{"id":4568,"date":"2021-03-07T13:50:39","date_gmt":"2021-03-07T13:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2021\/03\/07\/angry-jesus-based-on-psalm-19-and-john\/"},"modified":"2021-03-07T13:50:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T13:50:39","slug":"angry-jesus-based-on-psalm-19-and-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2021\/03\/07\/angry-jesus-based-on-psalm-19-and-john\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAngry Jesus\u201d based on\tPsalm 19 and John 2:13-22\tMarch 7, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Growing
\nup, I saw a lot of images of Jesus as a clean, well groomed man of
\nEuropean descent. \u00a0You have probably seen these images too. \u00a0His hair
\nis shoulder length, his mustache and beard and visible but trimmed,
\nhis eyes are light, and the whole thing has an aura of \u201cair
\nbrushed\u201d all over it. \u00a0His expression is neutral, yet somehow
\nlightly angelic. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Without
\ngoing into the issues with presenting a Middle Eastern man as
\nEuropean, or even the annoying prevalence of this presentation of
\nJesus in our culture, I want to talk a little bit about the facial
\nexpression. \u00a0My first year here, I was given a image of a smiling
\nJesus, and I savor it. \u00a0Ludwig Fruerbach says that we humans project
\nwhat we think are the best and most important characteristics of
\nhumans onto God. \u00a0If that’s true, than a neutral expression on Jesus
\nsuggests we think emotions are NOT holy. \u00a0A smiling Jesus is a Jesus
\nwith emotions, rather than a stoic, and I strongly prefer it. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If
\nyou search online for images of \u201cAngry Jesus\u201d they mostly portray
\ntoday’s Gospel Lesson. \u00a0Angry Jesus ALSO has an arm raised with a
\nwhip of cords. \u00a0For people who were raised with an un-emotive
\nunderstanding of Jesus or God as well as for people taught that
\nemotions are bad, today’s Gospel lesson can be rather distinctly
\nuncomfortable.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jesus
\ngets angry. \u00a0He acts out his anger. \u00a0It has consequences. \u00a0Other
\npeople’s livelihoods \u00a0are impacted. \u00a0This is neither a neutral nor a
\nsugary sweet Jesus. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

