...and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers."
- The Gospel According to Matthew
So here's one of those places in the Bible where Jesus does something that puts those of us who follow him in a potentially awkward position. I mean, we spend week after week emphasizing Jesus' call for human beings to love one another, and then we read about him rampaging through holy ground. And if that weren't enough, the following passage makes Jesus look even worse. At least in the temple he's reacting against the misuse of holy space, somethign I think most people could empathize with, at least to a certain extent. In the following verses, however, his anger is directed at an inanimate object. That, in our time and society, is often grounds for therapy.
From anger management classes to the glorification of anger in sports and entertainment, anger is something that occupies a special place in our world. The truth is, it's also one of the least understood aspects of our lives. Did you know that all of us (not just the punch-a-hole-in-the-wall types) experience anger every day? Did you know that it is one of the four basic emotions that we all must feel as human beings? Did you know that it is neither good nor bad, it just is?
In my training as a counselor, I learned that anger isn't something that God frowns upon. In fact, it's a lot simpler than that. Anger is just the natural human reaction towards something not going the way we desired. Whether it's a car cutting into the space that we were about to drive into, or something that we just bought breaking, we all experience things not happening the way we want them to. When that happens we all experience a natural emotional reaction, and the name for that reaction is anger.
When Jesus sees what the priests and profiteers have done with God's temple, the anger that he feels isn't good or bad, it just is. He knows that his Father had meant for the temple to be a place of prayer and healing, a place that pointed to his heart, that represented his kingdom to all who entered it. When he finds instead a place where money is king, where people are even being charged to worship, where the picture being painted of God is the opposite of what he intended, the anger that he then feels isn't good or bad, it just is.
All of us experience anger, it's what we do with it that separates us. Jesus seems to do what most would recommend we not do when experiencing anger: let it manifest physically (i.e. just because we feel angry, doesn't mean we should punch a wall or a person). It's often better to let it out in responsible and constructive ways, perhaps by talking it over with someone, or perhaps by letting go of those things that are out of our control. Sometimes, however, our anger must manifest itself in tangible ways. Whether it's withholding your money from a business that mistreats its employees or customers, or marching in protest against an unfair government or society, it is actually more responsible to channel our anger into physical change than to just sit idly by.
Yet what about the fig tree? The truth is, the fig tree reflects upon the situation at the temple. Just as Jesus finds the temple not as it was created to be, so he finds the fig tree not producing the fruit that it was created to bear. And just as he is able to singlehandedly transform the temple into a place of healing and worship, he is able to transform the tree as well, and he invites his disciples to believe that God will use them to carry out such impossible transformations.
Don't misinterpret this. I don't think that the fig tree is a parable of what Jesus does to sinners, since he obviously doesn't curse taxpayers and prostitutes, he dines with them. Instead I think that this, among other things, is a challenge to those of us who follow him. It is a challenge to get to know our anger and to learn about God's. What makes you angry? The closer we get to God, the annoyances of our daily lives will seem less and less important, and the injustices and tragedies of the world will become more and more of a concern. And as this happens, instead of despairing at our powerlessness to do anything about innocents being trampled or shot to death, we will "...say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will be done."
May this be so, God. May this be so.
5 comments:
wow this is something i really needed to hear!
the last section really spoke to me... "The closer we get to God, the annoyances of our daily lives will seem less and less important, and the injustices and tragedies of the world will become more and more of a concern. And as this happens, instead of despairing at our powerlessness to do anything about innocents being trampled or shot to death, we will "...say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will be done." "
And just in case you didn't know. this is Grant. I don't use the other one anymore... i'll explain later if you want to know why I have two accounts :)
Running off of the idea that an individual's body is a temple, I relate to the passage from Matthew.
Your posts never cease to have profound meanings within them.
And a question [after a statement]
I agree that we need to channel our anger, but how do we know what a good method of channeling our anger is?
I find that we can only know by the fruits it produces in our live, but that opens the door to error. And in my case, the error can be pretty devastating.
hi PB,
When I've read that passage before, I'd speculated that this incident was an allegory for the wrath-worthiness of co-opting the purpose and intent of God's home for ulterior, self-serving motives. Is there any merit to that interpretation of the scripture?
this is Oliver, in case it wasn't obvious. :)
i feel like im being a bit too caught up about this.
but how can we know what we are doing is really love?
there are so many different expressions of love and different receptions to love that i find it is nearly impossible to 'love the right way' without looking at the fruits it produces.
bleh.
i hope to chat with you over winter break
@oliver - hey oliver, thanks for the comment. I do indeed think your interpretation is valid. A follower of Christ understands that to co-opt God's purposes is to work against all that is life-giving and loving. The purpose of the temple is true worship of God, something that gives life since it is what we are made for. Yet society had changed it into a worship of money and power (are we so far off today...?).
I think the challenge for followers of Christ today is to ask ourselves if we know or even care about God's heart. Without knowledge of that, any anger we have is really self-serving, even if it is in the name of Christianity.
@jonathan - great question: "...how can we know what we are doing is really love?" In my experience, the answer has to do with our motivations: Are we truly putting the other person's best interest first to the best of our ability? This begins by giving up control. We can neither control someone's receiving of our love, nor can we control the fruits (or thorns) that may come.
This giving up of control is actually the beginning of love. When we give up control, we do two very loving things. First we acknowledge that God is a better God for the beloved than us. Second we follow through on that acknowledgment by putting both ourselves and that person into God's hands.
I look forward to your return this winter. Let's set up a time to chat!
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