Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
It may still be somewhat startling to us, but Jesus did indeed display anger – a pure, perfect wrath against evil. He was particularly incensed about hypocrisy and the maltreatment of the vulnerable. A third area where His anger was powerfully demonstrated was in the leaders’ attitude toward the Temple. In Matthew 21:12-13, Jesus cleansed the Temple for the second time (the first being about three years earlier – John 2:13-17). Certainly, hypocritical greed and taking advantage of the vulnerable poor were involved in the merchandising of God’s House (as we see today in the pernicious “prosperity” teaching of some). Note that Jesus pointed out that the Temple should have been “the house of prayer” (verse 13). Fundamentally, prayer is communication with God; it is relational (because, as we saw last week, the Triune Godhead is inherently relational). Thus, the emphasis on money was a mockery of the essential character of God. I Corinthians 6:19a says, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” God the Holy Spirit, Who helps us pray (Romans 8:26), makes each Christian a house of prayer. Each week in church, we read aloud either Psalm 23 or The Lord’s Prayer to remind us of the need to pray and of the need for a church to be a “house of prayer.” We also pray specifically for people in church, on both Sunday and Wednesday. Simple, honest, frequent prayer throughout the week is pleasing to God and makes each one of us a mobile temple of prayer.