Jesus, The Zealot
February 8, 2010
Dear Friends,
In all four Gospels, we have the extraordinary account of Jesus throwing the moneychangers out the Temple. This is Jesus’ only violent act in the Gospels which should make us stand up and take notice.* One account reads:
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and 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 to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” (John 2:13-17 NIV)
This is not our typical image of Jesus. We tend to think of Jesus as warm, loving and kind. We think of Jesus as welcoming little children and sinners alike. Yet, the real Jesus was not the one dimensional character so often depicted today. The real Jesus fashioned a whip and using it drove men and animals from the temple while simultaneously flipping over their tables sending their money flying. Jesus, as depicted here, is a zealot. In fact, the verses quoted from the Old Testament tell us this very thing.
It seems to me that this one dimensional picture of the milquetoast Jesus has crept into our collective psyche as something we single-mindedly strive to achieve. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus most certainly had facets of his character that were meek as we should too. He suffered himself to be struck by the soldiers with legions of angels at his disposal. Jesus was not one dimensional, however, and it is this other dimension – the aggressive, forceful Jesus – we wish to focus on here.
So what was happening in the Temple to cause this reaction from Jesus? People came from near and far to the Temple to worship God, pay their tithes and the Temple tax and offer sacrifices. Under the Law, every male had to pay money.
When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary ()the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the LORD. Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the LORD. (Ex. 30:12- 14)
Since many of these people were coming from large distances, a financial industry grew up around the Temple to change foreign money to the local currency (much like the services you find in international airports) and sell sacrificial animals. This seems all well and good. A needed service is provided by local merchants. There was a problem as we shall find out.
To understand Jesus and his motivation, it is helpful to start with the reason given via inspiration. We are told “Zeal for your house will consume me.” This is interesting because this is not one quote from the Old Testament, but two quotes combined. Why would they pluck two quotes seemingly randomly from the Old Testament and join them together? The answer, as is the case with most quotes from the Old Testament in the New Testament, lies in the chapters quoted. The verses are taken from Isaiah and Jeremiah.
- My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. Isaiah 56:7
- But you have made it a den of thieves. Jeremiah 7:11
The first 14 verses of Isaiah 56 talk about people normally excluded from Temple worship being included including foreigners and eunuchs. God says “to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name.(v. 5) The crescendo of this chapter occurs in the verse quoted in John. God says,
These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.
This was absolutely shocking to the nation of Israel. The idea of all nations worshiping at the Temple in Jerusalem was almost beyond comprehension. Remember, for their entire national existence, God had been separating them from the other nations.
The last four verses of this chapter are a denunciation of the elders of Israel. God says,
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Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. (Is. 56:10 NIV)
Again, this is shocking stuff. The watchmen are blind. They are called “dogs” a term normally associated with unclean Gentiles.
The passage in Jeremiah has the prophet standing at the door of the temple and making a public proclamation against those who believed that Temple worship alone would save them from God’s wrath. God says through Jeremiah,
‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm.
Their practices were unconscionable. They would do everything contrary to the will of God but then think that “going to church” was going to save them. It is this context where the words quote in John are raised.
How ominous are those final words from God? “I have been watching.”
In summary, we can glean the following from Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7:
- God was angry at people’s hypocritical worship. “Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts.” (Jer. 7:23 NIV)
- God warned them of impending disaster if they did not repent. “Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.” (Jer. 7:28-29 NIV)
- God was telling them that he would open the way for a new people that he formerly rejected. (Is. 56:3-8)
- God was especially angry at the elders. (Is. 56-9- 12)
We will pick up here next week, Lord willing.
Have a great week,
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