The day Jesus got angry.  John 2.13-22

What was Jesus, the man, like?  We have just substantiated that he was fully man, so as a man, what was he like?  Did he work out, or ‘buffet his body’ as the apostle Paul said?  Did he tell jokes?  Well, we know he was a pleasure to be around, because people liked to be around him, as evidenced by the fact that he had just been at a wedding celebration, right?  And we know that ‘sinners’ – like prostitutes and tax collectors wanted to hang out with him.  Did he turn and look as a beautiful woman walked by?  Maybe … he might have been admiring his creative handiwork, eh? 

Because Jesus’ humility trumped everything he did, and his teaching so highly esteems the value of being humble, too many folks want to paint Jesus as a weakling. And don’t forget … Jesus was a Jew!*  And an observant Jew, at that—we find him here going to Jerusalem to observe/keep the Passover at the Temple.  The scene John describes for us does not portray a weakling:

“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.  

>Note:  Observants needed to purchase animals for their sacrifices at the temple; that was not what Jesus was upset about—it was that the dealers were in the temple area conducting business, making it both chaotic and precluding the Gentiles from worshipping in the outer court.  Further, the moneychangers were necessary, because of folks who needed to exchange currencies, but profiteering shouldn’t be taking place in the temple.  

Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the moneychangers’ 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.”  >Ah! A light went off in the heads of the disciples, as they remembered what they knew from Psalm 69 … yet another confirmation for them that this was their long-awaited Messiah.

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.”  >A prophetic statement made by Jesus that the disciples would later understand—‘Crucify me, put me in the grave, but on the third day, I will rise again!’  Of course, at the time, all it did was incite the Jewish leaders.

“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

So now, I ask you again, what was the man, Jesus, like?  Strong, both physically and emotionally; he could stand up to the Jewish leaders, and felt no need to explain himself to them.  Jesus had a strong sense of who he was, whose he was, who was around him—at all times, and where he was going.  I guess you could say then, he was very purposeful.  But on that day, he was not meek, he got angry, and everyone in attendance, knew it.

 Christine

*Why do so many Christians throw out or ignore Jesus’ ‘Jewishness’?  Further, since Jesus honored and kept the Jewish feasts and celebrations, why don’t we?