To see Him as He truly is

{from the Seek and Find Bible}


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 the 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."

   Recently I was sitting on the couch crocheting.  My son, Javier, sat at the opposite end of the couch flipping through the pages of our Bible with pictures.  

  I wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing until suddenly he was struck by what he saw in this picture.  With alarm and concern in his voice, he broke the "news" to me.  

"Momma, Jesus sinned!"

This picture had given my son a sudden realization as he gazed upon Christ holding up a whip of cords.  

"Jesus was angry.  He sinned!"

   I proceeded to talk this over with my son.  I have to admit, there are some aspects of this account that I have often wanted to understand better.  

   Has this account ever left you feeling a bit uneasy?

   I remember shortly after I came to Christ, my husband and I were trying to share our new found faith with someone.  This person was convinced that Jesus was sinning when he drove the money-changers out of the temple.  I was a little shook up.  But with my wee bit of faith and knowledge, I knew that the Bible taught and even explicitly said that Jesus had no sin.  

"...He appeared to take away sins, 

and in him is no sin."  

1 John 3:5

   In fact, it occurred to me that if Jesus did sin that my entire faith would crumble. 

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned--every one--to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:4-6

   Is he not the spotless "Lamb of God" that takes away the sin of the world?

   Is he not God in human flesh?

   Is he not the atonement for our sins?

   How, then, could he have sin of his own?

For our sake he made him (Jesus Christ)

to be sin who knew no sin,

so that in him we might become 

the righteousness of God.

1 Corinthians 5:21

  I'm glad that my son did not keep his concerns to himself.  Talking about it has been good and has motivated me to study this passage more in depth.

   The more I study it and think about it, the more I realize there is so much more to this account than what I first realized.  The main thing I am focusing on here is the misconception people have of our Lord.  Even my six year old son, who is being taught not to give in to anger and lose his temper does not know what to make of Jesus here.  As his parents, I think we have tried to give him a clear understanding of the character of God...but have we overly focused on his love and gentleness to the exclusion of understanding his passion for nothing less than our reverence for his holiness?

"Be angry and do not sin"

Ephesians 4: 26

   More often than not, when we get angry we have an improper control or an improper focus.  Jesus was angry with what he saw going on in the temple, and rightly so.  And he did something about it.  I'm glad my Lord does not turn a blind eye to sin and have a laid back attitude toward it.  As someone who has experienced Jesus coming in to my heart and life and clearing out those things that do not belong, I can say that I am truly thankful for his zeal.  It brings about restoration, healing, and a rights our wrongs.  It brings us to the point of giving God the worship he alone is worthy of.

   Jesus can become an idol of our own making if we do not see him as he truly is.  Does he not have all authority in heaven and on earth to remove all hindrances to genuine worship in the temple?  Do we not recognize his authority in our own lives to remove those things which are a barrier to wholehearted communion with God?