The Temple
I hadn’t really thought about it before. I mean, the traders had always been there, selling all the things we needed for the rituals and sacrifices, changing money, providing all the paraphernalia of offering. OK, so they clearly weren’t in it for charity, but, well … people need the stuff, and getting stiffed by the authorities, that’s just the way it is, right? Don’t mess with the established order, keep your head down, get on with it.
Anyway, it’s all business as usual, and then suddenly this man Jesus shows up. Apparently he’d only arrived in the city the day before, but he’s straight in there, no messing about – quoting the scriptures at the same time as chucking all the traders out of the courtyard: words, tables, money, birds, people all flying all over the place! Certainly not one of those preachers that left you wondering just what it was they were trying to say.
But the really amazing thing, the thing that stuck with me, is he’s just one man, right? Yes, he came in like a whirlwind, but he’s just one bloke. Yet the people went. And the temple bigwigs, they didn’t look too pleased, but they didn’t stop him. And not only did they go, not only did he pull it off, they didn’t come back. The next few days there’s none of the usual stalls and traders in there, just people coming to the temple for, well, for what the temple’s for. And Jesus teaching, healing, and meeting with all kinds of people.
And now all the adrenalin’s long faded, and time’s moved on, it’s still left me thinking. Left me wondering, mulling over, just how much of what we take for granted isn’t necessarily the way it should be?