Righteous Anger

Gospel	John 2:13-22 Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up

Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle, and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.’ Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.  

This is not the Jesus we are used to reading about in the Bible.  Jesus is normally thought of as meek and mild.  Today we see Him explode in anger.

To be honest, the vendors set up on the temple grounds served a useful purpose.  Work at the temple would grind to a halt without them because of this.  First, the temple was in the business of blood sacrifice and while you could bring your own animal, it would be carefully inspected for any blemishes.  If any imperfections were found, you are your animal could be turned away.  Sacrificing an imperfect animal to God was not permitted and the animals sold on the temple grounds were all guaranteed to be free of any taint or imperfection, perfect specimens to be used in sacrifices to God.

  Then, of course, there were the money-changers. People had to pay the temple tax but there was a problem.  The coins issued by the Romans were unclean, they had the picture of the emperor on one side and a false-god on the other.  These coins could not be brought into the temple.  So, to guard against any chance of the treasury being defiled, it was required that the temple tax was to be paid for in temple shekels. So, for the convenience of the patrons, there were on duty money changers to change filthy roman and Greek coins into temple shekels.  There was a small charge for the conversion of course.  The high priest and his family controlled who could and could not ply their trade on the temple grounds and collected a fee from those so blessed!.

So when Jesus entered the temple on that fateful day he heard the tinkle of coins being changed, saw and smelled the animals, and He knew that this was an outrage to His Father.  He overturned the money changer's tables and drove the animals away.  This act probably was the tipping point that earned Him the everlasting anger of the high priest.  It was this act that forced Caiphas to act for Jesus was taking bread from his house and money from his coffers. 

Jesus did not care what the high priest thought.  His Father was being dishonored by those that were running the temple and this was His challenge to them.  He threw down the gauntlet and they picked it up.  They began to plot against Him.  

Did we see Jesus sin in this story?  He was angry and he acted on His anger. Jesus did not sin.  The insult to His Father was too great for Him to ignore.  Also, there was the fact that the people were being overcharged for the animals and paying large fees to change their money. He could not ignore injustice. 

We too might see injustice.  Do we see prejudice against another person being committed?  Is there someone who is taking advantage of another person?  Are the weak and powerless being trampled underfoot?  Then we to are permitted to have righteous anger and we should use this anger to redress the wrongs we have seen.  We have to be ready to pay the price for the action we take just as Jesus did.  We cannot sit idly by and watch injustice in our world.  We have to harness our anger and do something about it.

Please remember to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory.