This is the season of Lent, where Christians solemnly remember the death of their Savior, Jesus Christ. Catholics will relive this agony through the Stations of the Cross, prayerfully recounting the events that led him away to Calvary.
But, one event is not recognized in these stations. It is the profound occurrence that recounts Christ angrily entering the temple and with a switch, turns over the tables, upsetting the money changers, proclaiming “This is not a den of thieves!”
In one week, Christ would be dead. All four gospel writers agree that this was "the trigger" that led to his crucifixion.
A temple differed from a synagogue in antiquity, being also the seat of government. Christ objected to the poor being indebted to their bank, the temple tax that even the poor must pay, even if they had to beg to get it, the expropriation of land, the favoring of the aristocracy where the lower class had no voice. He also objected to the temple inequality based on gender and social standing.
Do Christ’s actions resound today when the temple establishment sided with the aristocracy as many churches do today, where our government and Christians are more concerned about abortion and gays than the fact that Jeff Bozos makes $5.42 a second and the minimum wage in Georgia is $5.15 an hour, creating the land of the 2 and 98%? Are we at all concerned with social justice as Christ was?
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Why are the churches not sounding the alarm for climate change which is killing far more people than abortion? Did Christ sternly admonish Mary Magdalene for her transgressions? No, but today he would chastise our policies regarding “trickle down” economics and neoliberalism that has increased the number of poor.
Sex is easy to understand, greed isn’t. Find a neutral media site to help.
Lillian Bachmeier lives in Mandan, N.D.
This letter does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
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