A friend gifted me with a copy of Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation, a series of essays by John Lewis. A line in it caught my eye, “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to say something, you have to do something.”
This reminded me of Rep. Cori Bush’s recent public protest of the failure of Congress to extend the eviction moratorium. She reported that she could not understand how Congress was recessed while 11 million Americans awaited eviction. Having experienced eviction herself, she decided to make a prophetic sign action of her disgust by sleeping on the Capitol steps until Congress came back in session. I heard an interview with her where she expressed that she knew she had to do something and this is what she knew to do. Other people may have chosen other things, but she understood sit-ins.
About 12 years ago, I had the opportunity to participate in an archaeological dig in Jerusalem. Our dig was at Ramat Rachel, a kibbutz between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. From the top of Ramat Rachel you could actually see both cities. We were uncovering a Persian era palace where it was clear that there was a military outpost as well. It seemed odd to me when we uncovered a coop where doves would have been kept. The chief archaeologist explained that it made perfect sense. In the ancient world, tax season correlated with high holy festivals. As people came into Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday, they would pay their taxes and purchase their sacrificial offerings.
On hearing this, scriptures like this one began to make a bit more sense. As if it weren’t enough to force people to travel long distances to worship at the temple in Jerusalem, they would also be charged taxes and they would have to purchase their offering. It feels like a money trap. Jesus’s frustration seems justified: the worship of the creator God should be about more than making a buck.
We often criticize people whose anger becomes a public display. Certainly the chief priests and scribes were uncomfortable with Jesus’s public expression of anger and frustration. I’ve heard many critiques of Rep. Bush. Even so, anger is the emotional manifestation of misaligned values. Expressing anger usually leads to an argument, or maybe an overturned table, but it also opens a conversation. It exposes the unevenness of a relationship and opens the possibility of creating something new.
Pay attention to your anger and ask yourself how you can speak up when you see something that is not right and not fair. Your anger could be the catalyst to a whole new world.
