25 Days until Easter

25 Days until Easter

Jude’s last season of baseball was back in 2016.  He was 9 years old and it was his first time doing travel ball.  I absolutely loved watching him play.  I got my camera that season and taking pictures of Jude on the field quickly became a hobby.  Towards the end of the season Jude and I traveled to one of his big tournaments.  Right now, I can’t remember why Margo and Josh couldn’t make it.  It was really early and we had traveled a few hours, but we were excited.  Pulling into the parking lot we could see the vendors in their tents and the food trucks and the banners waving as we slowed to pay the guy with a stack of parking passes.  “$10 ma’am”. I had become accustomed to the exorbitant amount of money required to park a vehicle at a baseball tournament, so I had a couple of $5 bills ready.  Placing my pass on the dash, I rolled in.  Music was blasting and concessions were opening.  It was going to be a great weekend.  Jude and I jumped out of the truck and while he gathered his baseball bag and water bottle, I grabbed my camera bag, sunscreen and chair.  People poured in, shoe polish messages scribbled with competitive spirit covered their vehicles.  Filing through the gates with umbrellas and ice chests in hand, were the dads wearing larger versions of their team jerseys and proud baseball moms sporting bedazzled shirts and baby sisters sporting team colored hair bows and brothers spitting sunflower seeds wearing big brother’s number.  There is just something super exciting and super American about little league baseball.  Competitive sports have become such a huge part of our culture.  I walked up to the tent covered table where they sat with metal boxes to collect the money and store the wristbands.  “The blue bands are good for one day and they are $50 or you can get the yellow band, which is good all weekend.  The yellow bands are $75.”  I could not believe it.  Immediately, I could feel my throat tightening and tears filling my eyes.  I knew I didn’t have that much cash.  “Do y’all have a credit card machine?”, holding my tears the best I could.  “No ma’am.  Sorry about that.”  “My son is playing in this tournament (pointing to him a few feet away), I only have a twenty and some ones”.  “Well ma’am, it doesn’t cost anything for players”.  “Okay, so I’m supposed to send my 9 year old into this huge tournament by himself?  I’m hours from home.  Where do I go?”.  “Well ma’am, I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but the wristband prices were posted on the tournament webpage.  Your son can wait for his teammates right here and go in with them.” 

I was so upset!  Not that it wasn’t a lot of money (it absolutely was and is!), but we had $75 that we could spend for me to watch Jude play baseball.  I just didn’t have it with me.  But what about the parents who didn’t have $75? For some, $75 is groceries for the week.  $75 is rent money.  As our team started to show up, Jude went in with a few of his teammates.  Not many people carry an extra $75 to get a mom into a baseball game.  I stood at the entrance in tears and called Josh.  He calmed me a bit and then he called one of the coaches who had already made their way to the fields.  As I stood there trying to figure out what I was going to do, I got more upset with the whole scam of an event.  The WAY overpriced vendors.  The team picture of this “once in a lifetime event” that would require you to refinance your home in order to purchase it.  What in the world???  For a weekend baseball event for my 9 year old!  It wasn’t right.  It didn’t set well with me.  Before long, the coach came to the tent and paid my way.  I’ll be honest.  I cannot remember one game from that tournament.  How sad is that!  The only thing I remember about that tournament was how they had turned a little league baseball tournament into a money hungry sham.

Attending Passover Feast in Jerusalem was the passionate desire of just about every Jew.  It was such a huge event.  People traveled from all over.  Different regions were represented there.  Different languages.  But they were all there in unity as they celebrated Passover.  For many, it was quite the financial sacrifice to make the trip.  For others, it was an exhaustingly long and draining journey.  And for some, it was the once in a lifetime trip.  And as they came in, they filed into the Temple.  And much like the scene that I had witnessed at the baseball tournament, the travelers to Jerusalem saw a similar scene as they entered the outer courts of the Temple.  It was set up with vendors and moneychangers and animals.  And these businessmen saw an opportunity to make bank.  The multitudes had traveled from far and wide, so what better time to raise the rates?  There were rules about which animals could be used as a sacrifice, so of course there were vendors with their animals for sale.  And just like all the other greedy businessmen, they made it extremely expensive.  And also, all the adult Jewish males had to pay an annual tax with either a Galilean or a Sanctuary shekel.  But since many of the travelers used other forms of currency from their homelands, the moneychangers were there to exchange their currency for appropriate shekels-- for a hefty price.  And just like all the other money hungry scam artists, the  moneychangers saw it as an opportune time to raise the exchange rate--and raise it a lot.

People had come to celebrate together.  They had come to worship the Lord.  And everything within the Temple court had a fee.  An astronomical fee.  It was supposed to be a place of holiness, and it had become a place of pure corruption.  So after Jesus had come down the mount and in through the eastern gate of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He made his way to the Temple.  But on Sunday, He just looked around.  Taking it all in.

“And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.  And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest!”  And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple.  And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.” -Mark 11:8-11

I can’t help but wonder, what all did Jesus see that night?  Did He see a mama crying because she couldn’t afford anything in the Temple?  Did He hear the conversation between the 19 year old kid and the moneychanger, “All I have is a twenty and some ones.  What am I supposed to do?”.  Did He walk past the father, holding his little girl who had fallen asleep, glancing at the doves, then glancing at his coin purse, then glancing at his sleeping daughter, knowing he didn’t have enough?  Jesus walked through the Temple that night and then He walked out.  And back to Bethany He went.  Knowing what’s in store for the outer court of the Temple on Monday, I can only imagine what His thoughts were as He layed in the guest bed on Sunday night.  His Father’s house had been turned into a money extorting circus by the city’s sellers and businessmen.  Their greediness had stood in the way of those who came to worship God.  Part of me questions if He even got a wink of sleep that night as He thought about what He saw.  

Then came Monday.  Oh boy.  They have it coming!

There is more to take in with this scripture, so I’ll continue here in my next reflection.  But I’ll end with this, He is tender and He is loving.  He is also just.  And sometimes things need to be cleaned up, and so when it’s needed, He cleans things up. The sellers and vendors lost sight of what was holy and what was unholy.  Lord, please let me never lose sight of what’s holy and what’s unholy. 

Jude in his last season of baseball, with a busted lip of course.