This is the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. He arrives in Jerusalem and everyone’s ecstatic. Loud hosannas and the waving of palms. But in just a few days we hear the crowd yell for Jesus to be crucified. How does that happen? Scripture says that the priests and scribes rile up the crowd. Inflaming their hate. But are folks really that impressionable? Or is something else going on? What makes people turn so dramatically from love to hate?
Have you ever wanted to be famous? What did you want to be famous for? Music? Acting? Writing a book? Glory is kind of a two-edged sword if you think about it. I mean, it’s exciting to imagine having some kind of talent that draws praise and makes you popular. But, the downside is that after a while, that’s the only thing that people want from you. How many child actors have discovered that? Glory makes it really hard to get folks to see that there’s more to you than just the thing that they want.
Glory was hard for Jesus too. From the beginning his message was simple. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news.” He forgives sins and announces the dawn of a new age. Like a new world order of compassion and justice, where the first will be last and the last will be first. It’s just the kind of message that folks are dying to hear. They run and tell their friends. Before you know it, this crowd starts to grow around him, following him wherever he goes. But Jesus isn’t just about words. He’s about action too. So he also starts healing folks by the power of the Spirit. Curing disease. Casting out demons. Giving folks a taste of real freedom from everything holding them back. Really miraculous stuff. So if his words weren’t enough to make him famous, his miracles more than made up for it. Folks start dragging people to Jesus for his healing touch.
The story of the Exodus is a real case study in trust. For 40 years Moses leads the Israelites from Egypt to the land of Canaan. Along the way it’s a constant series of hardships and struggles. They hunger and thirst. They fight with each other. They’re attacked by other nations. Each time, Moses calls upon God, and God intervenes in miraculous ways. Manna and quail to eat. Water from stones. Giving the commandments on Mt. Sinai. Giving them victory over more powerful enemies. God always steps in whenever the Israelites hit bottom. God’s determined to keep the promise even though the Israelites have some pretty big character defects, like mistrust. They never really seem to trust Moses or God.
Now, we shouldn’t be surprised. These miracles only come when folks are desperate, and they’re always the stuff of CGI and special effects. They’re mystifying. Water from a stone? So, if we’re honest, do they really feel trustworthy? And then there’s Moses. He doesn’t inspire confidence. He’s always wracked with self-doubt. Right from the start, God comes to him in the burning bush to call him, but Moses is like, who am I to lead the Israelites? What do I say? What if they don’t believe me? What about my stutter? God keeps countering him with solutions until God’s had enough, and then “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” On the journey, folks keep arguing with Moses, and he laments to God, “What shall I do with this people? They’re ready to stone me!” Don’t folks pick up on that kind of vibe? It doesn’t inspire trust. And then there’s when Moses hikes up Mt. Sinai to receive God’s covenant. He’s gone for weeks without a word. Folks figure he cut and ran, and that’s how you get a golden calf. No wonder they miss Egypt. Never mind that they were beaten and worked to death. Memory’s always a little selective. Who doesn’t lament “the good old days”? But were they really that good? I’m not sure our memories are that trustworthy.
Our gospel reading for today is the story of the cleansing of the temple, or that time when Jesus got angry. Though whipping and flipping tables sounds a little more like rage than anger, doesn’t it? Strange, coming from the guy who said “if you’re angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.” So, Christians have argued for centuries about how to interpret this story. It was even used as a justification for the Crusades, which I think we can all agree is a problem. So, what’s going on here?
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