tables in the temple

Being the Easter Bunny is fun. It's great to see smiles on faces and know that you are spreading wonder. However, at the end of the day, it's buisness. The company that runs the "set" is a photography studio, there is encouragement to "up-sell" packages and product, commitment to hit or beat projected "numbers", and, lest we forget, a bunny that is getting paid.

Now, before you get a cynical bee in your bonnet, I've got no problem with it. I think it's a great idea and a cool way to make a living. Why not do something that makes the world a little more magical on your quest to make a living? As I mentioned before, I'm a professional Christian minister. It's my life to make a living on grace.

But what about the whole "table flipping" incident that happened during the season we celebrate? Jesus went into the temple and busted skulls because people were in the temple trying to make a buck...right? Should I do the same? Protest any consumerism of what God has offered free?

Maybe.

Christianity has been no stranger to opportunists making a buck off elements of God's story. From indulgences to our modern industry...Christianity is a fool-proof money maker. And yes, there is elements of cynicism in my tone. I do get frustrated by the waste of resources that I see when children are starving and injustice reigns in many places on our planet, but I also know that people have to make a living and if we don't somehow make a profit, then no one has the time to bring good things.

The answer, I think, is found in the rabbi flipping tables.

He was angry, not that people were selling doves, but that they couldn't get to God without running the gauntlet of the marketplace. There were special coins and taxes placed on the people who already had limited resources. This put God, who removes any obsticle to be near to his people, farther and farther away.

This is what made Jesus get rowdy.

I saw one parent at the enterance to bunny world pointing me out to their little child. I motioned for the little one to come to see me, but dad replied that he didn't have the money for he photo.

"Seeing the Bunny is free" I wispered quietly and took the child to see the bunny

No buisness gets between a child and the bunny.

And no one should get between the God of the bunny and the children he loves.