Why Did Jesus Die?

“In the temple precincts [Jesus] came upon people selling oxen and sheep and doves, and bankers were doing business there too. He made a whip out of rope and drove them all out of the temple area, sheep, oxen, and all; then he knocked over the bankers; tables, and set their coins flying. And to the dove merchants he said, ‘Get these birds out of here! How dare you use my Father’s house as a public market!’” (John 2:14-16)

There is a lot of imagery during Holy Week, of Jesus as the “Lamb of God”, an innocent, being led calmly to slaughter on the cross. During the passion readings, which you will hear on Thursday evening and Friday at noon, Jesus is, actually, fairly calm and non reactive.

But in this story, which happens at the beginning of the week before his death, Jesus is anything but lamb-like. 

Jesus is angry. Jesus is reactionary and violent. Jesus goes into the area around the Temple in Jerusalem, and sees merchants trying to sell animals for ritual sacrifice, and the money changers exchanging foreign currency to buy these animals, likely at unfair rates, and Jesus flips out. He yells at them (according to Matthew 21:13), “My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a den of robbers!”

In the typical Christian experience of Holy Week, we start with Palm Sunday, the pageantry and expectation of the Messiah, the Anointed, coming triumphantly into Jerusalem, only to die and then be resurrected on Easter. Many Christians miss the death part, if they don’t come to church on Thursday or Friday, and so they miss out on the emotional roller coaster that Holy Week can be. 

But even more so, if we skip the stories of that week, we miss the point that Jesus’s death wasn’t just for later Christians to make theological points about salvation. Jesus’s death was because he was angrily shouting out for justice, turning the tables over on systems of inequality, and crying out for a new relationship with God--ironically one of reverence and piety, not sacrifice.

Make no mistake, this week is about the brokenness and pain of Jesus’s suffering and death. But we should never forget the very human events that brought that death about. Jesus gave his life because he was unafraid to cry out against injustice, to call people to account for their oppressive actions, to fight for a transformation of the world toward greater justice and mercy. 

May this be our guide as we follow his example.

On Wisconsin

Last night, the Wisconsin Senate spat in the face of every working family in their state. I'm angry, and terribly disappointed in their sinful act.


Governor Scott Walker was quoted by the BBC as saying, "'This is about protecting the middle class and doing it in a way that avoids massive tax increases and massive lay-offs.'"


First of all, the middle class only exists in this country because of collective bargaining. Second, tax increases and lay offs were already avoided because of the concessions the Governor got from the unions through the process of, say it with me, collective bargaining. 


(CBSNews.com reported 2/22, "Public sector unions have conceded to Walker's proposal to roll back their benefits in order to help balance the state budget.")


More to the point, I get that the GOP's endgame is to cut the Democratic party off at the knees. Unions have given an enormous amount of financial and political support to the Dems over the last several decades. 


But here's the important question that no one seems to be asking - why? Why do unions support more Democratic candidates than Republican? Because the Democratic party has enacted policies that support working families. That's why. 


When the GOP stops being the party of "no" and starts being the responsible, values-based party their rhetoric suggests, enacting policies that are pro-family and pro-workers, my guess is that the Union money will start to be a little less partisan. 


My heart goes out to the good people of Wisconsin. They do not deserve such callous and hateful leadership.

Christmas Isn't Just A Day

When the song of the angels is stilled, 
When the star in the sky is gone, 
When the kings and princes are home, 
When the shepherds are back with their flock, 
The Work of Christmas begins: 
To find the lost, 
To heal the broken, 
To feed the hungry, 
To release the prisoner, 
To rebuild the nations, 
To bring peace among brothers and sisters, 
To make music in the heart. 
Then indeed we shall be blessed! 
—Howard Thurman

Peace Be With You

A young man recently tried to explode a bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, OR. North and South Korea seem to be at very high tension. Violence continues in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israelis and Palestinians seem as far from peace as ever. And now we enter the season of Advent, which is when we’re supposed to talk about peace and love, but end up having arguments about decorations, hear complaints about keeping “Christ” in “Christmas”, fight each other in shopping malls and dread the inevitable family tensions that seem as ubiquitous as Santa Claus himself.

So, where’s the peace?

I don’t have a quick and easy answer, unfortunately. Peace is hard. It takes work. It takes patience. It takes a tenacious commitment on the part of all parties to love and respect one another in spite of the differences that are present. Peace is not mere tolerance (although tolerance is a start), but it can only really take root when we see each other as fully human, and respect each other’s vulnerability enough to not take advantage of it.

Peace also takes an acknowledgment and confession of the wrong we have done. If I cannot admit how I have hurt another, how can I expect them to be at peace with me? 

Frequently, there’s also an imbalance of power in a conflicted relationship - whether between co-workers, couples or combatants. Whichever party has less power (political, economic, physical, etc.) needs an assurance of safety and self-determination in order for peace to be realized.

And all of this is needed in spite of the reality that conflict is inevitable. Peace is not a destination, it is a commitment. When conflict arises, if committed to peace, we will interact with each other in an honest and mutually respectful way in order to find a mutually agreeable solution.

Okay this seems hard. How are we supposed to do this with any measurable impact?

It seems to me that the only answer to this is, “one step at a time.” It starts with our relationships between each other - between spouses or partners, co-workers and neighbors. Our children are watching how we deal with conflict with one another. Rather than avoiding it or escalating it, we could try communicating with each other, working through it together. Our kids will see this and learn from it. 

And peace just may become a little more possible.

It Gets Better - But We've Got to Make It So