Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Mark 11:15-18

Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, 'Is it not written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations"? But you have made it a den of robbers.' And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him.

One thing the same

This is a very different Jesus than the one in my office.

Every morning I switch on the office light and see a painting I love on the opposite wall. Jesus is blessing children. A tender smile spreads across his face as he welcomes and touches children gathered around him.

But not here. In today's story, Jesus is violent, filled with passion and anger. He throws tables around. Coins clatter across the stone pavement of the temple court.

He rages at those who distract human hearts from connecting with God.

Jesus looks so different, but he is not different at all. One thing always remains the same. He hungers for you. He hungers for each of us to know God, heart-to-heart, and he hates everything that gets in the way.

What gets in your way?

Pr. David Miller