What Jesus did #19: he went into rage mode

And now for something completely different.

For the last week, we’ve been looking at the accounts of Jesus healing people from all kinds of illness – physical, spiritual and mental. Now we’re turning our gaze on the revolutionary, radical, subversive acts of this man Jesus.

There was that occasion when Jesus went into rage mode and trashed the temple. Everyone’s heard about that one. In fact, the story of Jesus clearing the temple appears in all four Gospel accounts. And where it sits in John 2 is fascinating. It comes really early on, right after his first miraculous sign of turning water into wine. He’s relatively unknown. It’s not like he’s built up a reputation for himself and has earned the right to speak out. It’s more like he just can’t help himself. He’s setting out on the path that God has laid out for him to show people the way, the truth and the life. And the one place where God’s name should already be being glorified is the one place where it is being desecrated.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  John 2:13-17

What a sacrilege! People with an eye for an opportunity had turned God’s holy place into a marketplace – a place of extortion and cheating. This was never what God intended. Religion had become an industry. You needed the right sacrifice. And you needed the right money to buy the sacrifice. You needed money to approach God. They’d got it all horribly wrong – turning a desire for connection with God into an opportunity for personal gain.

Jesus could not contain his anger. He didn’t express it in reasoned discourse. He didn’t ask politely. He ranted and raged. He made a whip and drove people like animals (and the animals themselves) out of the temple area. He tipped up the tables. He scattered the coins. There was nothing nice and contained and neat and tidy about this. It was messy and scary and completely unexpected.

Who did this guy think he was? A fool, that’s for sure, for getting on the wrong side of these types of people. How is this any way to start out on a mission? Surely this would turn everyone against him before he’s even got started.

The disciples get it.

His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

That quote is from the Psalms, Psalm 69. This is a burning zeal, a passion rising up from deep within that cannot be contained. A passion for God’s name. He’s so angry because he cares so much. I get that.

As for the Jews…the ones invested in this commercialisation of faith…well, that’s a different story.

The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. John 2:18

What right did Jesus have to cause all this disruption?

Every right.

He was 100% personally invested in this. He was there to make a difference, there to show everyone a new way of being in relationship with the living God. He was right to be angry, because they were getting it all wrong at the expense of the people’s personal walk with God.

I take two main points from this story:-

1. Anger has to be expressed

I was brought up in an environment where that was not the case. Anger had to be repressed. Anger was ugly and wrong and frowned upon. I only ever once heard my parents argue. I never heard them swear. On the surface, all seemed calm and nice and controlled. And yet under the surface, there was this simmering zeal/passion/resentment/anger that none of us had no idea what to do with. We weren’t taught how to express anger. And so we suppressed it. And that wasn’t great in the long term for any of us.

Expressing anger in a physical way is the right thing to do. Obviously, there are wrong ways of doing that – anything that harms another or damages another’s property is not OK. I’m not advocating violence here. But anger does have to be expressed.

I have learnt to shout. I remember going out onto a hilltop with a friend to let it all out. I’m not great at that but I am getting better. Running helps. Playing squash. Physical stuff like that. We all have to find an outlet that works for us. My friend used to smash plates on her back patio. Others have a punch bag. We’re all beginning to learn that for our mental wellbeing, it’s better out than in.

2. We should be getting angry at what’s going on around us

I imagine that if Jesus were here now, he’d have plenty to say about all the injustices and atrocities going on around the world right now. The thing is, he is here. He’s at work in each one of us. And so it’s up to us to be speaking out, to be getting angry about the things that Jesus would be getting angry about.

I have no problem with this. I get angry a lot. I ranted outside a shop selling pre-owned Rolexes for £5000. I rant at all you can eat buffets. I rant at Britain First Facebook posts that people think it’s OK to share. I rant at what surfacing about the sexual harassment of women across all walks of life. I rant about world poverty and exploitation and fast fashion. I rant at how the church portrays Jesus, about the reputation Christianity is building for itself.

I had a T shirt once with the slogan ‘Fuelled by passion’. That pretty much sums me up. I have a fire in my belly.

What I’m now beginning to see is that ranting alone is not enough. I need action. Protest for protest’s sake achieves nothing. I need to make my life match up to all that I claim I’m passionate about. That’s a work in progress. It’s messy and unpredictable and complicated and definitely not ‘nice’ at times – but also inspiring and life-giving and exciting too.

I loved waking up this morning to read about the artists wearing white rose pins or carrying white roses at the Brits last night in support of the Time’s Up movement. My heart was warmed by Stormzy giving all the glory firmly back to God for the two major awards that he won, but also challenging Teresa May about money for Grenfell during his live performance.

It’s happening. We’re all beginning to realise that we need to wake up and stand up and speak up. We’ve let too much go on right before our eyes.

Let’s get angry about all the things Jesus would be angry about (is angry about) right now.

Let’s turn some tables.