The Miracles of Jesus
March 3, 2024
Third Sunday in Lent
Jesus clears the Temple
John 2:13-22; Ephesians 4:25-26;31-32; 2 Corinthians 5:21
We all get angry. If someone cuts you off while driving, you might scream at the car through your windshield. Someone may be tailgating you because they feel you’re not moving fast enough. When they pass you, they yell out the window and put up the middle finger of their hand towards you. The person in the car is angry at you, and now you are mad because they honked, yelled at you, and made the now-familiar hand motion at you.
We all get angry, sometimes at our spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, children, co-workers, boss, and occasionally even the church.
****************************The Point**************************
Even Jesus got angry. Let’s take a moment to read the passage below, then compare His anger to the anger that often occurs in our lives.
“It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area, he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.
Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them,
“Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
Then, his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”
But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”
“All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.”
“What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said, “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.”
John 2:13-22
Do you see the difference? The anger we engage in is human or the wrath of man. Christ’s anger was what is called “Righteous Anger.”
First, let’s look at what the Bible says about human anger:
“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
In the book of Ephesians, Paul says, “Be angry and do not sin.“ This is what Jesus did because His anger was righteous indignation (anger).
God’s anger is always righteous and justified. Why? Because He’s God. Jesus was angry because of the injustice that was going on in His Father’s House (The Temple). There was nothing wrong with selling animals for sacrifice and exchanging money. But this was happening in the Temple, not outside, and it was distracting from worship. Furthermore, these vendors and money-changers were not there to help the people; they were ripping them off by overcharging and cheating them.
How do we know Jesus didn’t commit a sin in His anger?
In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote:
“We implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus was sinless in everything He did. When He got angry or indignant, it was because people were doing something morally wrong in the eyes of God. Not because someone called Him a name or cut His car off while driving down the road. (😊 )
Dear Jesus. I get angry quite often. Sometimes, I get mad for a word someone says, other times for an action of another. Please help me not to overreact to situations by getting angry. Instead, please help me be more like You, being kind, peace-loving, and empathetic towards others. Amen
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