discipleship | mission | practical theology

Jesus turning our assumptions up-side down – again. The market in the temple had become a normal way of doing things. People arriving at the temple for their acts of worship needed these services; to change money and purchase their sacrifices. Perhaps it is my capitalist conditioning that means that this is just obvious and if I were such a visitor I would be lamenting that I hadn’t though of providing such services to such a captive audience.

But perhaps it is precisely my capitalist tendencies that need turning up-side down and to hear the challenge; the challenge that asks whether their is anything more important than convenient services and financial growth. This rhetorical question of course demands the answer “Yes!”. Yes there is more important things than convenience and disposable income, but I’m not sure what they are!?

What I mean, is that I can thing of some more important things and in fact they are mostly people. My problem is, and the real challenge is, acting as if these are more important people, and things.

When the Jews demand a sign from Jesus, just to check that he is allowed to come in and rampage through their marketplace and small business workshops, Jesus continues to turn things upside down. I’ll try and paraphrase: “You thin that this temple is important, and my actions have shown you that I think it is important too, possibly more important than you think it is. However, if you destroy this place it does not matter at all, because the real temple is me, and in fact you too.”

Jesus’ challenge is doubled up. What’s more important than the temple marketplace? The Temple! Ahh, but what’s more important than the Temple?

Lent if anything, should be driving us back to the important things in our life, but at the same time challenging what those important things are.