Holy Week/ Monday: 'cleansing'

Holy Week, Monday: The cleansing of the Temple

PICTURING THE SCENE/

The clip comes from the movie 'Son of God' from 2014, 

and gives a flavour of the crowds and the noise, 

and the underlying menace...

READING/ Matthew 21:12-17
12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling
and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers
and the seats of those who sold doves. 13He said to them,
‘It is written,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;
   but you are making it a den of robbers.’
14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.
15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did,
and heard the children crying out in the temple,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David’,
they became angry 16and said to him,
‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ 
Jesus said to them,
‘Yes; have you never read,
“Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
   you have prepared praise for yourself”?’
17He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

PRAYER/
God of justice,
God of power,
God of transforming grace,
hear our prayer.
Cleanse our souls and our minds from the clutter that day by day accumulate,
distracting us from your will and desire.
Cleanse our hearts from the temptations that draw us away from your kingdom values,
and lure us into selfish ways of thinking and behaving.
Cleanse our lives from all that prevents us from witnessing your love at work,
and stops us from living out that work in all we do and say.
May the example of Jesus, risking all for the sake of justice, guide us,
that we too might take risks for the sake of others
and overturn all that diminishes life in its fullness.
Give us wisdom to see injustice around us,
give us clarity to know how best to reveal it,
give us motivation to see our actions through,
give us compassion to reach out to those most affected,
and give us steadfastness when confronted with recalcitrance and obstruction.
May we hold onto the stone that was rejected, our Lord Jesus,
and be his living stones. Amen.

PROFITS v PROPHET/
The Temple traders turned a good profit... until a prophet overturned the Temple traders.
Handily placed to provide animals for sacrifice -
at extortionate prices;
cleverly organised so that only the special Temple coin would do -
money changed for a tidy fee.
The faithful, fleeced by a riotous racket, watched over by the religious elite.
Corruption and injustice at the very heart of God's great city -
the beacon on the hill dimmed by a love of money.
Jesus, the Word of God made human, was not 'gentle Jesus, meek and mild' that day:
the rage of righteous anger burned bright as he upset the tables and the usual way of things.
Too many obstacles.
Time to clear away the clutter.
Time to cleanse the dross, to make all things new...
Many watched.
Those in power... made plans.
This needed nipped in the bud.

MUSIC MEDITATION/
Song - 'Jesus Christ is waiting'

PRAYER/
Tilt the scales,
O God of the mustard seed:
That the poor shall see justice.

Share the feast,
O God of Eden’s abundant garden:
That each crop may fetch a fair price.

Upset the tables,
O God of the upside-down Kingdom:
That the least can benefit from their trade.

Open our eyes,
O God of life in all its fullness:
That we may learn to walk the way of your son
tilting, sharing, upsetting this world
Not satisfied
until the products we bring to our table
Give a better deal, to all who hunger for one.
In His name, Amen.