indignant

I don’t really think of myself as a church leader, but maybe I am one. I’ve been an elder a couple of times, I chair a committee, I lead worship. I’m at the right age. It’s possible that others in the church might see me that way.

At a minimum, I’m pretty invested in our current way of doing things. I understand how church works, and for the most part I think it works well.

But I began to wonder a little this morning as I was reading in Matthew. I read this passage, from Matthew 21:14-15: “The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant.”

At first I was incredulous. Merriam-Webster defines indignant as feeling or showing anger because of something that is unfair or wrong; what about healing and children singing praises could possibly make these leaders indignant.

But then I imagined the disruption to the normal routine. Not only did Jesus break up the buying and selling, but now the temple was overrun with disabled people. On top of that, there were those noisy kids with all their shouting. How can anyone bring offerings and worship with all that hubbub going on?

Except that this was Jesus, right in their midst doing ministry and pastoral care. Certainly anything Jesus wanted to in the temple was appropriate.

Certainly anything Jesus wants to do in my church is appropriate. Do I believe that? Even if it’s something new?

What if Jesus brings to our church the marginalized in our community, especially the ones who don’t have much to put in the collection plate? What if someone becomes so on fire that he starts praising out loud during the sermon? What if some kids started dancing to the praise songs?

In my church, we have a regulating document that states that everything must be done in good order. I wonder if sometimes we use the good order clause to squelch things we just don’t like. I wonder how often the spirit has moved and leaders in my church, maybe even me, have counter-moved.

It’s easy to condemn the chief priests and teachers in this passage, but I probably wouldn’t react well to shouting kids either.