Greetings Dear Reader,
On Monday of Holy Week, Jesus approaches the temple and sees
the corruption happening there. The apostle
with him that would have the clearest understanding is Matthew, the tax
collector. He would know how taxes were
used to rob people.
Unless one studies it, there may not be a clear
understanding of what happened at Passover that was so corrupt. You see there were temple taxes. Those taxes had to be paid with temple
coins. There were money changers who
would accept common coins and for a fee, exchange them for temple coins. The exchange rate always benefitted the priests.
Matthew sees all of this through the eyes of a reformed tax
collector. The level of robbery in the
name of God must horrify him. When he
realized the depth of his abuse as a tax collector, he promised to make it all
right. He promised to pay back everyone
he had cheated.
It is true that the sins we commit we see so clearly in others. I can imagine the combination of horror and
agreement Matthew felt as Jesus drove the money changers out of the Temple
court. We hate the sin that has besieged
us for so long and we want it purged from the world. We have to walk the very narrow path of loving
the people trapped in the same sin and loathing the sin itself because of the
depth to which it offends the Father.
Matthew sees Jesus, the embodiment of God, angry enough to lash out at
those defiling his Father’s house.
We are to love the Father so deeply that every wrong offends
us. We are also to love humans so deeply
that we can separate the offense from the offender. There is no place in the cleansing of the
world for hatred of anyone. We can hate
the sin. I must do whatever it takes to
be sure that my hatred of sin does not translate to judgment or dismissal of
the person.
I cannot love the Father and follow the Son whilst holding
hatred in my heart for anyone. It does
not matter how low burn my dismissal of another person is, it has no place in
me. The end of the week is what will give
the space we need to make the distinction between loving others and hating
sin. We can learn from Matthew how to
own our wrongs and work to make up for them.
We can see that anger at sin is justified. What we must carry always, Dear Reader, is
the wisdom and compassion to distinguish between hate for the sin and overwhelming
love for every human in every situation. That is the narrow path that leads to the
cross, the tomb, and the way home.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Every human story is part of the great story that leads
to the Father getting everything back to Good.
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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