Holy Anger, that puts a nice spin on it doesn’t it? Jesus and the disciples are just arriving in town. Jesus takes the lead heads to the Temple and tears the place up! As it is revealed in the sermon we will talk about why Jesus is so upset. Our series this Lent is about the Messiah being revealed and this story clarifies the position of Jesus clearly in the direction of God and not in the direction of the Temple establishment. The Jesus of this passage disagrees with the notions of the way we have come to know Jesus and that is hard. What is he so angry about?
First of all, Jesus is not angry about who people are, but angry at what people have done and left undone. Integrity to the faithful worship of God is Jesus’ main aim in the Gospel narrative. This is demonstrated in the powerful acts of Jesus’ ministry in the Galilee in the first half of the Gospel of Mark. The change towards Jerusalem and ultimate things begins to happen in Chapter 8 with Jesus first prediction of his death and resurrection. This is after Jesus and the disciples are at the Temples of Pan in Caesarea Philippi. Pagan Temples of Pan – Peter’s proclamation that Jesus is the Christ overlaid with Pagan activity on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem are compelling connections. After Jesus’ first prediction of death and resurrection Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes his idle talk of death (and resurrection – what is that?) just after he proclaimed him Christ. And in the second Temple story, in Jerusalem Jesus turns over tables and causes a ruckus because of pagan activity the exchange of coins and interest charged in the transactions. Both Temple stories clarified the identity of Jesus. Both Temple stories are dominated by Anger. Anger for the way things are, but neither in the Gospel or in our own life is that the place to stop.
There are many angry people in the world and some have Holy Anger calling out injustice, abuse of power and advocating for the powerless. Holy Anger like Jesus. But not everyone does and for some anger is a stuck place. But we were not created to be stuck. You and I don’t have to be stuck. If you look deeply in anger all the way through and come out on the other side, you find Hope. As the Messiah is revealed in Mark, the anger of the occupation, the anger of the marginalization of persons, the intersectionality that Jesus embraces in overcoming evil and injustice in whatever forms they present themselves points clearly in the direction of HOPE. And we are invited to participate in this table turning, life changing power offered in Mark’s Gospel. Won’t you join us in the Lenten Journey?