He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” -John 2:16
As long as things remain profitable, they remain in a capitalist nation. Think of all the things that never seem to go away in our country – classicism, racism, sexism, homophobia, human trafficking, poverty, homelessness, etc.
Could it be that somehow these things profit someone and therefore never go away? Could it be that we are comfortable with the status quo because the status quo keeps our capitalist machine churning?
Racist systems feed the beast of the prison industrial complex in our nation. The housing market continues to boom because it ignores cries for affordable housing by those who live in our streets and beg at our closed doors.
Are we the thieves in the temple?
Are we selling the basics – food, shelter, and clothing – to make excessive amounts of profit instead of taking care of our citizens? Do we ignore the needs of others as we take part in the capitalist machine?
If Covid-19 has shown us anything, it has shown us how much class determines most things in this nation. Most of us get to stay at home while delivery drivers, retail personnel, and other underpaid front-line workers risk their lives to keep us safe.
Have we become the modern-day thieves in the temple?
We just turned a political system on its head in this last election. Surely, we can do more to turn this nation around to be more just, fair, welcoming, caring, and all the things that Lady Liberty promises:
Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
How do we (individually and collectively) help this nation become the golden door once more?