Good Wednesday morning! The weather folks promise just a couple more days of heat before we catch a big break in the weather conditions. All we can say is... we'll see! Who do you trust in the weather, in your job, in all of life? Major changes in our lives require new levels of trust in whatever or whoever we are trusting in. If you trust in your own abilities, you will find many of them diminishing with age. What do you trust in then? We may have found our trust placed in a job, in money, or even in a government. All of these can fail or, as in the case of some priests back in the day, become corrupt. Yesterday we read the setup verse where Jesus came to the Temple and found a gang of thieves stealing from the people. Today, what's he gonna do about it?
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 changer's coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. (John 2:15)
Whoa! The Lord is really angry! A person reading this for the first time might wonder how we can excuse this. After all didn't Jesus just get mad and destroy stuff? If we read carefully we can see that even in anger Jesus didn't actually destroy anything. While the anger burned within him, he used it to teach a lesson in what the Temple was for, and what it was not. Tables were turned over, coins scattered, and livestock driven out, but nothing was destroyed or even hurt. Also, when we take the step of believing in Jesus, we realize just who he is. As the Son of God, it is his place to excuse or not excuse our actions, not the other way around. We receive forgiveness from Jesus for our sins, but in his actions there was nothing to forgive.
Jesus will remind us in another verse to be angry, but do not sin. In a rage we can destroy something that we later regret. That destruction may be a sin, especially if the object belonged to someone else. However, anger alone, in particular the righteous anger toward injustice, is not sin. If a pastor or elder storms into your church and starts throwing pews over and yelling about sin in the church, he has probably seen something that is in need of correction. With his anger he will have your full attention. And most likely no one will sleep through that sermon! You might have a similar outburst of anger should you discover a sin in your congregation that has been left uncorrected over time. Be angry, but controlled, in your anger. The unchecked and uncontrolled state of rage has no place in our fellowship, but anger just might. Tomorrow we will see how Jesus' anger was never out of control in this action.
Have a wonderful and awesome day in Christ!
Bucky
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