A God Who Risks

When a woman finally accepts a marriage proposal, especially if it comes from a "less than ideal man", she is usually asked by her friends, "Are you sure of that man? Aren't you committing suicide? Are you that desperate?" But despite all badmouthing and the backbiting of the man, or perhaps, honest concern for the woman, she goes on to tie the knot with the man she believes is her Mr Right.

Perhaps, or for sure, she knows his weaknesses and limitations, and that she could be wrong, and they could be right. But never mind, she accepts him anyway. She gives him a chance. She takes the risk, for the sake of the relationship, for the sake of the man, for her own sake.

In the Gospel, the King probably knew the third servant would do as he did: kept the money, buried it, not even put in the bank so that it could earn interest, never took the risk of investing the money so that it could grow. But still, the King went on gave him a chance, took the risk with Him. In the end, however, the servant was judged appropriately.

Our God, our King... a God, a King who risks, a God who gives us the chance, to grow, to explore, to risk... despite knowing that we could fail, we could sin; but He goes on anyway, for He loves, He is Love. And only those who truly love take the chance, take the risk. And He is that God.

An Angry Christ

Can you imagine an angry Christ? We are told that the Gospel portrait of Jesus is that of a joyful and serene man. He has almost complete possession of Himself, his feelings and passions. But this Sunday's Gospel gives a another image of Jesus. It shows his other side, as it were, Jesus explicitly getting angry and being carried away by his anger that he overthrows the tables and whips the moneychangers and vendors away from the Temple.

Rather than subjecting Him to psycho-analysis, it's more beneficial to ask what triggered the anger of Jesus. The text says that the businessmen has turned the temple into a marketplace. In another Gospel, it says, the temple has been turned into a den of thieves. A Scripture scholar notes that whatr made Jesus terribly angry is that the place where the businessmen set up their tables and displayed their merchandise is the area where the poor may worship, thus depriving them of their place in the temple, a place which is actually already somewhere in the peripheries of the temple.

This connects to the second reading that says: "If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy." An affront, a deprivation, desecration of the poor, who are also temples of God, and therefore holy, will certainly invite the anger, nay, the wrath of God. We hope we don't get driven out by an angry Christ. Let's make space for the poor, not only in our places of worship, but in every area of our life.