Having a Bad Day
Matthew 21:12-22
Even Jesus had bad days.
Photo by Luca Volpe on Unsplash
Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’ but you are making it a den of robbers.” The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there. In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” - Matthew 21:12-22
I can’t help but think Jesus would be mocked as crazy today. Social media would be all over him for his wild and outrageous actions, turning over tables in the Temple and cursing a fig tree out of season.
But theologians don’t see Jesus as a crazy or angry person. They see his actions as justified and symbolic of the prophets.
The church has a problem with this in our time, because the church has flipped its own tables. Now, I know I will get flak for this, but Jesus was angry. Remember, he was both human and divine, however that works. We cannot understand it, but we do understand getting flipping mad and cursing people out.
Himan.
Just like the leaders of the Temple in Jesus’ day, today’s faith leaders are battling with themselves across all denominations.
The funny thing is, the problem is the same today as it was in Jesus’ time. The church (temple) has gotten soft on God’s commandments and needs a reset.
While the Temple had established barriers and conditions of entry to worship, today’s leaders have totally let down the barriers and abandoned the message in the process.
Yes, Jesus welcomed everyone, but he only accepted the innocent children without conditions. Everyone else needed to decide to follow him and follow the commandments.
Jesus wanted the nations of Judea and Israel to return to their faith. He reminded them that they owe allegiance to God and their ruler, not Rome.
They should give Rome what is Rome’s, like taxes and obeying the Centurions when they forced you to walk a mile with them, but he had his sights on a different kingdom.
Christianity is so powerful a force that unscrupulous rulers and downright evil men have used it, making it a state religion to control the people. But in those instances, they changed the rules, and not all religious leaders went along with the state-sponsored approach.
Ironically, it was the church around the world that stood by and let that happen, so out of guilt, today, it is trying to prevent another such movement here.
Case in point. What some see as being accepting and welcoming, others see as causing the innocent among us to stumble.
A recent survey shows that young men are coming back to church and are reading the Bible. Many are returning to the Latin Mass, which is surprising.
So, the pendulum swings. From one extreme to the other, the pattern, the cycle repeats.
The same people who are against a Christian Nation are fine with a Muslim Nation.
Jesus promised to come again. I think we are just about ready.
More to come...