Sunday, 2/8/15
When I was teaching the Bible to the kids at St. Paul’s, it
was the middle of May when our Seventh Grad came to this story of cleansing the
temple. For them my class was the last thing they had to get through before
lunch. To get their attention, I tried playing Jesus. In a big loop from over
my head I swung the whip, and then I played the roaring bulls and the bleating
sheep objecting to being driven out.
Now, in teaching those classes I always stood behind my table that was loaded
with books, notebooks, pencils and pens. And when my bleating sheep and roaring
bulls failed to stir the kids, I played Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers I flipped my table high and over, sending
books, tablets, pencils and pens flying.
But, let’s get serious. God didn’t want this Gospel story to amuse us or to wake us up. No, he wanted each of us to us to see his or her heart as his temple. He wanted us to stop turning the temples of our hearts into marketplaces
or worse.
Talking about those grade school days, I have suddenly
recalled sitting in my pew one day, and feeling the priest’s words get through
to my heart. He made me see that I need not let thoughts take control of my
heart. I could get control of my mind’s roaring bulls and bleating sheep. I
could overturn the tables of the moneychangers. I could become one of those who are
blessed because they are poor in spirit.
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