Zeal for His House/Part Three

Zeal for His House/Part Three

The "Read Letter" Words of Jesus

Day Nineteen

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”  John 2:13-17 (NKJV)

The only remarkable events in Jesus’ life up to this point were turning water into wine at a private wedding and recruiting a few disciples. (Well, not including His miracle conception and birth.) That all changed when, in his first public display of authority, He declared Himself to be God. He also took ownership of what was rightfully His to take. His actions didn’t win Him any followers among the spiritual elite either. It did guarantee He’d be the talk of Jerusalem for a long time to come.

“My Father’s house.” What a bold statement. There’s a lot to unwrap here. First, He declared Himself to be equal to the Father. As far as the spiritual leaders (and the law) were concerned this blasphemous statement was worthy of the death penalty.

Second, He took ownership of the temple. His Father’s house belonged to Him too giving Him the authority to keep it pure. His soul grieved to see it mistreated. After all, the temple was the dwelling place of God’s presence; a sacred place of prayer and worship. Sadly, sacrificing its holiness, folks turned it into an opportunity for financial gain.

Third, Jesus expressed zeal toward His Father’s house. So much so that He created a huge scene when He saw it abused.

For the next couple of devotions, we’ll continue to dissect these scriptures. We’ll look at what He meant when He said, “My Father’s house” and why He was zealous for His Father’s house.

  

https://www.biblehub.com/commentaries/pulpit/john/2.htm

https://www.biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/john/2.htm

https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-thebible/john-2-1.html