Reflections: Showing Up and Getting Angry

"God Will Show Up If You Will."

I saw this phrase written on the inside of a bathroom stall at the movie theater recently.  It is stuck in my head - reminding me that I have to be active and do something to connect with God.

In John's Gospel this week, Jesus is definitely doing something. And he is doing something that is extremely human. He's getting angry. Really angry. To be frank, this is the story where we see Jesus completely lose his Sh$T.

Read John 2: 13-22 

Jesus and disciples come to the temple in Jerusalem for Passover and they find the courtyard in the temple full of animals for sale, business folks, and money changers. It was just a whole lot of activity and noise.  

A little background: Part of the celebration of Passover is bringing animals to the temple as sacrifices.

The animals had to be perfect, so many people bought their animals when they got to Jerusalem, where there were stalls with animals for sale.  Also, Roman coins could not be used in the temple so bankers took advantage of the opportunity to exchange them for temple coins (no doubt with a hefty exchange rate.)

The scripture doesn’t say for sure what sends Jesus over the edge when he enters the courtyard of the temple, but he was pretty angry.  My guess is that he came to worship and teach and all he saw all the craziness. The courtyard looked like a busy marketplace -and all these things that were taking away the focus away from God in this very sacred temple. 

He grabbed a piece of rope and whipped it around. Cows ran, sheep made noise, and doves flew from their cages. Tables fell over and coins rolled all over the floor. It was chaos! Can you picture it?
We see the very human side of Jesus in this scripture. Jesus is showing people that all the selling, and buying and taking advantage of one another is distracting us from God. 

So here is what I am thinking about this week:
What are the things that are distracting me and keeping me from really connecting with God?
What am I actively doing to share my faith and God's love with others?
How am I letting my anger and frustrations with others get in the way?
What do I need to do to "show up"  for God?