Given By Rev. Madison Shockley March 4 18, 2018
Our inspiration comes from John’s account of Jesus causing trouble at the temple. This story appears in each of the four gospels. Only John’s account involves a whip of cords. Jesus uses the whip to drive out the oxen, sheep, and other animals but there is no mention of Jesus whipping the money-changers. Scholars understand this story as a symbolic destruction of the temple rather that the popular idea of it being a cleansing. The message was that the temple and its corruption could not be reformed. A new way of life was needed where everyone had equal access to the divine. In the empire of God, there is no temple. There was only food for all, healing for all, money for all, and God for all. The current temple was a symbol of the ruling regime and the status quo. It represented everything Jesus opposed. Jesus protested and the authorities did not like it. In a dictatorship/oppressive regime, even a symbolic protest can provoke a deadly response. It lead to Jesus’s crucifixion. Today, we ask, what would Jesus protest? As disciples of Jesus, the answer is what we would protest. Protests have and can change our world. What will you protest?
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