Day 10

Jesus sleeves the wedding ceremony and heads up to Jerusalem with His disciples and family for the feast of the Passover. This seven-day Jewish feast has its roots in God’s deliverance of His people from Egypt under the Leadership of Moses. Jesus entered the feast and becomes very, very impassioned. What gets Jesus’ blood pressure soaring? As you read this story, ask yourself if you are passionate about the same things that Jesus is passionate about.

Read John 2:12-25

As you read this passage, what do you see is the message of Jesus?

What were Jesus’ priorities here?

What is Jesus modeling for his disciples, and us?


As Jesus enters the temple area, He becomes very angry. Yes, God gets angry: “ God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29) Righteous anger is definitely appropriate. Jesus expressed his righteous anger when, “he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables” (John 2:15)

This is important because it shows that  Jesus did not come into Jerusalem angry and carrying a whip. It shows that Jesus made a whip. Where do you think he learned that? From who? Jesus made this whip when he observed two things happening: one, the selling of sacrificial animals in the temple and two, the exchanging of foreign monies. Why would these two things stir such a passionate response in Jesus? One thing is clear- the focus had been taken off worship of the father and was placed on an opportunity to make some money. They religious people had seized upon the poor and the foreigners who had come to worship and were exploiting them. They had become opportunists. They saw uneducated men and foreigners, who could be easily manipulated and exploited.

Jesus’ first followers watched in stunned amazement as Jesus drove these opportunists from the temple mount, and they remembered something they had been taught as young children. They remembered the words written in Psalms 69:9 about the Messiah, “zeal for your house consumes me.”’ The word “zeal” means zealous, jealous or passionate. It is a stirring deep within a man that causes him to be moved to action. Jesus was jealous of God’s name and His reputation. He did not want anything to damage it. He did not want people to think that this selling of animals and exchanging of money had anything to do with a personal relationship with the Living God. People were more concerned about the marketing of a religion than having a vibrant relationship with the living God. How easy it is to turn what is meant to be a living relationship into a dead religion!

What makes your blood pressure rise?  Whose reputation is more important to you, yours or God’s? Jesus was consumed with the Father. What consumes you? 

Maybe its time to ask myself a few hard questions:

• Do I get as consumed about God and the work of his ministry than I do the Wildcats (or insert your team)
• What do I hold in higher esteem than my relationship with God?

Make Jesus your consuming thought: His name, His fame and His glory. It is really all about Him and not about us, despite what the world tells us each day.

We see real human emotions here from a real human Jesus; we see real courage here from a real divine Jesus, who was so in love with the Father that he could not stand by and see people make money from what God was offering as a free gift. When questioned about this by the leaders of His day, Jesus responds by saying, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). Their eyes were so on themselves and the physical world that they could not see that Jesus was not talking about the temple, but Himself and how He would die and be raised again for us. The question is: Where are your eyes today?

Root number 5 is passion- a passion for His name, His fame, His glory.

Jesus was passionate  for God’s name and fame, What are you passionate about? What are you consumed by Think of a few things that get your blood flowing. Now ask the question: is this what got Jesus’ blood pumping? If not, then maybe its time to consider realigning your passions. Discuss with a friend today what you are jealous, zealous and passionate about. Share what you are learning about Jesus’ passion for his Father.