Jesus the Radical Cowboy

A pastoral reflection on John 2:13-25 (Jesus in the Temple with the Money Changers)

Radical...growing up, I had a lot of images of Jesus but never an image of him being radical. Jesus sitting with children, with a lamb on his shoulder, teaching his disciples, but Jesus the radical? Where did I miss that? Perhaps Mom and Dad wanted me to be domesticated, trainable, and obedient so they spoke more of the soft, lovey-dovey Jesus.

But, Jesus the table tipper? The whipper of money changers? The driver of cattle stampedes? The ruffian who knocks money boxes out of the hands of merchants? Oh yeah, he’s all that too. On that day, he must of worn a rubber bracelet that said, “WWJWD” (What Would John Wayne Do?).

On that day, Jesus was the man that wrangled all the “bull” to make a straight path for others to enter into deeper worship and relationship with his Father.

What bull is in your life that needs to be wrangled and driven out so that you can grow deeper in worship and relationship with God...to have deeper spiritual freedom and a larger capacity to act in love?

Now, our spiritual freedom and ability to love has three villains: the flesh, the world, and the devil.

“What the Scriptures call the flesh, the old man, or the sinful nature, is that part of us that always wants the easiest way out...To put it bluntly, your flesh is a weasel, a poser, and a selfish pig. And your flesh is not the real you.”* It is what psychologists would say is your false self. The faker who cowardly believes his own bull, “who deliberately chooses to push down his true strength in Christ and lives a false life.”* It’s the person who denies what their heart is really saying to them. They shrink in fear instead of confronting the thoughts, feelings, and problems in their life.

Now, “the World...is any system built by our collective sin, all our false selves coming together to reward and destroy each other...Take all the posers out there, put them together and you get a carnival of counterfeits,—that’s the World."* The money changers were just that—selling a false path to God and making a profit. Resisting "“The World” is not referring to a shallow approach to holiness like never drinking or dancing or watching rated R movies."* Rather it’s the system that corrupts our true strength, that causes us to support the false self, often through pride and a false sense of power.

"The devil no doubt has a place in our theology, but is he a category we even think about in the daily events of our lives? Has it ever crossed your mind that not every thought that enters your mind comes from you?"* Do we ever stop to say, in a Texan draw, “Wait a minute, partner, who else is speaking here? Where ‘em ideas a coming from?” “It’s the image of God reflected in you that so enrages hell; it is this at which demons hurl their mightiest weapons.”

Jesus was a radical and a zealot—that’s how much he loved you and me. Jesus wasn’t afraid to stand up and fight for us, to die for us. He wasn’t a poser. He could gently love children and still fight the World. Like two cowboys in a duel, he could face the devil in the eye and say “Go ahead, take your best shot, ‘cause after you do, I’m going to rise up and defeat you.”

But this isn’t just a story of the past, Jesus is here with us today in word and sacrament. His word and sacrament are like his whip of cords to drive out our false self, to knock over the world, and to defeat the devil. He fills us with his Spirit so we too can be part of his posse. He’s ready to wrangle the crud and bull in your life, to give you a clear spiritual path to his Father. So, which side of the table will you stand on?


* - Much of this post was inspired and quotes taken from John Eldredge's "Wild at Heart"