Reflection for the Week

Jesus calls his followers to have faith, as he himself does, in God. There is so much in and around us that lures us into a false sense of hope and security, while having faith in God is a challenge filled with tension leading us into the pathway of life. Jesus, therefore, does not merely want to cleanse us of the idols in our lives, but like the image of the fig tree, he wants to destroy them from the roots to the leaves, as a pre-figuring of the judgment of God on all that is false. Purging our deep attachments to the unholy and cutting away our meta-religious god identifications will no doubt be an uncomfortable operation that takes place over the course of time, yet this liberation is crucial for developing a radical and uncompromising trust, which Jesus himself exemplifies with: Have faith in God.