23. would he be right?... (John 2:12-17)
Posted by:
SeLahGirl on
November 16, 2007 at
11:41AM EST
would he be right?
(John 2:12-17)
12After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
How different this culture is from our own. It seems that we think that
we must distance ourselves from our parents/our family to prove our
independence and adulthood, our coming into our own. Much like the
prodigal son that demanded his share of the inheritance and walked away
from his father and family.
There is a line/boundary set by
God that adult children are to cleave to their spouse. That means to
put their spouse's well being and needs above that of their family.
There is an unhealthy level of bringing your family into your
marriage/the raising of your children that goes against that command of
God. But when things are kept in order as the word of God and common
sense dictate, then family should never be something that we have to be
ashamed of (or that we need to shun) in order to prove anything to
anyone.
Here, we see Jesus traveling with his mother and
family and friends and students. He travels with anyone that is able
and willing to go where he is going. It made him more human to be among
family, because he was fully human. Could it be that when we distance
ourselves from family thinking that they are an embarrassment to our
agenda -- that we are NOT-human and inhumane?
13When it
was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves,
and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
Okay, it
would be easy to brush past the opening of this scene, but there is so
much here to think on. Things that are key to what is about to happen.
The Passover was at hand, rather the time of remembrance and honor of
what God had done for their people. The Jews were looking back to Moses
and the passing over of the people of Israel by the death angel. They
thought of the dark night when God sent an angel to kill the first born
of Egypt and to free His people from bondage.
Or did they.
Perhaps the Passover had become much like our Thanksgiving. The Jews
were not looking ahead to what the Messiah would do as a sacrificial
lamb. They had no clue what Christ was about to do for them and for all
who would believe because of them.
Perhaps, it was like
going to the mall and seeing all the glitter and glitz of advertising
and buying and selling and celebration of the ritual rather than the
God that caused death to pass them over -- the God that covered
them/protected them with grace and mercy as he pardoned them from their
many sins and guilt.
Perhaps, they had reached a place in
their society where they had forgotten about the blood of that innocent
lamb that was smeared upon their doorposts -- that bloody cross
dripping from the top to the ground splattered on each side of the
wooden frame -- that ridiculously extravagant price paid, that LIFE
sacrificed, that precious one offered and who willingly died, that
blood that marked them and freed them from bondage.
Perhaps
all they saw was a lamb (turkey) for the feast and all the trimmings
(cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie). Perhaps, with great distraction,
they mumbled Thanks God as they hurried off to hang out with
their friends downtown at the temple. or to show off their costumes for
the Passover play, or to make that gorgeous centerpiece for the dinner
banquet that night.
Perhaps Capernaum had become more commercial than we realize.
Perhaps they were more like us than we realize...
15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area,
both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and
overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, "Get these
out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
17His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
What if Jesus strolled thru the mall and saw all the Halloween
leftovers and the tinsel hung to encourage people to spend more money
on Christmas shopping... what if he began tearing thru the mall ripping
it all down? What if he started going from church to church and Bible
study home to Bible study home and began heaving tables over and
tossing your Thanksgiving meal all around the room and into everyone's
laps?
What if he made a small whip and began stinging your
guests to run them out of the house and started chucking Aunt Martha's
best pies out the window? What if he spoke all that was in his heart
and said how hurt and angry he was that we have idolized the ritual and
taken for granted the Life that was given? What if he warned us that we
were too focused on spending money and gift-giving? That we had missed
the mark? That we have forgotten him in the busyness? That he was
disappointed in us that we would allow ourselves to be sucked into the
commercialism and a worldly mindset (whether we realized it or not), so
that honoring him and the relationships that he has blessed us with...
carry less of a shine for us as we eat a big meal in November simply to
mark the start of a month of shopping in December?
What if
he rebuked us for spending the entire Thanksgiving meal discussing the
biggest sales in the morning rather than his many blessings to us all
and how much we appreciate one another? What if he said it was more
important to us to leave Grandma's house early so we could get to bed
and hit the early-bird Christmas sales at 4:00am, than to be sure that
we have thanked and encouraged every person we can?
What if
Christ stood in the mess of the turkey and mashed potatoes and tinsel
now scattered on the floor and smeared over the doorposts of our heart,
crying in his frustration at our unthankfulness, breathing with a
restrained groan of pain as he gently stepped forward to embrace us...
to stand forehead to forehead with us as he searches our eyes and
speaks something so disturbing to us,
"... you have forgotten me."
would he be right?
