Our church school teacher tried to dilute the story,
but I had a picture of Jesus with the whip in his hand
The whip was snapping … I could almost hear it. …
The moneychangers cowered against the whip’s threat;
Tables were overturned.
Some of the men were up and running.
The cows and sheep were scattering.
Doves were scrambling in their cages.
Coins were rolling and flying through the air.
The face of Jesus showed fury!
Cows and sheep and doves sold for sacrifices,
Roman money changed into the Tyrian shekels
required for the annual head tax
that went into the temple treasury.
In other words, it was church business.
But Jesus thought otherwise:
God’s house was being desecrated.
He drove the moneychangers out of the temple.
But that was then
and that was that.
Except of course.
they did tear down the temple …
Jesus’ temple
and he did rebuild it three days later.
Crucifixion. Resurrection.
Then the disciples understood
that the Church was the Body of Jesus.
O Jesus, you showed us God
when you showed yourself,
but we didn’t see, we didn’t see.
The Word of God walked across our lives,
but we didn’t hear; we didn’t hear.
We didn’t allow your footsteps
to crunch into our souls.
We stuck to business as usual,
even church business,
even on Sunday.
And our tables are up for overturning.
Give us a sign.
Give us a sign
And we who have the rainbow
and all the stars in the sky
ask God for further ID.
As though there were no ten commandments,
as though we were never told
that God will not stand for idolatry.
As though we never heard of being
the people of God.
As though we never heard
of living with God in covenant.
There will be no other gods before me.
No other gods.
As though Jesus never said
You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and soul and mind,
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
as yourself as yourself.
I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.
Come, follow me.
Come, walk with me.
Come, Life abundant is with me.
“The heavens declare the glory of God!”
and yet, we forget to look out our windows
and we miss the word of God
from Day to Day!
“God’s law is perfect!
More to be desired than gold
even much fine gold.”
The coins for which we give our souls
are worthless compared to Life Abundant!
I showed my father the picture
of Jesus with the whip in his hand
and asked why Jesus was so mad
at the people in the temple.
Because, he said, they didn’t believe.
They didn’t walk in covenant with God.
They had no reverence for God’s word.
I’m glad, I said, that we believe.
My father let me walk away in innocence.
No other gods, and yet this Lent
we stumble over the gods in our sanctuaries,
stubbing our toes on gods of Self-Importance,
Self-Righteousness, and Egotism.
We bow down to Wealth and War and Power and Status
and Possessions and
Rules and Divisiveness as well as Our Own Agendas.
The list goes on and on
add to it or subtract …
it makes no difference.
The gods are there
waiting to be fed.
Even the pastor can become an idol.
Even Jesus when we make him
in our own image.
Who do we say that he is?
And how can we live
with what we’ve been saying??
Jesus couldn’t live with the mockery
of the moneychangers in the temple.
His faith was fierce.
There was no compromising.
He lived and died so that we could live …
abundantly
with God
in covenant
in community
in faith.
Forgive, O God, our mockery.
Forgive our agenda keeping
rather than covenant keeping.
Forgive the arrogance of preferring
our own words to yours.
Forgive our egotism
that leads us to think
we are wiser than you
Forgive our busyness that makes
us turn away from this war-pocked world.
Forgive us our divisiveness
that they might say of us again:
“How those Christians love one another!”
Forgive our controlling ways,
our bowing down to power and wealth and greed.
Forgive us for making rules
we’d rather follow than yours.
Give us the eyes to see Jesus
the courage to stand up
and speak out in his name
the love to feed the hungry
the compassion to heal the sick
the faithfulness to love mercy
the covenant stamina
to do justice in your name
and, O God, the humility
to walk in covenant with you.
During this Lenten time
give us the hearts to hear your word
and give us we pray,
the only Bread and Wine we need.
And Peace, O God, Peace!
in the name of Jesus
who is the Prince of Peace!
Ann Weems of St. Louis, Mo., is a best-selling poet-writer, speaker, and conference leader. She is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Her works include Kneeling in Bethlehem, Kneeling in Jerusalem, and Psalms of Lament.
