Today’s reading shows us a zealous Lord. We do not see this side of Jesus anywhere else in the Scriptures. He presents himself (in my mind) throughout Scripture as calm, cool and collected. Today, Jesus is furious — expressing his anger publicly to get His point across.

The people have become focused on sacrifice as an obligation. They have lost the point of making the trek to the temple; they have lost their focus on God. In the same way we sometimes get distracted in life and put aside our faith journey we also experience noise, chaos and distractions which keep us from growing closer to Jesus.

Jesus sometimes has to shake things up in a big way to get our attention, to remind us where our hearts need to be focused. It is often uncomfortable , loud, and usually requires a lot of cleanup but in the aftermath we can see the grace, love and beauty in Christ alone without all the distractions. There we are free to experience the gifts of grace, mercy and peace that accompany His love for us all.