The last week of my life has turned out much differently than I thought it would. This is more of just thoughts than an update on our activities. I have been inundated with a flood of information about the issue of hunger in the state of Texas and what we can be doing on an individual, daily basis to help alleviate this problem for others and also simply be healthier ourselves. I have also been awakened to the reasons why, from a Christian perspective, we should care about such issues. Both my head and heart are in need of an outlet now, so I’m posting this for you to read. Also, it helps deepen the conviction that I am already feeling to see it in black and white.
And soooo…..
There is a story in the twenty-first chapter of Matthew about Jesus and His reaction to people using the temple for a market place. In the story the moneychangers and merchants have set up tables and are selling items for sacrifices and other things. Jesus sees this activity and becomes so angry that He turns over their tables and kicks them out of the temple. I always loved this story simply because of the passion that Jesus shows, but only recently did I discover a perspective on this story that makes it even more powerful for me. I always thought that He was just mad because the temple was a place for people to honor His Father and by selling stuff in there the people were being disrespectful. I thought it was a story about religion and being ‘reverent’ and ‘proper’. But now I see it in a different light. The way I take this story now is that Jesus threw the moneychangers out because they were taking up the space that the gentiles who wanted to worship needed. The story says that the tables were in the court which was the part of the temple that the gentiles (the outsiders in the Jewish culture) were allowed to come into. They were being denied access because of other peoples ‘business opportunities’. Jesus realized this and because of His love for all His people, including the gentiles, He was very disturbed and took immediate, drastic action.
I feel that this story relates to the things we have been learning on this trip a lot. I see people who are denied access to food for whatever reason as the gentiles in the story. People living in poverty are often seen as the outsiders of society and usually receive little attention when it comes to assistance. The resources (the space for worship in the story and food in our current story) are there but not being used in a just way. I think Jesus would be as upset by our society’s situation as He was about the moneychangers in his temple. I think that Jesus would come into our communities and throw over the tables of the people who are standing in the way of justice for His people. He would probably turn over my table….
As I am learning more about hunger issues and food justice and really just poverty in general I want to be as passionate as Jesus was about giving access to everyone. I know that I am not there yet, but I want to feel the urgency of the situation enough to really stand up and do something. As crazy as it seems I want to turn tables over and shout. I want to be able to say “hey, something is wrong here! People are suffering and there is no reason for them to be.” I want to see a flood of justice fill the streets. I have a long way to go.
Emily
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