Do You Know Him?
Last week our studies in John 2 took us inside the Temple with Jesus and His disciples during the Passover week in His first year of public ministry. But, this visit inside the Temple courts took an unexpected turn. Instead of kneeling for prayer, Jesus knelt to tie together a whip of cords and proceeded to clean house! He was righteously angry that these courts in His Father’s house had been reduced to a kind of flea market. In this, we saw the real Jesus and His zeal for real worship. But, the scene wasn’t over. When the dust cleared, one of the guys who had just been run out of the Temple, steadied himself to challenge the authority of the Man with the whip. My friends, Jesus’ response to this challenge is remarkable and pregnant with meaning for us today.
Passover Zeal
TEXT: John 2:13-17. Let’s suppose that you were to survey a hundred random people with the following question: “what adjectives would you use to describe Jesus Christ.” My guess is that adjectives like loving, merciful, kind, forgiving, and gracious would be well represented. To be clear, they should be. However, a comprehensive study of the life of Christ helps the honest person to see that the list of adjectives to describe Him is much longer. In fact, the list includes adjectives that some might find surprising. One such adjective is front and center in our text. In John 2:13-17, Jesus is angry. We’ll see why Jesus is so angry and why His reaction is not only appropriate it’s also endearing.