SIX DAYS TO EASTER!
Monday, Nisan 11; or in Gregorian time: Monday, March 30 then.... (March 29 now)
Reading for today:
Matthew 21:10-17
Mark 11:12-19
Luke 19:45-48
So - blending the gospel accounts, it appears that as Jesus was walking back to Jerusalem from Bethany on Monday morning he cursed a fig tree that had no figs - but it wasn't even fig season.... I have to assume it was for the purpose of creating a teachable moment....
Bethany was a 2-mile walk from Jerusalem - a village nestled near the base of the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem. Bethphage was along the route to Jerusalem, a very small village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is a long hill - not just a peak.... It helps me visualize to have more information.
Jesus destination in Jerusalem was the temple - but when he entered, he was infuriated because the profiteers had made it a den of robbers. Jews had come 'up' to Jerusalem from all over Israel as well as from other surrounding countries to celebrate the Passover. The poor and those who traveled long distances were dependent on purchasing the doves they would have to have for their sacrifice after they arrived in Jerusalem. They could only make those purchases with local coins, which necessitated there being money-changers - and the money-changers were short-changing the customers. Jesus tossed them all out. They were in business to line their own pockets, not to provide a fair-market-value service.
I don't believe this is an indictment on garage sales, bake sales, church auctions, and other appropriate fundraisers held in churches, as some have tried to make it. If they had had a 'helping service' that truly helped, offering a fair exchange, I do not believe it would have invoked Jesus' ire. His act is a model for what should elicit righteous indignation in us: inequities and abuses that deny rights, denigrate, and devour. His house is to be a house of prayer. He is to be the priority. Serving others in His name is to be the model.
Far more delightful to note today is what happened next: something we rarely pay attention to! While the money-changers were cleaning up the mess and trying to sort out whose was what, Jesus was at the temple healing people. Even the little children were caught up in the praises, shouting 'Hosanna to the Son of David." What a telling statement Matthew makes: 'When the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting (praise) in the temple area...they were indignant.'
Not just miffed - but filled with such animosity that their resolve to kill him was an obsession. Jesus didn't let their hatred deter Him - He continued healing and teaching. I need to pay attention to that model. No matter what tries to distract, I need to stay focused and not be deterred from pursuing the right priorities. May it be so....
Matthew tells us Jesus spent the night in Bethany again.
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