The Righteous Indignation of Jesus
John 2:13-22
I doubt you usually picture Jesus as energized as John describes Him in the above passage. See Him cleansing the Temple, white-hot fury, whip in hand, driving out sheep and oxen, kicking over tables, slinging coins everywhere and telling the pigeon sellers, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” (John 2:16, RSV) It was the greatest display of righteous indignation anyone had ever seen from Jesus — before or since.
I think John chose to tell this confrontational, disturbing story at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry because he wanted us to know, right up front, the sort of God who had come among us. If we thought that our salvation was coming in the form of a nice young man from the Middle East who invited a few fishermen to join His prayer group and to say things like, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28, RSV), John tells us that we are wrong! His Jesus comes pounding at the door of our heart, brandishing a knotted whip, overturning the tables of our plans and driving our selfish desires out like stampeding cattle.
That’s the real Jesus. To Him, our quiet, polite domestication of His Good News, our easy-going, shallow, self-serving religion is a violation of the Holiness of God. No, we stand before a righteous, demanding, accusing God. He expects the best from us. His demands intrude upon our easy complacency with righteous indignation, overturning the tables of our desires and scattering the coins of our deceits. His presence is like the sting of a whip on our necks. We asked Him for a sign of what true religion was all about. The only sign He gave us was that of His death and resurrection. The only temple He left to draw us near to God was that built of His own body and blood — a new Passover in which God comes to us in the form of His own bloodied Son. He loves us that much. His zeal for us is a consuming fire. He will make a house of prayer within each of us, a dwelling fit for the Holy Spirit, driving us to seek God first. You are not your own, you were bought and cleansed with a price! So glorify God with your life.
May God grant each of us the wisdom and strength to be a house of prayer fit for Him this Lent and always.
