Jn 2:13-22 Do You Somtimes Get Angry? Good For You!

Saturday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time
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He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and the oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."

Justified anger.  I remember my middle school religion teacher asking our class one day if it was a sin to be angry.  "Yes," we answered automatically.  We were surprised when he contradicted us.  Justified anger, we learned, we learned was more than acceptable.  Even Jesus Christ Himself did it.

We proceeded to watch a Gospel movie in which the actor portraying Jesus screamed with anger, fashioned a whip, and wildly destroyed the merchant tables set up in the Temple.  That imagery brought this Gospel passage to life, but it was strange for me to watch.  Our merciful Savior, the Good Shepherd, overturning tables?!

Perhaps this outrage was such a foreign concept because it's where we as humans are most lacking.  We see injustice everywhere.  In our own world, countries, schools, governments, etc. Injustice is everywhere, but what do we do about it?

Stop making my Father's house a marketplace.  The Jews in Jerusalem had the opportunity to praise God in a temple that had taken forty-six years to complete.  But they took advantage of it.  They turned it into a place of disrespect and greed.

These words are even truer today than they were when Jesus first spoke them.  Our temples have become marketplaces.  And I'm not talking about physical Church buildings.  As we hear in the second reading, the true temple is us, the temples of our bodies. 

Good people go wrong because our culture treats our bodies like a marketplace.  This temple is degraded and disrespected to sell more (albums, tickets, etc.), but in reality, the only thing that is sold is our souls.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Just like the Jews were blessed with a Temple, we are blessed with the constant presence of the Holy Spirit within us.  We are inherently holy. No matter what we do or have done, we are holy simply because the Spirit dwells within us. 

This should be our anchor.  This realization should forever be at the forefront of our minds.  If we all were aware of how intimately the Spirit dwells within us, then I think we would no longer see a surge in outright disrespect for our temples.  I think we would start to realize our worth and the worth of those around us. 

Everywhere you turn, goodness is being mocked, trashed, and viciously assaulted by those who fail to recognize the Holy Spirit within their neighbors.  Will you stand by idly?  Will you allow God's house to become a marketplace and His creations desecrated?  Or will you take action and rise up against injustice?  I know what Jesus would do.

Don't be afraid to get passionate.  Don't be afraid to make noise.  Because sometimes, when God is being attacked from all angles, justified anger is the only thing strong enough to bring the injustice to an end. 

This meditation was written by Faith.  She is a High School Senior and a guest contributor to this blog.  You can find her blog at http://heavensboulevard.blogspot.com/