Sermon for the Cleansing of the Temple – John 2:13-22

We all know what frustration and anger feel like. We’ve all got people who just keep pushing our buttons, who work our nerves until they’re raw. Kids, coworkers, friends, congregations. Who’s your favorite target? It’s not just about when they deliberately try to set us off. They don’t even have to go that far. They just have to break our unwritten rules, and we all have certain rules. Maybe as innocuous as toilet seats and toothpaste caps when you live with someone. But then there’s every time we get talked over or ignored. Every time we don’t get invited. Every time we feel disrespected. How about every time we call tech support or get behind the wheel? So many stories. We get fed up and say something, and maybe it works for a while, but does anything really change? We get wise. We can’t change them but we can change ourselves. Learn to own our feelings? Recite a serenity prayer? It’s easy to distract ourselves and think we’re letting things go, but they still stick somewhere deep down. Our hearts have memories like steel traps. All these little things add up like interest, and there’s always a tipping point. And then, everyone’s shocked by us, like we’ve lost our minds. Like we’re monsters. Can we ever truthfully say they’re wrong?

Still, let’s be honest – Jesus is doing exactly what we’ve all fantasized doing at some point. Most of us probably haven’t gone as far as he does, but I bet some of us have, and we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, Jesus is the epitome of self-control. If he can lose it, we can lose it, and he totally loses it.