Zeal for your house will consume me.
John 2:13-17, The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
There are many different pictures, movies and stories that depict Jesus as a soft-spoken, mild-mannered, rather insipid character. That picture is the figment of someone’s imagination, not scripture. Before his ministry, he had a career as a carpenter, in a day before power saws and nail guns, and I’m sure that served him well in cleansing the temple! John saw him transfigured into his eternal glory on the mountain, and later gives us an even more dramatic picture of him in the book of Revelation as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, “one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” And later, John writes: “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” A far cry from some popular images of him! We should all take time to read and understand his amazing countenance and zeal.
We give thanks for your grace and mercy for those who receive you by faith, and keep your commandments. We give glory to your Name for your offer of satisfaction of your justified wrath against all evil through the cross and your shed blood.
ESV Lectionary
There are many different pictures, movies and stories that depict Jesus as a soft-spoken, mild-mannered, rather insipid character. That picture is the figment of someone’s imagination, not scripture. Before his ministry, he had a career as a carpenter, in a day before power saws and nail guns, and I’m sure that served him well in cleansing the temple! John saw him transfigured into his eternal glory on the mountain, and later gives us an even more dramatic picture of him in the book of Revelation as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, “one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” And later, John writes: “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” A far cry from some popular images of him! We should all take time to read and understand his amazing countenance and zeal.
We give thanks for your grace and mercy for those who receive you by faith, and keep your commandments. We give glory to your Name for your offer of satisfaction of your justified wrath against all evil through the cross and your shed blood.
ESV Lectionary
posted by BenLaws at 4:30 AM
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