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Jesus doesn’t always act like we think he should. Take, for instance, the time when he clears the temple by overturning tables and vanquishing vendors (Mark 11:15-18). When Jesus starts throwing furniture around, we get a little confused.
This painting by Jacob Jordaens depicts this scene. It is nearly 10 ft high so you can imagine how daunting it would be to stand in front of it. On the right, Christ wields a whip, his expression calm but determined. At the center, a panicked money changer tips over in his chair. He seems to be falling out of the canvas, inviting the viewer into the scene. To the left are the high priests, plotting Jesus’ demise as they look down onto the chaos. In between are all manner of confused animals and panicked people.
Not a scene to hang on the wall of a Sunday school room. One way to reconcile this angry Jesus is to remember that our God is a jealous God. To be jealous for someone means you have to love him/her, because if you didn’t love, you just wouldn’t care. Jesus cares. He cares that the temple has become a “den of thieves,” that people are being cheated, that hearts he would soon die for have turned to stone.
The idea that Jesus chased animals and merchants out of the temple with a grass whip may seem crazy, but his actions were justified and were driven by love.
J.I. Packer says it well: “[God’s] wrath is not the ignoble outburst that human anger so often is. It is holiness reacting to evil in a way that is morally right and glorious. And in the same way, God’s jealousy is not a compound of frustration, envy, and spite, but appears instead as a praiseworthy zeal to preserve something supremely precious."
Stay safe and stay sane.
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