Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning God’s house into a shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the scripture, “Zeal for your house consumes me.”
(John 2: 15 – 17)

One day, while on holidays in the United States, I was walking in downtown Chicago, passing sights so familiar to me that they hardly registered. My progress was interrupted by a group of tourists from a foreign country who had stopped in their tracks and stood pointing and staring at the front of a building across the street from us. Their obvious amazement caused those of us around them to stop and look.

The focus of their gaze was an enormous crucifix – above five stories tall – carved into the front of Saint Peter’s Church and staring down on the traffic flowing by on Madison Street. It dawned on me that this group of travellers may not be Christian. And I wondered what they thought of this display – a larger-than-life man, stripped nearly naked with spikes pounded through his arms and legs to hold him to a cross. What did they make of this glorification of a public execution?

It dawned on me how tame, how robbed of its power the crucifix had become to me. These visitors helped open my eyes to what had become so obvious as to not sink in with me.

Religion can get cosy for us, as Jesus showed when he overturned the tables in the temple. Sometimes we need to have our preconceived notions shaken up. That’s the purpose of Lent. Remember, it’s never too late to have a good Lent. Start today by remembering that our faith is a life-and-death issue