3RD SUNDAY OF LENT: John 2:13-25

John 2:13-25 The Message (MSG)

JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE

^13-14 When the Passover Feast,
celebrated each spring by the Jews,
was about to take place,
Jesus travelled up to Jerusalem.

He found the Temple
teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves.
The money-changers were also there in full strength.

^15-17 Jesus put together a whip
out of strips of leather
and chased them out of the Temple,
stampeding the sheep and cattle,
upending the tables of the money-changers,
spilling coins left and right.

He told the dove merchants,
“Get your things out of here!
Stop turning my Father’s house into a market place!”

That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture,
“Zeal for your house consumes me.”

^18-19 But the Jews were upset.
They asked,
“What credentials can you present to justify this?”

Jesus answered,
“Tear down this Temple and in three days I’ll put it back together.”

^20-22 They were indignant:
“It took forty-six years to build this Temple,
and you’re going to rebuild it in three days?”

But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple.

Later,
after he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered he had said this.

They then put two and two together
and believed both what was written in Scripture
and what Jesus had said.

^23-25 During the time he was in Jerusalem,
those days of the Passover Feast,
many people noticed the signs he was displaying and,
seeing they pointed straight to God,
entrusted their lives to him.

But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them.
He knew them inside and out,
knew how untrustworthy they were.

He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.

ANGER 1

It starts with a tiny spark

And what does the spark look like?

Something – a word, a look, a slight

or maybe nothing anyone did to you but rather

something you did or didn’t do, yourself

that lights the dormant feelings

Bubbling to a simmer

You can feel it rising

But you can’t stop it!

Flowing up from the hidden molten core that lies within all of us

Until it erupts and lashes out in a molten lava of word arrows

Un-thought

Unlovely

Unreasonable

Hurtful

Spiteful

Nasty

“You always…”

“You never…”

You’re caught in the power of your anger’s effectiveness

You’re powerful at this moment

But powerless too

You hear yourself and are disgusted by what you hear

But the weapons keep coming.

Arrows aimed at the hearts of anyone nearby

Whips lashing, designed to have maximum destruction

And leave a wake of wounded bleeding victims

Who now feel worthless and unloved and disrespected

And what has been achieved?

Your anger has affected a change.

Your anger has had its effect.

Cause and effect.

ANGER 2

It starts with a tiny spark.

And what ignites that spark?

An emotional response that builds from your gut.

A weird mixture of sadness

And hopelessness

And furious desperation

To a newsflash on your phone

Just one more story of injustice and pain that pushes you over the edge.

One more accident caused by a drunk driver

Whose dreadful choice, changed lives forever.

Destroying families and hopes and dreams.

Are you angry?

And another senseless mass shooting by someone with a gun.

Killing and maiming for what?

But oh…the guns weren’t to blame!

Are you angry yet?

And ANOTHER report of clerical and institutional abuse of power

By human beings who should have known better!

Taking by force and abusing their power and inflicting untold damage on innocents.

Are you angry yet?

The damning results of war as human beings fight and kill each other.

In the name of each other’s god.

Hating, simply for power and land and… just because you look different to me.

Are you angry yet?

Waves of emotion, helpless and hopeless, give way to a fire that burns.

And now you’re mad.

Hot helpless teary prayers over the breakfast news.

Rants on social media and over coffee with friends because your heart is breaking.

Supporting hashtag movements that make a difference

#metoo
#timesup
#blacklivesmatter

PROTEST outside your comfort zone.

STAND up.

BE counted.

MAKE our leaders accountable.

VOTE bravely

PRAY fiercely

LET your anger make a difference.

SOMETIMES it’s ok to be mad.

Wendy Johnston: March 2018

I WONDER what God really thinks of us? I know we are loved but is God disappointed?
I WONDER why us human beings don’t learn from our mistakes?
AND why we repeat our mistakes throughout history?

I WONDER if God had a hashtag, what it would be?
WHAT will I do this week to right injustice that I see?

STORYTELLING TIPS:

When you learn a story, what emotions does it bring up for you?
Sadness? Comfort? Wonder? Anger?
In learning a story, take notice of your feelings.
What part of the story made you feel each different emotion?
What emotions is each character exhibiting?
By taking notice, how will the emotions you feel, change how you tell the story?

When you tell a story, try telling it from different emotion points until you settle on the one that feels right.