Tuesday in Holy Week.

"O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

Psalm 71:1-12, Isaiah 49:1-6, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, and Mark 11:15-19

We tend to think of Jesus as a relatively peaceful guy. It's hard not to think of him this way since we only know him by his stories, and most stories involve him healing someone or teaching some kind of a parable. Even the portrayals of his confrontations with the leaders seem low key. The image of a peaceful and loving Jesus is an easy one to perpetuate since there's not much else out there in scripture.

Then, though, we get the account of Jesus's visit to the temple after his entry into Jerusalem. If there's a single account of Jesus absolutely losing it somewhere in the Bible, this story has got to be it. There's not really any way to imagine his overturning the tables as a peaceful act or one that was meant to encourage peacefulness and stability. Instead his actions were meant to upset the status quo and to make the temple, once again, a place for worship and holiness instead of a place where money changers might charge an extra fee or the price of a dove gets raised is the salesperson realizes that someone really needs that dove for an upcoming sacrifice.

When Jesus overturned the tables in the temple he was making a statement about what was happening in his world; he saw a need for a change and sought to make that change happen. He recognized the injustice and the unfairness of his world, and he acted on it, even to his own peril. The turning over of the tables in the temple was enough of a slap in the face to upset the leadership, and they continued to seek out ways to kill him.

There are lots of folks who have given their life for causes that were just. I don't know if any of us will ever be called to such a life. Even if we're not called to give our life, hopefully we will have the courage to stand up for what is right and just when we're called to, even if it is upsetting to the status quo.