“You know what ticks me off?

I don’t really upset when people who don’t know the rules break them. I can’t really condone the behaviour, but my heart goes out to them.

But when the people who know the rules take advantage of them for their own benefit, that is frustrating.

Take, for instance, when people know they have to offer a sacrifice. They travel long distances. They’d like to not have to lead an animal all that way. So they want to figure out a way to buy one closer to Jerusalem.

Not a problem.

Except some entrepreneurs say, “We could set up shop close to the temple. That will make it easy.” And then some officials say, “You know, you can bring them right onto the property. As long as you keep them in this area where the foreigners have to stay, that’s fine. They aren’t really part of us anyway.”

That’s what ticks me off.

When people do stuff that makes religion easier for themselves at the expense of people who are interested but aren’t on the inside.

Inside jokes. Insider language. Talking as if people who don’t know the words can’t even hear. Setting up retail in the space for stories. Setting up cashflow in the space for relationship. Spreading manure where people learning to follow me might step.”

I don’t want to speak for Jesus. I don’t want to put words in his mouth.  But one afternoon in Jerusalem, he got pretty ticked off. He tipped tables over. He drove animals out. He hollered.

He did it for the honor of the place that until then represented the presence of God on earth. He then equated the temple with himself. Paul later calls us the body of Christ.

What does Jesus have to cleanse today?