Once upon a time there was a wedding and Jesus and his mother were invited. Mary came to Jesus with eyes twinkling and a smile playing about her lips, and she simply stated that they were out of wine. Jesus smiled and said, "Mom, what am I gonna do with you?"

She laughed and told the assistants: "Whatever he says to you, do it." With his own eyes twinkling, Jesus instructed them to pour water into six ceremonial water pots, as bystanders gasped at the sacrilege of purification vessels being misused for common beverages and contaminated with germs.

I can imagine the disciples recalling passages from Psalms as they watched the rest of this incident and others in Jesus’ life unfold. In the words of this week’s lessons, the experiences pointed them—as they do us—to something better. Many of the disciples’ recollections may have come from Psalms 69, the first being: "Let their table [a thousand ritual rules for washing] become a snare before them and that which should have been for their welfare [meeting needs for food and water], let it become a trap."

In Mark 7:3, Jesus is criticized for not washing "oft" before eating. The margin of my Bible says that "oft" means washing "diligently, with the fist, up to the elbow." Imagine a bible on how to wash your hands properly before and after meals, with strict instructions on using a container "no smaller than one and a half eggshells in size" to pour water on your hands from fingers to wrists to the elbows, doing it over and over until done correctly.1 Jesus’ example, however, showed onlookers something better.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance says that the governor of the wedding feast was "the director of the entertainment" who made sure events occurred in proper order on time. This serves as a reminder that Jesus is the governor of the betrothal and ultimate wedding of the universe (Rev. 1:8). When the governor exclaimed, "They’ve saved the best for last," it was a promise that the story would end well, that the bridegroom would finally gets his girl and his girl her man.

Surely Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple reminded the disciples of something better, as well. Imagine a noisy commotion inside the temple not unlike the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Strong’s calls the moneychangers "coin dealers" and "money brokers" who "clip" and "shear" their customers. It was impure for a Roman coin to be brought into the temple, so Roman law allowed the Jews to mint their own temple shekels. Strong’s implies that they "glued" whatever cheap scrap metals were available into cracker-sized coins and coated them with ultra-thin layers of shiny gold to purchase forgiveness.2

Jealousy over his Father’s reputation consumed Jesus when he saw in the foyer three fast-food-like booths (meeting all economic levels) for purchasing forgiveness and enriching church bankers: (1) big cow = big forgiveness = big profits; (2) sheep = moderate forgiveness = moderate profits; and (3) little dove = little forgiveness = little profit.

Jesus chased the merchants out while holding the "scourge" high. This no doubt hit its mark, for the scourge was a Roman whip used to lash common criminals publicly. When Jesus told them not to make his Father’s house a place of "merchandise," his words again hit their mark as he used the Greek word for "emporium," an international wholesale market for trading and trafficking all inventory (including slaves and animals), and for high-interest mortgages and loans.

In this encounter Jesus objected to the belief that people must purchase forgiveness. He freed sheep, cattle, and doves slated for death on the altars. He challenged beliefs in a patriarchal system and introduced onlookers to Abba, their intimate and compassionate daddy.3 He confronted them with their elaborate schemes of prostituting God’s creations to enrich themselves. Once again, I see Jesus showed something better.

During the cleansing, the disciples may have remembered another Scripture passage: "The zeal of your house has eaten me up." They knew that "zeal" means a "hot passion" or indignation over unethical moral acts, or a hot fire that boils liquids, cooks solid food, and makes coals glow. It’s much like our modern phrase: "It just burns me up when.…"

Again, they may have recalled Scripture as they heard temple authorities ask Jesus who he thought he was and what sign he would use to prove his authority over the temple. Jesus said that if this temple were destroyed he would rebuild it in three days, and perhaps they remembered David saying that God would not leave Jesus in the tomb (Ps. 69:9) and would not allow his body to decompose (Ps. 30:3).

In my imagination I see Jesus walking voluntarily to the police department with his hands up. I can see him handcuffed, read his Miranda rights, and interviewed. Then he’s booked, photographed, fingerprinted, imprisoned, and arraigned in court without a defense attorney advising him how to plead. I imagine him remaining silent when tried as a criminal, convicted, sentenced to immediate death, and willingly awaits the lethal injection.

With the disciples, you and I can see in these incidents not a power-LESS-ness but a power-FULL-ness in a man whose entire life showed us something better.

Notes and References

1. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (Nashville, Tenn.: Abington, 1980).
2. William Coleman, Today’s Handbook of Bible Times and Customs (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 1985).
3. Caleb Rosado, Women, Church, God: A Socio-Biblical Study (Loma Linda, Calif.: Loma Linda University Press, 1990).

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