Do Our Words Sound Like the Words of Jesus?
When Jesus threw the money-changers out of the temple, he was angry. Was he breaking his own rule? No. He had a good reason for being angry; the money-changers were cheating the people and doing it in the temple. There are things that should make us angry: seeing someone being abused is a good example! But today it seems that anything can cause anger and people react violently with the slightest provocation. Thinking that someone insults you, for example, can lead to a fight. Road rage is another example of this. What about using abusive language? That is so common that people often don’t even hear it. What has happened to us? When I was on an educational trip to Tanzania, my sister told me not to say anything negative because the people there did not insult anyone and it would be considered extremely rude. She was correct; I never heard a single unkind or insulting word the entire time I was there. I don’t understand why this cannot be the way people treat one another everywhere! Our group was one hundred percent white American, but we were treated as family by the people we were with. What a lesson the people of Tanzania could teach the rest of the world! And not all the people we worked with were Christian; about half the group were Muslim. The thing was, you couldn’t tell the difference between the two groups because they intermingled, dressed the same, and treated each other the same. We are all God’s children and I’ve rarely seen a better example of how to treat one another in spite of differences. Can the same be said of us?
Lord, we are your beloved children. We often forget that abusive language can kill the spirit, and that love will bind us together. May we save our anger for injustices that we can help to change, and treat one another with the respect they deserve. Amen.
-Frances Taylor
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