Jesus Gets Angry, Too
AM Psalm 45 • PM Psalm 47, 48
Deut. 9:4-12 • Heb. 3:1-11 • John 2:13-22
Today’s Gospel passage from John is another one of those Biblical stories that is filled with vivid imagery. When we read about Jesus making a whip of cords(!) and driving the animal sellers and their livestock out of the temple and the dramatic overturning of the money changers’ tables, I envision a chaotic stampede, followed by the sound of clanking coinage. I also imagine a lot of yelling – Jesus’ harsh rebuke, “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” and the surprised responses from the temple leaders. And then I wonder, “What set him off like this?! Where is the loving Jesus in this story?”
In the reading from the Book of Deuteronomy we are reminded that “Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.” (Deut. 9:8) Does Jesus’ “cleansing of the temple” relate to the God of the Old Testament’s response when he found the people misbehaving? Maybe this a case of “Like Father, like Son?”
Much of the scholarly analysis of this story emphasizes its occurrence in the Life of Jesus chronology. In John’s version, this story appears at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, but in the other three Synoptic Gospels it is part of Jesus’ last journey into Jerusalem. This difference is even more idiosyncratic in John’s Gospel when Jesus answers the Jews with a statement foretelling his own death and resurrection, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Is the focus of this story meant to be Jesus’ reaction to the violation of holy space by the merchants and traders? Is it a call to action whenever we see misappropriation of power or mistreatment of the poor? Are Jesus’ actions justifiable moral outrage? Or maybe he was just having a bad day? Sometimes a reflection is an invitation to more questions than answers.
Written by Shannon Mitchell
...who is still searching for those answers!