The Jesus we encounter in today’s Gospel is not the compassionate, caring figure we typically see throughout the four Gospel accounts. He is really angry, to the point that he drives out the animals for sale in the Jewish Temple precincts with a whip, overturns the tables of the money changers, and yells at those engaged in these sales. What was going on?
The Jewish tradition of making ritual sacrifices to the Lord required most believers in this agricultural economy to exchange those animals they could afford to offer for actual money, with financial bartering involving those with more elaborate gifts such as livestock and those who could only afford doves. Scripture scholars suggest that the practice had become corrupting both for those involved and the Jewish authorities. In fact, it may have been this final challenge from Jesus that convinced those authorities that he had gone too far, and that he should be arrested and killed. As his followers recalled, “Zeal for your house consumed me”!
So what issues or causes fill us with zeal and even anger, as Jesus exhibited? In the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius asks us to consider where we stand—in a modern rendering, “Where and with whom is my heart”? We are also invited to listen to the “Call of the King,” those stirrings and deepest desires from our loving God that lead us to act on behalf of justice, of compassion, and of care for our world—the places where Jesus stands.
Our nation and the world right now seem consumed with anger, fear, and so much suffering. “Where and with whom is your heart?” When you open yourself up to God, where are you feeling drawn? Where is the best place to stand with Jesus?
—Tom Reynolds is the Higher Education Assistant for the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province.
