Worse yet, Jesus predicted with prophetic delight the actual destruction of the temple which would have been even more shocking to Jews than the destruction of the Twin Towers. Jesus' action, he implied, was merely a pantomime version of a real destruction to come. In Mark's version of the event, he says, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down." (MK 13:2). Does that sound like 9/11? What blasphemy! For Jesus' contemporaries, his actions coupled with those words predicted a catastrophe like none other.
His words actually came true in the year 70 when the Romans leveled the entire city of Jerusalem. No wonder the Romans and their Jewish collaborators saw Jesus as a terrorist worse than Osama bin Laden!
You get the idea. Jesus' direct action in the temple represented an attack on the status quo politically, economically, and ideologically. It might even be true to say that Jesus' choice of targets followed the same lines as the 9/11 terrorists when they attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and probably intended to do the same with the White House. All of those symbolize what's wrong with the world in the eyes of those who consider themselves oppressed by empire.
And the lessons from all of this? I'd be interested in what you think. For me it means that we must:
" Be attuned to the "signs of the times."
" And to the repercussions of cooperating with actions and policies
based on greed, empire, and vilification of the poor and powerless.
" Think poetically embracing the explicative power of symbolic language as more powerful than the merely descriptive.
" Interpret that symbolism for others -- in the name of the Christian faith we ostensibly share.
" Be willing to be thought of as terrorists and atheists ourselves,
" Entailing a willingness to participate in bold, public actions against the prevailing power structure.
" Be willing to suffer the painful consequences of such actions -- as Jesus did.
" Admit that we deserve the hate of those working to destroy the system that oppresses them.
" And pray for the defeat of U.S. policies based on false explanations of opposition to imperial oppression.
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