Day Thirty-Six

Day Thirty–Six // March 30 // The Unbroken Heart of Christ

“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it but all that had gone before.” – Jacob Riis –

Jesus begins the fateful last week of His earthly sojourn by confronting a religious system that had lost its way. Matthew records the moment: “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. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer;” but you are making it a den of thieves’” (Matthew 21:12-13).

108 PERFECTLY WOUNDED

Jesus came to make God accessible and approachable. He came to make God known. And right away, He came face to face with worship practices that pushed people away. The poor were being taken advantage of by extreme exchange rates. The laws for animal sacrifice were being twisted for financial gain. The Temple practices had become so rigid and heartless that their original meanings, born in the wanderings of the desert, had been long forgotten. So is the danger of tradition that has forgotten its story. Worship practices can become calcified and lose their power. Self-interest can cloud the comprehension of the depth of God’s love. And Jesus shows us in these moments that we must speak out, that we must stand up and try to right these wrongs. Jesus decided, “I’m going to do something about this, even if they kill me.” And we know that is exactly what would happen. He hit them in their pocketbooks; and later, they hit Him with a cross. But the story doesn’t end with this note of righteous anger. Immediately after this dramatic scene of cleansing the Temple, Jesus would bring the lame and blind and maimed into the holy place of worship. There, He heals them. This is significant because the authorities did not permit “those sorts of people” into the Temple. They believed them to be flawed and bearing the wrath of God because of their condition.

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Not Jesus. He says in effect, “The Temple is not here to exploit the people. The Temple is here to bring healing to the people. They are precious children whom God deeply loves!”

Right away, the stage is set. Right away, the gauntlet is thrown. Right away, the practice of the Law is confronted with the heart of the Law. And the religious elite couldn’t stand it. They seethe, and they brood. And they plot their next move. The tension of this moment is palpable. How honest are we with our traditions? How often do we stand up for those who are struggling? How often do we take risks for those who feel excluded by God’s love? This week begs us to struggle with these questions.