Prayer: Ask the Lord to give you a heart to love what He loves and hate what He hates. 

Read: Matthew 21:12-17, Isaiah 56:1-8, and Jeremiah 7:11

What angers you? What instantly raises your hackles and tempts you to use words that wouldn't go in a sermon? I was thinking about this in my own life. And sadly, too many things came to mind way too fast. When the fitted sheet pops off the corner of the bed while I am lying in it (>Pfft! < “The sheet came off! My life is ruined.”). Getting stuck in traffic (“That light isn't getting any greener!”).

Matthew 21:12-17 has two quick accounts. One (v12-13) sees Jesus driving out those who turned God's Temple into a Wal-Mart. “Let's use God's place as a way to make a buck! “And the other, v14-17, tells us that the chief priests and scribes saw people coming to Jesus, and Jesus helping those people, then those people praising our Lord, then the chief priests and scribes being indignant over that whole scene. 

Each story is full of lessons in their own way. We can talk about how Jesus placed a premium on prayer and reverence, and examine His zeal for the holiness of God being sustained. We can talk about the power of Jesus to heal, the way He draws those who recognize that He can meet their need. We can even do a little homily on the appropriateness of worship as a result of encountering the work of God. And this would all be good and apply.

But I want us to take one giant step back and look at something these two stories have in common: both feature a response of anger. One from our Lord, one from the chief priests and scribes. Jesus displayed a righteous anger over the flagrant disregard for the things of God. The chief priests and scribes displayed a sinful anger over people drawing close to Jesus. I know when I read the Bible, I want to think that I am one of the good guys, one who gets it. But you and I may be more scribe and less Jesus in our anger than we would want to admit. 

How often do we see God's name blasphemed, His character misrepresented, His glory ignored for the sake of human selfishness – and we are just indifferent? We are like those crowds plowing through the Temple that day, “I guess this is just how it is. Oh, well, what can you do?” Would any of us care enough to start flipping tables with Jesus? “But I wasn't there that day, Jeff!” No, but you are there today when people have elevated self over God's glory. You've sat in churches when a man-centered gospel was preached instead of God's Gospel in Jesus Christ. When immorality of all kinds is normalized in our culture, sewage piped into our homes through the internet and TV. WHERE'S the anger? 

And we've been that other passage, too. The verses 14-17 one. When someone comes out of addiction to receive Christ, and we shake our heads. When someone is truly born again through prison ministry and are upset that “those people” are coming to my church. When someone tearfully and passionately gives their testimony and we roll our eyes, “Oh, puh-lease! I can't believe he would get up there looking like that and talking like that.” WHY the anger?

Jesus showed anger over the sin the chief priests and scribes allowed. The chief priests and scribes showed anger over the worship Jesus allowed. Have we been too often guilty of getting this all backwards: tolerating the sin, but being indignant over the true work of God?

Reflection Questions:

• What instantly makes you angry? Is this something that would anger God? Why does it anger you?

• Is there anything in your life that you are tolerating that our Lord certainly wouldn't tolerate?

• Do you sometimes get indignant and annoyed at the things that maybe, just maybe, God is doing in (or through) people?