Holy Brit

This week I have been contemplating Jesus' cleansing of the Temple. I do not like this passage which is why I have sat with it all week wondering about the place of anger and angry outburst. Wondering about speaking out against things which are wrong and dealing with opposition. Perhaps I will write more of this later.

In John's account Jesus says that they have made his father's house into a marketplace. These seem like simple words but they have far reaching consequences. For God's house is Jesus' house and the house was given as a symbol of love - of covenant and relationship. Instead God's free gift has been turned into a commodity to be bought and sold - the sacrificial system has become an economic rather than spiritual proposition.

This seems so simple - not to let ourselves forget to talk to God. Not to let ourselves get so caught up in everything that we let our heart of love get buried. But it can be so hard - I will pray later, we tell ourselves. I will pay more attention to the Bible.....sometime. But today is the day, every day is the day.

John's Gospel also lets us know that the Temple, the House of God, will be Jesus Himself and so we have a living saviour who abide with us. Perhaps it is too easy to get used to this along the busy shelves of our lives - just another thing, just another job to do. But as we see those animals scurrying away from the crack of a whip we must wonder at the house of love turned into a house of money and repent at our own inability to truly live in God's own place and own time.