80 friends have opened a study shared with them this month.
The story about Jesus flipping tables is awkward. It's used both to rationalize posting rage bait online and to attack Jesus as an untrustworthy, out of control leader. But now that I've listened to the stories of dozens of survivors of church hurt, I get it.
John 2:13-22
The Jewish Passover was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changers sitting there. After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers' coins and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling doves, "Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a marketplace!" And his disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me." So the Jews replied to him, "What sign will you show us for doing these things?" Jesus answered, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days." Therefore the Jews said, "This temple took forty-six years to build, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body. So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made. While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.
Last year, a friend finally took the courage to divorce her husband. He was unfaithful, abusive, manipulative, and distant. She'd felt burdened by the obligation to keep the peace, even though her husband was effectively at war with her. Eventually, she felt her anger and flipped the tables. By setting boundaries she demonstrated love: care for herself, and protection for her kids. Her husband had already ended the marriage through his actions; she was just recognizing the reality. He could no longer use the fiction of 'being married' to continue harming her. In a deeper sense, God gave his people the Temple so they could enjoy fellowship with him. It was supposed to be where heaven met earth, where people could encounter God. But the religious gatekeepers had turned it into a profit center. They were exploiting worshippers, and Jesus was furious. Look at what his disciples remembered: "Zeal for your house will consume me." That verb is future tense. This same protective anger would eventually cost Jesus his life. His rage at the corruption of his Father's house pointed straight toward the cross. Jesus knew the problem in our hearts. He not only demonstrated that the Temple had failed God's people, but he offered his life to restore fellowship between God and man. Jesus's anger and love aren't opposites. They're two sides of the same coin.
What's your gut reaction to Jesus flipping tables? Does it comfort you or unsettle you?
What makes the difference between destructive anger and protective anger? Can you think of a time righteous anger was appropriate?
Jesus says "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days." How does knowing that Jesus himself becomes the new temple change how you think about encountering God?
Think of something that makes you angry about how people are treated. Ask God: "Is this your anger in me?" If it is, consider one small action you can take this week to respond with sacrificial love.
80 friends have opened a study shared with them this month.