Quick Summary:

Misplaced religious zeal has done much, through the ages, to dishonor the name Christian, and such zeal continues, newly resurgent in our own time, among other communities of faith in addition to our own. So, we have good reason to be cautious when, midway through this Lenten journey, we come face to face with acts of zeal on the part of none other than Jesus himself.

Here’s the question then: Is there any room for the kind of ZEAL we see in Jesus, the kind of HOLY HAVOC that calls systems of injustice what they are and seeks to overturn them—is there any room for ZEAL of this sort in today’s church? In today’s world? Is there a way of being zealous that doesn’t involve dehumanizing the other? That doesn’t involve attacking or denigrating? A way that doesn’t depend on violence to achieve its ends?

The sermon explores contemporary examples provided wrong headed zeal from the radical right and right headed zeal through movements for justice around the world.