BY MAUREEN O’CONNELL | March 4, 2018
Third Sunday of Lent
Today’s Readings
Jesus rejects power that dehumanizes and exploits. In literally clearing out the Temple, Jesus creates for us space for two things.
First, his dramatic reaction to what was going on in God’s holy space can help us understand racism in the context of power. Jesus did not flip the tables because of prejudices, or the actions of particular merchants, or the privileges the sacrificial system awarded some people. Rather, he was enraged by an entire system that benefited a few precisely by taking advantage of many others. He was disgusted that this power masked itself in the name of upholding the religious law. Power is deceptive like that and Jesus wants none of it. He names it and denounces it unequivocally.
[Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr]
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love.” Jesus doesn’t walk away from the chaos he creates in disrupting power. Rather he doubles down in his promise to correct it with a new kind power—a power with and for others rather than over them.
For Reflection:
- What power needs to be corrected in our own lives?
- What might our resistance to disruptive actions unfolding around us tell us about our relationship to exploitative power?
- How can we make space for disruption?
Maureen H. O’Connell, Ph.D. is associate professor and chair of religion and theology at La Salle University in Philadelphia.
Well done! Much to reflect. Wish I were still teaching Social Justice to Juniors in High School. It would make for lively discussion!
Great challenges all around us and within us… One of which is trying, praying for openness to how and where I /we, with my weaknesses/gifts, can best “disrupt” at each time of our life, with challenging love for Justice. Bob