The Truth of the Matter

Today's Reading:
AM - Psalm 45
PM - Psalm 47 and 48
Gospel - John 2:13-22

For reflection: If you compare your spiritual life to rooms in a house, which would Jesus want to clean up? Library (reading room), dining room (appetites and desires), family room (relationships) or closets (hangups)?

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As a Christ follower explaining to a non-Christ follower why Jesus was justified in getting ticked off and flying off the handle can be a challenge.  When I read this passage, I think of Jack Nicholson on trial in the movie A Few Good Men.  “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”  Can you hear it? 

Now imagine Jesus saying, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market" in the same vain.  Tables are slung, chickens are flying, sheep are baying, words are screamed, money is clanging, and tempers are flaring.  Just the thought of this scene makes me want to get in the fetal position in a corner and rock. 

Wait a minute…can a Christian get angry?  I thought we were to exude “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness…” How do you explain this passage?  I thought Jesus was perfect.  This doesn’t seem to be a perfect response on His part.

The first thing we have to look at is the context of this moment.  What was going on in this environment that Jesus was in?  Jesus was in the temple court, the place right outside the terrace called the Court of the Gentiles (see the illustration below).  This is the place the “swindlers” had taken over to exorbitantly sell the sacrifices and unfairly change money. 

Pause for a second.  Do you remember this passage…

(Mat 15:24-27 NIV)  He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." {25} The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. {26} He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." {27} "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

Have you ever thought about who the dogs were?  That is right, they were the Gentiles and if you look at the illustration, they weren’t even allowed into the temple (aka, the House of Prayer).  So, the Gentiles – the people that didn’t know God – could only eavesdrop from the courtyard to hear a word from the Lord and come to know him.

Jesus was ticked off because the place for the Gentiles (the lost) had been taken away by the “swindlers.”  Jesus’ anger was not motivated out of something done to him.  Jesus anger was motivated out of the LOST not being able to hear the message of God.  Jesus did not come as a doctor for the healthy, but for the sick (lost).

By the way, who are we in this story?  Most of us do not have Jewish family lines.  That would make us the Gentiles…the dogs.  Jesus' anger was motivated by injustice.  He was an advocate for God’s mission, God’s word, the gospel getting shared. 

So, can a Christian get angry?  I guess so…when they are looking out for the interest of sharing the Gospel and protecting people.

Now that is truth I CAN HANDLE.

- Brad Childers