These
\ndays when I hear this story, I hear it through the ears of the
\ntrainings I’ve done on nonviolent direct action and I think how
\nbrilliant it is! \u00a0From that perspective, Jesus and his disciples
\nwould have been working together on an action that brought people’s
\nattention to the issues with the Temple. \u00a0I’m not exactly sure how
\nthey would have said it, but the Temple had been the center point of
\nJewish faith for nearly 1000 years, and as such it was hugely
\nimportant to Jewish people of faith. \u00a0Because of that, the Roman
\nEmpire had taken over control of it. The Empire appointed the high
\npriests, and the high priests were removed by the Empire at will. \u00a0So
\nthe Temple was at one and the same time the spiritual center of
\nJewish life AND a system that had been appropriated for the exact
\nopposite of its purpose. \u00a0It likely is helpful to remember that in
\nthe Jewish faith the first 5 books of the Bible, the Torah, are
\ncentral in casting a vision of how God wants society to work. \u00a0And
\nhow God wants society to work is in a just and equitably way where
\neven the most vulnerable and impoverished are cared for, and no one
\ngets rich of of anyone else’s suffering.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Empires,
\nhowever, work the opposite way. \u00a0Control is maintained with violence
\nor its threats, and the entire point of the system is to consolidate
\nwealth and power.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now,
\nlikely most people at Jesus’s time knew this. \u00a0All of this. \u00a0But,
\nthey largely ignored it because… well… what are you gonna do? \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That,
\nI’d guess, was the assessment of the issue. \u00a0Jesus and his disciples
\nwere looking for a way to clarify the issue, and motivate people into
\ndifferent behavior. \u00a0What they came up with, a disruption of the
\nmarketplace around the Temple, is pretty brilliant. \u00a0It always upsets
\nthe status quo when business gets disrupted. \u00a0(Several years ago I
\nparticipated in a Black Lives Matter protest that walked up 5th<\/sup>
\nAve in NYC, on a Saturday, in December. \u00a0I couldn’t BELIEVE that we
\nwere shutting down Manhattan during the Christmas Season. \u00a0Clearly,
\nit was decided it was less problematic to give the people a voice
\nthan to deal with the consequences of silencing the people.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The
\naction, I think we can say, worked. \u00a0First of all, we’re still
\ntalking about it. \u00a0Secondly, the appropriation of the Temple stopped.
\n While this story takes place in John chapter 2, in the Synoptics
\nthis happens right before \u201cHoly Week\u201d and is one of the two most
\nsignificant actions that led to Jesus’s arrest and murder. \u00a0It
\nclearly shook up the powers, and was experienced as a threat to their
\npower.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Which
\nI would call a nonviolent direct
\naction well done. \u00a0And that reminds me that the consequences of
\nnonviolent direct action can be an increase in state sponsored
\nviolence, at least initially.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With
\nthat as introduction (too long?), I want to give us some space to
\nlean into the anger that we see in Jesus in this passage. \u00a0I like to
\nthink that he wasn’t just acting when he gathered cords into a whip
\nor overturned tables, it was a genuine expression of his righteous
\nanger with the life-affirming Jewish faith being used to destroy
\nlife.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This
\nbeing the one year anniversary of the last time we gathered together
\nfor worship in person (and funny enough, the last time we had an in
\nperson charge conference!), it seems like a particularly appropriate
\ntime to name some of the facets of this past year that can reasonably
\nillicit righteous anger.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nThe place to start seems to be
\nwith 2.56 Million worldwide deaths, including over 518,000 in the
\nUSA, many \u2013 if not most \u2013 of which were preventable if we had
\nprioritized people over profit.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nBeing intentionally misled by
\nleaders about the seriousness of this virus, about what we needed to
\ndo to be safe, about how decisions were being made, and about who was
\ndying and where.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThe simple fact that when it
\nbecame clear that the people most impacted by COVID were impoverished
\npeople of color, our government immediate stopped caring as much.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat some churches and other
\nfaith communities choose to ignore pleas by community health
\nprofessionals for safe practices and created super-spreader events,
\nwhile claiming to act in the name of God.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat decisions about when to
\nclose and when to open were not guided by our Bishop or annual
\nconference leaders, but simply left up to us. \u00a0(Not that I like top
\ndown leadership either, but leadership becomes imperative when safety
\nis an issue.)<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat when it became clear that
\nwe needed masks the way we got them was through the works of
\nvolunteer saints (thank you!) rather than the government we thought
\nwas prepared to protect us.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat reopening plans have
\ncontinued to prioritize \u201cthe economy\u201d rather than the people.
\nYes, small businesses are struggling, but there are POLICIES that
\ncould help, instead of risking the lives of the workers.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat police use of deadly force
\non people of color JUST KEEPS GOING.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat the 644 billionaires in the
\nUSA have earned $1.3 trillion dollars in the past year1<\/sup><\/a>
\nwhile 1 in 6 Americans are food insecure.2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat somehow, SOMEHOW, there
\nstill isn’t the will to create universal health care or a livable
\nminimum wage in our country (or at least its government), even though
\nwe now see that we are only as healthy individually as the least
\nhealthy among us collectively.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat all of the inequalities and
\ninjustices of our society have been on display, and they continue to
\nbe deadly, and there still isn’t a communal will to change.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat the things we need to do to
\nend this pandemic have been clear for a very long time, but between
\npolitical propaganda and the culture war and the need for clear
\nleadership and a priority on care for the vulnerable, it hasn’t been
\ndone. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I
\ncould go on. \u00a0But I want to leave some for you to fill in on your
\nown.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There
\nis a lot to be righteously angry about. \u00a0And today, I suggest we feel
\nit. \u00a0Feel the anger of the last year, and all the people who have
\nbeen lost and all the opportunities that have been lost, and all the
\nexhaustion we’ve experienced.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now,
\nI do NOT want you to let it go.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not
\nwhat you were expecting? \u00a0That’s fair. \u00a0I don’t necessarily want you
\nto keep on being so angry that your blood pressure goes up or you
\nseek out comfort food, because that just does more harm. \u00a0But I also
\ndon’t want you to get angry and then \u201clargely ignored it because…
\nwell… what are you gonna do?\u201d \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Get
\nmad. \u00a0Then get organized. \u00a0That’s how we change the world. \u00a0And if
\nnow isn’t the time to organize, then it is the time to get informed,
\nand to build relationship so we can organize, have direct action, and
\nmake change when the time is ripe. \u00a0Or, perhaps, now is the time to
\nget centered into spiritual practice with God, so God can start
\npushing and prodding on our hearts to let us know how to organize and
\nact first. \u00a0So, I want you to keep righteous anger, and use it as
\nenergy to do good. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Because
\nthat’s how Jesus did it, and that’s how I think God calls us to do
\nit. \u00a0Thanks be to God.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Amen<\/p>\n

1<\/a>https:\/\/inequality.org\/great-divide\/updates-billionaire-pandemic\/<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/a>https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/graphics\/2020\/business\/hunger-coronavirus-economy\/<\/a>
\n\tTo be fair, I averaged some stats.<\/p>\n

Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

March 7, 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up, I saw a lot of images of Jesus as a clean, well groomed man of European descent. \u00a0You … Continue reading \u201cAngry Jesus\u201d based on\tPsalm 19 and John 2:13-22\tMarch 7, 2021<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[34,38,28,39,33,1838,1839,1841,1842,56,1611,1840],"class_list":["post-4568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fumc-schenectady","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-rev-sara-e-baron","tag-thinking-church","tag-umc","tag-angry-jesus","tag-emotive-jesus","tag-get-mad-get-organized","tag-righteous-anger","tag-schenectady","tag-sorry-about-the-homophobic-umc-world","tag-temple-tantrum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}