There is a story about a snake that lived on a path on the way to a famous temple in India. Many people would walk along the path to worship, and the snake would often bite people with his poisonous bite.

One day a swami was on his way to the temple and the snake jumped out to bite him, but before the snake could bite, the swami put the snake into a trance and ordered him to stop biting people.

"It is not right to bite people with your poisonous bite," the swami told him. "From now on, you shall not bite anyone."

A few months later the swami was passing that way again and he noticed the snake lying in the grass beside the path. This time, the snake was all cut and bruised and was in an awful state.

"What has happened to you, my friend?" the swami asked. "Since you have put your spell on me," the snake explained, "I have been unable to defend myself. Give me back my bite."

"You foolish snake," the swami answered. "I told you not to bite anyone. But I never said that you couldn't hiss!"

In the gospel lesson today, when Jesus cleanses the Temple, Jesus bites instead of hissing. This story might jar us and cause us to question Jesus because this incident is utterly uncharacteristic of him. The passage tells us he used a homemade whip to drive the animals out of the temple. In the whole Bible, this is the only example of Jesus using physical violence.

When the Passover Feast was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The scalpers were also there in full strength. (Well, of course they weren't called scalpers they were the moneychangers.) Everything may have been legitimate and legal, but to Jesus it wasn't just and it made him furious.

Jewish law required certain sacrifices. A devout Jew couldn't sacrifice just any animal, it had to be one that was acceptable to the high priests. Of course, the priests were willing to sell you an acceptable animal, for a price. But, any animal purchased had to be paid for in temple currency, not in the Roman coinage of the day. The system exploited people.

Families might come to the temple with a goat. They would have to sell this goat for some Roman currency outside of the temple, probably not for a great price. Then they would go to the temple and exchange their Roman coins for temple currency from the moneychangers, at some rather high exchange rate. Then they would purchase another goat (which was clean and acceptable) in the temple using the temple currency. After all was said and done, it might take two of their goats to purchase one clean, temple goat. Worshiping God was a rip-off!

The priests had absolute power and they took advantage of it for their own ends. So Jesus gets angry at the corruption he sees in the temple. He sees that people are getting ripped off. He sees that poor people can't afford to worship in the Temple the way the law commands them. Jesus got angry on behalf of those who had no power, who were poor peasants trying to worship God.

What Jesus did about the injustice that he saw around him is questionable. He did what make him feel better rather than what would best help the situation. Usually, when Jesus was tested by authorities he would respond with parables or more questions. Usually, Jesus tries to get his message across with his wisdom. But this time, he looses it. The thing that he was angry at (the catalysts for his anger) gets lost. The point he was trying to make gets lost and Temple corruption continues.

There is a phrase that is quite popular with teenagers "What would Jesus Do." In the store Heaven Scent it is written on bracelets, bookmarks, and necklaces. The purpose of the phrase "What would Jesus Do?" or WWJD is to help young Christians think before they do something. Mostly think what Jesus would do in a particular situation. Mostly, the WWJD movement emphasizes moral behaviour. "Should I have this drink? WWJD? Should I have sex with my boyfriend? WWJD?"

Several weeks ago, Chris and I were skiing at Rabbit Hill near Edmonton. While we were standing in line waiting to get on the chair lift, we watched an older, larger child pick on three smaller, younger children. He was poking the kids with his ski pole. One child repeatedly asked him to stop, but the bully wouldn't stop. As I watched, I was trying to decide how I should intervene and what would be the most helpful thing to do. But as I was still thinking, Chris lost his cool and grabbed the bully by the scruff of the neck and yelled at him. Chris yelled in his face, "Take a pill, buddy and quit poking people with your ski pole." The bully was fearless and unmoved and unchanged he looked at Chris square in the face.

Now, Chris acted in a way that made him feel better rather than saying something that would actually help the child and make a long-term difference. What he could have said was, "Do you know that boys who are bullies in their youth grow up to be unemployed and often land themselves in jail because the only skills they know are bullying skills and these skills don't work as you grow up." But he didn't say that. Instead, he said something that made him feel better.

What would Jesus do? Well, he might have taken that boy by the scruff of the neck. But that might not be the best thing in the world to do.

After Jesus was crucified, his followers struggled with their understanding of Jesus' relationship with God. They did not question his humanity - they knew him. They ate slept, and partied with him. It was his divinity they struggled to understand.

Over the time and space of 2000 years we have sterilized and sanitized Jesus. We have made him soft and gentle and kind. But this passages challenges us and reminds us what Jesus stood for. It brazenly holds up in front of us Jesus' humanity; Jesus on a bad day (just like we have bad days); Jesus losing control, losing his temper (just like we do sometimes); Jesus doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.

We can rejoice that Jesus acted this way. It takes the burden off of us to be perfect.

The point of Christianity is not so that we become like Jesus but that God came in Jesus to be like us. What would Jesus do? Well, we don't need to do what Jesus would do. He was a poor Jewish rabbi living in the first century, of course his actions would be different from ours. But that's not the point of Christianity, the point is not to become like Jesus but that Jesus is like us.

We can rejoice that Jesus acted this way. It takes the burden off of us to be perfect. We can admit that we have temptations and at times we give into them. The point of becoming a Christian is not so that we can have extra guilt. Guilt is not a part of Christianity. It is forgiveness and freedom from guilt that Jesus offers us.

We do not become free from guilt because we become perfect. We become free because we accept the love and understanding that Jesus gives to us. -Love and understanding that is possible because Jesus is has taken human form. Jesus understands what it is like to have temptations, to be angry, to be so outraged at injustice to the point of violence, to have a bad day. Jesus knows what it feels like to be us, to be human and so he can forgive us. That is the good news in this passage this morning my friends, and that is the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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