This Sunday’s Gospel reading particularly shows the humanity of Jesus. He gets really angry and He starts to overturn the furniture and He throws things. Now, I don’t toss furniture when I get really angry, but I have been known to throw a thing or two! Sometimes, I hurl inappropriate invectives.

Jesus saw something that was totally wrong, and He got really angry and did something about it. Like you and I, Jesus had strong emotions, and they came out and He reacted strongly. Jesus was human.

Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote that if a person can live in the midst of injustice without becoming angry, that person is both immoral and unjust. Aquinas would have been proud of Jesus for upsetting the tables of the money changers who notoriously cheated their customers on the exchange rate. Likewise, those who sold sacrificial animals, birds, and the like were known to cheat and overcharge their patrons who came to offer the required sacrifice. Further, the temple was being desecrated, turned into a marketplace. Jesus was moved to the point of anger and He acted.

What if St. Charles became a bazaar on certain Sundays? Would you become angry? Quite angry? What is it that makes you really angry, perhaps to the point of losing your temper? Racism? Abuse? Violence? Intolerance? Greed?

Certainly we cannot become involved in every issue. But at what point does a certain injustice cause you to do something? Write a letter? Send a donation? Say a fervent prayer? Get actively involved?