Gentle Jesus, meek and mild ... sweet, passive, wish-washy Jesus was not the man who whipped animals and beat up money changers at the annual Passover festival in Jerusalem. Tables overturned, money crashing to the floor, rolling everywhere, pigeons frantically flying for cover, men screaming in pain, adding salty language to the cacophony of sound and confusion all taking place in the Holy Temple. "What has the Master gotten himself into now?" his disciples probably worried. "Take these things away," Jesus screamed, "You shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade."

Slowly order was restored, perhaps coming at the point of Jesus’ exhaustion. Gingerly, Jews quizzed him on the appropriateness of his behavior. "What sign have you to show us for doing this?" they asked. A reasonable question from the uninitiated. One might rather have expected a few cries of "Throw the bum out of here" or demands for retribution. Jesus probably commanded so much authority that hasty action against him was not considered wise.

Our Lord's answer to their question confused his hearers. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," Jesus offered.

"It has taken forty-six years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days?" they questioned in unbelief. At the time not even Jesus’ disciples understood what he was suggesting. Only after his resurrection did they realize that the temple referred to his body that would be destroyed and then resurrected in three days.

In Jesus’ ministry there is evidence that he regarded his death as the means by which the old sacrificial system would be condemned and the new Israel would come into being after his resurrection. Here he refers to his body as the temple. Later Saint Paul refers to the church as the "body of Christ" - a body alive, growing, reaching out, ever-changing with many parts working together for the good of the whole. Its hands are not made for patting itself on the back but for reaching out to the lost. Its eyes are not fixed on a rearview mirror looking at where it has been but are busy seeking a glimpse of the Father’s vision of where it should go. Its legs do not run in busy circles but walk the road of obedience. It does not lose heart when confronted by risk but follows the Spirit’s leading even into the unknown. Its mouth does not seek to speak of Jesus as the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, but as God’s gift of love and forgiveness for those who are hurting. The church endeavors to unite its mind with God’s mind, its will with his will, its purposes with his purposes, and its plans with his plans.

Seized by the Spirit of God the church lives as if all depends on God, for its very life is dependent upon God. It shares with God in the salvation of his children. As it does this, it gently comforts the afflicted and boldly afflicts the comfortable. Jesus, the church’s head, is its leader. Jesus, meek and mild, sometimes; Jesus, bold and belligerent, often.

"To be or not to be," is rarely the question for the church. Jesus dwells in the midst of our community. We are the church - the body of Christ. Come Holy Spirit, we pray, help us to be more completely what we are.