The Angry Jesus Is Scary But Necessary

3.7.21 John 2:13–22

13 The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers sitting at tables. 15 He made a whip of cords and drove everyone out of the temple courts, along with the sheep and oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those selling doves he said, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a place of business!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 So the Jews responded, “What sign are you going to show us to prove you can do these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” 20 The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! And you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this. Then they believed the Scripture and what Jesus had said.

The Angry Jesus Is Scary But Necessary

If you were Bob Ross, how would you paint Jesus? “Here, let’s put a little happy smile on Jesus. Paint a nice little robe on Him. Nice beard, curly hair. Yes, just like that.” Was Jesus mostly serious? Did He like to joke around? The recent miniseries called “The Chosen” has the most likeable Jesus in my opinion, because He is friendly and approachable; good with children. We like the stories of Jesus being welcoming, non-judgmental, eating with tax collectors and “sinners.”

Bob Ross probably wouldn’t paint Jesus this way. “Here’s a nice little happy whip. Let’s throw some coins over here. Let’s paint a scared cow over here. Look, he just stepped on Simeon’s foot.” He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those selling doves he said, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a place of business!” It’s kind of scary! You know, that’s not all bad. It’s a good thing to see. Why? Because God isn’t always Mr. Happy Sunshine. He says He is slow to anger, but nonetheless that implies that He does become angry. Look at how God responds to the Israelites worshiping the golden calf in the book of Exodus. Look at the Flood. Look at Judgment Day. Don’t tell me God doesn’t have anger. And remember, Jesus is God.

It’s good for us to think about this. There’s an aversion to anger in our society. Anger is associated with hate, and hate is a big “no-no.” Anger seems to be the opposite of tolerance. And we ourselves preach patience, kindness, and self-control. So getting out a whip and turning over tables doesn’t seem very loving or tolerant. But anger is sometimes needed when there is danger involved. If you caught your child playing with fire you would need to be angry to show the child the danger there is in disobeying you in that way. The child could be burned, and you need to send a clear message. There is such a thing as righteous anger. The Bible only says, “in your anger, do not sin.” We have to be careful against impatient anger, and we have to be careful what we do with our anger when it is well warranted.

The disciples were not turned off by Jesus' anger. His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” They associated Jesus’ anger with being “zealous.” To be zealous means, “to have a deep concern for or devotion to someone or something.” If you have a deep concern or devotion to someone or something, you will be angry when someone is ruining it. It shows that you love it. You care for it. You will also have strong EMOTIONS. Anger is not always a bad thing or a hateful thing. Actually, it can be a loving thing. Love and anger sometimes go hand in hand. They aren’t as foreign to each other as you might expect.

Think about that when it comes to relationships, and a spouse decides to leave his or her husband or wife. It doesn’t seem right when they both amicably decide to part ways. In a sense, it then becomes a double sin. It should BOTHER you if your spouse wants to leave you. I don’t love my cars, but when I notice a new dent on them it doesn’t exactly make me happy that someone put a new dent in it and didn’t say something to me. I paid for it and I still care for it, and someone just dented it. Honestly, you probably should be angry about it. If you really care about someone or something, if you are zealous for them, you don’t just let it slide without a fight. I’m not talking about using violence, but there should be some passion there. We’ve lost our sight of that in our tolerant society.