more millions to executives.  Are we good Christians okay with that?

I can’t help but wonder, if Jesus showed up here today, what he would think of the way we have structured our economy.  In the year 2013, the 14 richest Americans grew their wealth by $82 billion.  That same year, our national food stamp budget was $80 billion.  Is this our definition of a just, Christian society?  Is this the way Jesus would want us to care for each other?  As we speak about the sanctity and dignity of human life, do our actions support that?  Or is our love of money, wealth, and power a form of idolatry that puts those things above basic human decency? 

Jesus challenges us in the gospels with his preaching and his actions.  Are we up to that challenge?

Kelly G.