John 2:16
“Take these out
of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
Jesus, anger in His face, overturning
tables of the money changers.
“Take these out of here”, he would tell
everyone for they are making His Father’s house a marketplace.
These people are making easy money by
cheating the people. They would sell the
birds and the oxen for sacrifice, and would sell them at a higher price. They would change money at higher rate,
because only certain type of money can be donated to the temple.
We always see Jesus portrayed as either serene
parable teller or the suffering Jesus, carrying the cross, being mocked by the
crowd, being crucified. Or the
triumphant Jesus having defeated death in His resurrection, with His face in
glorious light and pompous serenity.
Very seldom, if not, do we see Him with a whip in one of his hands.
And yet, this is the way Jesus is portrayed
in today’s scripture. He is a man on a mission, and he will not stand for his
Father’s temple to be desecrated.
Jesus cleansed the temple. And He did it again on the cross.
Ask Him to come in our lives and whip us
out of sin and overturn our tables, not out of anger but to make our lives into
what He has created us to be. Perhaps
the fierce Jesus is needed. Perhaps
Jesus needs to come in with a whip to cleanse us out.
Let us pray +
Almighty Father, clean out my heart. Come into my life with your whip and cleanse
me out. Take those parts of my life that
take me away from you and get rid of them.
Fill me with your Spirit. Lord, you have the power to forgive and you
have the power to change me. All of this
in Jesus’ name. Amen +
God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress.
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