Not Your Ways

Ps.69:⁹ “Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.”

Please read John 2:12-25, we see a direct fulfilment of today’s scripture reference. Let me give you some background; the population of Jerusalem is about two hundred and fifty thousand people. The law demands that at a feast like this, everyone in Jerusalem must come to Jerusalem to worship. So, at these festival times, the population of Jerusalem grows to about one million five hundred thousand people. So, the temple is usually packed, and here was this young man, barely thirty, scattering the temple. That temple was sixty-five acres of land and it was being rebuilt by Herod at the time. Jesus went there and He was throwing away their tables.

The Bible says Jesus made the whip Himself from chords. Can you imagine Jesus doing all this? When Jesus was making the whip, the disciples were probably asking Him what He was doing. I can just imagine Him saying, “Wait, I am going to show you.” And when He was done, He said, “Follow me!” Don’t you want to meet Jesus someday and just salute Him for His boldness? In today’s scripture reading, you would see John quoting one of the Wisdom Books. John 2:¹⁵ “Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.” (emphasis added). What do you do with a whip? Jesus whooped people!

One of our Pastor’s daughters said to her mother, “Pastor is so nice, he cannot flog people”; I had to show her the cane in my office. I actually have a cane in my office; many little children are my friends. I love them with one hand and whoop them with the other. If I cannot whoop you, I cannot be your friend. if you are too big to be whooped, then stay away. Note that I am not talking about adults; I do not whoop adults, I am talking about children. It is because foolishness bounds in a child’s heart, but the rod of correction drives it far away. Even when that little girl saw the cane in my office, she still could not accept it, she just could not picture Pastor flogging anyone.

Similarly, many of us cannot picture Jesus whooping people. These people were adults, amazing. Jesus chased out the people selling goat and sheep, overturned the table of money changers. He scattered all their coins – Jesus was asking for trouble. The money changers were the people that control the commerce of the temple. And at that time, everything happens in the temple. The temple had its own currency, so people had to buy it with the regular currency. It is the temple’s currency that people use to purchase the animals for sacrifice and the money goes back to them. The animals not purchased from their temple were written off as not pure and cannot be offered to God. Everyone had to buy the animals they were selling – horrible!

Prayer: Father, I pray that the passion, the zeal for Your house will fall on me afresh, so that I will not turn my eyes to permit the things that dishonour Your Name, in Jesus Name. Amen!